States and wars are an outcome of each other. A state has justified legitimacy over the use of violence to maintain peace and order in a justice oriented manner for the healthy regulation of socio-economic activities.
Wars are the history (or ‘his-story’ in terms of feminism) of our generations. The notion of a peaceful, harmonious, war-free, non-racists, non-extremists and non-chauvinistic world however has to find an appropriate path for the materialization not through the slogans but essentially through the real, practical and pragmatic transformations and reforms within and around the human society, and essentially within the state apparatus of the countries.
Juxtaposing to the theoretical aspects of anarchism, the time has not yet come for human society to cede from the institution of the state, because it will ultimately happen through the evolutionary process of transformation in and around the human society and the societal institutions. Therefore, a new world would be impossible without certain sets of reforms within existing state-apparatus in the various human societies. This ultimately would change and re-determine the nature and health of society-state relation and interaction.
Unmaking of warsWars, in the form of feuds, historically were the business of collective communities in the pre-class formation of society. Later on, this role was undertaken by the warlords of the fiefdoms andtribes. Due to industrialization and urbanization of human society on the broader scale, wars became a fundamental characteristic of the early nation-states. Today, war-making is no doubt a sole realm of the state authorities. The decisions of war-making todayare takenin accordance with the proclaimed national, regional, continental and international interests.In the political course of contemporary socio-economic history, a twofold set of stakeholders has emerged around the world that have a decisive say in the war-making process – the inter-dependence of weapon and natural resources industry, and narrowly limited states owned think tank groups.
The contours of this twofold phenomenon are basically the practices of a non-representative process of determining and defining the national interests, and the unsustainable strategies to attain these interests. An unsustainable strategy is a prolonged international engagement in a region or country which does not have appropriate exist strategy; has lesser or no human damages; minimum or no specific impacts on the ecology; and the indigenous population friendly framework. The broader loopholes in the strategic engagements, war-making around the world and unsustainable strategies for attaining interests have given birth today to a kind of global anarchy.
There can be two important aspects of possible global transformation in the context of state-society relations, and particularly with reference to the broader world peace. The world powers and the countries that have heavy-weapon industry may consider the investment and industrial infrastructure transformation to certain extent from weapon industries into soft defense technology so that at least niche of the trade and market demand factors behind the war-making may be minimized.
Since the developing countries are gradually becoming self-reliant in the basic heavy weapon industries, which is mostly owned by the states in the developing countries, the weapon industry into the developed world would ultimately shirk in upcoming decades due to natural reduction in the demand.
“This terrible tragedy has shaken the conscience of the world”- Indian PM talked to his Pakistani counterpart and he appeals that schools all over Indian territory will observe 2-minute silence for Pakistan victims- Terrorism is a global phenomenon- A menace who is shattering our societies and killing our children and their hopes and dreams- Entire globe has standup to support us on PESHAWAR TRAGEDY- A visionary leadership has to capitalize this unprecedented international support- Pakistan has to behave like a reliable not hostile neighbor to its neighbouring states- PAK-INDIA peace is essential to kill terrorism in the region- Indian PM MODIs announcement of 2 minutes silence in schools of all over India is a great diplomatic and human gesture- let us play our role and do our part of job to illuminate terror from our land.T
MITHI: Two elderly turbaned men wearing traditional dhotis were gossiping in Dhatki, the language spoken in Tharparkar and Umerkot districts of Sindh. One introduced himself as Bheru Menghwar and the other as Faqir Muhammad Dars, both residents of Munghat village, some 100 kilometres away from Mithi Town.
Munghat is an oasis of religious harmony in a country where minority communities often complain of discrimination and persecution. This peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims is not unusual for this impoverished desert district where a sense of togetherness transcends all ethnic and communal affiliations.
We, Hindus and Muslims, have lived like one family in this village for the last 200 years. Not a single communal feud has ever been reported that could have threatened communal harmony here. We share each other’s joys and grief.
Not only do we live together, but also share a common graveyard to bury our dead. There is just one thin border line. One side is for Hindus and other for Muslims, said Faqir Dars, 85.
According to local people, the Hindus participate in Muslim religious festivals like Eid and Ashura-e-Muharram. Similarly, Muslims attend Hindu festivals like Diwali and Raksha Bandhan. Many Hindu women also tie Rakhi to their Muslim brothers.
