pol, heritage, soc: A report on some reports to come..

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

Friends,

I have been busy catching up on work after my recent return from
France but will be posting some reports in the coming weeks.

As I did last year, I intend to report on my impression of this
Samellan which I and my children attended.  In brief, the Sindhi
Samellan conveyed a vibrant Sindhyat and featured many opportunities
for the next generation to learn about Sindh and Sindhi culture.  It
was a joyous and uplifting 'melo' (festival), a reunion with many,
many warm and welcoming friends across the planet (some of whom
journeyed from Sindh despite obstacles), and a time to make new
connections to continue our work for the future of Sindhyat and
Sindhis everywhere.

The gathering at the Samellan was apprised of conditions in Sindh and
participants were visibly moved by the plight.  The Samellan broke new
ground by passing a resolution demanding basic human rights for
Sindhis in Sindh.  The resolution, authored by Saaiin Ram Jethmalani,
Minister of Law in the Indian Union, and moved by Saaiin Keswani,
Member of Parliament of the Indian Union, was passed unanimously.  The
strongly worded resolution condemned the denial of human rights to
Sindhis in Sindh and in particular asked the relevant United Nation
bodies, the governments of the United States and of India to take
notice of the virtual enslavement of the Sindhi nation.

When I get a chance (alas, after I return from yet another work
related trip), I will also post mail I received from the frontline on
the abuse of peasants in the system of bonded labor in Eastern Sindh.
You will be glad to know that many in the Sindhi middle-class,
intellectuals and activists are at the forefront of publicizing bonded
labor, and in the real struggle to change things.

In the past few years, activists met with some more success than they
have had since the late 1930s when the struggle first took shape, but
they are now facing a backlash from powerful interests.  Many risk
their lives to work in the field.  These social and political workers
are not concerned about the caste or creed of the oppressed, but with
the inhumanity perpetrated.  It is because of the efforts of such
selfless workers that you now hear about the problem in international
media.  And it is through their effort that 7000+ bonded labor have
been freed in the last few years.

I have also received some mail giving a first-hand account of
partition events viewed as a young person who had to leave Sindh, with
a request to edit and post anonymously -- I intend to post it later
this Fall together with some historical notes and a couple of other
accounts I have.  If others have, can give or obtain similar accounts,
please feel free to post them or forward them to me and I will be glad
to edit and post them.  I will also be posting some powerful poems
about the impact of partition on Sindhis, written by leading Sindhi
poets in Sindh and in diaspora. (I recently acquired a copy of a book
of English translations of some of this poetry, you can feel the
passion and trauma through the translation.)

sadaaiin ggaddu,

Gul Agha