SGRHF Quarterly Magazine Mino-View First (March to June) 2013

South Asia is the most populous region having more than 1.67 billion people. The region is no doubt, rich but in turmoil. People are victims of war, terrorism and extremism; hence the region lacks peace & prosperity which results in chaos & anarchy. Though South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) like European Union (EU) & Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), is active for regional harmony & cooperation among South Asian States but no state can become stable unless the social bond is strong among people. Sir Ganga Ram Heritage Foundation is an NGO, established by intellectuals, scholars and social activists of Lahore – Pakistan, in 2006. It aims at evolving strong & stable society based on equality & fraternity. In fact, Man is born free but He is in chain of oppression & discrimination. Man has made tremendous achievement in science & technology but fail to learn how to live in peace & cooperation with people. The clash of civilization is fatal to all mankind whereas the cooperation of civilization is need of the day. SGRHF works for social uplift of downtrodden people irrespective of caste, creed and colour. Sir Ganga Ram is a man for all season to work for socio-economic empowerment of deprived people of the region. Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan, has vehemently said that all citizens of Pakistan are equal. They are not to be discriminated on the base of caste, race & religion. Unfortunately the south Asian societies are ridden with socio-economic & racio-religious discrimination.

The Mino-View, a quarterly magazine, is a humble attempt to cover all dimensions of minoritie’s life and culture not only in Pakistan but in all states of South Asia. South Asian societies and states are presently in war with each other. It has, in fact, disturbed stability of region. South Asian minorities are, in fact, victims of tyranny from both people & state simultaneously. SGRHF points out the minority issues & events for peaceful co-existence in the region. The memories of Operation Blue Star 1984, Gujarat Massacre 2002, killing of Christians in Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh during the months of August and September 2008, are still painful for the relevant minorities in the region. The minority killing in Myanmar, Burma (connecting frontiers with Bangladesh, SAARC state) and burning of Christian houses in Joseph Colony, Lahore Pakistan is quite aching to all inhabitants in the region. The tragedy of Joseph Colony is a big one but the government / state is not involved in such inhuman activities as we find Narandra Modi, CM, Gujarat-India a main culprit of Gujarat Massacre. The effectives of Joseph Colony are immediately given relief from Mian Shahbaz Sharif, CM, Punjab-Pakistan and other social activists like Riaz Malik etc.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the champion of Humanism in South Asia is of the view that the state impartiality & empowerment of millions of Dalit people are necessary to obtain lasting peace in the region. Dalits are victims of High caste Hindu Brahmins. They are unfortunately denied human rights for the last 4 thousand years. Pakistan has 69% Dalits out of 1.4 million Hindu minority. They also complain for social boycott from high caste Hindu community in Tharparkur and other parts of Sindh. Dr. Sono Khingharani of the Thar Deep Rural Development Program (TRDP) conducted a seminar demanding National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in Pakistan, which is, in principle excepted by the government of Pakistan and urged the people to worked for such downtrodden Dalits in Pakistan too. The situation of Dalits in India is more miserable. They are victimized & discriminated in an organized manner. Miss Manjula Pradeep, NAVASARJAN, Ahmedabad, Gujarat-India is kind enough to send her research based report for the magazine. SGRHF is also grateful for Prof. Rajivlochan, Head of the Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India and Prof. Paramjit Singh Judge, Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India who have contributed the magazine on our request.

The present issue of Mino-View is a little attempt to promote justice and quality for the peace and stability of the region. It will act as a mirror reflecting the issues related to the identified minorities and other oppressed classes in the region. It will shed light on the darkest issues of our social system by voicing the concerns of minorities, Dalits and other oppressed sections of the SA societies. We will welcome feedback from our respected readers and concerned quarter. We invite social forces from all over the region to join hands for adopting a way towards egalitarianism.