“Many Hindus set up Sabeel for mourners in Muharram, and Muslims in many areas of Tharparkar don’t eat beef out of respect for Hindus who consider the cow as sacred,” said local journalist Khatao Jani. “These people are socially integrated, which is why there has been no dispute between Hindus and Muslims. Generally too, the crime rate in the district is negligible,” he said.
According to the 1998 census, 64% Muslims and 36% Hindus live in Tharparkar, but not a single incident of forced conversion, kidnapping for ransom and extortion has been reported here in recent memory.
Excerpt; The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law, with the Roadmap for Peace, with official American policy, with the wishes of a majority of its own citizens–and honors its own previous commitments–by accepting its legal borders. All Arab neighbors must pledge to honor Israel’s right to live in peace under these conditions. The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories. (p. 216)
Thanks to A. R. Rehman. Sindhi Sufi song “Moonkhy Takht Chhadayo” in Bollywood movie “Highway”. Music: Yash Raj. – – Sindhi the language of love and universal peace.
Veteran soldiers from the Indian and Pakistani armed forces started their annual peace initiative in Delhi with a discussion where they called for a paradigm shift in the relations of the two neighbouring countries.
Organised under the aegis of the India Pakistan Soldiers’ Initiative (IPSI), the event saw the Indian chapter hosting an 18-member strong delegation of retired Pakistan armed force members and their families.
“Both our populations today have far less of collective memory of India and Pakistan being a part of one dominion. This, in my understanding, is a conducive climate for peace. However, from what I have observed, Indians in their thoughts remain frozen in the psyche of the 60s. But Pakistanis have moved on to the 21st century,” Congress MP and IPSI Chairperson Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former diplomat, said at the event on Friday.
The leader of the Pakistani delegation, former ambassador Lt. Gen. (retd.) Humayun Bangash, stressed the need to bust myths and clarify perceptions.
“I have lost my brother, who was the police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to a suicide terrorist strike. And there are many like me in my country who are victims. Not every terror attack in India is planned by the Pakistan Army,” he said.
From the Indian side, Maj. Gen. (retd.) M.A. Naik remarked that it was fitting that ex-servicemen got the opportunity to talk about peace.
“After spending 39 years in the Army where we planned on check-mating the other side, after retiring when I got this opportunity it felt very odd. But come to think of it, who can understand the value of peace better than those who have lost friends, relatives and colleagues to violence,” he said.
Dalai Lama Urges Peace In Myanmar, Asks Monks To ‘Remember The Buddhist Faith’
As the violence in Myanmar continues, the Dalai Lama urged monks to act according to the peaceful principles of their religion and told them to “remember the Buddhist faith.”
The Dalai Lama made his remarks to reporters at an annual human rights conference in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. He went on to say that there was “too much emphasis on ‘we’ and ‘they'” in the world, and declared that “this century should be a century of dialogue, not wars.”
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority have been the main victims of the sectarian clashes that last year left around 200 people dead in the state of Rakhine, and a further 140,000 without homes. They are especially vulnerable as about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims are deprived of citizenship rights due to discriminatory policies.
Human society needs to adopt new ‘Ten Commandments’ for the salvation of human beings, the earth, and the life over it. The era of red, green, blue, and saffron tinted ideological states is over. Human society has evolved, throughout the course of its history, some basic values, and principles on which it has repeatedly tried to offer humanity the maximum possible equity, justice, prosperity, and peace.
No doubt, however, these values can never be attained in the absolute terms, therefore have always remained relative.
The evolution of religions, philosophies, doctrines and sociopolitical theories has always directed to these basic virtues, which is aimed to create new human and thereby a new human society.
After thousands years of transcending, the human society once again is at the verge of transcending process for a new order of collective survival, prosperity and liberation in broader terms.
It cannot voyage through the time without following seven pliers, which essentially will lead to global justice.
1) All forms of life including human beings have equal right over what is offered by nature on the globe. Human is a higher form of consciousness and is more responsible to the earth and all forms of life over it and on other planets in the universe as well.
2) Rights ensuring human and socioeconomic development that strengthens collectivism and integratedness will lead the individuals and collectives to the social, cultural, and economic liberties and liberations. It requires a new kind of statecraft, political discourse, culture, and development initiatives.
3) Economic self-reliance and livelihood security combined with rights are the foundations of development and human prosperity in the individual societies and around the globe.
4) The people could only achieve the climax of democracy when the theory of ‘government by the people’ transforms state-society relations into the governance by the people.
5) Justice and Peace are essentials for the human society. If the policies by states, governments, political parties and other social impact making forums are in contradiction with this, they will not only be counterproductive and retrogressive but retaliating as well.
