Who orchestrated the exodus of Sindhi Hindus after Partition?
Ajmal sahib agrees with me that the Partition experience in Sindh and Punjab was different because Sindh did not undergo fratricide; but when I wrote 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” he considers it ‘uncomplicated explanation’. Ajmal sahib, approvingly paraphrases PV Tahalramani’s view that the exodus of Sindhi Hindus was the result of a concerted campaign conducted by the leaders of the Sindh Muslim League during 1946. To substantiate the claim, he relies on a quotation attributed to Ayub Khuhro, premier of Sindh during the Partition period, by PV Tahilramani in which Khuhro is reported to have said: “Let the Hindus of Sind leave Sind and go elsewhere. Let them go while the going is good and possible; else I warn them that a time is fast coming when in their flight from Sind, they may not be able to get a horse or an ass or a gari or any other means of transport.”
Ajmal Sahib does not explicate and contextualise Tahalramani’s assertion. Nor does he mention actions of Khuhro that would attest the assertion that exodus of Sindhi Hindus was ‘scripted, orchestrated and implemented’ by Sindhi Muslims. Whereas, there is ample evidence to back up my statement that non-Sindhis and the newly established central government of Pakistan orchestrated and implemented the exodus of Sindhi Hindus.
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’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 11am 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.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (107)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1729497869-0/Untitled-design-(54)1729497869-0-270x192.webp "a leap of faith")
@Pinto: Hindus used to live in almost every big and small city of Sindh, as they continue to do.The anti-hindu violence took place mainly in karachi, hyderabad and few other big cities where there was a sudden influx of urdu refugees. So, hindus living in other cities, towns and villages were spared of the violence
fo all that has been written - it remains an abovious fact that and independant sindhu-desh or at least Real autonomy is not an optio - it is a necessity !
@arjun:
"@Wajib: Just pray that Indians do not ask for their ancient lands on the basis of historical rights. you will not even have the right to claim the land you are living on!!!!"
Raja Dahir was a UP Wala, time to pray for they don't demand that!
@arjun: love you Arjun ji , you said it ..............
Hi,
Many people are considering, it is Mohajir that is the cause. But the auther's central point is not Mohajir, it is punjabi muslim as Mohajir has gone throigh anger and violence in india, it is expected.But what Liaqat khan has done, It is the institutional non-protection and collusion of federal govt. led by Punjabi that is the cause of violence. Even today the same force has expanded their ideology and extremisim through out pakistan.
Thanks, Ranjan
While it does sound rational to accept that the voilence may have been started by the immigrants, but it is also a reality that Sindh was the first province to pass resolution in favour of the creation of Pakistan. According to me, Sindh (which includes all the current inhabitants of Sindh new and old) is still paying the price of that great folly. Unfortunately, the people who left their homeland to settle in Sindh are still termed as Muhajirs. On the other hand, fate has pushed the older inhabitants of Sindh on the sidelines. As far as Hindus of Sindh are concerned, who left for India after the partition, as my comparison says, are way ahead of their counterparts, who stayed back and didnot leave their homeland.
Reading this blog it seems that the immigrant non-sindhis are the route of all evil that ever happened in sindh. Additionally the comments by our indian and liberal friends seem to suggest that everything about Pakistan is wrong and evil. What hope do we have of tolerance and peace if the educated lot continues to hold such massive prejudices in their mind?
Please don't adapt such sweeping opinions. Things are never black and white in history. I'm a Karachiite descendant of immigrants from India... my forefathers didn't occupy anyone's land nor hurt anyone. Whatever they got was obtained via their talent and honest hardwork, and their contribution to Sindh's economy was far more than what they took from it. This doesn't mean that bad things didn't happen to hindus in Sindhis at the hands of immigrants... of course there were such incidents. On the other hand, many of my elders quoted highly factual stories of surviving through anti-muslim riots in India as well... but i don't hold any prejudice against an Indian based on things that happened ages ago. My elders also quote stories about Hindus who were their very good friends and neighbours in Uttarpardesh. Point is, there are good and bad people within every religion and ethnicity. Subcontinent's history is highly complex due to its high diversity and complicated social setup... we will not do justice to its history if we just simplify it into a story of one good group vs. another evial group based on our personal biases.
