End of the past?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: End of the past?


LOL to your Punjabi pana... yehi do kitbaiN paRhii hoteen tu atleast yeh na likhtay

bhai jee ju baat pochi uss ka jawab merhamat farma daiN, apnay punjabi honay per baad maiN roo laina

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Re: End of the past?

Some of the replies are so awfully embarrassing in this thread. More than presenting a solution, they pose a clear and greater ideological danger to the discipline of History in Pakistan, then you currently have. Some of these replied perfectly demonstrate every practicing historian's worst's nightmare.

The problem in Pakistan is that your average Joes think History is essentially all about glorifying individuals as heroes and engaging people in slightly more refined hero worshiping. Your chauvinists - the nationalists if you like - aren't any better than clergy as they both share the common of goal of reducing subject of history as a mere exercise of glorifying personalities and turning them into heroes or villains to suit their agenda. These people would basically use and abuse History as a subject to fight 'my hero is a better than your hero' war. At the end of the day, it is very much a political issue, if you ask me.

I cannot emphasis what a tragically ignorant and pity inducing this mentally is. It is entirely possible to learn about World War Two, study it in great scholarly fashion, down to every bit of detail and yet not consider Winston Churchill a hero who must be celebrated. This is because history is about objective findings, theories, arguments, analysis and evidence based interpretations to explain the past. To know about the past. It is about knowledge. Contrary to popular myth, history is not about giving moral judgement on the past, and dividing facts into right or wrong category, it is an intellectual discourse to provide 'what happened, how it happened and why it happened' representation of the past to understand the present state of the societies, people and cultures.

Like it or not, foreign invasion changed the face of subcontinent forever. This is part of *our *history. How can you completely discard such a profoundly significant series of events? Such attitude reeks of xenophobic bitterness. What is this childish desire of discovering 'heroes' for sake of it? Maybe the truth is, Punjab indeed benefited from the invasions? One can present an argument.

In Pakistan, history the academic discipline as the true archive of nations memories and experiences will only flourish if we seriously start avoiding the over determination and imaginative excess of 'story tellers' who claim to pass off their stories as history, and call themselves historian. There is no place for 'poetic moment' and self indulgent romanticism in historical studies, such discursive narratives centered around personalities have repressed the conceptual apparatus to explain past.

Honestly, nationalists with misplaced sense of ethnic superiority and blinding insecurities are just as bad Mullahs with their exclusive sense of self righteousness. Keep both types of people from running Pakistan, and the country will do just fine.

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Re: End of the past?

Who said Punjabis don’t got heroes?

Dulla Bhatti, Ahmed Khan Kharal, Nizam Lohar. Even I consider Sultan Bahoo and Bulleh Shah our heroes who talked against the cruel rulers and their cronies.

Guru Nanak was from Punjab. Iqbal wrote a poem to appreciate him, but somehow he has never been included in our syllabus. talk of fragile faith :bummer:

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I was talking about punjabi rulers. We have seen Pashtuns, afghans, Turks, Mongols and other central Asians ruling the area for thousands of years. Our history is of subjugation, this mentality we can see in our rulers and army as well. when we don’t find local heroes we make use of religion to adopt foreigners as our heroes. On the contrary Sindh has a better history and so has Afghanistan. Anyways the distorted history we have been subjected to was introduced by zia to give an islamic touch to create acceptance for jehad in Afghanistan.

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Its not necessary that we look towards rulers to find out our heroes. All the local heroes I mentioned in this thread were not rulers except few like Raja Dahir and Dodo Soomro in case of Sindh.

The reason behind this defeatist mindset not to acknowledge local heroes somehow lies in independence movement, where they even created conflict between Hindi-Urdu. How come you not expect this attitude extending towards heroes based on the religion? While India kept on cebrating Hemu Kalani (a freedom fighter from Sindh during British rule), in his homeland very few people know about him. While before 1947, there were no buildings attributed to MBQ in Sindh (Sindhis have been lesser Muslims as they didn't acknowledge their savior), but you know the position today.

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What is the most blatant lie taught through Pakistan textbooks? - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

@Ali_Syed go through this blatant lies (considered very dearest to those who believe that only lies can be a reason for survival of Pakistan)

of special mention:

The following excerpt regarding the 1965 war is taken from fifth grade reading material published by the NWFP Textbook Board, Peshawar in 2002 — “The Pakistan Army conquered several areas of India, and when India was at the verge of being defeated she ran to the United Nations to beg for a cease-fire. Magnanimously, thereafter, Pakistan returned all the conquered territories to India.”

