"It is really difficult to conceive how any Hindoos should have continued to reside in this country; and the fact can only be accounted for by that attachment, which man shares with the vegetable, to the soil in which he is reared. The indignities they suffer are of the most exasperating description. They are even forced to adopt the Mahommedan dress, and to wear beards. Till lately, none of this class were permitted to ride on horse-back; and amongst the few who now enjoy the privilege, a small number only in the immediate service of government are allowed the comfort and honour, as it is esteemed, of a saddle. Merchants of wealth and respectability may be seen mounted on asses and mules; animals considered so unclean, that none but the vilest outcasts in other countries can touch them with impunity: and, even from this humble conveyance, they are obliged to descend and stand aside when any bloated Mussulman passes by. The Mahommedans are encouraged and exhorted to destroy all the emblems of idolatry they may see in Sinde. The degraded and unfortunate follower of Brahma, is denied the free exercise of his religion; the tom-tom is seldom heard, being only beat when permission is granted; and although there are a few temples without images in Hyderabad, the sound of music never echoes from their walls. It is in the power of any two “true believers,” by declaring that a Hindoo has repeated a verse from the Koran, or the words “Mahommed the Prophet,” to procure his immediate circumcision. This is the most common, and, by the persecuted class themselves, considered the most cruel of all their calamities; while, as it is resorted to on the slightest pretence, and always performed with a mockery of its being for the eternal happiness of the sufferer, mental agony is made to add its bitterness to bodily infliction… Of their summary mode of administering justice towards Hindoos, I had myself an opportunity of judging…On my remonstrating against this extremity, his Highness replied with a savage grin, “You do not know the Hindoos of Sinde; they are all blackguards and rascals”….” [Burnes found “the evils of intolerance” glaring and concluded it was scarcely possible for a stranger to be a week in Sindh without that “being obtruded on his notice;” he noted that] amongst the many who secretly pray for such a consummation, none seemed to have a more devout wish to see the British colours flying on the bastions of Hyderabad, than the Hindoos of respectability; who, uninvited, entered on the subject of their grievances, and discoursed largely of the cruelties and indignities to which they were subjected."

"As regards the language, or dialect spoken by the Siaposh, there can be no doubt but that they have one, which, as Sherifadin has recorded, is neither exactly Persian, nor Turki, nor Hindi. It is remarkable that on the south western, and southern borders of the Siaposh country, or in those points where it connects with the actual limits of the Kabal and Jelalabad territories, there are four distinct dialects spoken, independently of the more prevailing ones of Persian, Afghani, Turki and Hindi. The dialects in question are called Perancheh, Pashai, Lughmani, and Kohistani…. Of these four dialects, the Kohistani most nearly approaches to Hindi; and, on listening to people conversing therein, I was able, without comprehending the whole of what was said, to understand the general purport of their discourse. On the primary subject of religion, reports and opinions are too vague and various to admit even a plausible conjecture to be made. The furious Mahomedan will not concede that they have any; while the less zealous pretend that they reverence trees, and other inanimate objects. The Hindu believes them to cherish, in their retreats, his own anomalous creed, and that they perform puja, on altars. From the testimony, however, of the Siaposh whose fate has made them captives, it is clear that they have some kind of worship and that their deity is named Dagon. The topic is one on which they dislike to be questioned, either that they are incompetent to reply, or that amongst Mahomedans they feel delicacy in expressing their sentiments. It may be supposed that a strange medley of rites and superstitions prevails among them. While as tenacious of their religion, whatever it may be, as of their liberty in their mountain fastnesses, the Siaposh captive, without hesitation, becomes a Mahomedan, and manifests no aversion to abandon his old faith. It need not be remarked how different would be the conduct of the most wretched Hindu on such an occasion… They are said to shave the hair of their heads, allowing only a tuft to remain on the crown. In this they assimilate, indeed, to Hindus; but there are also many Mahomedan tribes that do the same. Chiefs, and sons of chiefs, insert their tufts in leathern rings, a token by which, it is believed, they may be distinguished."