6) Diversity in all of its forms, within the parameters of devised social systems, is a beauty of contemporary human social web and it has emerged on the foundations of modern human and industrial development.
7) An elevated social order is impossible without a necessarily healthier political discourse and culture, which will guaranty social, cultural, and spiritual prosperity. Only spiritually rich and elevated individuals can be the cornerstone of liberated human society. Individual and collective social actions need to be non-violent for the sustenance of human existence.
8) Whatever is offered by nature on the globe as well as in the universe is the collective human property. Individuals have only right on what they humanly produce.
9) Offending nature would retaliate in higher velocity to the human existence. The time has come when all manmade actions need to harmonious with the natural being.
10) Mafias have started dominating the statecraft in the majority nation-states. Revising the role of states and making the nation-states more humanistic is the only path to avoid upcoming global anarchy.
Almost all continents are witnessing anarchy of various forms. The time has come when world needs to sit together on the brewing global anarchy having its deep foundations in the local and global social injustice. Let the construction win over the global soul.
“On this International Day of Peace, let us pledge to teach our children the value of tolerance and mutual respect. Let us invest in the schools and teachers that will build a fair and inclusive world that embraces diversity. Let us fight for peace and defend it with all our might.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
People in India & Pakistan: Don’t be duped & deceived again by the warmonger & hate-spewing, military & civilian leadership & the ultra-patriotic media. All of them have their own agendas & vested interests. They are the ones responsible for the misery of the people of the sub-continent.
Don’t believe a word that they utter & what the media channels on both sides of the border propagate. Ask tough questions. Look for truth. Call for hard facts & proofs. Call for an impartial, international inquiry into cross border violations. Tell them to end poisonous propaganda against each other. Tell them to work for peace, reduce military budgets & invest in the people.
ISLAMABAD: A draft resolution on peace recommendations for India and Pakistan through trade and other measures were presented by former ambassador Sherry Rehman at Jinnah Institute’s 3rd Islamabad Dialogue which concluded on Friday.
As the two day Islamabad Dialogue came to an end, a number of Indian analysts and Pakistani experts on the region united for a successful dialogue.
BEIJING: Sticking to its stand that Chinese troops have not caused any “provocation” by violating the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, China on Thursday said the incident will not affect bilateral ties or disrupt peace at the borders as both sides are trying to resolve it in a friendly manner.
“I do not agree with your allegation that it is the Chinese side that has caused the provocation between the border troops,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said while replying to questions about the intrusion of Chinese troops at the Depsang Valley in Ladakh.
“China’s troops have never crossed the (LAC) line. China and India are neighbours and the boundary is not demarcated yet.
“It is inevitable for problems to prop up in border areas. When there is a problem it should be resolved through friendly consultations though existing mechanisms and channels,” she said.
“We believe this incident can also be handled and will not affect the peace and stability of the border areas as well as the normal development of China and India relations,” she said.
Urging the media to be patient, she said, “We also believe that the two sides continue to solve the issue in a friendly manner and we will not let the issue affect border peace and security and normal development of China-India relations”.
“We hope relevant media can keep patience and create favourable conditions for the two countries to solve this issue through friendly consultations,” she said.
The spokesperson said the situation on the Sino-Indian border is peaceful and stable.
“Just want to tell you that the current situation in the border area is peaceful and stable. Both China and India have the willingness to solve the dispute through peaceful negotiations and consultations.
“In the past three days I have repeatedly stressed China’s point and now I would like to reiterate that Chinese troops have always acted in strict compliance to relevant treaty and protocol between the two countries regarding the protection of security of the areas around the LAC,” she said.
China is committed to peace and security of the border areas as well as the negotiated settlement of the boundary issue left over from history, she said.
Asked about reports that the Chinese troops were insisting on Indian army to remove certain fortifications in that area, she said “since I am not in the frontier, so I do not know the latest development of the situation…Both China and India have the willingness to solve the dispute through peaceful negotiations and consultations”.
President of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) Jamil Daudi said in his statement; SANA is a secular organization to its core, in the true sense of the word, meaning that it doesn’t believe in the discrimination on the basis of one’s faith or lack of faith whatever the case may be. SANA, like Sindh, belongs to all the peace loving Sindhis no matter what religion or faith they believe in.
He said, I would request all the members of SANA and all the SANA-list members to please follow the spirit of Sindh, i.e., tolerance for each other and for all the fellow members of the organization, and all human beings at large. Let’s join hands to do good, as Sindhi, we believe in making the world a safer place to live in & spread love & peace.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, February 25, 2013.