The Punjab Textbook Board published the following text on the causes for the separation of East Pakistan in 1993 for secondary classes — “There were a large number of Hindus in East Pakistan. They had never truly accepted Pakistan. A large number of them were teachers in schools and colleges.

They continued creating a negative impression among students. No importance was attached to explaining the ideology of Pakistan to the younger generation.

The Hindus sent a substantial part of their earnings to Bharat, thus adversely affecting the economy of the province. Some political leaders encouraged provincialism for selfish gains. They went around depicting the central Government and (the then) West Pakistan as enemy and exploiter. Political aims were thus achieved at the cost of national unity.”

“While the Muslims provided all sorts of help to those non-Muslims desiring to leave Pakistan [during partition], people of India committed atrocities against Muslims trying to migrate to Pakistan. They would attack the buses, trucks and trains carrying the Muslim refugees and murder and loot them.” The latter except was taken from an intermediate classes textbook — Civics of Pakistan, 2000.

Some more examples of totally contorted and misleading, yet ingenious and amusing, narrations of the history of Pakistan can be extracted from a single text, A Textbook of Pakistan Studies by M D Zafar.

“Pakistan came to be established for the first time when the Arabs led by Muhammad bin Qasim occupied Sindh and Multan. Pakistan under the Arabs comprised the Lower Indus Valley.”

“During the 11th century the Ghaznavid Empire comprised what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan. During the 12th century the Ghaznavids lost Afghanistan and their rule came to be confined to Pakistan”.

“By the 13th century Pakistan had spread to include the whole of Northern India and Bengal. Under the Khiljis Pakistan moved further South to include a greater part of Central India and the Deccan”.

“During the 16th century, ‘Hindustan’ disappeared and was completely absorbed in ‘Pakistan”.

“Shah Waliullah appealed to Ahmad Shah Durrani of Afghanistan and ‘Pakistan’ to come to the rescue of the Muslims of Mughal India, and save them from the tyrannies of the Marhattas…”

“In the Pakistan territories where a Sikh state had come to be established, the Muslims were denied the freedom of religion.”

“Thus by the middle of the 19th century both Pakistan and Hindustan ceased to exist; instead British India came into being. Although Pakistan was created in August 1947, yet except for its name, the present-day Pakistan has existed, as a more or less single entity for centuries.”

:bizz:

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^ Not lies :snooty:

So Muhammad Bin Qasim formed Pakistan in the 8th century, while the bulk of today’s Pakistan and Afghanistan were still Hindus…

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Still Ghaznavi had to come in 11th century to convert remaining parts of Pakistan to Islam. kiya ye khulla tazaad nahin judge sahib?

BTW uss Butt-shikan ne Bamiyan ke butt kiyun choR diye the? Taliban ki peshan go to kisi saheefe main nahin ki gai, phir kiyun apne ghar ke kade ko choR kar Sonath main kufr ka markaz toRa? lagta hai Muslamaan hamesha piecemeal main kaam karta hai :cb:

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Yahoodi media ki saazshen to dekhiye :ast: itne baRe jhoot

Pakistan Studies: a concoction of half truths and distorted facts - thenews.com.pk

A student, who studies the ninth grade Pakistan Studies book of the Sindh Textbook Board for a year, will end up learning three things; a non-Muslim cannot be a Pakistani, Hindus are not to be trusted and the Fall of Dhaka was an international conspiracy.

The book begins with a chapter on the ideology of Pakistan. Rule number one of being a good citizen is: “They [the citizens] should try to lead their lives in accordance with the teachings of Islam. This requires enforcement of laws and regulations according to the Islamic Sharia.”

“Since you are a non-Muslim, you end up feeling like an outcast, an unimportant part of the society. You get that feeling that the Muslim belief is the only moral thing in the world and anything different is sinful,” says Suzanna Masih, a student from the minority community who has studied the book.

**“In a lot of Pakistan Studies books, you come across the word Kafir [infidel]. I find it very derogatory.”

There is a small, three-page portion on the Fall of Dhaka in the ninth grade book. The causes include “propaganda, the role of Hindu teachers and international conspiracies”.

“Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the leader of the Awami League Party in Bengal, propagated that Bengalis were economically deprived. He started developing secret relations with India. The All India Radio, through its programmes, created hatred in the hearts of Bengalis against the people of West Pakistan,” the book states.
**
**“A large number of Hindu teachers were teaching in educational institutions in East Pakistan. They produced such literature which created negative thinking in the minds of Bengalis. About 10 million Hindus were living in East Pakistan. India stood at their back to protect their interests. Many Hindus acted as spies for India. Russia was against Pakistan because the latter had allowed America to establish military bases on its soil.”

Safaid Jhoot Alert :cadet:

**

If one relies on this book completely, which many students do (there is only one textbook for Pakistan Studies produced by the Sindh Textbook Board), they will end up thinking that the creation of Bangladesh was nothing but an international conspiracy. Pakistan disintegrated because—as usual—the whole world was out to get it.

In a three-page space given to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his role in the Pakistan Movement, it is said that he had improved relations between the Muslims and the British by writing pamphlets like the ‘Loyal Muhammadans of India and Causes of Indian Revolt’. No details about the content of the writings have been given; hence, the student fails to understand what the national hero had to say.

A look into the famous “Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind”, which has now taken the form of a book, reveals that Sir Syed had vociferously opposed the conservative Muslim mindset as this, he thought, was the greatest hurdle to development. In a translation of the Bible, he had attempted to prove that Christianity was the closest religion to Islam. The book misses out important aspects of his teachings.

The book calls the Baloch “strong, brave people with deep love for Islam”. It further states that “in 1947, Balochistan decided to join Pakistan”. Historical accounts otherwise reveal that it was in the year 1948 that the Khan of Kalat had agreed to join Pakistan.

Curriculum review committee

After the passage of the 18th Amendment that grants provincial autonomy, education became a provincial subject. To review the current syllabus, a curriculum review committee was formed.

A member of the committee and chairman of the Board of Intermediate Karachi (BIEK), Anwar Ahmed Zai, thinks it is the best time for the media to highlight the drawbacks in the curriculum design so that the committee can pinpoint the glaring gaps in the textbooks to the education board.

“It is the need of the hour to limit, if not remove, words that promote religious intolerance. Pakistan Studies is a compulsory subject, unlike Islamiat which has the subject of Ethics as a substitute for the minority communities. The members of the minority communities must feel that they are equal Pakistanis,” he says.

Zai maintains that the ideology of Pakistan and history are two different things and one must not let ideology distort facts. “For instance, the Khan of Kalat had agreed to become part of Pakistan in 1948 on the basis of provincial autonomy in all matters other than finance, defence and foreign policy. One of the reasons for the unrest in Balochistan is the failure to abide by those conditions.” He condemns how the role of Hindu teachers has been highlighted in the chapter on the Fall of Dhaka. “A teacher is a cheater if he does not perform his job rightly irrespective of his race.”

“Teenage, when students are studying this book, is a period where education should aim to ignite curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. Poison in the form of education must be discouraged.”

Professor Jaffer Ahmed, chairman of the Pakistan Study Centre at the University of Karachi, is of the opinion that the contents of the book do not only discriminate against minorities, but also women. “Before the year 2004, no history book had a chapter on the Fall of Dhaka.”

During Musharraf’s era, the professor says he was part of a committee of 19 educationists, including Pervez Hoodbhoy and Mubarak Ali. They presented a research paper titled “Subtle Subversion”. “We took three or four months and discussed each and every book taught in the areas of Urdu, English, Civics and Social Studies in Pakistan. One of the recommendations in the research paper included introducing Peace Studies as a subject.”

But even though the committee expected a positive response during the government of the so-called “enlightened ruler”, the paper was never accepted. “Our books are undemocratic. If we continue teaching them to our children, they may find out the truth from other sources later on in life. Or even worse, they may never find the truth,” says Ahmed.

It is high time the authorities looked into this extremely important subject that frames national identity. Generations have been fed* on half truths and distorted facts.

This must stop, for nations which find lessons in history are the ones that progress. Policymakers must take a page out of France and Germany, which buried centuries of border disputes and enmity, and came out with a joint history book in 2006 that high school students in both countries follow.

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Who should be our local heroes - rich local Kings with big armies? Is that it? Where are the Punjabi scientists, philosophers, philanthropists, reformers, inventors, educationalists, great campaigners - people belonging to these fields should be hailed as heroes in true sense of the word great, not every mighty King or warrior should be imposed as 'hero' just because they are from the same ethnic background as you, this attitude is not any better than Mullahs who only want to glorify individuals who belonged to their religion.

