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January 29, 2004
Net bridges
The internet revolution has benefitted expatriate and local Sindhis in a dynamic way. However, its misuse is projecting them in a negative manner, writes Anwer Abro
The invention of the radio transistor, telephone, television, and wireless and satellite systems are some of the greatest technological advancements that the world has seen. Now, the Internet has literally turned the world community into a global village.
The major contribution of this scientific revolution towards human development is that it has removed all boundaries. This is why it has enabled like-minded people around the globe to form a single world community. This bond of relationship has rightly got the title: “21st century citizens”.
Besides other areas, the Internet has greatly helped national as well as international politics to grow and generate a large number of political supporters. Expatriates can actively participate in politics through this medium from their homes. Earlier, they were completely dependent on the print media.
However, despite this progress many educational institutions in the interior of Sindh do not have Internet facilities. There are no computer classes for students owing to a lack of skills and interest. “In Dokri College, the authorities gave a contract for computers to two people from Badah, a nearby town. They set a computer laboratory in the college and took a fee from the students, but they did not impart computer education to them,” says a student of the college.
“The same is true of the Chandka Medical College (CMC), Larkana, where students and teachers are less willing to use computers and the Internet,” says Dr Gul Buledi of the CMC.
In the past there was a huge communication gap between Sindhi expatriates and the locals, but the Internet has made it possible for them to share their views and comments on different subjects related to Sindh and its people, and in the process share valuable information with each other.
This communication is also strengthening a sense of community among the Sindhis, which had been missing since the migration of Sindhi Hindus from Sindh in 1947. Now the social attitude of the locals towards different issues is undergoing a change.
The Internet has ended the monopoly over knowledge by individuals, organizations and institutions. Interestingly, in the past, in Sindh, activists of the left looked towards their senior leaders for communist literature, published especially by the socialist and communist parties of the world, including the former USSR.
“I visited the website of the Communist Party of India (CPI-M) and went through all its links. Besides other very interesting and informative material, I read a review of the movie The legend of Baghat Singh. This critical review was sufficient to understand Baghat Singh and the leftist struggle,” said Javed Ahmed, a former leftist. He added that he had also visited Russian sites and found important information on them as well, whereas earlier it had been completely impossible to acquire knowledge so easily and so quickly.
There are four major groups of Sindhis who have migrated in the last 56 years. They include those who left the land in quest of better economic opportunities, in search of modern quality education, for political asylum and who migrated to India and other parts of the world during partition.
Some of the prominent figures in Sindh who were in politics, journalism and literature, got asylum in the UK, the US, Canada and others countries in the last 25 years. They include Zahid Makhdoom, Qadir Bakhsh Jatoi, Narajan, Sarfraz Ahmed Memon, Munawar Leghari, Ishaque Tunio, Hassan Mujtaba. They are playing a major role in improving Sindh’s global image by using the Internet effectively.
Sindh witnessed a second phase of migration during Ziaul Haq’s martial law. In this period law-enforcement agencies, bandits and activists of some nationalist parties forced well-to-do people, especially Hindus, to leave Sindh.
“There was no protection in Kandhkot for Sindh’s Hindus, who were mainly associated with trade and commerce. Criminals of the area abducted our men in daylight, but the police, instead of providing justice, extorted money and insulted us without any reason. Some families who still live here suffer these atrocities today as well.
“Activists of some nationalist parties who belong to different tribes also extort money from our people and even assault our youth by gang-rape. So, how it is possible for us to live in Sindh?” asked Mr Kumar of Kandhkot, who now lives in Karachi. He added, “My father pressured me to leave for India or the US on a permanent basis, but I refused to leave my motherland.”
This process of migration still continues in Sindh, especially from the northern districts. Fortunately, a large number of those who left Sindh unwillingly have now become reunited with their families through the Internet.
Benefiting from this electronic facility, they are able to share their views regarding Sindh’s politics, culture, history, social issues, anthropology, education, literature, world politics, and activities of different political, social, environmental, literary and cultural organizations.
The impact of the Internet on most Sindhi expatriates who are intellectuals, writers, social and political activists is very visible. This is the first time that social and political activists have found a convenient and effective means of updating one another on the current affairs of Sindh, Pakistan and the world. The Internet is also used to participate in movements of democracy, social justice and human rights, along with projecting culture and promoting dialogue through debate, while generating tolerance and respect for a difference of opinions.
Political and human rights groups which keep themselves very active through the Internet are mainly Sindhi expatriates. The World Sindhi Congress led by Dr Saghir Shaikh, the Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) led by Munawar Leghari, and the World Sindhi Institute led by Zahid Makhdoom are some of these groups. The postings of the UK PPP and the France PPP, the Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz led by Bashir Qureshi, and Jeay Sindh Mahaz led by Abdul Khaliq Junejo can also be seen on various e-groups.
The positive aspects of the e-groups, that provide e-newspaper and e-magazine, is that anyone can easily share his or her thoughts, views, news and information with members of other groups throughout the world. However, the negative aspect of these groups is that members as well as their moderators are misusing the Internet.
As a result, meaningless and derogatory debates, and campaigns aimed at character assassination of the opponent writers, and social and human rights activists take place on these e-groups. Passing abusive remarks, attributing false stories and maligning reputable persons of literature, politics and social science has become a trademark of these e-groups. The moderators of the e-groups do not bother to check fake IDs. This kind of practice is there to harass genuine people.
These groups that may prove to be a most powerful opinion-forming forum for Sindhis, should promote mature discussions on important issues and subjects. But instead, they are encouraging baseless controversies, and creating hatred and differences among friends and various social and literary organizations, by sending them insulting mails in the names of their friends. “Such things represent the mind-set of the young generation of Sindhis,” remarked Rauf Nizamani, a critic of Sindhi literature.
The majority of these people use the Internet and e-groups just to satisfy their biases. In rural Sindh, people are fighting with each other over tribal issues. Likewise, on the Internet, literate Sindhis are also engaged in a meaningless fight. Through this strife they are promoting a negative image of Sindh and its people.
Therefore, the moderators of e-groups should realize their responsibility and the mail based on character assassination should be banned. Before passing mail to the members the authenticity of the stories should be verified.
The people of Sindh want quality computer education, along with which it must be compulsory for educational institutions to conduct computer courses/training for their students. Proper use of the Internet should be promoted by launching websites on the culture and customs of Sindh. IT cities should be established in Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur.
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