We are Sindhis. Sindh is our Mother province, who gave us the name – Sindhi. We are dead, the moment we forget Sindh, treating her as alien land. If we want to be alive, we should never get detached from the roots. Mahatma Gandhi also has said this in following words, inscribed on the walls of Mahatma Gandhi’s native home at Porbandar :-
“Jab hum mool se juda hote hain, tab marte hain. Yeh nahin ki aatma se sharer juda hota hai tab”
No other people, with the sole exception of Indian Parsis, have ever accepted their exile so easily, so permanently, as we Sindhis have. Jews didn’t forget Jerusalem even after wilderness of four thousand years and ultimately succeeded in getting back their homeland of Jerusalem & Israel. Palestinians under the leadership of P.L.O and Yasser Arafat struggled to get their homeland back.
No mother can be alien to her sons, whether they live with her or live elsewhere. We Sindhis, whether we live in Sindh, or in other provinces of India, or live in other overseas countries, can never and should never forget our native Sindh.
It is a fact of history that we Sindhi Hindus have not accepted the partition by our hearts. It was thrust on us and there was no alternative but to suffer till opportune time. Fortunately, Sindhi Muslims also withdrew their recognition and fought for throwing the yoke of theocratic State of Pakistan, under the very leadership of G.M. Sayed, who incidentally, was the mover of Pakistan Resolution in Sindh Assembly.
Sindh sub-nation, consisting of Sindhi Muslims and Sindhi Hindus is, therefore, unanimously determined to remove the cruel effects of partition. The de-recognition of Pakistan ideology by Sindhi Muslims has removed the only irritant between Sindhi Hindus and Sindhi Muslims. We Indian Sindhis, must therefore endeavour to forget and forgive and should strengthen the bonds of friendship and brotherhood between two sets of Sindhis, forced by circumstances to live separately on either side of man made artificial political border. It is a fact that even now there exist communal elements in the Sindhi Muslims, but then Sindhi Hindus also have communal elements among them. It is however, the need of hour to ignore such negligible communal elements and strengthen the saner and secular predominant block, for the sake of sacred duty towards our native land Sindh.
It is relevant to mention that like us, they are also worried about the future of “Sindhiyat”. To keep alive the “Sindhiyat” would, therefore, be the common endeveour and common objective for the two sets of Sindhi people. With the passing away of older generation and adverse effect of non-Sindhi surroundings here, Indian Sindhis are fast loosing their grip over Sindhi language; Sindhi literature; Sindhi Art; Sindhi Culture; Sindhi way of life and other aspects of sindhiyat. People to people contacts by way of seminars, conferences, debates and arranged tours/pilgrimages etc. are bound to arrest this trend of loosing oneself; our face; our identity; our Sindhiyat. Their Sindhiyat is comparatively safer, as they have got the advantage of living in the lap of mother Sindh and their connection, with the roots is still intact. It is, therefore, vital and more advantageous for Indian Sindhis to refresh their memories by contacts with people of Sindh. We, Indian Sindhis, are therefore to take initiative and not to miss any opportunity for people to people contacts, cooperation and coordination in all fields.
Fortunately, we have got scholars like Dr. Satish Rohra and Lakhmi Khilani, who have established Institute of Sindhology in Adipur, which is bound to emerge as Sindhi University in course of time. They can start and maintain contacts with similar institutes of Sindh for better coordination and quick results. It is my earnest hope that such mutual cooperation and coordination between like minded Sindhi scholars and men of vision, would ultimately succeed in purifying our Sindhi language, which of late, has become out of Sindhi shape and naturality, with the unnecessary and extensive use of Hindi/Sanskrit words in this side and similar heavy use of Urdu/Persian/Arabic words on that side of the border. They say, they are enriching the language by such use. But the problem is that by such transformation, our language and literature is not easily understood by the masses there, and similarly their literature/language looks strange even to educated Sindhis here. Certainly such enrichment doesn’t bring the two sets of Sindhis nearer and hence it is despicable for larger objective in view.
Sindhi Women Forum “Marvi” of Veena Shringi in New Delhi is another organization which is doing commendable job of people to people contact by organizing literary seminars where literary figures on both sides of the artificial border, come in contact and enrich each other’s knowledge about our great national poets; Shah Abdul Latif, Sachal, Sami. This is bound to erase the bitter memories of black communal period of 1946-47. I would suggest that this organization should also start cooperation and coordination with the similar Sindhi women organization having similar name”Marvi forum” of Ershad Qamar, based in Karachi.
Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli and Sahit Sabha and other all India literary organizations can similarly establish contacts with literary organizations of Sindh for better results in the objective of the enrichment of Sindhi literature.
If problems of Sindhis all over the world are to be solved and if Sindhi sub-nation is to regain its lost glory, we have to bring all public workers belonging to three sets of Sindhi people – Sindhis of Sindh, Sindhis of present Hind and overseas Sindhis on single powerful platform.
I am quite confident that we would be able to shed our individualistic approach; our personal egos; our ambitions and our old prejudices for the sake of wider cause of Sindhi unity, which is essential for the very survival and gradually regaining lost glory of Sindhis and their beloved native land Sindh.
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