US Congressmen ask Musharraf to end persecution of Sindhis (Pakistan)

Already suffering from poverty and extreme drought, the Sindhi community would be greatly challenged if the river constructions continue. ---------------------------------------------------

Several US Congressmen have asked Pervez Musharraf regime to end persecution of Sindhis and restore confidence among them, as the "serious economic imbalance" and neglect of these people threatened the integrity of Pakistan.

"The government's reluctance to address these concerns further marginalises the Sindhis in Pakistan.... Such an economic imbalance threatens the integrity of Pakistan," eleven members of the US House of Representatives said in a hard-hitting letter to Musharraf. The letter was posted on the website of World Sindhi Institute.

Stating that these "concerns" had also been brought to the notice of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali during his recent visit to Washington, they said, "Of greatest and deepest distress for the Sindhis are the Indus River constructions. The most recent plans for the building of the Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam threaten the environmental security and the cultural and economic stability of the Sindh Province."

"Already suffering from poverty and extreme drought, the Sindhi community would be greatly challenged if the river constructions continue. It appears to us that the Pakistani government is ignoring the Sindhis' opposition to the river constructions, expressed through the Sindh Assembly's unanimous vote against them, as well as in daily street protests in Sindh," they said

The woes of Sindhis in Pakistan

Will the Sindhi culture flourish ever again from the ashes of Kot Dijji? A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans.

The Sindhis are known all over our subcontinent as the children of the great river - the Sindhu. Their ancestors once built the state-of-the-art cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Now the archaeologists believe that the civilisation that flourished on the bank of Sindhu river may have built even older structure in Kot Diji, a place 25 kilometre south of Khairpur town. This would then put the date 300 years back to 2800 BC. Sindh’s culture hence, is the oldest in the entire subcontinent. No other ethnic group the region can come even closer to claim that their ancestors lived in India in the distant past as Kot Dijians did long before the birth of Harappan culture. Isn’t that amazing?

To outsiders the terms 'Hindu' and 'Indian' are practically synonymous. This is so because the word Hindu is a distortion of the word Sindhu (river) by the Persians. They converted the letter 'S' to 'H' because the letter 'S' was missing in the ancient Persian script. Therefore, the Persians called the Sindhu as Hindu and all those living beyond the river as 'Hindus.' When Alexander invaded north-western India, they further corrupted the Persian term 'Hindu' to 'Indus.' This was then further corrupted by the Romans to give us the present English term 'Indian.' The Chinese also did their part in tampering the Persian term to derive their terms 'Indu' and 'Hsin Tu' for Indians.

The reason I dealt with the philology part of the word Hindu is simple. I want to emphasise the point that it was our Sindhis whose name gave birth to the word Hindu to describe the people of our entire subcontinent. They were prominent people who roamed the mountainous region of Hindu Kush and did farming on the fertile banks of Sindhu River and its tributaries. However, that was past - more than 2000 years ago. The modern-day Sindhis who are proud of their ancient culture are no longer that mighty ethnic group as they were in the days of yore. Bad times have fallen on them. If things continue like this, they will lose their distinctive identity and will become one with the Muhajir whose culture is now flourishing not only in Karachi but also in other towns of Sindh.

In Sindh or any other part of the world where Mother Nature is not generous enough, people have to rely on river water for irrigating their land for sustainable agriculture. Fortunately, the river Sindhu originates from South West of Tibet and it meanders a 1900-mile path to empty into Arabian Sea. The river starts its long journey from high Himalayan glaciers located in Tibet. The melting snows in spring and summer months also greatly aid the formation of this river. After running a great length in high Himalayas, the river enters Jammu and Kashmir and from there it moves into the dry plains of western Punjab.

In Punjab there are five rivers whose ancient Indian names are mentioned with their modern name. Vipasha (Beas), Vithastha (Jhelum), Iravati (Ravi), Chandrabhaga (Chenab), and Satadru (Sutlej). All the five meet Sindhu River at different places, which then enters the plain of Sindh. Because of this unique situation, Sindhu River could boast a robust flow of water year round. Because of this vast and never-ending flow from five rivers of Punjab, Sindhu became a life-giving river to the arid regions of Sindh. Agriculture could flourish in the desert-like environment of Southeastern Sindh provided canal could be dug for irrigation. No wonder, to ancient people of Sindhu Desh the river and life became the same. In ancient Sanskrit the word Maha Sindhu is synonymous with life. In Bengali literature, the word life (Jivan) is also call “Bhava Sindhu.” It is rather difficult to get away from the word Sindhu in the whole of India. Most likely, the ancient Eastern Indians such as Bengalis, Assamese, Oriyas, Biharis, etc., may have never seen the Sindhu River, but their literature had copiously mentioned the word Sindhu to mean the vastness of life.

From time immemorial, people understood that river gives life. It was true then and it is true now. That is the reason why the people of Sindh are so bothered about one major concern with their water source, i.e., the river Sindhu. The trouble is that Pakistan government decided to erect a second dam—a big one—upstream in Punjab where Soan river, which comes down from NWFP to meet Sindhu River in Punjab at a place just 11 miles north of Kalabagh town. Environmentalists and hydrologists have their misgivings on the proposed dam.

