by Dr Ali Akbar Dhakan
Please click here to watch Thar desert and the poor conditions of people
Thar means desert, barren and full of sand and mud heaps and mountains. Its history is very old and unaccountable. It starts from Badin at the Western and Southern side from Mirpur Khas at its Northern side, At its eastern side, it is the Indian territory .The last town at the Eastern Southern side is Nangar Parkar.
by: Mohammad Khan Sial
Our some friends are paying rich tributes to late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, His life can be divided into two parts. As well as first part is concerned, their tribute to late G M Jatoi is generally correct but there were some bitter facts about 2nd part of his life.
01. When army dictator Ziaul Haq removed elected Govt of Z. A. Bhutto, there were the persons who immediately met Gen Zia in the darkness of night. They were Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Maulana Kausar Niazi..
Continue reading Some bitter facts about late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
Shikarpur was the major trading center where caravans from Central Asia, China and India met, much before the time of the British. Shikapuri merchants provided banking services for secure transfer of funds, so merchants could transmit funds without having to carry them back and forth. Shikarpuri merchants formed the backbone of import export business in central Asia, returning home every few years.
Now the world has become the playground for the descents of these traders. The Hindujas are one family from Shikarpur who are now billionaires with far flung business empire in the UK, Switzerland, India and other places. Feeling compelled to leave Shikarpur and their homes behind, they restarted and made their fortune in international trade.
Isn’t it amazing that George Carlin – comedian of the 70’s and 80’s – could write something so very eloquent…and so very appropriate.
by George Carlin:
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
Courtesy: Links International
By Norm Dixon
August 6 and August 9 2009 mark the 64th anniversaries of the US atomic-bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Hiroshima, an estimated 80,000 people were killed in a split second. Some 13 square kilometres of the city were obliterated. By December, at least another 70,000 people had died from radiation and injuries.
Continue reading Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Worst single terror attacks in history
– Azhar Ali Shah, Sindh
“05-07-2001 SANA Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Rasool Bux Palijo urged every educated Sindhi to read more – learn more about world history, freedom struggles, and particularly the military and political strategies. You don’t need every Sindhi to be educated to bring about a change. What you need is smart leaders and smart middle class who can predict and understand each move of adversary and quickly make a counter move and take an offensive move, when appropriate. He added that he was quite hopeful in the ability of Sindhis to withstand all onslaughts and ultimately come out victorious. Let! there be no doubt that these Sindhi Sapoots and followers of Shah Abdul Latif will never give up on their rights. They will not vanish in the history. They will resist and fight until they are victorious. By this time every one in the audience so attentive that other than his words, there was no other sound. Even the Sindhi infants, who never seem to stop crying, seem to have been taken aback by what was happening around them.
Delegates of Kashmir Peace Conference Offered Friday Prayers at the Capitol Hill
Washington: 27 July 2009: It was making history on Friday when congregational Friday prayers were held in the highest seat of legislation – the Gold Room of the Rayburn Hall of the Capitol Hill (US Parliament) at the prayer break during the two-day 1oth international Kashmir peace conference organized by the Kashmiri American Council/ Washington.
By Mohammad Ali Mahar, Austin, TX, USA
Captain Leopold Von Orlich, a Prussian Army officer visited India in 1842 (that is, about 164 years ago, and about a century before immigrants flocked from East to teach Sindhis ‘tehzeeb’ and convert beautiful Sindhi cities to slums and ruins — mahar). See what the European had to say about Sukkur:
“Sukkur and its environs have an exceedingly pleasing appearance and is, by far, the most beautiful of all the places of Sindh visited thus far, from Thatta to the border with the Punjab.”
After a few days stay in Sindh, Von Orlich, who might have visited other countries in the world too, concluded:
“In no country are the mornings and evenings so pleasant, or the sunsets so beautiful and sublime, as here (in Sindh)”
Viva Scinde!
