Maharastra to retain Sindhi; Sindhis protest in Larkana, ..

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

excerpted from http://web.mid-day.com

Mother tongues can stay in state schools
   By: Manoj Nair
   August 30, 2004

The controversial proposal to suspend teaching of mother tongues as
optional subjects in state schools has been scrapped.

This month, the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Board
of Education (also called the Education Board) issued a new circular
replacing an earlier one issued in 2003 that proposed to completely do
away with the teaching of seven Indian languages as optional languages
for Std X exams...

The government's decision to stop teaching some languages was based on
government surveys that showed that fewer and fewer children in city
schools were opting to learn their mother tongue, a claim denied by
organisations representing linguistic groups...

Dr T Manwani, Sindhi writer and member of International Sindhi Forum,
said that the disputed circular was issued when communities like the
Sindhis were witnessing a revival of interest in their language.
 ************

Excerpted from the Times of India:

Sindh's Hindu community cries out for survival

ANI [SUNDAY, AUGUST 29, 2004 07:00:36 AM]

KARACHI: Members and leaders of the Hindu community in Sindh's Sukkur
district in Pakistan have alleged that they are being discriminated
against because of their minority status.

Hindu leaders from eight districts of Sukkur Region met in Larkana to
express their concern and insecurity over reports of alleged
atrocities committed on their community.

Crying out for their survival, the community leaders hoped that the
government would resolve their problems and provide security to them.

[Saaiin Aziz Narejo of the Sindhi Association of North America reports
in the SANA list:

Read a newspaper on any day and you will see scores of reports on
incidents of heinous crimes. There may be many more that go
unreported.

The province's minority communities feel more insecure in such an
atmosphere. Hindu community has said that during last five months
several people including Sandeep Kumar from Sukkur, Nachan Mal from
Kandhra, Hero Mal from Khairpur, Kapil, a young child of Maharaj
Ramesh from Shahdadkot, Santosh Kumar, a businessman from Larkana, and
Nanak Ram from Dera Murad Jamali have been kidnapped.

Also Vicki of Jacobabad was murdered and an honorable doctor,
Teekckand was attacked and injured by some people in Thana Boola Khan
area. A feudal and his henchmen are accused in the case.

The community has announced to hold a province-wide convention to
consider how to face this terrifying situation. They said foreign
diplomats and journalists will also be invited to the convention.
]