India's Partition diaspora has been a boon for other nations

Migrants have generated much value for their adopted countries

- KARISHMA VASWANI

Nearly eight decades ago, a community of Hindu Sindhi merchants fled the Indian subcontinent in the aftermath of its bloody division. My family was among them. Scattering worldwide, some in the diaspora rose from refugees to run billion-dollar businesses.

Ours was one story among scores, mirroring tales of refugees fleeing violence in recent times. From the aftermath of Syria's civil war to the Rohingya exodus from Myanmar, then, as now, the openness of adopted nations determines whether migrants flourish or fade. It remains a politically charged issue, with bitter debates raging over America's mass deportations to the EU's recent tightening of migration and asylum rules.

Partition changed the course of my community's destiny. It is thought that there are around 2 million Hindu Sindhis in Pakistan, nearly 3 million in India and several million more across the world. This exile has birthed a prominent business diaspora.

You might recognize the names. The Singapore-based Hiranandani brothers, for example. Their father migrated from Sindh, a province in what is now southeastern Pakistan, in 1947, and started a small shophouse near a British military enclave. Today, his descendants are billionaires, ranked among Singapore's richest.