"The inhabitants of Sinde are Mahometans and Hindoos; of the former, the Belooches belong to the caste of warriors, and the Juts to that of the peasants: and it may be assumed that the fifty part of the inhabitants of the cites are Hindoos. Though so greatly oppressed in their religious and civil relations, the wealth and commerce of the country are nevertheless chiefly in their hands; and they probably form a sixth part of the million of inhabitants said to reside in this country. They suffer their beard to grow, and wear the turban of the Mussulmans, whose manners and customs they have adopted; they have the submissiveness and servility of the Jews of Europe, and are as handsome, but even more dirty than the Juts. As bankers, they enjoy such confidence that their bills pass current throughout India. The Hindoos and the Juts are the only people on whom the British government can depend. The Juts, who are a tall, vigorous, and handsome race of people, were originally Hindoos, and, properly speaking, are the Aborigines of the country; the women are distinguished by their beauty and modesty, which cannot be said of the Mahometan females. As they form the agricultural class, they had a quiet and peaceful life. Besides the cultivation of the soil the Juts are occupied in the breed of buffaloes, goats, and camels. The camel is as valuable and useful to the Jut, as the horse is to the Arab. The Miani are employed in navigation and fishery; they live as much upon the rivers and lakes as on shore – nay, some of them have no other dwelling than their boat. The women are as vigorous, and muscular as the men, and share in their hard labours; and while the husband is mending his nets, or smoking his pipe, and the child is suspended in its network cradle to the mast, the wife guides the boat with a large oar. The Belooches, who form scarcely a tenth part of the population, are the freebooters of the desert, and originally came from the mountains and steppes in the north-west. Their manners, and many of their customs are conformable with the mosaic laws, and their oral and written traditions, as well as their general appearance, have so much resemblance with those of the Jews, that the Belooches have been looked upon as the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Thus for instance, on the death of the husband, his brother is bound to marry his widow and the children are the heirs of the deceased; and again, a man may divorce his wife, according to the forms usual among the Jews. They consider themselves as the masters of the country, and devote themselves to arms, robbery, and the chase. Some few of them engage in agriculture, and all attend to the breeding of horses and camels. Their ignorance, and the uncivilised state in which they live, renders it difficult to reduce them to obedience and discipline: each tribe obeys only its chief; but if danger threatens any one tribe, messengers on camels and horses, are dispatched in every direction to summon all that can bear arms… The Belooches, in their capacity of executors of the commands of the Ameers, are the blood-suckers of the poor, oppressed peasant, who is obliged to deliver to the princes more than the half of his produce. The revenues of the country, which formerly amounted to 90 lacs, have now declined to between 40 and 50, but with good management his might be increased to three times that sum. The Ameers are as ignorant as the people: their time is spent in the harem, or in hunting, and the latter is pursued with such eagerness that the country is thereby daily more and more depopulated. In order to enlarge their preserves, which consist of Babul trees, a species of Mimosa Arabica, tamarinds and tamarisks, they have recourse to the most arbitrary measures. Thus Meer Futteh Ali expelled the inhabitants from one of the most fertile districts of the Indus, near Hyderabad, which produced a revenue of nearly two lacs, because it was the favourite haunt of the Babiroussa; and Meer Murad Ali caused a large village to be totally destroyed, in order that the lowing of the cattle and crowing of the cocks, might not disturb the game in an adjoining preserve belonging to his brother. In the middle of this preserve is a small isolated building with a pond in front of it; thither the game is driven and killed by the Ameers who are stationed behind the wall…"

"The Hindoo portion of the community occupies, in Sindh, the same social position that the Mussulmans do in India. As in Arabia, Affghanistan and other parts of Central Asia, the Hindoo here is either employed in trade, or in ministering to the religious wants of his caste-brethren. We, therefore, find among them none of the properly speaking outcast tribes (as Parwari, Mang, Chandala and others) so numerous in their own country. It is probable that few or none of the Hindoo families that flourished in Sindh at the time of the first Moslem inroad have survived the persecution to which they were then subjected: most likely they either emigrated or were converted to Islam. The present race is of Punjabi origin, as their features and manners, ceremonies and religious opinions, as well as their names, sufficiently prove. It may be observed that they show a general tendency towards the faith of Nanak Shah, and that many castes have so intermingled the religion of the Sikh with their original Hinduism, that we can scarcely discern the line of demarcation. As usual among the Hindoo race, wherever it is settled, they have divided themselves into different tribes. The Satawarna, or seven castes of Indians, in Sindh, are as follows:- 1. Brahman; 2. Lohano; 3. Bhatio; 4. Sahto; 5. Waishya (including a number of trades as Wahun, grain-toaster; Khatti, dyer, &c.); 6. Punjabi; and 7. Sonaro. Five of these belong, properly speaking, to the Waishya (the third, or merchant) division of pure Indians. The seventh is a mixed caste, descended from a Brahman father and a Shudra mother. In Sindh he is usually considered as belonging to the servile tribe. Of the first, or Brahminical class, we find two great bodies, which are divided and subdivided as usual. These are – 1. Pokarno; 2. Sarsat or Sarsudh."