Calgarian Sindhis met over lunch last month where a vast majority of friends attended the program along with their families. We celebrated this program with a theme of ‘Latif Day’ and encouraged our youth to speak about sufi poet Shah. The objective was to have our kids understand Sindh’s heritage and the life of our great poet of peace, Shah Latif. This gesture was very well praised by all the attendees. The beauty of this program was the enthusiastic attendees who spared no single minute but to get involved in our traditional Katchehri.
Courtesy: SANA list + Sindhi e-lists, February 14, 2013.
New York: Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, people from both nations settled in the US came together here to spread the message of “peace-mongering” at a ‘global peace vigil’ where they appealed to governments to engage in dialogue to resolve disputes.
The ‘India-Pakistan Peace Now Global Vigil’ was held yesterday across cities including Boston, Karachi, Lahore, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Toronto and Washington.
In New York, the vigil was held at Union Square near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and was attended by people of Indian and Pakistani origin, who stressed on the message of “peace-mongering instead of war-mongering.”
People participating in the vigil called for the need to ratchet down tension between India and Pakistan and “toning down the war hype” in the aftermath of the killing of soldiers along the Line of Control earlier this month.
People held banners that read, ‘Hope for peace’, ‘Down with war-hype’, ‘India-Pakistan friends across LoC’ and ‘Stay the peace course.’
“It makes no sense for India and Pakistan to have the level of tension we have now. A friendlier neighbourhood would be good for both countries. It does no good for Pakistan to have tension with a neighbour like India and for India to have an unstable neighbour in Pakistan,” organiser of the vigil here Ibrahim Sajid Malick said.
Beena Sarwar, a journalist from Pakistan based in Cambridge and one of the organisers of the vigil in Boston, said people from both nations have felt a “disconnect” between the “media hype” and at the people to people level over the tension between India and Pakistan.
Nearly 50 people participated in the event organised near Harvard University by the South Asia Centre, Alliance for Secular and Democratic South Asia, Harvard South Asian Association and Harvard Kennedy School South Asia Caucus.
A moment of silence was held for soldiers killed on both sides of the LoC as people called for an “uninterrupted and uninterruptible” dialogue process between the two nations.
Sarwar said among messages that people sought to spread through the vigil was that it is time that the governments and armies of both nations listened to the voice of the people rather than trying to lead the people into war mongering.
Initiated by an Aman ki Asha supporter in New Delhi, this global event on Sunday, Jan. 27 is taking place in different cities at different times around the world. It invites Indians and Pakistanis and those who want peace between the two countries, to come together in their respective cities. The purpose of the vigils is to urge the governments to continue the dialogue, and not give in to the war hype being created by some sections of sections of society. The vigil statement is online at this link (text below)
Confirmed venues and times so far:
Bradford: 2-3 pm, Student Central, J.B. Priestly Library, University of Bradford, U.K.
Candlelight vigil to pay tribute to Martyr BASHIR BILOUR
Please join us on 26.12.2012 at 3 pm at Hyderabad Press Club Road to remember and pay tribute to Bashir Bilour and other victims of the suicide bombing at Dhaki Nalbandi, Peshawar, Pakhtunkhwa. Please join us to resolve our firm commitment to defeat extremism and fundamentalism. Please join us to say no to TALIBANISATION of our progressive society, people and land. Please join us to demonstrate that the only way to defeat religious bigotry and fanaticism. We simply do have two options either we fight or confess defeat so let us unite to fight and win the war. Please join us having candles in your hands, tears in your eyes and optimism in your hearts.
Today, the Sun did not rise! Today, the Moon too went mourning! Today, the stars ceased to twinkle! Today, Maestro who refurbished with longing and yearning the souls of the seekers of Truth has passed away! Pandit Ravi Shankar jee has reinvented and rejuvenated Raaggu Sindhi Bhairvee.
اَڄُ نَہ اوطاقُن ۾؍ سي طالِبَ تَنواريِن؍
(شاھُ ڀِٽاٸيؒ)
“Acju na otaaqun mein, sei taliba tanwaareen”
(Shah Bhittai)
“Alas! Worthy devotees found not in courtyards today”
(Shah Bhittai: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
Such GREATS are born once in a lifetime! All lovers of Raaggs and Kalaams and Classical music will forever miss the MAGIC of Maestro Ravi Shankar. May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace!
