By Z Ali
HYDERABAD: Hundreds of people, besides scholars, historians and writers attended the 30th death anniversary of historian, Pir Hasamuddin Shah Rashdi at Makli, also his final resting place. Rashdi was born in Larkano on September 20, 1911, and spent most of his life in Karachi, Sindh.
Continue reading In memory of: 30th death anniversary of man who brought ‘Sindh’s history to life’
» YouTube
By Archen Baloch 30/03/2012
Baloch national leader Waja HyrBeyar Marri said that there would be no dialogue on anything except freedom, speaking in a private TV program, the patriotic Baloch leader said that foreign interference in Balochistan started the day one when Pakistan occupied it! Pakistan is the occupier! On a desperate remark of the anchorperson that Zardari would not give you
Freedom, HyrBeyar said that they would knock every door of international community for support, and pledge that every Baloch would work hard to regain the freedom!
HyrBeyar Marri, exiled in London, said that the name of Islam is manipulated to serve morbid interests. He said that the attitude of Punjabi elite has never been friendly, he added that Pakistani oligarch has always plundered and looted Balochistan.
Read more » http://www.twitlonger.com/show/gnsdep
It was not long ago that a bill was tabled in the US Congress in support of giving Balochistan – the land of the Baloch – the right to self-determination against their ‘forced accession’ into Pakistan on March 27, 1948. The day is still mourned as a Black Day throughout the Baloch land, including parts of the provincial capital, Quetta.
In the year 1971, the erstwhile East Pakistan had already witnessed a bloody independence war with Pakistan, which culminated in the creation of the country now known as Bangladesh – it was a real bloody war since hundreds of thousands of people were massacred in this ‘genocide’ to crush the Bengali freedom-fighters.
In the present times, however, it is not just Balochistan which has the separatist sentiments, but Sindh under the leadership of Mr. G.M. Syed, has also been fighting for independence soon after the creation of Pakistan. From the platform of various nationalist political parties, Sindhis demand separation from Pakistan and creation of proposed, Sindhudesh, the Land of Sindhu (River Indus). They support their demand with the arguments that, 1., the British had invaded the independent Sindh and, 2. that they have a distinct rich history and secular culture which dates back to 5000 years. ….
The language of the song is Sindhi.
» YouTube
Hundreds of thousands attend JSQM ‘Freedom March’
* Demonstrators denounce Pakistan Resolution of 1940 and chant slogans in favour of ‘Sindhu Desh’
By Asghar Azad
Excerpts;
…. JSQM Calls For Independent Sindh: “We Sindhis now disown the Pakistan Resolution, say it good bye and demand independence of Sindh according to historical status”.
Hundreds of thousands attend JSQM ‘Freedom March’ in Karachi, Sindh.
Demonstrators denounce Pakistan Resolution of 1940 and chant slogans in favour of ‘Sindhu Desh’
Addressing the participants, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Muhaz Chairman, Bashir Qureshi said that Sindh had voluntarily merged itself into the country under 1940’s Pakistan Resolution but now its people were disowning it as the resolution had failed to protect rights and autonomy of the province during last 65 years.
The Sindhi nationalist leader announced that his party accepted Urdu speaking population in Sindh during the partition and considered them part of Sindh, adding, the Urdu speaking population would have to take steps for Sindh and its people sincerely and would prove their attachment with Sindh. …..
To read complete report » Daily Times
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20123\24\story_24-3-2012_pg12_5
The language of of speech is Sindhi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JbbvbQUIw40
» YouTube
Promoting Sindhi through Media , Demanding our Right, Send this letter to Prime Minister of India.
Post Card Campaign — a unique campaign for 24×7 Sindhi DD channel is launched and Sindhi-speaking people across the globe would send a post card to Prime Minister of India Demanding our Right. Keep postcards ready on Cheti Chand (Sindhi Thanks giving day), Get signatures from Sindhi and post to PM of India.
