STATE OF SINDH: OUR ROOTS
(Sindh does not belong to the Sindhis anymore)

For the vast majority of Sindhis in North America it is difficult to visualize what has happened to our Sindh. For those who were young enough at the time of partition (1947) and recall the sad departure of many Sindhis to the refugee camps of Boroda, Bombay, Ahmedabad and other cities in India; they were expecting to return one day (which never came); time in a way stands still and they picture Sindh much as they had experienced it – like a long lost (but not forgotten) love. For those who were born and raised in India and other countries, they have not experienced the cradling of their soul in the earth of Sindh, the craving for the glowing candle of Sindhiat may not be as intense. For those of you who might have experienced Sindh in the recent past, what I share with you, will not raise your eyebrows.

Pre-partition history tells us that the Muslims of India, including the Muslims of Sindh, wanted a separate state and they got it - Pakistan, even though: quote the basis of Pakistan Resolution of 1940, which promises "...... the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign." It was only after Sindh Parliament passed the Pakistan Resolution of 1940, that Pakistan came into existence, no other assembly passed this resolution unquote (see reference 1).

Given the fact that the Sindh Parliament and the Sindhi Muslim leaders very much wanted the creation of Pakistan, later for some of the very same Sindhis, it turned out to have been a misguided effort. Some of the original leaders who wanted partition even recanted their original intentions after seeing the practical results of opening the "Pandora’s box", but repenting for one’s mistakes never changes history.

In Sindh the expectation was that the lot of the Sindhi Muslims will improve with the departure of the educated, urbanized and in some cases wealthy Sindhi Hindus. But, this was not to happen because of the arrival of the Muslims from UP and other parts of British India, and the systemic preferential treatment given to them starting by the Liaquat Ali Khan administration. Subsequent governments in Pakistan also continued to support the economic dominance of the Muhajirs and the Punjabis in one way or other, for example: 8 million acres of land have been given to non-Sindhis; dams have been built upstream reducing water for irrigation that millions of acres are in danger of deforestization and becoming a desert again – an environmental disaster in the making.

These Urdu-speaking Muslims took over the properties (via the claims process incidentally the Sindhi Muslims were prevented by law to purchase the Hindu properties) as well as the jobs and businesses vacated by the Sindhi Hindus; and what was not taken over by the Muhajirs in the 1950s was later doled out to the Punjabis over the next 30-45 years for serving in the military. By settling down in the key urban centers such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukker, Nawabshah and Mirpur-Khas, the non-Sindhis also controlled the development of new businesses to a large extent. In short, the lot of the Sindhi Muslims did not improve economically by the creation of Pakistan. But leaving aside the economic aspects of this sad saga, the real loss for ALL Sindhis has been the loss of our language and culture in the urban areas of Sindh itself – this has been supported to a large extent by various governments and by the political/terrorist wing of the Muhajirs called the "Muhajir Quomi Mahaz (MQM)". Most recently the MQM has even started to demand separation of Karachi and other areas occupied by the Muhajirs in Sindh into a separate province or country. This is a long and sad story that needs to be understood by Sindhis; in short Sindh does not belong to the Sindhis anymore.

With this as background let us look at what has happened to the Sindhi Hindus left behind in the continuing turmoil going on in Sindh. Unlike the Sindhi Hindus who left for India and later for the world, and over time devoted their energies to entrepreneurial and economic success (albeit sacrificing some aspects of the culture in the process), the Sindhi Hindus in Sindh have continued to live the life of third class citizens in a country where they have even fewer civil or human rights as compared to other citizens of Pakistan, including the Muslim Sindhis. Compared to the phenomenal progress Sindhi Hindus have made from Hong Kong to Hawaii, it is a miracle that some of these Hindus are even alive, or not been converted to Islam or Christianity. With the continuing increase in Islamic fundamentalism there is the pressure to conform to the religion and views of the majority.

More recently it has come to light, primarily because of the efforts of a human rights organization, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), that thousands of Kohlis (indigenous Sindhi Hindus) and some Sindhi Muslims have been in bonded labor for decades on the lands of some of the feudal lords (the big zamindars). The word bonded labor is a sanitized way of saying: ‘slave’, ‘rape’, ‘work without compensation’ and other similar atrocities including murder. The HRCP recently made public the fact that there are over 40 private jails in Sindh run by the feudal lords, and they are working to gain the freedom of those imprisoned illegally. In cases when some of these Sindhis have run away from their jailers, they are being supported by various Christian missionaries with the obvious intent of proselytizing them. The question to ask of all the Sindhis is: what are we going to do for those left behind and now in such dire circumstances?

Before we ask this question of ourselves, let us review what the American and world wide Jewish organizations did when the communists were committing similar atrocities to the Jews in USSR? Did they sit idly? Or did they launch one of the world’s most coordinated project to ‘Save the Soviet Jews’. As part of that program thousands migrated to Israel, the United States, Europe and Latin America. They threatened the Soviet politicians and bureaucrats, they bribed them, they cajoled them, they wooed them but they didn’t forget their brothers and sisters.

