Sindhi Americans

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Sindhi Americans are Americans or residents of the United States who are of Sindhi descent. They are a subgroup of Indian Americans and Pakistani Americans. [1]

Contents

Demographics

Originating from the Sindh region of British India now in modern-day Pakistan, Sindhi Americans belong to either Hindu or Muslim faith. Some belong to the Hindu faith, particularly those who migrated from the Indian Republic. [1] In the 2010 US Census, nearly 7,000 individuals reported Sindhi as their first language. [2] The total population of the Sindhi diaspora in the United States is estimated at over 50,000. [3] The community is spread out over various U.S. cities, with sizable populations on the eastern coast. [4]

US states with significant Sindhi populations, based on the 2000 Census. Sindhi USC2000 PHS.svg
US states with significant Sindhi populations, based on the 2000 Census.

Culture

Sindhi festivals such as Cheti Chand are celebrated each year with much fanfare. [5] The American Institute of Sindhulogy (AIS) is a non-profit institute of Sindhology in the U.S., dedicated to researching the history and cultural heritage of Sindh as well as its ancient Indus Valley civilisation. [6]

Organizations and politics

Sindhi Americans are socially and politically active, having formed numerous community and political-oriented organizations. They maintain interest in domestic American politics, as well as Sindhi politics and the wider politics of Pakistan. [7] The Pakistan Peoples Party has a local chapter in the U.S., in which many Sindhis are involved. [8] [9] The World Sindhi Institute is a human rights organization founded in 1997 and is based in Washington, D.C. [7] The World Sindhi Congress (WSC) has a U.S chapter which participates in human rights advocacy and the promotion of Sindhi political interests among the diaspora. [10] G. M. Syed Memorial Committee is a group based in Houston, which promotes the ideology of Sindhi nationalist leader G.M. Syed. [11] [4] There are also Congress-focused lobbying groups such as the Sindhi American Political Action Committee (SAPAC), [12] and the Sindh Monitor. [1]

In addition, there are multiple community organizations and associations. The Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) is one of the largest societies of Sindhis residing in North America. [13] [14] Other Sindhi associations include the American British Sindhi Medical Network (ABSMN), [15] and the Alliance of Sindhi Associations of Americas which consists of various state-based associations. [16]

Notable people

Indian-origin Sindhi American

Pakistan-origin Sindhi American

See also

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindh</span> Province of Pakistan

    Sindh is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province by population after Punjab. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan to the west and north-west and Punjab to the north. It shares an International border with the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east; it is also bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar Desert in the eastern portion of the province along the international border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western portion of the province.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindhis</span> Ethnolinguistic group native to Sindh

    Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan. The historical homeland of Sindhis is bordered by the southeastern part of Balochistan, the Bahawalpur region of Punjab and the Kutch region of Gujarat. Having been isolated throughout history unlike its neighbours, Sindhi culture has preserved its own uniqueness.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindhudesh movement</span> Separatist movement based in Sindh, Pakistan

    The Sindhudesh Movement is a separatist movement, based in Sindh, Pakistan, seeking to create a homeland for Sindhis by establishing an ethnic state called Sindhudesh, which would be either autonomous within Pakistan or independent from it.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz</span> Political party in Pakistan

    Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz is a nationalist political party in the Sindh province of Pakistan, that advocates for Sindh's independence from Pakistan. The party was founded in 1995 after death of GM Syed.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheti Chand</span> New year day of Sindhi Hindus

    Chetri Chandra is a festival that marks the beginning of the Lunar Hindu New Year for Sindhi Hindus. The date of the festival is based on the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, falling on the first day of the year, in the Sindhi month of Chet (Chaitra). It typically falls in late March or early April in the Gregorian calendar on or about the same day as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in other parts of the Deccan region of India.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindh United Party</span> Political party in Pakistan

    The Sindh United Party (SUP) is a Sindhi nationalist political party that aims at rights of the Sindh people over their homeland in Pakistan. The party was founded by former Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah in 2006.

    The Sikhs are adherents to Sikhism, the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with around 25 million adherents. Sikh History is around 500 years and in that time the Sikhs have developed unique expressions of art and culture which are influenced by their faith and synthesize traditions from many other cultures depending on the locality of the adherents of the religion. Sikhism is the only religion that originated in the Punjab region with all other religions coming from outside Punjab. All the Sikh gurus, many saints, and many of the martyrs in Sikh history were from Punjab and from the Punjabi people. Punjabi culture and Sikhism are mistakenly considered inseparably intertwined. "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, strictly not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties, therefore it is a common stereotype that all Sikhs share the same ethnicity. Many countries, such as the U.K., therefore misconcievingly recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikhs included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

    The Balochs of Sindh,, is a community of Sindhi-speaking Baloch tribes living throughout the Sindh province of Pakistan.