Sindh – The new epicenter of global instability
By Dilshad Bhutto (Senior)
Sindh has always been a fertile and rich country. For thousands of years, it had maintained trade links with other countries, some of them in far-flung regions of the world. Historians have found evidence that ships carrying merchandise from Sindh regularly called at the ports of Egypt, Java, China and Sri Lanka. From these countries, goods such as gold and silver ornaments and precious stones found their way to the royal Sindhi courts and temples. Sindh’s government treasuries had always been replete with gems and all types of treasure. In spite of their affluence, Sindhis always avoided to maintain large armies and to conquer the neighboring lands. On the contrary, invaders from outside gravitated to the riches of Sindh attacked the country a number of times and acquired so much wealth by loot and plunder that they dreamed of using that wealth to conquer other countries and extend their sway over the world. This is why all the intruders that have ruled India at times attempted to extend their jurisdiction over Sindh too.
Aryan Invasion and Fall of the Indus Empire
Nomadic Aryans invaded India ca. 1500 BC destroying the Indus valley civilization and exterminating the Indus inhabitants. Thus ended the most brilliant civilization of the ancient world. Subsequent to this invasion, India was plunged into 2000 years of the Vedic Dark Ages. When cities were built again, it was under Scytho-Greek influence. The ziggurat of the Indus disappeared forever.
German chemist Fritz Haber invented a chlorine gas chemical weapon in 1915 that was first used against French soldiers in trenches near in the city of Ypres.
By Humaira Rahman
By chance I saw Irfan Husain’s latest offering in daily dawn and was amazed at Irfan’s lack of understanding of the young population that inhabits the Pakistani states current territorial boundaries (in spite of being a resident of Sindh for 60+ yrs?):
Irfan Husain writes, and I quote:
In order to justify the partition of the subcontinent, rulers have resorted to bewildering mental contortions. Many have tried to move our roots to the Middle East from our true origins in South Asia. This confusion is reflected in school textbooks and the media. Thus, we have young people unsure of their past, and unable or unwilling to claim their rich cultural patrimony.
Please note that perhaps what Irfan says is true of the youth that hails from the sliver of the population that you come from/represent: immigrants from north India (7% of total population of Pakistan, max??)
However I can say with certitude that no Sindhi or Baloch young or old person (the two nations within which my own roots lie and that I have intimate knowledge of) is at all confused about their past, origin or history.
We, the Sindhi and Baloch indigenous nations that live within the state of Pakistan are, on the contrary, extremely rooted —— in spite of all the attempts by civil -military bureaucracy to “cleanse” us through education, militarization, extra judicial practices and other policies where we were/are deprived of opportunities to speak and study in our own languages or practice our culture in a way that free nations practice their cultures.
Please note that we are proud of our ancient history, civilization and cultural heritage and as well our robust abilities to carry on creating and reproducing our language, literature, music, journalism, dance and as well practice of our civilized culture under the direst conditions (mostly imposed by Urdu hegemony practioners)
Please note that we are neither unsure of our past nor unable/unwilling to claim our rich cultural matrimony/patrimony;
It is true that the vast military civilian bureaucracy (of which you remained an erstwhile part for decades) have attempted to “cleanse” us over the decades, but they have failed.
Another name of Hinglaj Devi is Goddess Naina which is very akin to Goddess Nania of Sumerian Civilization
by Jagdeesh Ahuja, Hyderabad, Sindh.
Originally Hinglaj has nothing to do with religion or nationalism. Hinglaj is the historical monument of Sindhu Civilization. Hingol was one of the great many kingdoms of Sapta Sindhva (Sindhu des of seven rivers) and Hinglaj Devi was last mother queen of matriarchal era of Indus Valley. Another name of Hinglaj Devi is Goddess Naina which is very akin to Goddess Nania of Sumerian Civilization. The great poet of Indus Valley, Shah Latif called her “Nani Ama(n)” and after then Hinglaj Temple became famous as Temple of Nani Ama(n) especially in the Muslim populace. And Hinglaj Yatra has now got a great new altitude beyond religious divide.
We are unfortunate people who disown our own history. Ironically people of India own our monuments of ancient civilization as their sacred religious shrines and we are ever ready to give up our past and destroy our future. What a great alienation and ignorance of our own history! How can one weigh the advantages of destruction of Harappa, Taxila or Mohen-jo-daro!? Hinglaj is even more ancient than these historical sites. Mehargarh and Hinglaj are the monuments of advent of civilization. Legend of Shiva Parpati explains the transition of matriarchal era to patriarchal era. Shiva is the first male god of Sindhu Civilization whose whole Shakti (Power) was enshrined in his spouse Parpati (Hinglaj Devi) that is why she is also called Shakti Devi. It is well known fact that Shiva was the Lord of Indigenous Dravidian people of Indus Valley. When they were forced to migrate to Ganges Valley by Central Asian Aryan invaders, they continued to worship their Lord Shiva there. Long after the Aryans settled in Sapta Sindhva and owned Shiva along with their Lord Indra (God of Storm), people of Ganges valley started to visit the land of their ancestors. Hence the tradition of Hinglaj Yatra took place.