Sitar is an instrument which really perplexes most Westerners. Using this musical instrumeny, Ravi Shankar helped connect the world through music. The sitar virtuoso hobnobbed with the Beatles, became a hippie musical icon and spearheaded the first rock benefit concert as he introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over nearly a century.
“Preima akharu paarrhei, SatiGura manu seetal kayo” (Saamee)
“Taught me lessons of love assiduously,
True Master enlightened my soul graciously”
(Saamee Chanrai: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
Ravi Shankar was the legendary Indian instrument ‘sitar’ maestro and composer. He was most esteemed musical Ambassador and a singular phenomenon in the classical music worlds of East and West.
“Ravi Shankar has brought me a precious gift and through him I have added a new dimension to my experience of music. To me, his genius and his humanity can only be compared to that of Mozart’s.” (Yehudi Menuhin)
Listen and be enamoured, enriched and enlightened by the super rendition of Sindhi Bhairavee by the great Maestro here….
Pandit Ravi Shankar jee was always ahead of his time. He has written three concertos for sitar and orchestra, last one of which in 2008. He has also authored violin-sitar compositions for the world renowned Maestro, Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal, music for Hosan Yamamoto, master of the Shakuhachi and Musumi Miyashita – Koto virtuoso, and has collaborated with Phillip Glass (Passages).
آديسي اُٿي ويا؍ مَڑھيۇن مۇن ماريِن؍
(شاھُ ڀِٽاٸيؒ)
“Aadeisee uthee wayaa, marrhiyuun muun mareen”
(Shah Bhittai)
“Noble disciples gone forever, their solemn absence does slay”
(Shah Bhittai: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
As a performer, composer, teacher and writer, he has done more for music than any other musician. He is well known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. This however, he did only after long years of dedicated study under his illustrious guru Baba Allaudin Khan and after making a name for himself in India.
Always ahead of his time, Ravi Shankar has written three concertos for sitar and orchestra, last one of which in 2008. He has also authored violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal, music for Hosan Yamamoto, master of the Shakuhachi and Musumi Miyashita – Koto virtuoso, and has collaborated with Phillip Glass (Passages).
اَڄُ پڻ اُتَرَ پارَ ڏي، ڪارا ڪَڪَرَ ڪيسَ؛
(شاهه ڀٽائيؒ)
“Acju pinnu utara paara ddei, kaaraa kakara keisa”
(Shah Bhittai)
“Gloom ‘n darkness here ‘n there abound , today as well;
Black murky clouds on Northerly horizon, today as well.”
(Shah Bhittai: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
Ravi Shankar is an honourary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the United Nations International Rostrum of composers. He has received many awards and honours from his own country and from all over the world, including fourteen doctorates, the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan, Desikottam,Padma Bhushan of 1967, the Music Council UNESCO award 1975, the Magsaysay Award from Manila, two Grammy’s, the Fukuoka grand Prize from Japan, the Polar Music Prize of 1998, the Crystal award from Davos, with the title ‘Global Ambassador’ to name some.
In 1986 Ravi Shankar was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house of Parliament.
Deeply moved by the plight of more than eight million refugees who came to India during the Bangla Desh Freedom struggle from Pakistan, Ravi Shankar wanted to help in any way he could. He planned to arrange a concert to collect money for the refugees. He approached his dear friend George to help him raise money for this cause.
This humanitarian concern from Ravi Shankar sowed the seed of the concept for the Concert for Bangla Desh. With the help of George Harrison, this concert became the first magnus effort in fund raising, paving the way for many others to do charity concerts.
ھۇجي جيٸَ کي جياريِن؍ سي لاھۇتي لَڏي ويا؍
(شاھُ ڀِٽاٸيؒ)
“Huu jei jeeya khei jiyaareen, sei laahuutee laddei wayaa.”
(Shah Bhittai)
“Filial ones nourished our souls, no more in motherland stay.”
(Shah Bhittai: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
His recording “Tana Mana”, released on the private Music label in 1987, brought Mr. Shankar’s music into the “New age” with its unique method of combining traditional instruments with electronics.
He has been described as the ‘National Treasure of Sub-continent” by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There is never going to be another Maestro Ravi Shankar! A supreme legend, he was far above each and every legend in the field of arts, music and entertainment. And, there is never going to be another 12.12.12 – that day in History when the Master Sitarist breathed his last at the age of 92 years.