We Sindhis are a gifted community, always addicted to success in everything we do. This time let us put all our might to save our Sindhi language and culture. The language of the video clip is Sindhi.
Courtesy: Sindhi Sangat » Asha Chand
by Tania Thebo
Naseem Thebo, a renowned writer has passed today at her Karachi residence. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un – May her soul rest in eternal peace.
She was Daughter of renowned fiction writer Badam Natawan, sister of renowned political activist Mir Thebo and mother of Tania and Anita Thebo. She inherited the art of writing from her mother Badam Natawan. She was born in Shikarpur and she got an early education from Ghari, a village in Dadu district and did M.A. in Economics from University of Sindh Jamshoro. Born in a farmer family on her paternal side she observed the village life very closely and all the impinging images of village life later on got transformed into the short stories written by her. Although her father was not a typical wadero but even then there was enough misery and injustice faced by the village folks that left it’s mark on her sensitive mind. She wrote her first short story ” Ghoran Ji Rekha” meaning “line of teardrops” when she was studying in tenth standard. The subject of this story was poverty. Then she wrote many other short stories as well. Titles of her other stories are “Ghayal The Ghariyan” meaning “living being injured”, “Wadhay Jin Widhiyas”, “Mon Jherenday chadia” meaning “I left them fighting ” this story was written on the subject of separation of East Pakistan from west Pakistan,” Ubhur Chand Pas Piren” ” O Moon rise and behold my beloved”, “Rasando Bharjando Ghaav” meaning “Lacerating Healing Wound” , “Ahsas Ja Chak” etc. Most of the titles of her short stories are taken from the verses of great Sindhi Sufi Poet Shah Abdul Latif bhittai.
Hindus in Pakistan have experienced harsh, brutal, and severely inhumane living conditions since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Kidnappings, physical and psychological torture, rapes, forced conversions to Islam, forced marriages of young Hindu girls to Muslim men, lack of police protection, bonded labor, and religious-based discrimination has become the norm for our Hindu brothers and sisters who chose not to leave Sindh after the partition of India. Of late the rise in Islamic fundamentalism throughout Pakistan has created a viciously hostile environment, choking Hindus of their basic rights to live in the land of their forefathers.
Many of you may have heard about the case of Rinkel Kumari, a teen Hindu girl from the town of Mirpur Mathelo who was kidnapped on February 24, 2012. Rinkel’s case is quickly gaining media attention in Pakistan and around the world – not because it is shockingly rare – but because it is one of several recent cases in which young Hindu girls were kidnapped, tortured, forcibly converted to Islam under the mandate of a Mullah, and immediately forced to marry a Muslim man. Notably, the man behind Rinkel’s abduction – Mian Abdul Haq (aka Mian Mithu) – is a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Her abduction by a MNA of the ruling political party in Pakistan clearly highlights a case of state-sponsored terrorism. Moreover, the same week Rinkel was kidnapped three other Hindu girls were kidnapped and underwent the same harassment, conversion, and forced marriage including a physician who worked at a prestigious hospital in Karachi. The female physician, Dr. Lata, was forcibly married to a Muslim man who already kidnapped and converted 5 Hindu wives previously. Since Rinkel was kidnapped just over two weeks ago dozens of other Hindu girls in Sindh have been either kidnapped or are reported missing.
Continue reading ACTION ALERT: Plight of Rinkel Kumari – Please help!)))))))
Hon. Congressman Brad Sherman discuss with USAID Administer R. Shah. “On Tuesday, March 20, 2012, at a hearing on the foreign aid budget, Congressman Brad Sherman discusses U.S. support for the Sindh.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, March 20, 2012.
The language of the news is urdu (Hindi).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jqTJwO94XPw#!
Courtesy: Express Tv » YouTube
Dr Sarki wants referendum on independence of Sindh
KARACHI: Chief of Jiaye Sindh Tehreek (JST), Dr. Safdar Sarki addressing a rally in Karachi on Sunday called for holding a referendum on independence of Sindh, Geo News reported.
