Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

I was reading somewhere that out of top 46 rich Indians, around 28 are Sindhi Hindus .

Actually this was the comment posted in an article published in Dawn:

The invisible partition of Sindh - DAWN.COM

This says that all original people of Sindh were Hindus and almost all Muslims of Sindh came from outside, which is definitely a very odd and unsupported claim.

But the commentator’s other points do carry some weight. For example, like all Muslims of sub-continent, Sindhi Muslims shown a negative attitude towards modern education and therefore remained uneducated, unprivileged and exploited.

How do you this plight of Sindhi Muslims?

Who is the responsible for this misery?

Is it religion or exploitation in the name of religion or this is something all nations, races and communities have to face at any time of history?

Re: Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

People are themselves to blame for their plight. As far as muslims being outsiders, I dont subscribe to that theory. There were some migrations which are a historical fact, but a very big proportion of Muslims are converts from other religions of the subcontinent.

Re: Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

yes that was very odd claim. The early converts in Sindh include elite Brahmin and Khatri. Most of the Sindhi Muslims are not from foreign origin

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Some how the muslims have been subscribing to the theory "Islam is in danger" for many centuries, this has been the main factor why we have been reluctant to adapt to the changing landscape around them.

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The community which get displaced is the one which rises faster. Be it any, So the communities which came with ghutteries on their heads in partition are the top one in both countries :)

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The point to consider that there is a claim that trade was in genes of Sindhi Hindus and in history books we read that Sindh's was trading as far as Iraq and they might have been using sea-routes. While Hindus were prohibited for sea journey that might have been carried by Buddhist. Bhudhism was there in Sindh at the time of Arab conquest. So, did all the Buddhists converted to Hinduism after Arabs or they converted to Islam.

If they converted to Islam, how come Muslim Sindhis were not active in trade and it became domain of Sindhi Hindus only?

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But Sindhi Hindus were bright stars of the land even before partition. ek Hindi kahwat ke anosar:

"Poot ke paon paalne mein hi nazar aa jaate hain"

Re: Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

Parsis, which were much more displaced, in terms of distance, are even better. The only minority community which never demanded any sort of reservation in India. Tatas being one of them :)

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After the advent of Islam, the religion rose to prominence with their stamp on the researches taking place in the world. Great centers of learning were established in Baghdad and Samarqand/Bukhara etc. Then started a movement against research and moving towards the more puritanical form of the religion. This moved the Muslims away from research, the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols also played a role. But its a reality that during the past 1000 years Muslims vanished from the R&D scene.

Re: Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

Sindhi Hindus were in majority in Urban areas of Sindh. Even, Karachi was Hindu majority city as per 1940's census.

Re: Sindhi Hindus Vs Sindhi Muslims

At the kaur

Slightly off topic.

Indeed the paresis are successful. But I believe they didn't rise from the ashes. They were prosperous.
comparing them to those minorities "demanding reservations in India" is apples to pappayaa. And noontide fair to minorities.

Wont derail. My 0.5 paisa.

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The problem that hit Sindhi Muslims more was their concentration in rural areas. I think before 1843 (British conquest of Sindh), the situation was not like that as Muslims were there in Hyderabad and Thatta, which were major urban centres. During British era, all urban centres including Karachi were Hindu majority areas.

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You are right and even partition didn't affect them much as they didn't have to migrate. Parsis of Bombay and Karachi remained there after partition.

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Yes that would be one reason. The feudal politicians and their interest in keep their people away from education hasn't helped too. Sindhi Hindus were very progressive, a few years ago I used to read Takbeer which my father used to buy. According to that the Hindus hold the business activities even in Rural Sindh, not sure about its factual position.

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See the most rich Pakistanis and you will see an over representation of Kashmiris.

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I think plight of Sindhi Muslims is not connected to religious thought considering modern education as kufr. Sindhi Muslims were not orthodox like other parts of sub-continent (this was well displayed during riots of partition). It seems that at certain point of time (most probably during British era), they took back seat and didn't pursue for new opportunities available to them.

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My communities some time does, and we were never underprivilaged, I mean Sikhs here. Parsis, when they came to India from Iran were not rich, it took them time to be what they became, even JRD Tata had to borrow from Indians before starting Steel and Iron factory

They never ruled any part of India ever, the communities which demand now be it any were once ruler with exceptions to Dalits here

Don't worry about thread in this forum, they die after twenty posts anyway :D

Enterpreneurship is nothing new to Baniyas, even now, many of the top bussiness firms in India are held by them, they always had courage, when it came to take fiscal risks. They even funded mughals in their extravagent spending in past. British were smarter than them in economics and had little use of them before, Gandhi from that community became nuisance :D

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They have suffered and took long journey to reach that. I've read in many books that Haatoo (cheap Kashmiri labor) was available in abundance in areas like Lahore and they were paid very little for there work. During Dogra Raj, they fled from Kashmir to reach Punjab and many were died due to severe weather on their way.

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I agree with that financing part. This was and is still prevalent in Sindhi Hindus. They are charging high interest for loans and have in their custody lands, gold of Muslims as a security to loan. At the time of partition, the problem that was faced by Sindhi Muslims due to these loan-security transactions also played major role in current Sindhi Muslims. Their lands which were in custody of Hindu banyas were not given back to them and were formed part of claims and given to migrants. A generation paid principal and heavy installment of interest before partition, but during the process of migration they lost their right to their properties.

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Though the story of displacement and death due to heat continued in early 90s for Kashmiris on our side of border, in longer time frame, Kashmiris on both side of border became politically powerful. Nehru being most powerful and Salman Rushdie, the most, unpopular :D