جي ساہ سنڀارَ، سي اَڄ
جن جي ساہ سنڀارَ، سي اَڄ پَنھوارَ پَري ٿِيا،
(سَچَلُ سَرمَست، سُر مارئي، ۱داستان پهريون)
“Jani jee saaha sanbhaara, sei acju panwhaaraparei thiyaa”
“Those beloveds in my soul preserved, alas! Away today afar they parted!”
(Sachal Sarmast, Melody of Marui, 1 Ch.1: Translated by Ahmed Makhdoom)
This is my humble tribute to the Guru who blessed the souls of many all over the world with his remarkable music and compositions. In grief and mourning.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, December 12, 2012.
– Taliban says it shot ‘infidel’ Pakistani teen for advocating girls’ rights
By Haq Nawaz Khan, By Michele Langevine Leiby
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A 14-year-old Pakistani activist who won international acclaim for speaking out for girls denied education under the Taliban was shot and seriously wounded Tuesday on her way home from school, authorities said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on ninth-grader Malala Yousafzai, who officials said was shot in the head by at least one gunman who approached a school bus in Mingora, a city in the scenic Swat valley in the country’s northwest.
Yousafzai was flown by helicopter to a military hospital in Peshawar, where officials said a bullet was lodged near her spine. Surgeons were unable to operate immediately because of swelling in her skull. ….
….. The lone source Ajmal sahib has cited is not a thoroughly researched book but a ‘polemical brochure’ written by the then-secretary of the Sindh Assembly Congress Party, PV Tahalramani, in November 1947 to persuade the Indian state to intervene in Sindh. Let’s look at the role the Sindhi leadership in the days immediately following Partition and compare it with the role of some key figures of the central government on the matter of anti-Hindu riots. Because of space constraints I will only briefly refer to the political leanings and the role of the Sindhi Hindu leadership of that time in facilitating the migration of Hindus from Sindh. The exodus of Hindus from Sindh cannot be seen in isolation from the influx of refugees in Sindh and the setting up of the central government of the newly-founded state of Pakistan in Karachi, Sindh.
Sindh’s governor, Francis Mundie, described Sindh in the days leading up to Partition as a place which “characteristically carries on almost as if nothing had happened or was about to happen”. It changed when, according to Hamida Khuhro, Karachi rapidly became “a vast refugee camp”, making Jinnah “extremely worried about the mass exchange of population which was taking place and the bloodshed that accompanied it…. In fact Jinnah told Ayub Khuhro, premier of Sindh, categorically that he expected to retain the minority communities in Pakistan. Khuhro fully agreed with Jinnah. Hindus, he felt, ‘were an essential part of the society and economy of the province’. The events took an ugly turn in Karachi and Hyderabad (where) the new arrivals were entering and occupying houses where the owners, particularly Hindus, were still living, and throwing out the owners”.
Congress leaders advised Hindus to leave Sindh which was viewed by the Sindhi Muslim leadership as a ploy to deprive Sindh of its merchants, bankers, and sanitation workers. According to Brown University’s associate professor of history Vazira Zamindar’s book The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007): “Ayub Khuhro, the premier of Sindh, and other Sindhi leaders also attempted to retain Sindh’s minorities, for they also feared a loss of cultural identity with the Hindu exodus.” The Sindh government “attempted to use force to stem” the exodus “by passing the Sindh Maintenance of Public Safety Ordinance” in September 1947. On September 4, 1947 curfew had to be imposed in Nawabshah because of communal violence. It turned out that the policies of a local collector resulted in the exodus of a large Sikh community of Nawabshah to make room for an overflow of refugees from East Punjab. The Sindh government took stern action to suppress the violence.
The Sindh government set up a Peace Board comprising Hindu and Muslim members to maintain order in the troubled province. PV Tahilramani was secretary of the Peace Board. He is the one who rushed to Khuhro’s office on January 6, 1948, at around 11 am to inform the chief minister that the Sikhs in Guru Mandir areas of Karachi were being killed. According to Khuhro, senior bureaucrats and police officials were nowhere to be found and he rushed to the scene at around 12.30 pm where he saw “mobs of refugees armed with knives and sticks storming the temples”. Khuhro tried to stem the violence and Jinnah was pleased with his efforts.
The prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was angry with Khuhro when he went to see him on January 9 or 10. Liaquat said to Khuhro: “What sort of Muslim are you that you protect Hindus here when Muslims are being killed in India. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself!” In the third week of January 1948, Liaquat Ali Khan said the Sindh government must move out of Karachi and told Khuhro to “go make your capital in Hyderabad or somewhere else”. Liaquat said this during a cabinet meeting while Jinnah quietly listened. The Sindh Assembly passed a resolution on February 10, 1948, against the Centre’s impending move to annex Karachi. The central government had already taken over the power to allotment houses in Karachi. Khuhro was forced to quit and Karachi was handed over to the Centre in April 1948.