    There are or have been a number of separatist movements in Pakistan based on ethnic and regional nationalism, that have agitated for independence, and sometimes fighting the Pakistan state at various times during its history. As in many other countries, tension arises from the perception of minority/less powerful ethnic groups that other ethnicities dominate the politics and economics of the country to the detriment of those with less power and money. The government of Pakistan has attempted to subdue these separatist movements, which have included those in Bangladesh, the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) in Balochistan; the "Sindhudesh" movement in Sindh province; "Balawaristan" in Gilgit-Baltistan; Jinnahpur and Muhajir Sooba movement for muhajir immigrants from India.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">G. M. Syed</span> Sindhi politician

    Ghulam Murtaza Syed, known as G. M. Syed was a prominent Sindhi politician, who is known for his scholarly work, passing only constitutional resolution in favor of the establishment of Pakistan from British India's Sindh Assembly in 1943. Later proposing ideological groundwork for separate Sindhi identity and laying the foundations of Sindhudesh movement. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern Sindhi nationalism.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindhi nationalism</span> Ideology asserting that the Sindhs are a distinct nation

    Sindhi nationalism is an ideology that claims that the Sindhis, an ethnolinguistic group native to the Pakistani province of Sindh, form a separate nation. After Bangladesh became independent in 1971, G.M. Syed gave a new direction to nationalism and founded the Jeay Sindh Mahaz in 1972 and presented the idea of Sindhudesh; a separate homeland for Sindhis. G.M. Syed is considered as the founder of modern Sindhi nationalism. However, Sindhi nationalists stand divided upon the idea of a separate country or autonomy within Pakistan.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jhulelal (Hinduism)</span> Incarnation of Varuna

    A folkloric deity among the sect of Sindhis, Jhulelal is the most revered deity of Sindhi Hindus in the modern-day republics of Pakistan and India.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhajir (Pakistan)</span> Indian Muslims who immigrated to Pakistan in 1947

    In Pakistan, the term Muhajir refers to a diverse community originating from those Indian Muslims who, upon the partition of India in 1947, emigrated from India to settle in Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other parts of urban Sindh. Following Pakistan's defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, a number of people from the former East Pakistan, predominantly ethnic Biharis, immigrated to Pakistan and have since comprised a part of the Muhajir community; those who have not immigrated are commonly known as Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh.

    Sindhis in India refer to a socio-ethnic group of people living in the Republic of India, originating from Sindh. After the 1947 Partition of India into the dominions of new Muslim-majority Pakistan and remaining Hindu-majority India, a million non-Muslim Sindhis migrated to independent India. As per the 2011 census of India, there are 2,772,364 Sindhi speakers in the Indian Republic. However, this number does not include ethnic Sindhis who no longer speak the language.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz</span> Political party in Pakistan

    The Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz is one of several major separatist political parties in Sindh, Pakistan, that advocate for the separation of Sindhudesh from Pakistan. Founded in the year 2000, by the veteran Sindhi nationalists belonging to the Sindhudesh movement who left JSQM. The founder and the current Chairman of party Shafi Muhammad Burfat is living in exile in Germany under political asylum.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">World Sindhi Congress</span> Organization advocating for autonomy of Sindh

    World Sindhi Congress is a human rights organizations for Sindhi people. WSC is a registered company in England and Wales and in the US, organized to carry out non-profit activities. The mission of World Sindhi Congress is to teach and disseminate educational material to the public, including material relating to Sindhi culture and literature, educate and advocate for the equitable enforcement of human rights and the right to self-determination in Pakistan through nonviolence.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Sindh</span> Separatist conflict being waged against Pakistan by Sindhi nationalists

    The Insurgency in Sindh is a low-intensity insurgency waged by Sindhi Nationalists against the government of Pakistan. Sindhi nationalists want to create an independent state called Sindhudesh.However, this movement never gained support from the populace of urban Sindh.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Thari people</span> Indo Aryan people native to Sindh and Rajasthan

    The Thari also known as the Dhatki are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who reside in the Thar Desert, which is divided between Pakistan as well as India. They speak Thari, also known as Dhatki language. The Thari live primarily in Tharparkar, a district of Sindh in Pakistan. In India, Thari speakers are found in parts of Rajasthan.

    Folk dances of Sindh are the traditional dances of the Sindhi people, which are indigenous to Sindh region which is now in Pakistan. These dances are performed at various events including marriages, ceremonies, special occasions, on birth of a child and for cultural purposes.

    References

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    2. "US Census 2010 (see row# 69)". U.S. Census Bureau. Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for the United States: 2006-2008
    3. Alfonso, Carolin; Kokot, Waltraud; Tölölyan, Khachig (2004). Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research. Routledge. ISBN   9781134390359.
    4. 1 2 "Hundreds of Sindhi-Americans Gathered in Houston to Pay Tribute to Their National Leader". World Sindhi Congress. January 17, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    5. "Cheti Chand Celebrations April 2nd, 2016". Sindhi Association of Metropolitan Chicago. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
    6. "Homepage". American Institute of Sindhulogy. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    7. 1 2 Syed, Wajid Ali (July 3, 2012). "Sindhi organisations issue 10-point declaration in US". The News International. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    8. "Welcome to Pakistan Peoples Party USA Official Web Site". Pakistan Peoples Party (USA). Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    9. "The Official Website of Pakistan Peoples Party - USA". Pakistan Peoples Party (USA). Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    10. Ghosh, Papiya (2014). Partition and the South Asian Diaspora: Extending the Subcontinent. Routledge. p. 111. ISBN   9781317809661.
    11. "Work & Life of G. M. Syed". GMSyed.org. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    12. "Homepage (archived from Wayback)". SAPAC. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
    13. "Welcome to Sindhi Association of North America". SANALIST. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    14. "Home". SANA. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
    15. "Home". American British Sindhi Medical Network. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
    16. "Homepage". Global Sindhi Association. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
    17. Sakhrani, Tarun (January 4, 2016). "The Sindhis of Sindh And Beyond". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
    18. "Register" . LinkedIn . Retrieved June 27, 2023.