@Shikarpuri
'Only a barbarian celebrates ethnic cleansing and killing.'
Well said brother. It's amazing how people find time and have the inclination to hate when life is too short for love.
@Hukum Singh: oppression of non-muslims in Sindh is a festering wound on the body of Sindh. It manifests itself not only in exploitation of Hindus, but derogation of rights of every ordinary person.Pirs, Mirs, Waderas and entire feudal culture guarantees the longevity of this social ailment of Sindh. But this wound is not organic or germane to Sindhi society, it was inflicted primarily by Ziaul Haq who drew strength for his illegitimate reign of misrule from infusing religious extremism in society and widening divisions among the people. Rising religious extremism has marginalized non-muslims socially whereas increasing clout and unbridled power of feudalism emanating from breakdown of writ of law has perpetrated or contributed to physical or financial excesses against non-mulsims. Not only hindus but Sindhis following any religion are victims of this oppressive, perverted system of governance.
We all cry out for the Hindus who are oppressed against because of their religion or who flee their motherland for any fear. The problems which are making life difficult for them are not of the Sindhi society in its essence, but of system of governance which stings indiscriminately.
@husain naqi:
".........sindhi (shaheed) zab who promulgated evacuee trust property board law to usurp highly valuable lands of temples and gurdwaras of hindu and sikh communities who both continued to live in their homeland,pakistan," . Nizamani's so called "research" has a subtext as usual. He carefully avoids taking up facts which go counter to his narrative. The News among others have written a while ag: The land grabbers have forced the Hindu residents of the century-old Pawaldass compound in the backward Baghdadi area of Lyari Town of old Karachi to sell their properties at cheap rate was being encroached upon by some persons who could by any stretch of imagination could be called a mohajir. . ZAB, made a claim dealing an evacuee property in located in India, being a migrant from there. The Indian authorities found the claim to be false thus rejected it. The privileged class person, an ex Indian-Sindhi gentleman, tried to exploit the situation to the max for his own benefit. . Would have been nicer if the material presented here should have had more facts based claims. .
@arjun: Do you mean like the Palistinians are asking Israel for their ancient rights to land ...?
It is interesting to note that Muslims left India because Muslims wanted a separate country, and ironically, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Jews left Pakistan because Muslims wanted a separate country. So the people of other faiths were forced to leave their homelands against their wishes :(
We support the right of Palestinians to return to their ancestral land in Israel. We must also support the right of all Hindu Sindhis to return to their ancestral land in Sind. The Mohajirs must be made to give up their ill-gotten properties in Karachi to the rightful owners.
I just love India....Great Dicision by my Grand father to stay here in India...Anyway feeling sorry for Sindhi Hindus....but seems like Pakistan day by Day becoming more In tollerant.....forceful conversion of Hindus girls to Islam..However few sane people still exist in pakistan..We have lot of hope from them..
Sindhis in Sindh have been saying, screaming and sobbing for decades 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.” This article truly vindicates and verifies that position and affirms the assertion of Sindhis.
Sindhs are secular by belief, Sufis in convition and humanist in their character. They are a very close-knit society. They never ever wanted their brothers and sisters - all sons and daughters of their gregarious and glorios Moter Sindh - to leave their Motherland. The exodus of Sindhis from their Fatherland was cunningly, shrewdly, wickedly, coercivey and threateningly manouevered and enfoced by the Muhajirs, the immigrants from Idia. Long Live Sindh!
@Ali tanoli: You said - "Sindhi Hindus are the best peoples in whole Hinduism i have met and our family Doctor is Sindhi Hindu Pakistani from Mir pur khas area."
