Mai Bakhtawar

Mai Bakhtawar Lashari Baloch (Sindhi: مائي بختاور لاشاري; Urdu: مائی بخت آور لاشاری بلوچ, 1880 - 22 June 1947) was a peasant from the village Dodo Khan Sargani, near Roshanabad in Umerkot, Tando Bago Tehsil, Badin District in Sindh.

It was common practice at the time for landlords to arrive with armed men during the harvest, seizing the majority of the yield and leaving only a small portion for the peasants.

[2] To address the widespread and deeply rooted poverty caused by the stark divide in land ownership, the Sindh Government commissioned the Hari Committee of Enquiry in March 1947 to review tenancy rights and explore agrarian reform in the province.

[7] On 20 - 22 June 1947, Hyder Bux Jatoi's advocacy movement held a gathering in Judho, just 10 kilometres from Mai Bakhtawar's village, Dodo Khan Sargani.

On 22 June 1949, while most of Mai Bakhtawar's village men and many women attended a nearby Hari conference in Jhudo, the landlord, Choudhry Saeedullah, attempted to exploit their absence.

[citation needed] The struggle of the Hari movement captured the public's imagination, particularly after the death of Mai Bakhtawar, who bravely fought against the powerful landed elite for her rights as a sharecropper.

[e] The murder, occurring amidst the broader movement, drew significant attention to the plight of Sindh's peasants, particularly from urban areas like Karachi, raising awareness of the injustices faced by rural communities.