Sindhi Civil Society: Its Praxis in Rural Sindh, and Place in Pakistani Civil Society

Abstract

Sindhi Civil Society and NGOs working in rural Sindh have a dialectical relationship with each other and with rural communities, particularly peasants and marginalized rural ethnic groups. In this article, the nature and structure of Sindhi civil society vis-a-vis their efforts to differentiate themselves from Pakistani civil society and ethnically hegemonic NGO-structuring, resultant perceived marginalization of Sindhi civil society and NGOs working in rural Sindh, have been classified, explained and analyzed in the light of secondary and primary data. Effort has been made to locate historical intersection points between the spawning of NGOs and the origin of modern Civil Society networks, and relate it to Sindhi civil society in global perspective. This paper is the result of the analysis of secondary data validated through an ethnographic study conducted in Naon Dumbaalo and Chamber area of District Badin, and urban area of Qasimabad at Hyderabad District in Lower Sindh.