There are more than a billion Hindus. A lot of Hindus to like if you really want to. Even though I am Indian Hindu, I myself like Fiji Hindus and Hindus from Trinidad and Guyana because I think they follow the core beliefs of Hinduism without the negative cultural baggage of India.
@kaalchakra:
NATO is there in AF-PAK region to bring the justice to that area.
Its only in 1857 that British realized that they need to introspect themselves & they decided to plant the seeds of hatred among Hindus & Muslim. They succeeded in that & they could rule for another 90 years before leaving the subcontinent creating the biggest blunder on human kind.\ I am horrified by the thoughts of condition of those people that time who choose to stay back in the same land they believe is their own. Things have changed now.India has moved ahead.
@Rakesh:
Agree with you. Forget about Hindus who left Pakistan in 1947. They are doing very well no thanks to anyone but their own tenacity, focus and entrepreneurship.
Why are Hindus leaving Sindh today? Every year thousands of Sindhi Hindus come to India and don't go back. And having met these refugees personally I can tell you they are blaming Sindhi Muslim feudal politicians and Sindhi Pirs who have a religious hold over all the land and poor people in rural Sindh. I don't think Muhajirs have anything to do with this. Hindus in Karachi are relatively better off than those in rural areas.
@Irshad Khan: All the property including agricultural land that was left behind by the Hindus was handed over to the Evacuee Property Trust. This trust was managed by Syed Hashim Raza. The property was then handed over by the trust to Mohajirs from India on the basis of claims filed with two witnesses confirming that the claim was valid.
@kaalchakra: That is your perception. Pre-partition Muslims and Hindus lived in peaceful coexistence. It is only after partition when we had a mass influx of refugees from India, that crime and violence went up. The city of Karachi was an extremely clean and peaceful city in 1947; look at it today.
@kaalchakra: It was not misappropriation of money. The hindu traders would provide seed and fertilizer to the muslim farmers on credit. There was always a certain amount owed by the farmers to the traders. Therefore it was not a question of misappropriation, but simply that of credit.
Many sindhis hindus are leaving their homes to this day. What about them?
@Ginseng: It is a fallacy to equate Urdu speakers with Islam. It is factually correct that there was no Urdu spoken in Karachi pre-partition. The primary languages were Sindhi, English and Gujrati. Muslims spoke any or all of these three languages. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with ethnicity. Sindhi was the primary language of Sindh, English was spoken by the educated classes and Gujrati by the business community.
Nadeem Jamali
I respect your view but disagree with it. It is short-sighted to view justice working in merely narrow localized ways. Justice, at cosmic levels, works globally, and the reach of Islam and Muslims as agents of justice is never confined to geographical boundaries. When Sindhis were being oppressed the Hindu kings, Sindh's greatest hero, the young Bin Qasim brought justice from afar. In fact, justice has ALWAYS been brought and implemented by outsiders simply because locals are too caught up in human bonds to implement justice effectively.
Best.
I don't know about the hindus migrated to india at the time of partition but I know many hindus migrated to india due to bad law and order condition in interior sindh.
Most of native peoples left pakistan of fear and another reason was what was happening across the border in east punjab and also peoples got those left over home in the exchange what they left behind in india so we can not blame every non sindhi for few incidents....
Article is a hear-say based, without reference to any record. This is an effort to create hatred against new Sindhees. Question is that who grabbed the lands and property of Hindus who were fleeing from Sindh and who got write-off the money borrowed from that community. A common man of this province was most deprived community before partition and have not been allowed even after it. Such baseless stories should not be allowed to be printed in a reputed paper.
the first curfew in Karachi in Jan 48 , forced 1.2 Millions of non Muslims Sindhis , belonging to the educated middle class , migrated . That left a void , and this vacuum was not filled by the new incomers , instead they created their own alienated cocoon of existence , while enjoying the privileged positions in the controlling structure of bureaucracy , that was then filled with all ICS men .
