The world is shifting so fast towards digital by adopting all the modern trends and technology along with preserving their historical heritage. Developed countries know well that a nation can never succeed and achieve their goals if they forget their culture.
In Pakistan, things are a bit opposite. The concept of pluralism is almost equal to zero. Everyone knows how much struggle was done to get this homeland. It wasn’t about a person, it was a group of millions of people who sacrificed their lives and struggled till last moment to get this homeland in which we’re living today.
Parsi Community in Pakistan
Among so many groups from different religions and backgrounds, there was a group or community called Parsi. At the time of independence they were almost 7,000 in Pakistan but today they are left less than 1200 in the country.
- What’s the reason behind?
- What were their contributions?
- What did they do?
We’ll be discussing all of the above-mentioned things later on this piece. This community of Pakistan is now being underestimated. Many of the people especially youth don’t even know about them nor their contributions in the city and the country. They mainly contributed to the Karachi. The modern Karachi – city of lights, which we are seeing today was developed in their era. The first mayor of the city was Jamshed Nusserwanjee Mehta. He was from the Parsi community. It was his love, devotion and sincerity with this city that within 12 years of his tenure he brought Karachi from Farsh to Aarsh (Land to the sky).
Paris community has also contributed a lot towards the field of education; Mama Parsi Girls School, BVS Bhai School and NED University are few of the top examples amongst many others. NED University is one of the oldest engineering university of Pakistan and still consider amongst the top engineering universities of the country. Let me share the full form of NED: Nadir Edulgee Dinshaw (University of Engineering and Technology).
Nadir Edulgee Dinshaw was off course from Parsi community, he was a philanthropist and strongly believed in charity and helped to build many schools, colleges and hospitals through charity.
On talking about the education and community; Ms Natasha Mavalvala (Country Manager Saudi Airline) stated,
“First things is that our youngsters are moving abroad. Secondly, the ratio of marriages is low, if it happens then they don’t give birth more than 2 children. If we want to keep our entity then we have to create it by giving birth more children. On the other hand, youth is migrating so fast to the developed countries for higher education.”
She continued,
“This is our country who would leave it? But if circumstances get better, then no one would leave Pakistan. I think our generation will live and win but I don’t think that the youth and our kid would stay here.”
On talking about migration, Ms Yasmeen Kaikobad (Resident Parsi Colony) said,
“The reason for migration is that youth want to move forward they are more career-oriented and achieve their goals, they want to see the world. So, they go abroad for higher studies and do specialization in a specific subject.”
She further said,
“If we see in Pakistan, so this youth don’t want to do study here because in past Karachi law and order situation was worst; extortion, target killing and snatching was common. Therefore, the elders of the community decided to send their children abroad for higher studies, and live freely.”
She continued,
“Though Karachi’s situation is much better than past, in terms of law and order situation, still our younger generation don’t prefer to stay here, because they believe that government of Pakistan had never bothered to resolve our grievances then why should we stay here?”
This is one field that we discussed above, but there are many other fields in which they have contributed. Be it education, parks, hospitals and so on.
Researcher Asad Lashari, who has spent close time with Parsi community. Shared his views and said,
“Parsi community belongs to that minority group of Pakistan who has given so much to the society. They are peace lovers and have never been in news or television. Even after giving so much to society. From Lady Dufferin Hospital to Mama Parsi School to NED University to Jahangir Park. These are there major and highlighted contributions amongst others.”
While talking about education, he said,
“Majority of the Parsi students go abroad for higher education rather than studding here in topnotch universities like IBA, LUMS etc. The motive behind this that their parents feel insecure here in Pakistan. Still, few do study here but their ratio is very low in comparison to those who prefer to study abroad.”
After talking to the above-mentioned people, it clearly shows how their contributions have beautifully been neglected. Their decreasing population, migration, late marriages have been the main reason behind 7000 to less than 1200 today. Another strange thing is that have never been on national media because they avoid. Hence, it’s a government responsibility to preserve their heritages and add their contributions to the syllabus. So, students and youth can know about them. Pakistan only needs to re-examine its founding principles to see that whether its minorities facing shocking discrimination or not. It’s almost impossible to flourish without treating equally to every community, group and an individual who left everything to be here this beloved homeland Pakistan.
Sagar Samy 