I came across a very informative and useful site on Pakistan, so I though I would share it with you all.
http://www.storyofpakistan.com/
I think it is the most comprehensive and very high quality website on Pakistan!
it sure is a great time.. whoever made this site deserve :k:
:k:
thnx for sharing
Excellent web site. Bravo !! :k:
i was up all night and read virtually everything after 1947! Loved it!!!
Thnx Laeeqkhan a great site with rich information. I loved it
Its been up for few years - great site and rational historical views :k:
Thanks for sharing! Great site mashaAllah!
Why do we revere the mughal king Akbar and dismiss Abdullah Bhatti a.k.a dullla bhatti who fought bravely against his tyranny in Panjab. Akbar cannot even be considered an islamic hero as he introduced deen-e-ilahi and practised unislamic rites. Tipu Sultan, who ruled somewhere in todays india is well represented and Khoshal Khan Khattak who was the son of this soil is not worth mentioning. And where is the story of the baloch tribes of Panjab (DGK) who defeated sikhs after a hard battle. It is not the story of Pakistan it is the 'ideology of Pakistan’ which is still alien to the present nationalities comprising Pakistan.
An article worth reading..........
An articla worth reading..
*Faiz and culture *
By Hafizur Rahman
AS the greatest poet of Pakistan Faiz Ahmed Faiz inspires respect and affection all over the country. His prose writings have been few, but when I fortuitously came across an old Urdu article by him about Pakistani culture I was tempted to translate it for readers of Dawn. It makes impressive reading in the context of regional differences, so blatantly exploited by some elements, and the varying concepts of culture in today's Pakistan.
Published in the April-June 1975 issue of the quarterly Ghalib of Karachi, the article was in reply to criticism by some people of the views expressed by him in a TV interview.
These people, he said, "had quoted one or two things I did not say, or took my words to mean what I did not mean. Some remarks were misheard while, in regard to others, prejudice played its part." Here is my translation.
"Culture does not mean song and dance or base pandering to the senses. It is a very important aspect of national and social existence and influences the entire business of the nation's life.
"In fact the whole way of life constitutes culture, and it may manifest itself through intellect, beliefs and values, through life as it is really lived, through manners and customs and through everyday speech. The fine arts, literature, music, painting, films, etc. are the consciously developed and chiselled facets of culture. The two, that is culture and the arts, are not to be confused with one another. The arts are only an expression of culture, while culture is the way life is lived as a whole. Culture will be subservient to the structure of a society or the manner in which this society is formed.
"If social and political conditions change, the concepts of culture will also change. Culture is neither static nor does it enjoy permanence. From the beginning of time till today, in the march of the centuries, numerous cultures were born and died, or were transformed. That is why I said, and history will bear me out, that the shapes and ideas of culture continue to change. Before Partition, the political and social state of Muslims was of a particular kind. After the birth of Pakistan it has undergone basic changes. It is in the light of these changes that we should have formulated our concepts of culture, which we have still not done.
"Partition gave birth to a new country - Pakistan. A new nation came into being. Pakistan has different regions. Every region has its own language and modes and customs that are not like the products of a factory, nor have they come about as a result of the government's rules and regulations. They all spring from historical, geographic, political and social conditions. When we talk of different areas we must also remember that they also possess many common features that can form the foundation of our national culture. Of these by far the most important is a common religion. Also the common factor in many other features is geographical continuity and an identical historical experience.
"If there is a difference in the way of life of two or more regions it should be taken as a difference and not as a contradiction. We should emphasise the similarity of as many of the features as possible. National integration cannot come about by negating these differences or diversities but by accepting their existence and by mixing them together. There is no country in the world (nor there ever was one) where the way of life of all the components is absolutely identical or possesses no variations.
"Are England and Scotland and Wales the same in their way of life? To label talk about these differences as propaganda of four nationalities is absolutely wrong and misleading. I think the meaning of nationality, as current in English, is different from that of the Urdu word qaumiyat because the character of our nation and of our language are different. Linguistically it may be the correct translation, but it is not acceptable in our social conditions. That is why it has resulted in this war of definitions.
"Normally the boundaries of a state and its culture do not correspond. There are many countries of Central Asia that are deeply influenced by the Arab and Iranian civilizations. In several European countries the civilizations of Greece and Rome have left deep imprints. Same is the case with Pakistan. No doubt our cultural heritage includes Delhi and Agra, and Meer and Ghalib, and also Samarqand and Bukhara, and Hafiz and Saadi, but we must differentiate also between manifestation and vestiges of civilizations that are present in our country and those that are outside it.
