Revival

Friends
Discussion of the last few days has indicated that many Sindhis want to move beyond useless discussions to Revival of Sindhis.
History teaches us that there are many paths to revival. There must be improvement in economics, health, education, agriculture and God knows so many other factors. There are many books on these subjects. As a student and practitioner of economic development, I know about many reports, which have been written about Sindh. However, there has not been significant improvement in lives of common Sindhis.
Again, there are many reasons for the failure—the government did not introduce the right policies, the leaders were not sincere, the engineers were corrupt etc. In fact, many projects did get built—colleges, universities, houses, and factories. But they did not touch lives of majority of Sindhis. Why? May be majority of Sindhis was not involved. May be they did not even know about many projects which were underway. May be they were not educated enough or were too busy with earning of daily wages.
In Pakistan people have dreamed of a short cut-- arrival of great leader who will come and put everything right. Unfortunately, many leaders have come with uniform and in civilian suits but things have not improved significantly for most Sindhis. It is easy to corrupt or even kill individuals. May be time has come to rely on millions of Sindhis rather than one great leader.
The fact is that Sindh is not poor. Its lands, ports, railways, universities, industries etc are full of potential. The issues are that Sindhis are not getting rightful share. Sindhi leaders, Sindhi civil servants, and Sindhi people need to put the house in order.
The powerful in the land are getting their share. Their kids are in the best schools and universities. They have new cars and have bank balances. I am amazed how well ordinary SDO or inspector of police lives. Look at their salaries ad look at their life style. But the common Sindhis are not getting their share.
Then we have top leadership of Pakistan, which has always behaved like colonial power. It is more interested in developing other parts of Pakistan with resources generated in Sindh. They are powerful. They purchase our leaders with guarantees of personal position and wealth. Then we have our corrupt officials from policeman to IG, from tapedar to Chief Secretary, and from beldar to Chief engineer. The bosses allow them to enrich themselves as long as a major part of the resources is taken away from Sindh.
In the process, Sindhis have become a community of CHORAS. "CHORO" has two meanings-- orphan and a spoiled brat. Our leaders and civil servants have abandoned us. We have no protection of government and leaders. We are also wandering in streets without education and jobs.
The question is CHORAN KHE KIAN SUDHARJE? What to do so that the CHORAS will become educated and responsible people? So that they will demand and get their share of property. So that the uncles (leaders and officials) will not swallow their share of inheritance.
I think we should let the modern theories and practices of democracy and economic development work. They can and should be refined and made to work better. However, in parallel, millions of CHORA should do their part.
Your input and help towards development of Sindh is always welcome.
Ali Nawaz MemonSindh Development Institute7204 Antares DriveGaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20879http://sindhdevelopmentinstitute.blogspot.com/sindhhouse@hotmail.com