The government of Pakistan had already built another dam at Tarbela, 120 miles north of Kalabagh where Kabul river meets Sindhu. Tarbela Dam was built with a lot of fanfare in 1976. Because of excessive silt, the dam will become inoperative in the next 15-20 years [*Environmental Defense - Kalabagh Dam; http://www.edf.org/programs/International/Dams/AsiaOcenia/c_Kalabagh.html)]. If the dam is constructed, it would inundate about 160,000 hectares of prime agricultural land and it may displace about 250,000 people. Critics of the dam point out that the project will increase salinity and water logging and will destroy mangrove and riverine forests, fisheries all in the downriver areas. The Sindhu delta will also be adversely hit because of the operation of this dam.

The critics say that Punjab will benefit greatly because that is where the hydroelectric power will be generated. According to Pakistan’s Constitution a part of the power revenue will go to the province where the power station will be located. According the to plan, the power plant will be located in Punjab. Punjab will flourish even more because of the dam operation. The neighbouring province NWFP has a different situation. They will house the reservoir at the risk of flooding, but they will not benefit economically as far as the revenue of the power plant goes. The Sindhis feel those river channels in their province will undergo environmental degradation and will not receive the seasonal floodwater that helps them grow crops. That water will be safely stored in the Kalabagh reservoir. The last bone of contention pertains to control of Sindhu river itself. The people of Sindh argue that with the construction of the dam in Punjab they will lose control of water discharge from the great river. Naturally, they will be on the mercy of Punjab for equitable sharing of the river water.

Considering the genuineness of issues, the people of Sindh fear that their future will be jeopardised at the expense of largesse being given to the Punjabis. That is why there is a mass movement in Sindh to block the construction of Kalabagh Damn. The Sindhi activists had been busy over the last 3-4 years to educate their own folks who might be impacted by the construction of this massive dam. They think the Tarbela dam, which was constructed 120 miles north of Kalabagh a quarter century ago had caused irreparable damage to the deltas of the Sindh. They don’t want to see more damage caused by this newly constructed dam. Engineers say that they will be able to control the flows of Sindhu River discharge by the judicious use of these two dams, i.e., Tarbela and Kalabagh.

Also, the power generation through the damn will help the nation achieve self-sufficiency in the production of electricity for nation’s growing industries. However, people of Sindh are not buying this argument. After few years of mild disagreements, the people of Sindh are now openly showing their discomfiture with the government of Pakistan. They started a long march and on April 9, 2001, the protesters, mostly Sindhis, came marching down to Karachi, the most populous city in Sindh. There they faced the brutal police force.

The account of this bloody confrontation between the unarmed civilians and flail and gun-totting policeman came to public via mass mailing through the Internet. It was revealed that police collided with the marchers in various sections of Karachi. Mr. Palijo, 73-year old civil rights Sindhi leader was beaten mercilessly near the Governor House. The protesters were not there to bring down the government, which came to power on October 12, 1999, illegally, by overthrowing a legitimate government. However, the police were brutal while dealing with the protesters.

The Sindhis in Pakistan are confused and frustrated. They are being subjugated by another ethnic race. Since Punjabis are in a majority in Pakistan and they dominate the military establishment and bureaucracy, it is not out of the ordinary that they will dominate other ethnic races in Pakistan. Besides, during 1947 through 1971, Punjabis essentially ran the show in Pakistan. When the Bengalis realised it after 1965 War, they demanded autonomy and in 1970 election, they won the majority of the parliamentary seats. When Punjabi-dominated military refused to yield power to the Bengalis, only then the Bengalis parted and formed their own nation. The cost was staggering.

The question remains—will the Sindhis prepare to go on a head-on-collision with the Punjabi dominated military of Pakistan? Why weren't the Sindhis consulted before deciding to build Tarbela dam?

Sindhis have lost their faith on Pakistan’s politicians who are mostly Punjabis or who are controlled by the Punjabi businessmen and military generals. They have seen their cities ravaged by the onslaught of incoming refugees from India. Their indigenous culture was on the wane ever since Karachi was declared the capital in 1947. Then Liaquat Ali Khan, a Punjabi politician, migrated from East Punjab to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He opened the floodgate of refugees from India. Liaquat Ali Khan did this to have a constituency of his own, which he lacked because he himself was a Muhajir.

Sindhis have suffered enormously both politically and economically for the last half a century. Sindh’s poet, literati, and educationists who were mostly Hindus had left Sindh for the fear of their lives in 1947. That was a big blow to the Muslim Sindhis who were stuck in Jinnah’s Pakistan. Instead of a thriving Sindhi culture they got a transplanted new culture in the cities of Sindh dominated by Muhajirs from Delhi, Agra, Meerut, Allahabad, Lucknow, and even from cities of Madhya Pradesh, and far flung places such as Patna and Benares. The newcomers never understood the Sufi Islam of Sindh nor did they understand the indigenous culture of rural Sindh. All of these have taken their toll and now the Sindhis are realising for the first time that an irreparable damage has already taken place. Is there any proverbial silver lining in the dark clouds hanging in the horizon? Will the Sindhi culture flourish ever again from the ashes of Kot Dijji. These are points to ponder.

from http://www.peacemonger.com/edition2/nrsa.htm

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