Addressing the workers and supporters of JST carrying red party flags here at Tibet Center, Dr. Sardki said Sindh suffered historic plunders and the resources of Sindhi nation their honour and national dignity had been delt a great blow.
“Through a pre-planned conspiracy people of other ethnicities were settled in Sindh,” he maintained, warning Sindhis and Balochs were speedily heading towards independence.
Sindh was put under slavery of Lahore through imposition of ‘one-unit’, adding ‘we reject slavery under Punjab, and now Punjab will have to accept Sindhi and Baloch movements’.
He said Punjab should co-exist as a good neighbour.
Sindh province, Dr Sarki continue, was turned into a desert through introduction of so-called amendments in the Constitution.
“The future of our Urdu-speaking Sindhi brothers does not lie with MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement), we will ensure protection to their rights,” he asserted.
However, he added that the followers of G.M. Syed had no issues with Urdu-speaking Sindhis.
Courtesy: The News
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-40498-Dr-Sarki-wants-referendum-on-Sindh
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. …..
Read more » ChagataiKhan
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A great Sufi – you must have heard his name, Al Hillaj Mansoor – was killed by fanatics,because he said, ‘ANAL HAK.’ When you penetrate into the mystery of life, it is not that you are an observer, because an observer is always an outsider – you become one with it. It is not that you swim in the river, it is not that you float in the river, it is not that you struggle into the river. No – you become the river. Suddenly you realize the wave is part of the river. And the contrary is also true: that the river is part of the wave. It is not only that we are parts of Lord – Lord is also part of us.
When Al Hillaj Mansoor asserted, ‘I am [Being],’ fanatics killed him. Sufism is always killed by religious people, so-called religious people – because they cannot tolerate it; they cannot tolerate a man asserting that he is [Being]! Their egos feel offended. How can a man be a God? But when Al Hillaj says, ‘I am [Being],’ he is not saying, ‘I am God and you are not’; he is not saying, ‘I am [Being] and these trees are not’; he is not saying, ‘I am God and these stones, rocks are not.’ Asserting that ‘I am [Being]’ he is asserting that the whole is divine, sacred. Everything is divine.
So these people, fanatics, believers in dogmas – they said that God created man, so man can only be a creature, not a creator; and this is profanity, the very apex of profanity to assert that ‘I am [Being]’– they killed him. And what was Mansoor saying when they killed him? He said loudly to the sky,‘You cannot deceive me! Even in these murderers I see you – you cannot deceive me. You are here in these murderers! And in whatsoever form you come, my God, I will know you, because I have known you.’
Sufism is not thinking about existence, it is being existence. It is not thinking, it is not doing something about existence. It is neither thought nor action. It is being. ~~OSHO~~
Soruce – Adopted from Facebook.
By Dilip Tekchandani, India
Please write a post card to the Prime Minister of India to demand for the DD SINDHI channel, the text for the letter is given below;
Dr. Man Mohan Singh,
Honorable Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, 11 00 01
Dear Sir, I am a SINDHI speaking Citizen of India. We sacrificed our motherland SINDH for the Independence of India.
Help us to preserve our Language, Culture & Identity through TV. Give us 24 Hours DD SINDHI channel to preserve our Identity.
Thank you
Sindhi Citizens of India
By Javed Ahmed Qazi
Sindhi politics are a paradox. When there is democracy, the political pendulum swings towards the PPP, and when there is dictatorship, people support ethnic politic parties.
The ethnic parties that represent the middle class hardly ever win legislative assembly seats. But when they called strikes recently, the entire province came to a standstill. And that is a sign the middle class is starting to matter.
Although separatist movements are more popular in Balochistan, their flags are not displayed openly. SindhuDesh flags are seen all over the Sindh.