I am glad , truth is coming out , and one day the myth of sacrifices too will be challenged and proved wrong........ Period.
My friends,
Sindhi Hindus were doing many wrong things. So before blaming anyone else for whatever happened, let us first blame Hindus.
@ayesha_khan: Good one
@kaalchakra: The discussion is about whether Sindhi Muslims or Mohajirs were responsible. It doesn't make sense to lump together Sindhis and Mohajirs as Muslims. It's absurd to say that Mohajirs had to come from India to take revenge on Sindhi Hindus for their (alleged) exploitation of Sindhi Muslims. And some justice they delivered to Sindhi Muslims by reducing them to second class citizens on their own land. [BTW, I am very disappointed that Tribute moderators censored my previous comment. I guess Sindhis still aren't allowed to speak in their own defence.]
HUKUM SINGH:
Whatever is happening with Hindu brethren is quite injustice and. Not only Hindu Community fell prey to barbaric acts of Landowners and Feudal of Sindh, supported by radical and ignorant Mullahs and arrogant "Syeds", but also the daughters of poor peasants and poor families are victimized by them. Haider Nizamani did not support them but he wrote this piece of Column in response to put the history in order.
Nevertheless, I personally liked his arguments which enriched my knowledge further and such writers deserve respect and kudos to bring facts before us.
Gulzar Kandrani
Yousaf
Thanks for bringing in an important aspect of this discussion. What is forgotten today is that Hindus had misappropriated the monies that belonged to Muslims.; They were simply inviting their own trouble, sooner or later. Blaming Muslims for simply being the agents and implementers of social justice is foolish.
Its always about money ,The Mussalmans were upto their necks in debt to the Hindus ..and this was an easy way to write off ones debt ..plain and simple ....Money is at the root of all evil.
Hate breeds hate. Simple as that. During partition, Muslim women had their chests cut out and whole trains consisting of Muslim refugee's were brutalized so that when they arrived in Pakistan, there were cabins full of dead body's. Then there were Hindu's and Sikh's who lost all their homes and businesses during partition. Hindu and Sikh men were killed and raped. To get a sense of what happened, watch the movie Ice Candy Man, it really gives you a glimpse of how bad things got between people who were friends, neighbor's and colleagues one day and sworn enemies the next. My own Grandfather lost all his family, his father shot dead by his Hindu friend. The point is, these atrocities outraged the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities, and they took out their rage on each other resulting in a vicious cycle of violence that claimed thousands and affected both India and Pakistan since 1947.
Its time to grow up, which some commentators both Indian and Pakistani's on this board seriously need to do, and move on.All South Asian communities have a rich history's and cultures that are strong enough to survive calamities like the partition and prosper after that disaster. Killings happened and they were tragedy, educate yourself and prevent such atrocities from happening again.
brave
This is historical discussion. Facts should be clear. I want to cite sources to prove that Sindhi was less affected during partition.
It is reported in Religious Minorities in Pakistan 2002. " Sindh, Balochistan, and East Bengal were less affected by the communal riots accompanying partition nd therefore there were fewer incentives for non-Muslim Pakistanis to migrate." It is reported [1], "Historically, there had been some minor clashes from time to time, but, by and large, both Hindu and Muslim Sindhis co-existed without too much tension.Hindu Sindhis would have remained in Sindh following the Partition, if it were not for the violence that erupted when massive amounts of Urdu speaking Muslims started pouring into Sindh. They began attacking the Hindu population. "[1] http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/aug2007/partition_india.html
@Yuri K, Many of my sindhi Muslims freinds and Muhajirs Urdu speakers brothers are also best peoples on earth i did not mean to harm any one feeling being grown up in karachi my best friends are urdu speakers peoples and even my wife is urdu speaking family migrated from U.P india and many of urdu speaking and sindhi speaking peoples are very peacefull and loveable peoples why i post it my above comment about Hindu peoples because they are nice and peacefull peoples like any others community and i hope some one will share there story of what happend to indian muslims when they migrated specialy Dehli and Punjab area muslims.