"Take the case of Europe. All European countries accept the arts and culture of Greece and Rome as their own heritage. But despite this, the national cultures of France and Britain are different. The cultures of Holland and Germany are not the same. When the people of these countries talk of national pride, then the Englishman expresses his admiration for Shakespeare and not for Homer. The German takes pride in Goethe and the Frenchman in Victor Hugo. For all of them their art and literature come first.
"Similarly, after the establishment of Pakistan, the basic requirement in this behalf is that we should learn to look up to whatever arts and crafts and antiquities we have here. There is need for us to amend our point of view, to the extent that the Pakistani society is not the society of undivided India, nor is the Pakistani nation the same Muslim nation that it was in the united subcontinent.
"Pakistan is a new country, and Pakistanis are a new nation. Therefore those who live here must learn to love this land and be proud of it. Whatever there is present here and whatever history has given us we should own all of it, and whatever has come from outside and permeated our way of life, we should accept it.
"Admittedly the Taj Mahal and Samarqand and Bukhara are closely related to us but we do not possess them. Our possessions are Moenjodaro and Sehwan Sharif, Taxila and Lahore, Multan and the Khyber. In short we should not become like the proverbial frog in the well in matters of culture. There is no need to shed all that we have acquired from everywhere, or disown it or expel it from our way of life. On the other hand we should not be acquisitive too and, ignoring what really belongs to us, boast about others' possessions as ours".
Faiz Sahib ended by saying: "No culture can be brought into being by speeches and articles and slogans and posters; nor can these vehicles of communication and propaganda pose a threat to any civilization. Culture is a product of love, and flowers in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill." I shall take my leave here without making any comments on his views.
This is a wonderful website, with a well designed outlook and overall great content!!!
Pakistan zindabad!
A word of advice for Olevel 'Pakistan Studies' students in Pakistan, do read this site, it is of great help, especially the post-independence phase, it will help you. I took my Olevel pakistan studies exam in 1997 and at that ttime we didnt have such great sites.
Also, alot of the historic content after 1988 is still in courts, so not many Pakistan Studies books have that in their contents, so its best to resort to this site as most of it is factual, non-biased in the first place.
^ Exactly! I remember the difficulties students including me, faced in O Level exams, as there was a lack of material.
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*Originally posted by Islamabad: *
^ Exactly! I remember the difficulties students including me, faced in O Level exams, as there was a lack of material.
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I am glad I found someone else that faced the same problem as me. Believe me, there were alot of students who faced this problem during their last years (the one or two being spent studying subjects other than pak studies). You know the real problem was the fact that Olevel Pak Studies syllabus was very extensive, and our usual Matric/FSc/CSS books didnt cover the topics with a rationale approach. Hence, there were alot of books by both independent Pakistani and British authors that were very worthwile. For instance, if you came accross the official syllabus for Pak Studies, a book included in the list was 'Historical Dictionary of Pakistan' by Shahid Javed Burki, but the sad thing was, that I searched entire Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and this book was only available in just one shop for Rs. 1,200 and I couldnt afford that at that time, so three friends bought it together, and it was an incredible book. All the objective questions that they asked in the Olevel paper could easily be answered if you read that book just once. Also, Shahid Javed Burki's approach was brilliant and neutral. This site storyofpakistan.com is very similar to that, but I think it needs to cover the material in greater detail and depth. However, the pictures on the site were awesome!!!
It is a great site, I am just surprised that you guys didn't know it. I mean I have known about this site for at least 2 years (if not more).
Shawaiz :k:
You are truly a son of the soil. You are 100% correct in everything. The Mughals considered and treated the areas that comprise of Pakistan- minus Lahore as a complete wasteland. They considered it a frontier.
Screw Akbar, Tipu Sultan and other foriegn “heros” who did nothing for Pakistan. Dullah Bhatti (proud to be from his tribe), K. Khattak, the Hurs, the Baluchis, Muzzafer Khan, etc should be the ones that we revere. Pakistanis as a whole live in some delusions of grandeur of the past, when the fact is, 90% Pakistanis ancestors were treated harshly and crushed by the Mughals. The 10% migrated from India and so I do not blame them for liking the Mughals.