In his book Idea of Pakistan, Stephan Cohen says: “An independent Sindh would block the access of the rest of Pakistan to the sea. Separatist movements there were intolerable to the central government and a mixture of inducement and punishment was applied to keep the nationalist sentiments in check.” But “Sindhi separatist feeling still exists today, and political unrest runs deep”.
Sindhi nationalists are generally anti-establishment, and are not ready to stop supporting the PPP for either ZulfiqarMirza or MarviMemon.
The hub of middle-class Sindi politics is the Qasimabad town of Hyderabad. For a long time, Sindh University in Jamsharo supplied its cadres. Dr QadirMagsi, Bashir Qureshi, and Gul Muhammad Jakhrani began politics when they were students. But partly because of the ban on student unions and partly because of two streams of education, that has changed.
Hyderabad is also the hub of Sindhi press, and editorial pages specifically address issues of ethnic orientation – governance, economy, taxes, and long standing water related debates.
The middle class has grown substantially all over the province in the last few decades, but the economy is not entrepreneurial. Most middle-class professionals are teachers, journalists, retailers, clerics, government employees, or skilled workers.
The birth of the middle in Sindh began in the 1970s when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto gave out government jobs, set up universities and built roads in the province. But eventually, he also sternly suppressed middle class political voices.
The ethnic Sindhi middle class has traditionally been wary of the Punjabis as well as the Mohajirs. While President AsifZardari has helped pacify the Mohajir-Sindhi differences in the recent past, issues between the two groups remain unresolved.
Ethnic Sindhis also have concerns about distribution of river water with Punjab and are especially concerned about the proposed Kalabagh Dam.
Sindhi politics have been secular and Sufi-leaning so far, but Taliban-friendly seminaries have recently made inroads in northern Sindh. The development has specifically concerned Sindh’s Hindu community, but Shias are comparatively safe.
A vast majority of Sindhis is Sunni, but they have immense respect of Shias. Many Sindhi feudals are also Shia. A large number of Sufi shrines are taken care of by Shias, and even Hindus have a say in the affairs of those shrines.
Hindus and Muslims lived peacefully in Sindh before Partition, and the Sindhi middle class accuses the feudals of having instigated Hindu-Muslim riots for political gains. Middle-class Sindhi politicians were popular in Sindh before the riots, it is said, and Shiekh Abdul Majeed Sindhi defeated Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, father of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in the 1937 elections.
Sindhi ethnic parties had also supported Sheikh MujiburRehman, because there was a perception in Sindh that the Bengali nationalist movement and Sindhi nationalist movement had common goals and a common rival – the middle class of Punjab.
The demand for an independent SindhuDesh was first made in 1973, but it has never been as popular as the separatist movement of Bangladesh, or even the recent separatist movement in Balochistan.
Courtesy: Friday Times
URGENT APPEAL HRCP – Abduction of Two Sindhi Nationalist Leaders
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan requests your urgent intervention in the following situation
Description of the situation: On Monday night March 5, 2012 Dr. Mir Alam Marree, Senior Vice-Chairman Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz (JSQM) and Mr. Umer Teewano alias Raja Dahar were sitting at a restaurant opposite Rajputana Hospital,Gulshan-e-Sajad, in the jurisdiction Bhittai Nagar, Police Station, Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan.
According to the eye witnesses they were picked up by plain cloth men belonging to law enforcing agencies who came in four vehicles including a police mobile. Before taking them away they were hit by the rifles butts.
Ms. Ghazal Maree D/O Mir Alam Maree told HRCP that on Monday at 7.30 pm her father talked with her but after twenty minutes when she called back her fathers’ cell phone was switched off. There was no FIR against her father.
