Province of Sindh

Sindh is Well Known as Land of Mehran

Sindh is named for the great Indus River that carves its way through the plains of the province, bringing it to life and Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and situated in the southeast of the country. Historically home to the Sindhi people, it is equally locally known as the Mehran. It was previously known as Sind until the 1956. Sindh is the third largest province of Pakistan by area, and second largest province by population after Punjab. Sindh is bordered by Balochistan province to the west, and Punjab province to the north. Sindh also borders the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindhi's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar desert in the eastern portion of the province closest to the border with India, and the Kirthar mountains in the western part of Sindh. The word Sindh is derived from the Sanskrit language and is adapted from the Sanskrit term Sindhu which literally means, river, hence a reference to the Indus River. Spelling of its official name as Sind was discontinued in 2013 by an amendment passed in the Sindh Assembly. On August 14 of 1947 Pakistan gained independence from colonial British colonial rule. The province Sindh attained self rule, the first time since the defeat of Sindhi Talpur Amirs in the battle of Miani on February 17, 1843. The major challenge faced by the Government of Sindh was the settlement of Muslim refugees. Nearly 7 million Muslims from India migrated to Pakistan while nearly equal number of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan migrated to India. Muslim refugees known as Muhajirs from India settled in most urban areas of Sindh. Sindh at the time of partition was home to a large number of Hindus who accounted for 27% of the total population of the province. They were more concentrated in the urban centres of the province and had a strong hold on the province's economy and business. 

Although the relations between the local Muslims and Hindus were good but with the arrival of Muslim refugees in the urban centres of the province, Hindus began to feel unsafe. This along with unstable future in a Muslim country and better opportunities in India made a large number of Sindhi Hindus to abandon the province. Sindh did not witness any massive level genocide as other parts of the Subcontinent, especially Punjab region, did, comparatively there were few incidents of riots in Karachi and Hyderabad but over all situation remained peaceful mainly due to the efforts of the Chief Minister of Sindh Mr. Ayub Khuhro. At present there are relatively 2.9 million Hindus in Sindh forming 7.5% of the total population of the province. Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan are mainly into small to medium sized businesses. They are mostly traders, retailer and wholesalers, builders as well as into the fields of medical, engineering, law and financial services. However, the scheduled caste Hindus are in a poorer state with most of them as bonded labour in the rural areas of the province. Most of the Muslim refugees are resolved in urban areas of Sindh especially in Karachi and Hyderabad. Since Pakistan's Independence in 1947, Sindh has been the destination of a continuous stream of migration from South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Burma, and Afghanistan as well as Pashtun and Punjabi immigrants from the North West Frontier Province and the Punjab Province of Pakistan to Karachi. This is explained by the fact that Karachi is the economic magnet of Pakistan attracting people from all over Pakistan. Numerous native Sindhis resent this influx. Nonetheless, traditional Sindhi families remain prominent in Pakistani politics, especially Bhutto, Zardari and Soomro dynasties. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was from Karachi, Sindh but was a Gujarati. 

The Sindh assembly was the former British Indian legislature to pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan. G. M. Syed, an influential Sindhi activist, revolutionary and Sufi and one of the important leaders to the forefront of the provincial autonomy movement joined the Muslim League in 1938 and presented the Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly. Sindh is in the western corner of South Asia, bordering the Iranian plateau in the west. Geographically it is the third largest province of Pakistan, stretching from 579km from north to south and 442km, extreme, or 281km, average, from east to west, with an area of 140,915 square km of Pakistani territory. Sindh is bounded by the Thar Desert to the east, the Kirthar mountains to the west, and the Arabian Sea in the south. In the centre is a fertile plain around the Indus River. Sindh has the second largest economy in Pakistan. Its GDP per capita was $1,400 in 2010 which is 50% more than the rest of the nation or 35% more than the national average. Historically. Sindh's contribution to Pakistan's GDP has been between 30% to 32.7%. Its share of the service sector has ranged from 21% to 27.8% and in the agriculture sector from 21.4% to 27.7%. Performance wise, its best sector is the manufacturing sector, where its share has ranged from 36.7% to 46.5%. Since 1972, Sindh's GDP has increased by 3.6 times. Endowed with coastal access, Sindh is an important centre of economic activity in Pakistan and has a highly diversified economy ranging from heavy industry and finance centred in and around Karachi to a substantial agricultural base along the Indus. Manufacturing includes machine products, cement, plastics, and other goods. Sindh is Pakistan's most natural gas producing province. Agriculture is extremely important for Sindh with cotton, rice, wheat, sugar cane, dates, bananas, and mangoes as the most important crops. Sindh is the richest province of Pakistan in natural resources of gas, petrol, and coal. Sindh's capital, Karachi hosts the headquarters of several national banks. Sindh is home to a large portion of Pakistan's industrial sector as well. Sindh contains two of Pakistan's commercial seaports Port Bin Qasim and the port of Karachi. 