@A J Khan: sir but we are happy to choose india this is our dear home where we live happily and peacefully i think you should also happily accept the muslim who left india during partition my grandfather was from old sukkur i think everyone should accept reality and i thank all my indian brothers for not only supporting sindhi hindus but giving them equal opportunities our hard work wouldnt have paid of without your acceptance.i agree that sindhi have now no grudge for anyone and have always believed in peaceful coexistence
rivers of blood rootless people drifting.... scars unhealed inherited wounds.
land cleansed of kafirs - you say? well done - you have preserved your hatred well.
@irfan
You are the hope.It's people like you who make this world a better place and life worth living.Your post will touch and move many a hearts on both sides. Thanks a million.
haider nizamani is absolutely correct as for as 1947 is concerned. hindu and sikh properties were looted and members of these non-muslim communities were hounded by incoming refugees from different parts of partititoned india. however ethnic sindhi mullahs are now actively engaged in forced conversion of hindu girls and ethnic sindhis are also the main culprits in kidnappings for ransom. and it was the ethnin sindhi (shaheed) zab who promulgated evacuee trust property board law to usurp highly valuable lands of temples and gurdwaras of hindu and sikh communities who both continued to live in their homeland,pakistan, . it was a blatantly discriminatory law and more so when the properties of christian community were not brought under the mischief of this lawless law. all justice loving pakistanis from any federating unit and community should raise their voice against discrimination being meted out to non muslim minorities and violation of their basic rights. husain naqi
@ Irfan, Dear Irfan Hats off you, Humanity is still alive only because of people like you who think only for love ....
@ayesha_khan: one day you will think that was a bad decision.........
The point that writer is trying to make is that it was not the residents that forced the Hindus to leave Sindh but either the immigrants (who has been through the partition violence) or the state (which perhaps did not care about the minorities at that time). Sindh has always been a sanctuary for everyone beyond religious boundaries so I would recommend please alienate this discussion from religious mindset.
@Ali tanoli: seems you never met any Muslim.If so then compare
Nothing in Pakistan must come as a surprise. I am sure there are more skeletons in the cupboard that are a millions times worse than this. All part of who we are.
@irfan very toucing gesture on your part!
@Irfan: It is people like U who keep the faith in humanity alive.May God bless U.
India is requested to send our Hindus back including Mr Gugral, and Mr Man Mohan Singh and take back what it send including Musharraf and Altaf Hussain.
@MilesToGo: How do you know?
@Khalq e Khuda:
and lets not forget the Quaid’s role in the so called ‘direct action day’. The truth does always out. The true 'heroes' of the Partition will ultimately get identified.
Let me say one thing: All the writers, commentators have uniformly mentioned a fact that the partition killings have increased when stories of refugees are heard by others. Often, they are rumours or exageerated. The refugees from the two sides were the main resons for the violence. When sikhs heard stories from Pak sikhs they vented their anger on muslims. When Pak Muslims heard stories from Mohajirs, they vented on Hindus. To all the supporters of Jinnah: Jinnah had said to Lord Minto on record that, India and Pakistan can exchange their minorities as happened with Greece tragedy. You can verify the Fact in google books.
politics of fear and hatred will end up with trajedies like partition of sub continent.
An excellent article with facts to back it up. Unsurprisingly it has evoked such a strong reaction from people who think that all others, except their co-religionists, are not within even the pale of humanity. Sindh has suffered the most from Partition and sufferings of Sindhis, given the mindset that evoked some of the responses above,are yet far from over. Kudos to Haider Nizamani for putting up the mirror.
@a_writer: "I feel sad for the Hindus on Pakistani side and the Muslims on the Indian side who thought things will settle down during partition. Thank God for those who saw the writing on the wall and bailed out when they had the chance."
