OVERSEAS SINDHIS HAVE TO RECONSIDER THEIR ROLE

Dear Friends,
I had an interesting trip back home. I met so many people-- MNAs, judges of supreme court, politicians, civil servants, businessmen, professors, students, ordinary workers. I have so much on my mind. Let me just make some points which come to mind.
Middle Class and poor rural sindhis feel helpless-- like similar people in Southern Baloachistan and Southern Punjab. The rich Sindhis in Karachi, in Sukkur, Hyderabad, Khairpur etc are just fine.
It is not a linguistic issue. It is economic issue.
Economics has crossed all boundries. Military people, landlords, beurocrats, businessmen have become mixed-- due to inter marriages, bsiness dealings or allocating different duties to different brothers. Those who have it are going to get stronger.
Most of the recent graduates in all parts of the country are unemployed. With exception of some top colleges like LUMS, IBA etc, graduates have no jobs to go to. Copetition is very strong for the few available jobs.
A Sindhi member of Federal Public Service Commission told me that quality of graduates from some Universities such as Shah Latif in Khairpur has almost zero value while say Peshawar University has come back a long way. QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES IN SINDH HAS TO BE INCREASED.
With exception of a few big businesses, rest of the economy is really down. Market is flooded with cheaper and better quality Chinese products. Businessmen in Sukkur told me that Chinese ladies suit is available for Rp 70 while the closest local suit is Rp 225. Factories are closing down due to WTO and required international competetion. It is going to get more competitive in next 3 or 4 years. COMPETITION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME. SINDHIS HAVE TO RELY MORE ON COMPETITION.
I tried to assist several unemployed people. WHAT THEY NEED IS REMEDIAL EDUCATION-- TRAINING FOR IMPROVING ENGLISH, INTERVIEW SKILLS, ADDING SOME COMPUTER LITERACY COURSES ETC. EVEN PUCHASE A FULL SUIT SHOULD BE A PART OF THAT PACKAGE. WE NEED TO HELP FUND SUCH COURSES OR "PACKAGES" IN ORDER TO MAKE OUR YOUTH MORE MARKETABLE.
All future projections show that number of government jobs is going to decrease-- certainly not increase. Future lies in business. SINDHIS HAVE TO FOLLOW EXAMPLE OF SINDHI HINDUS AND OPEN MORE AND MORE BUSINESS-- FROM SIMPLE THELA, SHOP MOVING TO BIGGER THINGS. A simple thela is producing more than Rp 5000 per month while second class MA in Sindhi or history is producing zero. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS CAN HELP LAUNCH A NEW SMALL BUSINESS FOR A YOUNG SINDHI.
OVERSEAS SINDHIS HAVE TO HELP THEIR NEEDY RELATIVES IN OPENING BUSINESSES.
Overseas Sindhi groups like ours have literally zero positive value. PEOPLE SEE US AS "COMPLAINERS BUT NOT AS CONTRIBUTORS". We can and must continue our political struggle but WE MUST GUIDE SINDHIS IN RIGHT WAY. BELIEVE ME, JOB REQUIREMENTS IN PAKISTAN AND USA ARE SAME. WHILE SOME GET ADVANTAGE FOR LINGUISTIC OR FAMILY REASONS, BULK OF SUCCESS IS BASED ON MERIT.
While there may be a little more corruption in Sindh, RECIPE FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS IN USA AND SINDH IS ABOUT THE SAME-- SOME START UP CAPITAL, HARD WORK, SAVING A GOOD PORTION OF WHAT YOU EARN.
Best regards,Ali Nawaz Memon