Province of Sindh

 Sindh

Historically Sindh is home to the Sindhis. Different cultural and ethnic groups also reside in Sindh including Urdu-speaking Muslim Indians who migrated to Pakistan from India upon independence as well as the people migrated from other provinces after independence. The Sindh is linked with Balochistan in the west and north, Punjab to the north, Gujarat and Rajasthan of India in the southeast and east, and the Arabian Sea in the south. The main language of Sindh is Sindhi while all other languages of Pakistan are spoken here. Historically the Assyrians (as early as the seventh century BC) knew the region as Sinda. The Persians as Abisind, the Greeks as Sinthus, the Romans as Sindus, the Chinese as Sintow, in Sanskrit, the province was dubbed Sindhu meaning "Ocean" while the Arabs dubbed it Al-Sindh

Origin of the name Sindh:

The province of Sindh and the people inhabiting the region had been designated after the river known in Ancient times as the Sindhus River, now also known by Indus River. In Sanskrit, sidhu means "river, stream". However, the importance of the river and close phonetically resemblance in nomenclature would make one consider sidhu as the probable origin of the name of Sindh. Later phonetical changes transformed Sindhu into Hindu in Old Persian. The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great rendered it as Indu, hence the modern Indus, when the British conquered South Asia, they expanded the term and applied the name to the entire region of South Asia and called it India.

Geography:

Sindh is located on the western corner of South Asia, bordering the Iranian plateau in the west. Geographically it is the third largest province of Pakistan, stretching about 579 km from north to south and 442 km (extreme) or 281 km (average) from east to west, with an area of 140,915 kms (54,407 square miles) of Pakistani territory. Sindh is bounded by the Thar Desert to the east, the Kirthar Mountains to the west, and the Arabian Sea in the south. In the centre is a fertile plain around the Indus river. The devastating floods of the river Indus are now controlled by irrigation techniques.

Karachi became capital of Sindh in 1936, in place of the traditional capitals of Hyderabad and Thatta. Other important cities include Shaheed Benazeerabad District, Sanghar, Sukkur, Dadu, Shahdadkot, Sehwan, Mirpukhas, Larkana, Shikarpur, Nosharoferoz, Kashmore, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Ranipur, and Moro.

A subtropical region, Sindh is hot in the summer and cold in winter. Temperatures frequently rise above 46 BC (115 F) between May and August, and the minimum average temperature of 2 BC (36 F) occurs during December and January. The annual rainfall averages about seven inches, falling mainly during July and August. The southwest monsoon wind begins to blow in mid-February and continues until the end of September, whereas the cool northerly wind blows during the winter months from October to January.

Modern History after independence of Pakistan:

On August 14 1947 Pakistan gained independence from colonial British colonial rule. The province Sindh attained self rule, the first time since the defeat of Sindhi Talpur Amirs in the Battle of Miani on February 17, 1843.The first challenge faced by the Government of Sindh was the settlement of Muslim refugees. Nearly 7 million Muslims from India migrated to Pakistan while nearly equal number of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan migrated to India. The Muslim refugees known as Muhajirs from India settled in most urban areas of Sindh. Sindh at the time of partition was home to a large number of Hindus who accounted for 27% of the total population of the province. They were more concentrated in the urban centres of the province and had a strong hold on the province's economy and business. Although the relations between the local Muslims and Hindus were good but with the arrival of Muslim refugees in the urban centres of the province, Hindus started to feel unsafe. This along with unstable future in a Muslim country and better opportunities in India made a large number of Sindhi Hindus to leave the province.Sindh did not witness any massive level genocide as other parts of the Subcontinent (especially Punjab region) did, comparatively there were few incidents of riots in Karachi and Hyderabad but over all situation remained peaceful mainly due to the efforts of the Chief Minister of Sindh Mr. Ayub Khuhro. At present there are roughly 2.9 million Hindus in Sindh forming 7.5% of the total population of the province. Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan (i.e caste Hindus accounting for 86% of the total Hindu population of Pakistan as of 1998 census) are mainly into small to medium sized businesses. They are mainly traders, retailer/wholesalers, builders as well as into the fields of medical, engineering, law and financial services. However the scheduled caste Hindus (Dalits) are in a poorer state with most of them as bonded labour in the rural areas of the province. Most of the Muslim refugees are settled in urban areas of Sindh especially in Karachi and Hyderabad.Since Pakistan's Independence in 1947, Sindh has been the destination of a continuous stream of migration from South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Burma, and Afghanistan as well as Pashtun and Punjabi immigrants from the North West Frontier Province and the Punjab Province of Pakistan to Karachi. This is due to the fact that Karachi is the economic magnet of Pakistan attracting people from all over Pakistan. Many native Sindhis resent this influx. Nonetheless, traditional Sindhi families remain prominent in Pakistani politics, especially the Bhutto, Zardari and Soomro dynasties. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan, was from Karachi, Sindh but was a Gujarati.

Pakistan Resolution in the Sindh Assembly:

The Sindh assembly was the first British Indian legislature to pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan. G. M. Syed, an influential Sindhi activist, revolutionary and Sufi and one of the important leaders to the forefront of the provincial autonomy movement joined the Muslim League in 1938 and presented the Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly. G. M. Syed can rightly be considered as the founder of Sindhi nationalism.