The remainder of Sindh has an agriculture based economy, and produces fruit and vegetables for consumption other parts of the country. Sindh is also the centre of Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry. Sindh is known for its distinct culture, which is strongly influenced by Sufism. Several important Sufi shrines are located throughout the province which attracts millions of annual devotees and Sindhi culture is very popular all over the world for its arts, crafts and heritage as well. Sindh also has Pakistan's highest percentage of Hindu residents. Sindh's capital, Karachi, is Pakistan's most ethnically diverse city, with Muhajirs, or descendants of those who migrated to Pakistan from India in 1947, making up the majority of the population. The city has seen ethnic tensions boil over into violence on several occasions. Sindh is home to two UNESCO world heritage sites - the Historical Monuments at Makli, and the Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro. Sindh lies in a tropical to subtropical region; it is hot in the summer and mild to warm in winter. Temperatures frequently rise above 46 °C between May and August, and the average minimum temperature of 2 °C occurs during December and January in the northern and higher elevated regions. The annual rainfall averages about seven inches, falling mainly during July and August. The southwest monsoon wind begins in mid February and continues until the end of September, whereas the cool northerly wind blows during the winter months from October to January. Sindh lies between the two monsoons the southwest monsoon from the Indian Ocean and the northeast or retreating monsoon, deflected towards it by the Himalayan mountains and escapes the influence of both. The region's scarcity of rainfall is compensated by the inundation of the Indus twice a year, caused by the spring and summer melting of Himalayan snow and by rainfall in the monsoon season.

Sindh is divided into three climatic regions. Siro, the upper region, centred on Jacobabad, Wicholo, the middle region, centred on Hyderabad, and Lar, the lower region, centred on Karachi. Thermal equator passes through upper Sindh, where the air is generally very dry. Central Sindh's temperatures are usually lower than those of upper Sindh but higher than those of lower Sindh. Dry hot days and cool nights are common during the summer. Central Sindh's maximum temperature typically reaches 43 to 44 °C. Lower Sindh has a damper and humid maritime climate affected by the southwestern winds in summer and northeastern winds in winter, with lower rainfall than central Sindh. Lower Sindh's maximum temperature reaches about 35 to 38 °C. In the Kirthar range at 1,800m and higher at Gorakh Hill and other peaks in Dadu district, temperatures near freezing have been recorded and brief snowfall is received in the winters. The Provincial Assembly of Sindh is a unicameral and consists of 168 seats, of which 5% are reserved for non muslims and 17% for women. The provincial capital of Sindh is Karachi. The provincial government is headed by Chief Minister who is directly elected by the popular and landslide votes; the Governor serves as a ceremonial representative nominated and appointed by the President of Pakistan. Most of the influential Sindhi tribes in the province participate in Pakistan's politics. Sindhi is the main language of the province and other languages include Saraiki, Dhatki, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Memoni, Dari, Kutchi, Khowar, Shina, Kashmiri, Bengali , Lari, Brahui and Parkari Koli, sometimes called just Parkari, a language only spoken by 250,000 natives of Sindh according to 1995 estimates. Tourist sites include the ruins of Mohenjo-daro near the city of Larkana, Runi Kot, Kot Deji, the Jain temples of Nangar Parker and the historic temple of Sadhu Bela, Sukkur. Islamic architecture is quite prominent in the province; its numerous mausoleums include the ancient Shahbaz Qalander mausoleum and there are a lot of other tourist attractions, that attracted to national and foreign tourists, in province of Sindh.