Sindhi Americans () are

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...

or residents of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

who are of Sindhi descent. They are a subgroup of

Indian Americans Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

and

Pakistani Americans Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabi or Muhajir. The term may also re ...

Demographics

Originating from the Sindh region of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

now in modern-day Pakistan, Sindhi Americans belong to either Hindu or Muslim faith. Some belong to the Hindu faith, particularly those who migrated from the Indian Republic. In the 2010 US Census, nearly 7,000 individuals reported Sindhi as their first language. The total population of the Sindhi diaspora in the United States is estimated at over 50,000. The community is spread out over various U.S. cities, with sizable populations on the eastern coast. Sindhi USC2000 PHS

Culture

Sindhi festivals such as

Cheti Chand Chetri Chandra (, Moon of Chaitra) is a festival that marks the beginning of the Lunar Hindu New Year for Sindhi Hindus. The date of the festival is based on the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, falling on the first day of the year, ...

are celebrated each year with much fanfare. The American Institute of Sindhulogy (AIS) is a non-profit institute of Sindhology in the U.S., dedicated to researching the history and cultural heritage of Sindh as well as its ancient

Indus Valley civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the Northwestern South Asia, northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 Common Era, BCE to 1300 BCE, and in i ...

Organizations and politics

Sindhi Americans are socially and politically active, having formed numerous community and political-oriented organizations. They maintain interest in domestic American politics, as well as Sindhi politics and the wider politics of Pakistan. The

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is a political party in Pakistan and one of the three major List of political parties in Pakistan, Pakistani political parties alongside the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. With a Cent ...

has a local chapter in the U.S., in which many Sindhis are involved. The World Sindhi Institute is a human rights organization founded in 1997 and is based in Washington, D.C. The World Sindhi Congress (WSC) has a U.S chapter which participates in human rights advocacy and the promotion of Sindhi political interests among the diaspora. G. M. Syed Memorial Committee is a group based in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, which promotes the ideology of Sindhi nationalist leader G.M. Syed. There are also

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

-focused lobbying groups such as the Sindhi American Political Action Committee (SAPAC), and the Sindh Monitor. In addition, there are multiple community organizations and associations. The Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) is one of the largest societies of Sindhis residing in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Other Sindhi associations include the American British Sindhi Medical Network (ABSMN), and the Alliance of Sindhi Associations of Americas which consists of various state-based associations.

Notable people

Indian-origin Sindhi American

* Sabeer Bhatia, entrepreneur and founder of Hotmail *

Neeraj Khemlani Neeraj Khemlani served as president and co-head of CBS News and Stations from 2021 to 2023. Early life and education Khemlani was born in Singapore with Sindhi ancestry and was raised in New York City. He attended Cornell University, where he w ...

, journalist * Raj Kiran Mehtani, Bollywood actor * Rajesh Mirchandani, television journalist * Rajeev Motwani, computer scientist * Ramesh Balwani, former president and COO of Theranos * Reshma Kewalramani, Chief Executive Officer of

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maint ...

* Sachal Vasandani, jazz singer * Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon and medical journalist * Reetika Vazirani, poet and educator * Umesh Vazirani, computer scientist *

Vijay Vazirani Vijay Virkumar Vazirani (; b. 1957) is an Indian American distinguished professor of computer science in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Education and career Vazirani first maj ...

, computer scientist * Richa Moorjani, actress

Pakistan-origin Sindhi American

* Ali S. Asani, academic * Abdul-Majid Bhurgri, computer scientist * Iqbal Theba, actor * Kumail Nanjiani, actor and stand-up comedian * Safdar Sarki, political activist * Gul Agha, computer scientist * Somy Ali, actress and activist

Notes

References

{{Demographics of the United States Asian diaspora in the United States Indian diaspora in the United States Pakistani diaspora in the United States