The above facts made me write that the violence against Sindhi Hindus and their mass migration to India was a tragic loss scripted, orchestrated and implemented by non-Sindhis in Sindh. I will happily withdraw my claim when furnished with the evidence to the contrary.
When the world was still to be born
When Adam was still to receive his form
Then my relationship began
When I heard the Lord’s Voice
A voice sweet and clear
I said “Yes” with all my heart
And Formed a bond with the land (Sindh) I love
When all of us were one, My bond then began.
– Secular Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif ( 1689 – 1752 )
St. Patrick’s Peace Parade, When: Sunday, March 18, 2012, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Where: assemble on D Street between 1st and 3rd Street • Broadway MBTA stop • South Boston
Please join Veterans For Peace and other Peace and social / economic Justice organizations for this historic 2nd Annual “People’s Peace Parade” in South Boston.
Themes for the Day:
How is the War Economy Working for You
Bring the Troops Home and Take Care of Them When They Get Here
Cut Military Spending, Save Jobs, Teachers, Fireman & Police
Peace Is Patriotic! Not a Dirty Word
No War on Iran
Last year, Veterans For Peace were denied permission to walk in South Boston’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The stated reason given by the Allied War Veterans Council was that the organizers “did not want the word peace associated with the word veteran”. ….
Sobho Gianchandani is a prominent Sindhi revolutionary who remains a source of inspiration for many generations of Sindhi activists, writers and social reformers. Mr. Gianchandani, known lovingly as Comrade Sobho, has been associated with many political and campaign groups, including the Indian National Congress and Khudai Khidmatgar and is the founder of many progressive, democratic and nationalist campaigns in Sindh. After the partition, Pakistani authorities pressured him – like millions of other Sindhi Hindus — to leave Sindh and migrate to India, but Sobho refused, and in consequence he was forbidden to travel abroad until 1998. Sobho was imprisoned for more than a year during the British rule, and after the partition, he fell under the wrath of Pakistani establishment and has many jail sentences to his credit, including one in 1971 for opposing military sponsored genocide in Bangladesh. Comrade Sobho and G. M. Syed were close associates and comrades in different aspects of the Sindhi rights movement. The G. M. Syed Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award is bestowed on Mr. Gianchandani in appreciation of his life-long struggle for emancipation for Sindhis and other oppressed peoples of South Asia and in recognition of his grass-roots efforts to promote tolerance, justice, communal harmony and peace. …..
A clique of hoodlums, urchins and loafers came out on streets of some wild gang-infested areas of Karachi, the bustling capital city and business-centre of Sindh. These nefarious and abominable elements gathered in groups, pasted and posted some slogans and posters on the walls of shops and houses and raised shrill slogans for the creation of a ‘Muhajir’ province. No Sir, it is not me who call them ‘Muhajirs,’ they themselves, call ‘Muhajirs,’ meaning ‘refugees’.
These belonged to a hitherto unknown wicked fraternity known as “Mohajir Sooba Tehrik (MST), which translated in simple English means, “Refugee Province Movement.” Is there any such parallel example anywhere in the world, where the ‘refugees,’conquer and demand a separate state within a state for themselves?
The numerous nations that formed a Federation of Pakistan were Bengali, Sindhi, Baloch, Punjabi, Seraiki, Kashmiri, and Pashto. Each of these nations had their own language, culture, heritage, history, arts, music, norms, traditions and historical land.
Millions of innocent lives were lost during unfortunate partition of the sub-continent of south Asia and then the urdu Language was imposed as a national language on the Nations who had formed the federation of Pakistan. This created restlessness in Bengal and after sacrificing millions of innocent lives on the question of language, Bengal became Bangladesh, a Sovereign, Independent and Free nation – free from unfair rule of the security establishment of the deep state . Today, Balochistan is on the same path which was taken by East Pakistan (Banglades) yesterday. The security establishment of the deep state continuously working on its policies with their subjugation of Sindh and Balochistan and trying to convert Sindhis and Balochs into minority in their historical lands.
Gullible Sindhis who gave them shelter on their historical land but unfortunately it seems that they had no respect whatsoever, Sindh gave them honour and dignity. Sindh accepted them as her own children! Sindh called them ‘Sindhis’ not ‘Muhajirs!’