Not sure I agree. Things DID settle down in India. I am certainly glad my family chose India.
@Irfan
Brother, you come across as a cool breeze of compassion in the face of the burning gusts of intolerance. Thank you for sahring this.
What I can not help wonder is, How did the progeny of such great forebearers go so wrong?
In my view, purging Sindh of Hindus was the handiwork of those who wanted to establish that history began with Bin Qasim. A sizeable, well integrated Hindu population would have exposed their project as fraudulent and, therefore, the Hindus had to go.
@Wajib: Just pray that Indians do not ask for their ancient lands on the basis of historical rights. you will not even have the right to claim the land you are living on!!!!
@Ali tanoli:
Dear brother,
How do these Sindhi Hindus compare to Muslims you have met? In terms of being peaceful, tolerant and being well educated?
I eagerly await your answer.
Kudos to the writer. An eye opening article.
A Bitter Truth !!
A line I found interesting. "for they also feared a loss of cultural identity with the Hindu exodus."
The day Partition happened, Pakistan was destined to become an Islamic state. The colourful, vibrant culture of the Hindus used to act as a counter balance against Islamization of society. Now, that most of them had gone, there was no stopping it.
Another interesting fact mentioned in the article is that Jinnah sat quietly while Liaquat Ali Khan admonished the guy for protecting Hindus of Sindh.
3 Feb, 1948 Riots in karachi were engineered by the newely created government of pakistan . Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali jinnah, meets with hindus of karachi and assure them, newely state of muslim will not harm minorities, and he also warned muslim rioters to dont do any harm to their hindu brothers. Infact Mr. jinnah advise the refugees who were involved in riots and atrocious activities against hindus and other minorities of karachi, to protect them. Ayoub khuhro, arrested the rioters.surprisingly employees of sindh secreteriate were also caught red handed. Liaqat Ali Khan the then PM pressurise the ayoub khuhro to releas them, but Khuhro refused. Later khuhro had paid the price of that by his disqualification. Karachi was dettached from sindh province and captured by pakistan government, and liaqat ali khan made karachi a buffer zone for the refugees, sindhis hindus were turn into minorties, their culture their language was replaced by indian culture . Unfortunately founder of pakistan, died after one year of inception of pakistan. After his death hindus and other minorties feel insecure . Most of hindus leave the karachi in the fear, that state was involved in their killing, many fleet to india, and some settled in upper sindh where their culture and language was ressembling with people.
Sindhi Hindus,spread all over the world after partition and excelled in trade and commerce.What was gain of India and rest of the world,was loss of Pakistan.
Sindhi hindus came to India, stayed in refugee camps. They worked so hard and built various businesses and added their own flavour to the local cultures. They are highly respected community of India. I admire their courage and zeal to stand up and rise again. I have never seen a Sindhi hindu crying over what is lost and carrying hatred in his heart.
Children of those Sindhi Hindus must be very happy that their parents migrated to India because most of them got very prosperous and wealthy. Amazing acheivement
@ Ali Tanoli
did you meet any south indians?
@Jaleez Haider: Had you knew the meaning of word Claim you would not have commented! Denial is of no use to cover the shame!
Mr Nizamanai what u write is what I have heard from our elders. The Gurumandir incident, this is the vicinity where our family used to reside pre partition and still resides there. They tell stories of how one day a mob came armed with lattis, swords etc with intent to harm our neighbors who were Gujrati Patels. My Family with other neighbors took out their Kulharis and stood before the mob to protect those neighbors. judging by the comments posted here I see a lot of prejudice and hate so I would not say who were the people in the mob or of what ethnicity. Our neighbors were not harmed but soon left for India anyway. If anyone in India reads this, who migrated from Karachi, from the yellow Banglows of the Walika Mehel area in Gurumandir, I like to say to you our elders often talk about you, of the good neighbors they lost, and how helpful they always were and that to this day they miss you. I want to add one more thing here Mr. Nizamani should have explained who were the people who all of a sudden started marking the houses of non muslims in the city identifying them as targets for the mobs to attack them and drive them away. Again I would not name names will leave it to the intellectuals cause they have the words and only the can kill hate with reason & words. I do plan to find out where our neighbors are in India and plan to visit them. I know some of you will post a comment saying why don't you move to India if you love them so much. To them I say in advance, please don't bother.