Action requested – Please write to the authorities in Pakistan urging them:
1. To disclose the whereabouts of two Sindhi nationalist leaders and reason for their arrest.
2. To release the detainees immediately if they are not to be charged with a cognizable criminal offense.
3. To allow the families of the detainee to meet them.
4. They should be provided lawyers access.
5. To protect them from torture and other ill-treatment while they are in detention.
We express our deep concern on the abduction of Dr. Mir Alam Muree, Senior Vice-Chairman Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz(JSQM) and Mr. Umer Teewano alias Raja Dahar by law enforcement agencies.
We demand that they must not be tortured.
We urge that they are dealt with according to law.
We urge that if there was no case against them they should be immediately released.
We urge to provide them all kind of medical facilities.
We demand that their families should be allowed to meet them
We demand that they should be allowed to meet lawyers of their choice.
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More details » Daily Times
London, 5 March 2012 – According to the press Release issued by Samad Baloch, General Secretary, Baloch Human Rights Council (UK); A Baloch solidarity protest rally was held in front of US embassy in London on Sunday 4 March 2012. Rally was organised by Baloch Human Rights Council (UK), Balochistan Raaji Zrombesh, Balochistan Libration Organisation and World Sindhi Congress. A large number of the Baloch and Sindhis despite of cold and severe rainy weather attended the rally.
Rally was organized to express gratefulness of the Baloch to congressional representatives Dana Rohrabacher, Louie Gohmert and Steve king and the US government for their support for human rights of the Baloch and the right of self-determination of Balochistan ie Free Balochistan. Speakers requested the congressional representatives to continue their efforts in this respect in order to save the Baloch from the brutalities of Iran and Pakistan. They requested the US government to support the bill asking for the right of self-determination of the Baloch including free sovereign Balochistan.
Participants of the rally expressed their solidarity with the Baloch and Sindhi national struggles. They condemned the state crimes against humanity being committed against the Baloch and Sindhi people.
Speakers condemned disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings of innocent Baloch and Sindhi people by Pakistani security agencies. They termed this as a systematic genocide of Baloch nation. They requested the international community, the USA and the UK to intervene in Balochistan. They urged UN to put stringent sanctions on Pakistan … and pressurize these governments to end heinous crimes against Baloch and Sindhi people.
Rahim Bandovi, Mir Ghulam Hussain (Mir of UK), Mustafa Baloch, Faiz Baloch, Hassan Hamdam, Abdullah Baloch, Mir Ometan Baloch and Samad Baloch were among those who spoke on the occasion.
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, March 4: An alliance of minority parties on Sunday appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take a suo motu notice of the kidnapping of a Hindu girl and order her immediate return to her parents to restore the waning sense of security in the minorities.
Speaking at a protest demonstration staged outside the Karachi Press Club, Pakistan Minority Leaders Alliance representatives said they would launch a protest movement and stage a sit-in on March 10 if the authorities failed to recover the girl, Rinkle Kumari.
According to an uncle of the girl, Raj Kumar, she was kidnapped from her house in Mirpur Mathelo over a week ago and forced to marry Naveed Shah and change her religion. He alleged that the case was heard by a civil judge in Ghotki, but he did not allow her relatives to enter the courtroom while giving a verdict in favour of the ‘kidnapper’, Mr Shah.
Speaking on the occasion, Jeay Sindh Mahaz chief Riaz Chandio expressed solidarity with the minority community members and demanded arrest of and punishment to culprits involved in her kidnapping.
He said those belonging to religious minority groups, including Hindus, Christians and Sikhs, were sons of the soil. They should not feel threatened by such acts, as all Sindhis were one and that they were equal citizens and had equal rights, he said.
He said it was unfortunate that the girl was given in police custody instead of being sent to Darul Aman.
Mr Chandio announced that if “the daughter of Sindh” was not rescued and returned and culprits were not arrested soon and punished according to law, a province-wide sit-it would be staged on Saturday.
Manohar Lal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker in the national assembly, condemned the kidnapping and forced conversion of a young girl. He urged the president to take notice of the incident.