We must not forget the fact that the word Hindu itself is nothing but Sindhu. The Persians pronounced Sindhu as Hindu. And later Greek invaders pronounced Hindu as Indu, thence words Indus and India came into existence. Due to our ignorance we have lost sense of our history. Religious and nationalistic narrow mindedness has blurred our vision. Hinglaj doesn’t belong to any single religion or nation only, it is a great asset of Indus Valley and heritage of whole humanity, which should be put in the World Heritage list of UNESCO.
by Manzoor Chandio, Karachi, Sindh
An international conference on the Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley Civilization will be held in Los Angeles, at Loyola Marymount University, Feb. 21 and 22, 2009. Prominent scholars in the field will present their findings regarding the people and culture of ancient..
The aim of the conference is to discuss, reconsider and reconstruct a shared identity of the Sindhu (Indus) and Saraswati cultures using archaeological and other scientific evidences as well as Vedic literature.
Discussion Themes:
1. Time: Chronology of Indus Valley and Vedic Cultures.
2. People: Linguistic Relationship
3 Place: Geographical location: The Saraswati and the Indus cultural habitats
4. Patterns of Cultural Interactions: Trade, Religion, Polity.
5. Origins: Homeland, Migration.
6. Continuities: Biological, Ethnological
Individual talks for 30 minutes, with 15 minute Q&A time.
Time: 9.00 am to 6.00 pm – Feb 21, 2009
9.00 am to 2.00 pm-Feb 22, 2009
Participants:
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer ( University of Wisconsin)
B.B. Lal (Former DG, Archaeological Survey of India)
Jim G. Shaffer ( Case Western Reserve University)
Carl C. Lamberg-Karlovsky ( Harvard University)
S.R.Rao (Archaeological Survey of India and NIO)
Edwin Bryant ( Rutgers University)
Vijendra Kumar Kashyap (National Institute of Biologicals, India)
Maurizio Tosi ( University of Bologna , Italy )
Ashok Aklujkar ( University of British Columbia)
R.S. Bisht (Archaeological Survey of India)
Louis Flam ( City University of New York)
Dennys Frenez ( University of Bologna)
Shiva Bajpai (California State University, Northridge)
Nicholas Kazanas ( Omilos Meleton Cultural Institute , Athens )
Subhash Kak ( Oklahama State University)
The papers presented at the conference will be made available to the people at the venue and later published as a volume about the origins, people and culture of the Indus/Sindhu Valley and Saraswati Valley civilizations.
Sponsors:
Doshi Bridgebuilder Endowment, Loyola Marymount University
Nalanda International
Soka University of America
Classics and Archaeology, Loyola Marymount University.
College of Liberal Arts, Loyola Marymount University
Advisory Committee:
Damodar Sardesai (Professor Emeritus of History, UCLA)
Navin Doshi (President, Nalanda International)
Nalini Rao (Professor of Art History, Soka University of America/ Director of Sindhu-Saraswati Conference)
Christopher Key Chapple (Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, LMU),
Debashish Banerji (Art Historian, Executive Director, Nalanda International)
Sindhis throughout history have battled imperialist invaders, whether these were Arabs, Arghuns, Mughals, or others… none found it easy to conquer Sindh. Many had to make several attempts. ..the story of the valiant defence of Sindh during the Soomra period against Allauddin Khliji and Sama period against the imperialist Feroz Shah who suffered three humiliating defeats at the hands of Sindhis. He finally succeeded because of natural catastrophe, if only to see his own kingdom in ruins due to his obsession of conquering Sindh. Unfortunately, textbooks in Sindh after partition praise every imperialist invader and don’t teach much about native history and their patriotic defense of motherland Sindh throughout history…
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)