"The Hindus, who, as in the neighbouring countries, carry on, nearly exclusively, the trade, led a far from enviable life, unless, indeed, their gains compensated from the contumely with which they were treated, for throughout Sind a Hindu cannot pass from one village to another without paying a fee to some Mahomedan for his protection."

"[In the land Mongols prefer to call Southern Mongolia,] Mongolians have demonstrated “remarkable creativity and resilience” in preserving their culture despite intense pressure. They continue to write, sing, teach, and protest—even if they sometimes must do this by sending handwritten images in encrypted chats. Their goal is straightforward: to tell their own stories in their own language and ensure that Mongolian words, poems, and songs persist as vibrant expressions of a people who refuse to be redefined. [The PEN America report] “Save Our Mother Tongue” is a timely reminder that languages are more than communication tools; they are vessels of memory, humor, longing, and identity. To erase a language is to erase a worldview. Fighting for a language asserts that a people’s story is ongoing, regardless of how many websites are shut down or playlists rewritten."

"Oh! Father, I swear, and if I swear falsely may I become shrivelled and dry like a blood-sucker, and die; may I be killed and eaten by a tiger; may I crumble away like the dust of this ant-hill; may I be blown away like this feather; may I be extinguished like this lamp."

"Wandering Kirghizzes, Who come on shaggy ponies from Pamere."

"The Khmer Krom indigenous community, numbering about 1.3 million people, live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia. They face discrimination in Vietnam and suspicion in Cambodia, where they are often perceived not as Cambodians but as Vietnamese."

"An unhealthy movement has arisen in Tamil lands . . . which tends to make for a touchy and suspicious relationship between the two parts of our subcontinent. . . . the fact that the extra-origins of Aryanism has been a pernicious force amongst us and that its demolition would lead to greater harmony and cooperative creativity in India must not prejudice us as historians. We have to be calm and clear in our approach to the problem even while realizing that we cannot afford to be lax about a matter that keenly affects our collective future."

"Mina is the largest Scheduled Tribe of Rajasthan and the fourth largest in India. 150 They trace their descent from the Min-avatara or the fish incarnation of Vishnu, hence the name Mina. Lord Shiva is their supreme deity, and they also worship Hanuman, Sita-Ram and Radha-Krishna. In the 1961 and 1971 censuses, one hundred percent of Minas recorded themselves as Hindus."

"But the catalyst who is credited with the construction of the 'Dravidian race' was a missionary-scholar from the Anglican Church. His name was Bishop Robert Caldwell (1814–91), an evangelist for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, who combined the linguistic theory of Ellis with a strong racial narrative. He proposed the existence of the Dravidian race in his Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Race, which enjoys extreme popularity with Dravidianists to this day. Bishop Caldwell proposed that the Dravidians were in India before the Aryans, but got cheated by the Brahmins, who were the cunning agents of the Aryan. He argued that the simple-minded Dravidians were kept in shackles by Aryans through the exploitation of religion. Thus, the Dravidians needed to be liberated by Europeans like him. He proposed the complete removal of Sanskrit words from Tamil. Once the Dravidian mind would be free of the superstitions imposed by Aryans, Christian evangelization would reap the souls of Dravidians... Because the assumption of Mosaic ethnology was well established, it was important to secure both families of languages within that framework. Ellis claimed that Tamil is connected with Hebrew and also with ancient Arabic. Their logic was that since William Jones considered Sanskrit to be the language of Ham, and other scholars claimed that Sanskrit descended from Noah's oldest son, Japheth, by the process of elimination the remaining son of Noah, Shem, must be the ancestor of the Dravidian people. This made Dravidians a branch of the Scythians or in the same family as Jews."