He said Islam guaranteed protection to minorities, but such people were giving a bad name to the religion. With such incidents, a sense of insecurity was growing in the community, he said. Earlier their sons were kidnapped for ransom, but now their daughters were being kidnapped and forcibly converted, he remarked.
Jeay Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party leader Gulzar Soomro said that forced conversions were a conspiracy against Islam, which preaches love and peace and opposes use of force. He said the culprits were agents of the establishment that wanted to divide the Sindhis.
“Our patience should not be mistaken as our weakness,” he warned, seeking her immediate recovery.
A Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former lawmaker, Michael Javed, said the Quaid-i-Azam had said that the minorities would be equal citizens in Pakistan, but over the years the Quaid’s message was being forgotten.
Amar Lal, a community leader, said he and the girl’s uncle had met US consulate general staff a few days back and political counsellor Junaid J. Muneer had assured him that the issue would be taken up with the authorities concerned. He said he had also received a call from a former political counsellor of the US embassy in Islamabad, L.K. Robinson, who was currently in Washington. He told him that he would take up the issue with human rights organisations there.
Mahesh Singh, Mangla Sharma, Ramesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar and others also spoke.
Raj Kumar, the girl’s uncle, earlier informed the gathering that on Feb 24, a few armed men barged into her home in Mirpur Mathelo and kidnapped her at gunpoint.
He said a case was filed in a Ghotki court where he said she gave a statement about the threats she had received to convert and marry Naveed Shah or she and her entire family would be killed. He quoted her as saying in the court that she wanted to return and live with her parents.
He also alleged that the judge, in the presence of gunmen in the court, sent her to police custody rather than to her parents’ home or to a shelter home. The next hearing was scheduled to be held at 11am on Feb 27, but the case was heard at 8.15am and the girl’s family was not allowed to enter the courtroom, he said, adding that the judge then gave a verdict in favour of Mr Shah.
Mr Kumar urged the chief justice to take a suo motu notice of the issue and order her safe return to her parents.
Earlier, the participants in the demonstration chanted slogans such as ‘we want justice’ and ‘Rinkle be rescued’.
Courtesy: DAWN
» YouTube
By Dr. Ahmed Makhdoom, Malaysia.
And, this is the reality in this country known as ‘Pakistan,’ where poverty-stricken, shirtless, shelter-less and loaf-less innocents are dying under the open skies and the voracious vultures have a field day and greedily feast on the bodies of the dead.
A large number of people affected by last year’s heavy monsoon rains took out a procession in Samaro town on Wednesday, calling upon the government to provide them permanent shelter, food, health and education facilities to enable them to lead a normal life again. Who will hear their wails and screams of help?
Sufi legend Abida Parveen, who is on a trip to New Delhi for the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival said Sufism binds millions of people in the subcontinent and that the forthcoming festival is an effort to create a spiritual mood. The 10th edition of the three-day festival starts March 2 in New Delhi at Humayun’s Tomb. “Sufism has evolved from the beginning of this universe. It bridges the gap between the hearts. This festival brings different colours together. This is a message from heart to heart. This is an effort to create a spiritual context for the common people,” she said. Organised by the Rumi foundation and designed and directed by filmmaker-painter Muzaffar Ali, the three-day festival was announced by Ali and Abida Parveen and Sharmila Tagore-members of the Rumi Foundation. Parveen had been a part of the festival since its beginning, but couldn’t attend the festival last year due to health reasons. Jahan-e-Khusrau 2012 will see performances by Abida Parveen, Ali Zafar, Hans Raj Hans, Andrea Griminelli (Italian flautist) and will also introduce new faces like Indra Naik, Vidhi Sharma, Rajesh Pandey, Vidhi Lal, and Shivani Varma. Reminiscing on her long association with the festival, Parveen said that whenever she comes to perform for Jahan e Khusrau “an extraordinary noorani (blissful) process begins. The Rumi Foundation knows how to collect different colours and create an atmosphere which is so pure and durgahi that no difference is felt between the one who’s singing and the one who’s listening. Even if one person gets attached with the Sufi saints in such an atmosphere, it’s enough to break all barriers of faith and territorial boundaries,” she said. “Tasawuf (a Sufi term that means focusing on one’s relationship with God) is God’s name. We don’t need any language or identity to understand Allah,” added the singer. Celebrating 10th year of Jahan-e-Khusrau, Muzaffar Ali maintained that the journey of Jahan e Khusrau began with the thought of bringing all pure souls together on one platform in Delhi, a city of great souls and saints. Over the last decade, Jahan e Khusrau has presented rare poetry of the mystics of the sub-continent. It has showcased Sufi singers, dancers and musicians, including Azam Ali, Masood Habibi, Shubha Mudgal, Shafqat Ali Khan, Shubjaat Hussain Khan to introducing fresh promising talent such as Zila Khan, Archana Shah, Indira Naik and Rajesh Pandey among others.
