N. D. Harjpal
Raipur (Chhatisgarh)
15/11/2007
Dear Shri Ranjit Butani,
(1) Reference SindhiShaan (July to September 07, Page 3, 'Readers Write Column') I agree with the letter of Respected Shri Uttamchand Israni, Senior Advocate of Bhopal (M.P.), regarding bold thoughts of Shri Amar Jaleel to express at the International Sindhi Seminar Bombay on 6/3/07 that he was Indian and that we are Sindhis first and foremost and then Muslims and Pakistani. As a matter of fact, India including Pakistan and Bangladesh was ruled by Hindus only, before 10th century and there were no Muslims at all. In Sindh there were Hindu rulers. Samas and Sumras, who were Hindus and ruled Sindh from 1050 A.D. to 1350 A.D. They were converted to Muslims afterwards. The ancestors of all the Muslims of Sindh, Pakistan and Bangladesh, were Hindus.
In the period of dictatorship of Zia-ul-Haq, Jee-ae-Sindh movement took place in Sindh under the leadership of G.M. Sayed. At that time, the Editor of Urdu paper 'Banu' objected to the celebration of Anniversary day of death (Martyrdom Day) of Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani by some Muslim students in Sindh, Pakistan. A gallant Sindhi Muslim, girl student – 'Yasmin' rebuked the Editor in a reproachful manner, through a strong letter saying, “Aabid Sahib! Your article has a religious colour. You have objected to the celebration of an anniversary day of death (Martyrdom Day) of our Hero Hemu Kalani celebration Convention by Tulba (Students) in Sindh. Mind you, Hemu is our Hero. The breed of New Sindh calls down a curse on Religion. Dahar was a Sindhi, may he be a Hindu or Muslim, he was our Hero. There are thousand Hemus in Sindh even today. It will be proved in near future. We call down a curse on Mohamed-Bin-Quasim and Salute our great Sindhi Poet Shah Latif and our great Sindhi leader Shri G.M. Sayed. We are Sindhis first and foremost and then Muslims and Pakistani. The greatness of Sindh lies in 'Moan-jo-Daro' and not in Islam. Let thousand religions be sacrificed on our civilization – 'Moan-jo-Daro.' Our ancient civilization is 7000 years old and we Sindhis are proud of it; whereas Islam has come in 10th century. We all Sindhi Muslim girls have decided to give our descendents (children) the names as Daher, Hemu, Sheikh Ayaz and Hashu.” Such was her bold letter.
(2) Reference SindhiShaan (July to September 07, page “From my Desk”) you have raised 2 issues as the outcome of 14th International Sindhi Sammelan at Singapore from 27th to 29th July 07. You have invited our views to SindhiShaan. In this connection I beg to submit my views as under :-
The destitute, despaired and distressed Jews wandered about 2000 years in the world. This poor race was almost destroyed, but the Jews preserved their language 'Hebrew'. After a long struggle they not only preserved their language, but they also succeeded to achieve a land and established their Government. 'Israel' and are well flourished in the world. Then why not Sindhis can achieve such ends? The first issue is preservation of language. I agree with the views of the Editor respected Butani Sahib that our concentration should be on speaking Sindhi Language at home as well as among Sindhis. So far the script is concerned, in my opinion Devnagri script which is very near to most Indian languages, be adopted in India and the Roman script be adopted in the world on international level.
So far the second issue is concerned according to me, we must continuously struggle for the same. We must stress and demand 'KUTCH' a separate state for Sindhis and Kutchhis jointly to form an allied Government for both, as Kutchhi is very near to Sindhi language. We must jointly strive and struggle for that. With joint efforts of Sindhi and Kutchhi and with our strong indefatigable continuous efforts we can achieve our goal in the long run. These are my views.
Sincerely yours
N.D. Harjpal
(Retd. Principal)
593, Samta Colony, Raipur
Chhatisgarh – 492 009.