At this time the Government of Pakistan and India have for the most part been silent on the plight of the Sindhis in general and the Sindhi Hindus in particular. The question for all us Sindhis is what are we going to do? Are we going to go the way of the Jews and their successful efforts in the case of the Soviet Jews, or are we just going to continue to concentrate our attention to the usual things such as accumulation of more wealth, and the building of bigger temples?

We all should contemplate the answer, and consider taking proactive action.

REFERENCES:
1. World Sindhi Congress Document: MAH/WSC/INDUS/24 of 29th May 1996 London, U.K.

Agha Gul's reply to Shankar

saaeeN Shankar-a,
Good to hear from you after all these years.
I think you may not realize what one statement might mean to some readers (not much in the long essay, but I think a very significant point). You write, "In Sindh the expectation was that the lot of the Sindhi Muslims will improve with the departure of the educated, urbanized and in some cases wealthy Sindhi Hindus."

I wonder, whose expectation you are thinking of? Not the haris who were oppressed by zamindars, not the scholars who shared a literary tradition (unlike Punjab where Muslims had already started writing in Urdu before partition), not even the politicians who were disempowered. Perhaps a few zamindars who owed some money lenders.

But it is important to remember that the exodus was orchestrated by a Pakistani Govt. at the highest level and happened much after the immediate chaos of partition, a govt. imported wholesale from India and not controlled by Sindhis. The Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan wanted to bring his ilk to create a constituency for himself. No Sindhis rioted, and history records a few poor Sindhi Muslims who risked and lost their lives defending Hindus (I will post some cases later).

You will be surprised at how many Sindhis in diaspora confuse the history of Sindh with what they have heard about partition -- the genocide and ethnic cleansing in other parts of India. The point to realize is that Sindhis do not riot about religion; the popular religion is even syncretic, e.g. with many shrines serving as common spiritual centers to all Sindhis.
sadaaeeN GaDu, agha gul

Shankar's reply to Agha Gul

Gul SaaeeN,
In a message dated 96-07-19 12:15:44 EDT, Gul Agha wrote:
"SaaeeN, let's be precise about our history and not forget the unusual circumstances lest we ignore the sacrifices of our martyrs. Sindh's Chief Minister saaeeN Allah Bux Soomro, a staunch opponent of partition, under whose govt. the resolution for Pakistan did not receive a single vote in 1937, was assassinated; the British worked hard for the Muslim League in the fresh elections they called, and a majority for the Pakistan resolution was secured only with the explicit votes of British appointees to the Assembly, not by an elected majority. Even that majority proved ephemeral: the British prevented the Sindh Assembly from meeting to revoke the vote although it was clear the opponents had the votes."

wadi mehar-ba-neen taah-han ji, jo taah-han he ‘comments and clarifications’ dyn-naa

What you say is probably correct in the historical context, but the fact is, that is all in the past, and nothing can be done about that. I have limited knowledge about history and so will concede to you, but all the same we can discuss it all we want, it will not change the reality of 1947. But, we can and should think about what can be done about what is going on today and will go on in the future.

The fact is that the Sindhis in general are persecuted within the framework of Pakistan, but the reality is that the Sindhi Hindus are in a much worse position; you might remember the murder of Ashok Kumar Nankani, Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Sindh University Engineering College, Jamshoro in 1973 when both the federal and provincial governments was ruled by Sindhis (Bhutto and Talpur respectively); the continued attacks on Hindus whenever there is any Hindu/Muslim problem in India; most recently over a hundred temples were attacked in Pakistan when the Ayodha mosque (one) was destroyed in India (only exception was Sadbela in Sukkur which was guarded by the authorities), these guys are so stupid that they even attacked several churchs; the continuing decline in the Hindu population due to migration and conversions.....

The main thesis of my essay/presentation will be to urge the Sindhi Hindus to do something, anything!!

The question I might be asked is: What?

Answer: If Ross Perot can arrange a commando raid by ex green beret (read mercenary) inside Iran to rescue several Americans from the mullahs, why can’t the Hindujas?? If the American Jews can bribe the Russian politicians/bureaucrats to load several jumbo jets a week with Russian Jews for Tel Aviv and JFK, what is stopping us, the world wide Sindhi community, to set up a fund to ‘buy’ the freedom of the Kohlis from the Sindhi Zamindars and get them out of there. Why shouldn’t we ask the US Government to give the Kohlis refugee status here in the US? Heck, some of the Sindhis can even buy an island in the Caribbean to settle them.

At this time there appears to be no interest by many of the Sindhi Hindus in the what is going on in Sindh, perhaps this issue will cause us to become ‘passionate’ about Sindh again; but again it might be wishful thinking!!

Sadaaeen Gud, Shankar

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