Courtesy: Pakistan Today
82 missing from Balochistan, 69 from Sindh in recent years: National Crisis Management Cell
The National Crisis Management Cell of the Interior Ministry holds a list of 468 persons who went missing in recent years and, of them 82 are from Balochistan and 69 from Sindh. The figures which have come before the higher judiciary are however different and higher too. A cell in Sindh High Court (SHC) puts the figure over 200 in Sindh.
BY AAMIR MAJEED
Excerpts;
KARACHI – Taking strength from the Baloch freedom movement, the Sindhi separatists have also started their own struggle for the eventual separation of Sindh province from Pakistan, starting off by planting several bombs along the railway tracks in the province.
Railway tracks at around 14 different locations across Sindh were damaged in a series of bomb blasts in the wee hours of Saturday by presumably politically motivated miscreants.
When a team of Pakistan Railways engineering department arrived at the Bin Qasim Railway Station to repair the tracks damaged by two minor blasts, they found a pamphlet from the site.
The paper printed on both sides, carried the name of “Sindhu Desh Liberation Army (SDLA)” at the top. The pamphlet was later forwarded to the Pakistan Railways Karachi Division SSP Muzzaffar Sheikh.
Talking with Pakistan Today, Sheikh said the pamphlet was issued by SDLA Chief Commander Darya Khan Marri. …..
….. “Marri claims that the Centre was exploiting the natural resources of Sindh against a very low royalty to facilitate Punjab,” the SSP said, adding that the government’s pro-Punjab policies have also been criticised.
“Terming the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as ‘opportunists’, the SDLA blamed the party for using the Sindh card for attaining power, trying to impress upon the nationalists that Sindh is the country’s most poor province,” Sheikh said. “In the pamphlet, the SDLA has requested the Sindhis to stand up against the government, Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence.”…..
Read more » Pakistan Today
We are happy to release the Sindhi Resource Grammar. It is 5th Indo-Iranian language added in the GF resource grammar library (Others are Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, and Nepali). The development took almost 6 months, and was developed as a Master thesis project. Sindhi belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family. It is widely spoken in Pakistan and India. In Pakistan it is the official language of Sindh (province of Pakistan), and in India it one of the scheduled languages officially recognized by federal government of India. There are more than 22 million native Sindhi speakers. In Pakistan Sindhi is written in Perso-Arabic script from right-to-left, while in India it is written in Devanagari script from left-to-right. Rich morphology, verb-compounding, relatively free word-order are the major characteristics of Sindhi.
Courtesy: http://www.molto-project.eu/story/sindhi-resource-grammar-released
By: Dr. Ahmed Makhdoom, Malaysia
Today, we, the world over, are witnessing the end of this deep state. It is speeding fast towards being buried in the manhole of the history.
