From various sources & persons who are said to be the close relatives of Dost Muhammad Baloch, it is learnt that Mrs. Jane Garnand, granddaughter of Dost Muhammad Brohi came to Pakistan, Karachi in the year 1993. Her basic mission and aim for visiting Karachi was to find out the family roots of her grand father Dost Muhammad & grave of her slain grand-mother, Annie (wife of Dost Muhammad Brohi) who was assassinated in Sharafi Garden, Malir, Karachi on 8.8.1910. She was referred by the then Commissioner of Karachi to meet with Mr. Sattar Gabol, former Minister in Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto's tenure, as P.M.

She stayed in Karachi for about 10 days, during that period, she met with the family of Dost Muhammad & Jorak and visited several related places to find out the grave of her grand-mother, which after thorough search, she learnt that it was at a former graveyard near, British Embassy in Clifton, Karachi.

Based on this experience, Mrs. Jane Garnand has written a book by the title of "STORY OF MY GRAND FATHER FROM LAL BAKKAR TO AUSTRALIA".

Her husband was a diplomat of Australia, and was also stationed at China, but he is now a retired person. Jane Garnand and her family are now living in a city 400 miles, away from Sydney and she is still in contact with Mr. Sattar Gabol through letters.

"The tragic story commence like this:"

Australia, being a partly-desert country had a need for camels, starting from the end of 18th and upto 19th century. Camels from Asian region, especially from Balochistan & Afghanistan were very popular in Australia. At that time, steam ships were used for traveling abroad and it took several months to reach the destination. Ships commonly employed business routes, plying from India through Burma, Asaam, Sri Lanka and then Australia.

It was the time when British had discovered Australia. Our central character, Dost Muhammad Brohi(born in 1870) was an AMEER (Lord) of his tribe and very much interested in exporting camels to Australia. He first visited Australia and landed at ALBANI in 1893 to asses the trading opportunities of camels in Australia from British India.

After analyzing the need of trading, Dost Muhammad with his elder brother, Jorak (born in 1853) left for Australia in the year 1894 with 25 camels for selling in Australia, few Afghanis were also with them with their camels for business. After trading & selling camels, Jorak left for Karachi & thereafter several time visited Australia for business, while Dost Muhammad remained in Australia. In the year, 1896, when he was 26, he married a British origin girl, Annie, who had been working in a bakery, near his residence.

Life was going happily, Dost Muhammad & Annie had six children (3 Boys & 3 Girls), namely Mustafa, Haggu (nick name Bill), Ilyas, Fatima, Lillian, Janet. Annie had two brothers, namely Harry & Bill. Dost Muhammad didn't like them because they were all the time drunk, since according to the tradition of Australian, drinking & visiting of friends is common and Dost Muhammad, being a Baloch & Muslim did not like these customs and by nature Dost Muhammad was also a noble & honest person, famous for keeping deposits of people in Lyari.

The reasons mentioned above, he had serious disputes with his brothers-in-law and it was also rumored that Dost Muhammad had broken the arm of one of his brother in law, namely Bill in a quarrel. Afghan friends of Dost Muhammad were also aware of the disputes. These disputes grew deeper, and on night of 7.4.1909, Bill & Harry killed Dost Muhammad by crushing his skull, using a heavy piece of timber. Bill was the prime suspect, Dost Muhammad died at the spot. Bill & Harry were charged for murder in May, 1909, they were committed for trial and record shows that a correspondence for several years had taken place between the then Prime Minister of Australia and Premier Provincial Minister of British India when the news broke-out in newspapers.

This news came to Karachi through Afghan friends and the brothers of Dost Muhammad were shocked, Jorak with his two sons namely, Lal Muhammad & Qadir Bux left for Australia to find out the cause of the murder of his brother and also to see, if there was any property, left by Dost Muhammad in Australia, because Jorak was the executor of Dost Muhammad's will. As per will of the Dost Muhammad, the property left by him was to be divided between Annie and her children when they reached the age of maturity of 21.

Jorak pressurized and induced Annie to move to Karachi, (British India - now Pakistan), alongwith her 6 children where they could be given good English education and proper care, Jorak bought one way tickets (from Australia to Karachi) for them but Annie had a suspicion that Jorak will not keep the commitment of executing Late Dost Muhammad's will. Annie & children left for Karachi and two sons of Jorak, namely, Lal Muhammad & Qadir Bux were with Annie in the ship. Annie reached Karachi and stayed at Lal Bakkar & New Kumbharwara, Layri with the relatives of Dost Muhammad. They were treated well because Dost Muhammad was a well-off person. A period of about one year passed peacefully & happily. In Australia, Jorak finally reached to the conclusion that Bill & Harry (Annie's brothers) were involved in the murder of his brother, he then wrote a letter to his sons in Karachi, namely, Gul Muhammad, Qadir Bux & Rozi, mentioning that Annie was responsible for conspiring with the murderers of their uncle, Dost Muhammad, sayings such stupid words in Balochi in his letter "SPETHEN GOKAA BOKOSHEEN" meaning 'Kill the white Cow'.

Somehow, Annie become aware of the threat to her life and she went to British Authority, seeking help, where-after she was taken alongwith her children to Malir to a residency surrounded by Garden, owned by Sharafees. At a mile's distance there was a camp of British Security Officers.

From the evidence, a group of attackers including sons of Jorak i.e. Gul Muhammad Qadir Bux & Rozi, equipped with knives daggers & axes attacked the house at night of 8.8.1910, where Annie stayed with her 6 children. Annie with her two children were on the same bed while her eldest son, Mustafa, was sleeping outside in Veranda; it is believed that they entered through the window of bath-room which was opened by Mustafa. The attackers went into the house and attacked Annie with knives & axes, some of her fingers were cut-off, and she resisted but eventually was knifed to death. Some of her children were also wounded and they were taken to the Lady Dufferin Hospital for treatment.

According to the findings, a murder attempt was also made earlier, but there was a dog guarding the house and it had failed. Jorak's three sons, namely, Gul Muhammad, Qadir Bux & Rozi were arrested by the British India Police and charged with murder. Rozi & Qadir Bux were released due to non availability of solid evidence, but Gul Muhammad, being the prime suspect, remained in the jail for one more year. Jorak was also wanted by the police but he was in Australia. Finally 5 children were sent to Australia, with a British Officer, except eldest son, Mustafa, aged about 12 years, as it was believed that he was involved in their attack, by making the way clear to the attackers. Later it was not proved, but due to fear, he remained in Karachi, married & died here, he also paid a visit to Australia when he was young.

From the sources found, it is disclosed that Dost Muhammad & Annie had six children, (3 boys & 3 girls), namely Mustafa, Haggu (nick name Bill), Ilyas, Fatima, Lillian, Janet. Mustafa, & Lillian had no children, while Haggu/Bill had children. Rozi's (Son of Jorak) son & many other relatives/families are still living in Kumbharwara, Lyari.

The author of this article is Mr. Aftab Ahmed Baloch, it was also published in the daily Dawn of Jan. 13, 2002 issue in magazine section and we are reloading this article with the permission of webmaster of www.balouch.com"