Trying their luck: Sindh’s migrants in Indore speak

Migrants say they mostly chose to leave Pakistan seeking a better future for their children.

SUKKUR: Mohan Lal migrated to India a year ago. While he used to run a grocery shop in Thull, in Indore he is employed at a large grocery shop. “My migration to India was not because of lawlessness or any threat. I wanted to try my luck here”.

Thull resident Dileep Kumar told The Express Tribune on Thursday that he went to India to visit religious sites and is currently staying with relatives in Bhopal. He categorically denied that there was a large-scale migration. He said he had left Thull with a group of two dozen people. “We are here to visit religious places and will return after Eid”.

Mukesh Kumar also migrated to Indore a year ago. He said he worked in the real-estate business but he migrated because he had relatives in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh . He said he hasn’t found a job yet. “I am missing my Jacobabad but I had to leave because of a better future.”

Another Hindu migrant said he left Pakistan for a better future for his children. According to another migrant, also named Mukesh Kumar, his father Ghansham Das is still in Jacobabad and serves as a caretaker at a temple. There are problems everywhere but we have not experienced the love we found in Jacobabad, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2012.