Tyranny and terror cannot last for long! All walls of despotism must fall! Balochistan has paid a severe and terrible price to free themselves from the mean fetters of ignominy chains of slavery. Thousands of valiant sons and daughters of Balochistan has lost their lives in the struggle of the rights. Long live Sindh and Balochistan and down to the dictators of the deep state.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, February 20, 2012.
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca) on Balochistan and Dr. Shakeel Afridi with VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem –
The U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca), who introduced a resolution on Balochistan along with two bills honoring the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA catch Bin Laden, sat down with the Voice of America’s Ayesha Tanzeem to discuss some of these issues.
According to the resolution, the Baloch people have the right to self-determination. Pakistan has reacted strongly to this resolution calling it a violation of international laws and interference in its internal affairs.
The U.S. State Department has tried to distance itself from Congressman Rohrabacher’s opinions and efforts and has insisted that it does not reflect official US policy. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland insists that the US does not want to interfere in the internal affairs of Pakistan.
The two bills introduced on the 17th of Feb, 2012 call for giving US citizenship to Dr. Shakeel Afridi as well as honoring him with the highest civilian honor, a Congressional Gold Medal. Dr. Afridi is under arrest in Pakistan after secretly helping the CIA to collect DNA evidence of Bin Laden’s presence in the compound. The Abbottabad commission has recommended that he be tried for treason for helping a foreign government’s secret agency.
Courtesy: Voice of America
Balochistan and its ‘jealous husband’
By Malik Siraj Akbar
Excerpts;
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Unfortunately, ours is a history marked with lies, distortions, exaggerations and false glorification. Can’t we at least pay attention to some bitter truths and grim reminders? For all the flak that US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Republican from California) is getting from Pakistan’s media and official circles, the fact is that he is gaining popularity by the day, especially among the young people of Balochistan, some of whom have already set up a Facebook fan pagefor him. At last count, he had over 3,000 fans and this number will only rise.
So, the news channels are fooling and misleading the country when they show a ‘patriotic Pakistani’ from Islamabad or Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa, instead of a talking to a Baloch from Gwadar, condemning the developments taking place in Washington DC. Why is there such reluctance to trust the Baloch and speak to them to learnwhat has alienated them and what they demand? When was the first (and probably the last) time when the whole country demonstrated unity to address what is happening in Balochistan? How many long marches, breaking news stories and parliamentary resolutions are going to happen before the government addresses the matter at hand?
Let’s stop the ‘internal affair’ drama and focus on some historical facts? Since Pakistan’s inception, Islamabad has spied on the Baloch. Perhaps the Baloch did not respond to the fact that they were treated unequally and disrespectfully but over time they became pained by being billed as Russian, Indian, Afghan and even Iraqi agents. Of course, now they are going to be treated as ‘CIA agents’! Did Islamabad ever embrace the Baloch as respectful and dependable citizens of the land who could be trusted and given ownership and responsibility?
Surely, we all remember what happened in 1973 when the first-ever elected Baloch government was dismissed. As if disregard for the Baloch mandate of provincial government was not enough, the people of the province were then subjected to a horrendous military operation on the charge of having ‘extra-marital affairs’ with foreign countries. In six decades, Islamabad has not been able to present undisputed proof of Balochistan’s unfaithfulness while there are countless accounts of the formers patriarchal arrogance towards the province.
An ardent pro-Pakistan leader like Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed on suspicion of getting ‘foreign assistance’. Former chief minister Akhtar Mengal was literally put into an iron cage because General Musharraf thought he was not sufficiently patriotic. Bramdagh Bugti was called an ‘Indian agent’, and his sister and niece were killed. Hundreds of young Baloch have been found dead in recent months, dumped along roads in the province.
While a troubled relationship between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law can endure despite all flaws, marriage between a quarrelling couple has a painful, yet, internationally and legally acceptable choice: divorce. The Pakistani ‘patriots’ should ask themselves that are their actions pushing Balochistan to the brink of divorce.
To read complete article » The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2012.
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