I have noticed, recently a number of articles have been appearing in the media on the Partition of India or the Sub-Continent as we Pakistanis prefer to call. It is not only irrelevant but also of no benefit to anybody and the victims in particular on both sides of the divide to talk about those dark events now, when almost seven decades have passed since the partition. The people who should be blamed for the carnage of 1947 were neither Muslims nor Hindus or the Sikhs. They were the British and the Leaders of the Muslim League and the Congress who exploited the ignorance and raw emotions of their followers to fulfill their own agendas and egos. The real tragedy is that we have learned nothing from the history and miserably failed to look the past from a wide perspective, unless we learn to do that shall for ever be mired in this blame game.
@Wajib: Yea wajib.... Ensure that you don't scream hoarse when ethnic cleansing against Muslims take place in other other countries. To us Muslims are heretics!
I can't understand why people here are so hung up on partition, two nation theory etc. It happened ages back. Move on...
Very well written article. Sindh is land of Sufis and peaceful people who believe in peaceful co-existence. Due to Sufi and plurastic colors of Sindhi society, extremism and religious intolerance didnt develop their roots in Sindh. No doubt, It was one of the most unfortunate part of our history that Sindhi Hindus were forced by Non-Sindhis to leave their land. Though founding father Quaid e Azam was staunch supporters of minorities but first PM of Pakistan wanted to make Pakistan a theocratic state. Check "Objective Resolution" as proof. Since then Pakistan is made hostage in the name of religious theocracy and national security.
I don't see what the need is to raise these controversial issues and divide Pakistan between Sindhis and non-Sindhis. All are one and must live like one. We must strongly denounce this divisive and hateful article.
A scholarly reply, factual, accurate and unbiased!
I feel sad for the Hindus on Pakistani side and the Muslims on the Indian side who thought things will settle down during partition. I am sure it was terrible for people of both religion. Thank God for those who saw the writing on the wall and bailed out when they had the chance.
It was Allah's will.
@Ali tanoli: "Sindhi Hindus are the best peoples in whole Hinduism i have met and our family Doctor is Sindhi Hindu Pakistani from Mir pur khas area."
Which other Hindus have you met to form a basis of comparison? Do you know any Telugu Hindus, Kannada Hindus, Tamil Hindus, Bengali Hindus, Marathi Hindus, Malayali Hindus, Oriya Hindus, Assamese Hindus?
@Ali tanoli:
Here is a britsh raj peiod video of karachi. It clearly shows that karachi was a very hindu city till 1947. the hindu influence can be seen in the garments like sari and dhoti and gujarti and hindi script was being used and not urdu in public areas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gza3ONQbsw&feature=youtubegdataplayer
A great and pragmatic Op Ed, thanks ET and the writer both. It is a fact that there have not been any Hindu-Muslim rights in Sindh. There have not been Shia-Sunni riots in interior Sinds. Sindhis (both Hindu and Muslim) are tolerant people and have the same culture. I agree with the author that the riots started after the refugees arrived in large cities of Sindh. My own parents were the first who arrived in old part of Karachi and they could move into any home they wanted. Hindus were begging for mercy and with Eid Azha coming they were pleading that do not slaughter us on the Eid. Somehow there was a rumor that Muslims are going to celebrate Eid with that. Specifically the immigrants had suffered at the hands of Sikhs and Hindus and were bent up the revenge. All the old Karachi’s buildings were owned by Hindus, are they still there? It is a fact violence breeds violence and atrocities happened on both sides, but in Sindh it was mostly one sided.