65 years on – they still have not adopted the language of Sindh. They had never respected and appreciated the glorious and peace loving Sufi culture, norms and traditions of Sindh. They are remain thankless, ungrateful, unappreciative towards Sindh and calling themselves ‘Muhajirs’ and asking for the division of the land of Sindh which is providing them shelter and living.
Now, let me give a piece of advice to them: “Go read the glorious History of Sindh!” Many conquerors entered in Sindh and each time the valiant sons of Sindh fought and sacrifice their lives for their beloved Motherland Sindh and then those tyrannical invaders all left with their tails tucked. If any one doesn’t adopt Sindh and calling and think themselves as invaders then the Sindhis will really treat them and would play their historical role as sons of the soil and sacrifice their lives for the defense of their motherland.
The Indus civilisation is centuries old and the borders of this glorious, illustrious and exalted land of Sindh are historical and inviolable! If any one tries to violate this sanctity of Sindh, or any other force including the conspirators of the deep state, then it will destabilize whole of the region! Therefore, the loyal and filial children of Motherland Sindh are reminding those individuals, “Don’t think about the division of Sindh because it is better for them not to do so.”
Baloch secessionist leader Brahmdagh Bugti says he wants political engagement with Pakistan — but that its military wants war.
Late last month, Zamur Domki and her 12-year-old daughter were driving back to their home in an upmarket Karachi neighbourhood when a black car swerved across the road, blocking their route. Thinking she was a target of an armed robbery, Ms Domki offered the masked men who surrounded the car her jewellery and mobile phone — but the attackers weren’t interested.
An eyewitness recalls that Ms Domki watched in horror as the assassins repeatedly shot her daughter in the chest and neck. Then, it was her turn to die.
Baloch politicians allege the murders, for which no one has been held, were carried out by Pakistan’s intelligence services to send a message to Ms Domki’s brother, Brahmdagh Bugti — a soft-spoken 31-year-old father of three who, from exile in Geneva, leads the region’s largest secessionist party.
Concern over assassinations
In recent months, assassinations of Baloch nationalist politicians and their kin have provoked growing concern. Last year alone, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has reported, there were at least 107 new cases of enforced disappearances. The missing, the commission’s chairperson Zohra Yusuf said, “were increasingly turning up dead.” The United States’ State Department has voiced concern, and political leaders have called for action.
“The hearing showed that there will be no peace in the region without a referendum of self-determination. That cannot be ignored.”
As the sole witness of Baloch ethnicity to speak at the recent Balochistan hearing before the United States Congress, M. Hossein Bor disagrees with comments that he was not relevant to the proceedings.
Not only was he the only witness able to speak as a Baloch, he points out that he also was the only one with deep subject matter expertise in foreign trade and investment in Southwest Asia. From this perspective, he hoped his testimony would have shed light on the unrealised strategic and economic opportunities that an independent Balochistan would provide to Americans, including the ability to contain a rising China and an emerging Iran, prevent an adversarial Pakistan from achieving strategic depth in Afghanistan, and ensure Baloch-American economic prosperity through new energy and mineral resource agreements. However, with little time to prepare for the hearing and only five minutes of allotted time to provide oral testimony, many of these points were not expressed. Bor therefore looks to this post-hearing assessment as a mechanism to share publicly for the first time what he has shared privately with Baloch nationalists and their supporters. As one of the five witnesses called before Congress, it is assured that these remarks will be closely watched by all side to the Baloch debate.
Great Game 2.0
To understand Balochistan, Bor believes that one cannot look at Pakistan’s largest province through the Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) box. In retrospect, this is perhaps one of the strongest contributions that he could have made at the hearing.
Baloch politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistani rule.
By Al Jazeera
In the rugged mountains of southwest Pakistan lies the country’s largest province of Balochistan. Far from the bustling cities of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, this remote region has been the battleground for a 60-year-long insurgency by the Baloch ethnic minority.
“The Baloch people now live in a state of war. Every day, they face injustice. The army and intelligence agents kidnap our young, and we know nothing about them for years. The Baloch people live in a state of war. We will not accept any offers until we regain control over this land. They burn down our homes and then ask us for peace? We are not stupid.” – Baloch Khan, Baloch rebel leader
The ongoing conflict is often called Pakistan’s dirty war, because of the rising numbers of people who have disappeared or have been killed on both sides.
But the uprising against Pakistan’s government has received little attention worldwide, in part because most eyes have been focused on the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in other areas of Pakistan. …
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