"The circularity of the ‘Ancestral North Indians’ (ANI) vs ‘Ancestral South Indians’ (ASI) concept is another case in point. Reich (2018) admits that he thought it up overnight simply to avert serious differences with his Indian collaborators. No precise definition was ever given to these two supposedly highly distinct groups; they were simply stated to be ‘genetically divergent’ and were used in several subsequent studies as though they had been rigorously established. Elsewhere, I showed that the populations sampled were very seriously restricted, since 18 states of India had either no representation or only one group represented in the 2009 study. Despite such a skewed distribution, Reich et al. exuded confidence in the newly coined terms and found it ‘tempting to assume that the population ancestral to ANI and CEU [Europeans] spoke ‘‘Proto-Indo-European’’ … ’ – a gratuitous association built, again, on circularity."

""The Hakka spirit in my blood has been calling me to take the challenge and shoulder the responsibility of being president like numerous Hakka women have done for the past hundreds of years." – Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan (2011)"

""The Hakka are able to mould outstanding military men, their hardworking conduct having been developed through years of arduous livelihood in the mountainous regions. Praises of the Guangdong spirit by the Japanese actually refer to the Hakka spirit. A big majority of the officers and soldiers in the Guangdong army are Hakkas, the distinguished successes of Hakka military men have been attested by the modern history of China." – Zhang Fakui, Commander-in-Chief, Republic of China Army (1980)"

""Fortunately for me, I have a very high threshold for pain. I am a Hakka. Hakkas can take a lot of pain. So, I survived." – Lee Kuan Yew, founding father of modern Singapore (1997)"

""All of you should know that I, Lee Teng-hui, am a Hakka. Many of mainland China's leaders are also Hakkas. Hakka people are brilliant, isn't it?" – Lee Teng-hui, President of Taiwan (2000)"

""My grandfather is Hakka. The origin of Hakka is at the Central Plains. A Hakka cultural centre is opening in Zhengdong economic centre. I will be unveiling a statue of my grandfather in the cultural centre, to promote the Hakka spirit." – Sun Huifang, granddaughter of Sun Yat-sen, founding father of modern China (2003)"

""There is a piece of important experience not found in books, that is the Hakka people fine moral qualities in doing business based on integrity. This is the most precious legacy left behind by my Hakka forefathers." – Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand (2005)"

""And I nearly broke down, but I won't break down. I am a Hakka woman. So farewell, Papa. I will miss you. Rest in peace. And...be as tough as Hakkas come." – Lee Wei Ling, daughter of Lee Kuan Yew (2015)"

"Uyghurs are the best among Turks. Their language is called Hakaniye Turkchesi (King's Turkish)."

""Home" means different things to young Uyghurs – some of whom may have not even visited their ancestral homeland in China’s far western Xinjiang region. That was the theme of the latest annual art competition for Uyghur artists and others held by the Uyghur Collective, a -based youth group that has organized the annual event since 2019."

"Like the waters of the Tarim we began in this place and we will finish here We came from nowhere else and we will not leave for anywhere If God made humanity God made us for this place If man evolved from apes we evolved from the apes of this place"

"It is just that their thinking has been infected by unhealthy thoughts. Freedom is only possible when this ‘virus’ in their thinking is eradicated and they are in good health."

"Russian scholar Pantusov writes that the Uyghurs manufactured their own musical instruments; they had 62 different kinds of musical instruments and in every Uyghur home there used to be an instrument called a "dutar"."

"The Uyghurs knew how to print books centuries before Guetenberg invented his press."

"In Middle Ages, the Chinese poetry, literature, theater, music and painting were greatly influenced by the Uyghurs."

"The Uyghur language and script contributed to the enrichment of civilizations of the other peoples in Central Asia. Compared to the Europeans of that time, the Uyghurs were far more advanced. Documents discovered in Uyghur Region prove that an Uyghur farmer could write down a contract, using legal terminology. How many European farmers could have done that at that period? This shows the extent of Uygur civilization of that time."

"Turfan (Turpan) is without doubt a forgotten Asian city of extraordinary interest. The size of it is remarkable: the inner, holy city, consisting only of temples and palace, measures 7,400 feet at the widest point of the still extant walls. Hundreds of terraced temples and grandiose vaulted edifices cover an extensive area of lane."