@Pinto
'If Hindus were forced to leave, why are there so many Hindus in Sindh today?'
'How many' are 'so many' for you? Compare the 'so many' you see today with 'that many' who were there at August,1947 compounded with population growth rate for 65 years. You will not remain sceptical (on this issue I mean).
@Hafeez: @Zeeshan Talpur: My father was born in Hyderabad Sindh. He is 80 this year. “The violence against Sindhi Hindus and their mass migration to India was a tragic loss scripted, orchestrated and implemented by non-Sindhis in Sindh”. This is the same that my dad told me in my younger years. That he and his family were threatened to leave their houses/properties or....
Pakistan should move on now from partition.Read maulana Azad's interview of 1946 and his prediction about Pakistan.Sindh and Balochistan predates Pakistan and may post date pakistan.
Thanks to Sindh's culture of tolerance, Sufism and peaceful co-existence, there were less massacre in Sindh. This is also a bitter truth of history, Sindhi Hindu community was forced to leave their motherland by Non-Sindhi speaking communities. CM Khuhro's govt resisted it and that's why his provincial govt was dislodged. This was first anti-democratic drive by center (Liaquat Ali Khan) to dictate Sindh Govt and when they refused to bow down, A democratically elected CM Ayub Khuhro was removed from office through center's intervention. This was beginning of failure of federation and it was first action which sent shock wave to Sindh that their say has NO value in their own province.
wastage of words and time.
This is factual. I can say so with confidence because my my father who was a student leader of the Muslim League was present in Mr. Khuhro's office that day in 1948 when these events took place. Mr. Khuhro subsequently described the conversation with Liaqat Ali Khan to him.
Brilliantly written ...Hats off Nizamani sahib...!
So i guess all the feudal lords Sindh are non-Sindhis then? The Syeds, Pirs, Bhuttos and Zardaris? They are all non-sindhis and did nt exist before partition? Because the last time i checked, these were the people who were controlling Sind then and are controlling Sindh even now. I am sure the non-sindhis awarded all these lands to them. But my question is, was this before the division or afterwards.
I trust Ajmal Kamal more than I trust Haider Nizamani. Look at what happened to Rinkle Kumari, Asha Kumari and Lata Kumari. It is the Sindhi feudal-Pir politicians like Mian Mithoo who are making life miserable for Sindhi Hindus in interior Sindh. I have met Hindu refugees in Rajasthan in India, last year (2011), who left Sindh for good because of kidnapping, rape and looting by their so-called Sindhi Muslim brethren.
Another ugly and tragic face of our history. It is also no secret that the first massacred trains were those that took off from Pindi and lets not forget the Quaid's role in the so called 'direct action day'.
@Wajib: You are correct sir - you are the true Pakistani. More power to you.
Sindhi Hindus are the best peoples in whole Hinduism i have met and our family Doctor is Sindhi Hindu Pakistani from Mir pur khas area.
@Jaleez Haider: "Read the last sentence carefully. Is it just me or is the author a tad defensive ? He seem a little unsure about his own article and admits that it’s only “claim”."
It is a polite way of saying that the author is certain about his facts and he is challenging anyone to furnish the evidence to the contrary.
Balochi are a minority in Balochistan. Sindhi are a minority in Karachi and are barely a majority in Sindh. What "cultural identity"? The only cultural identity we want is that of a wannabe arab so we can be called miskeen in Dubai.
Typical! Blame everything wrong that happened with Sindh on the "non-Sindhis"! So, what else is new?
What's the argument about - whoever is responsible for driving away the kafir should be proud of it - we are all collectively responsible for clensing this land and should be claiming credit for it, not shying away from it. Pakistan was created for preservation and propagation of Islam - any one pretending otherwise is either a liberal extremist or secular.
@Hafeez:
But it's not!
Disturbing, if factual.
Utter fiction.