What likes of you are suggesting was already experimented and tragically failed in Nazi Germany long time ago - the blind and mindless chauvinistic Germenisation of German education where only people and individuals having the 'pure German' blood were worthy of receiving any praise, rest were all villains and that instantly included Jews and people who didn't have blond hair and blue eyes. Just look around in Pakistan and see how racism and ethnic bigotry is already a seriously violent problem in provinces where prejudicial 'God gifted sons of soil' racialism is proudly propagated as way to control, isolate, divide and rule communities.

Self centered Nationalists don't want a genuine extension of scope of historical studies in Pakistan, turn into a proper academic discipline to find objective truth, make it a thorough research and evidence based practice. They don't want history the subject to become a true understanding of the past, what they really want is quick, speedy and self pleasing replacement of one 'narrative' (read: propaganda, gross glorification and misinformation) with another. The good old practice of rejecting and accepting people on the basis of race, religion and region.

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Re: End of the past?

More lies :sadaf:

for special attention:

Text No. 12
Class: 6
Subject: Social Studies
Pages: 99

“Before the Arab conquest the people were fed up with the teachings of Buddhists and Hindus. The main cause was the benign treatment of Muslims with the Hindus. Due to this attitude Hindus began to love Muslims and they became nearer and nearer to the Muslims.”

Scripted & Translated by: Prof. Mian Muhammed Aslam, Prof. Muhammed Farooq Malik and Qazi Sajjad Ahmed.

:hmmm: This is being taught to students including Hindus of Pakistan.

Text No. 13
Class: 6
Subject: Social Studies
Pages: 99

“The Biritish sent rare books from these libraries to England. Thus the British ruined the Muslim schools. They did not want that Islam should spread.”
Scripted & Translated by: Prof. Mian Muhammed Aslam, Prof. Muhammed Farooq Malik and Qazi Sajjad Ahmed.

British still are the reason behind Muslim world could not built a library, which can stand in list of top 20 libraries of the world. Yes, Muslims became nuclear power. nuclear power without electricity, gas, basic health facilities :bummer:

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Not that eulogizing foreigners has made any difference. Have a peek at the articles Muqawwee has posted above and tell me if they are they by any means promoting tolerance within the country? Are Hindus not part of the country?

The history that we read in Pakistan starts from Muhammad Bin Qasim, like there was nothing before that. We are not willing to acknowledge our history (Indus Valley Civilization, one of the oldest civilizations of the world and Gandhara Civilization, which had perhaps the oldest university of the world) only because they portray our non Muslim past.

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Pakistan history, distorted by the literalists – The Express Tribune Blog

**Recently released, the Brookings Institute report claims that the real cause of militancy in Pakistan is the public education system, and not religious schools (madrssas) because the majority of Pakistani students attend public school whereas only ten per cent attend madrassas. It states that Pakistani public schools disseminate militancy, hatred, jihad and distort history.
**
**Until 1970, despite bureaucratic and military dictatorships, the Pakistani educational curriculum and textbooks, for example, had included the history of the Maurya and Gupta dynasties of the sub-continent conforming to the secular ideals of Pakistan clearly expressed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his speech to the constituent Assembly on 11[SUP]th[/SUP] August 1947. Mohammad Ali Jinnah said:

**“We are starting with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal Citizens of one state … Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual but in the sense as citizens of the state. …You may belong to any caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”

Mohammad Ali Jinnah never used the term ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ during the struggle for independence nor after independence. Mohammad Ali Jinnah sternly scolded a prominent leader of Muslim League Raja Sahab Mahmudabad when he wrote to the historian Mohibul Hassan in 1939 that we want the dictatorship of Koranic laws.

Sharifuddin Pirzada documented another failed attempt of an Abdul Hameed Kazi to propose a bill to create Pakistan as an Islamic state in All India Muslim League’s 1943 session.

In fact the term “Ideology” was first mentioned in 1962, fifteen years after independence, by a member of Jamat-e-Islami. In his monograph From Jinnah to Zia, Justice Munir writes:

“The Quaid-i-Azam never used the words ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ … For fifteen years after the establishment of Pakistan, the Ideology of Pakistan was not known to anybody until in 1962 a solitary member of the Jama’at-I-Islami used the words for the first time when the Political Parties Bill was being discussed. On this, Chaudhry Fazal Elahi, [who later became Pakistan’s president during Z. A. Bhutto’s regime], rose from his seat and objected that the ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ shall have to be defined. The member who had proposed the original amendment replied that the ‘Ideology of Pakistan was Islam’.”

The three rigid religious political parties Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind, the Majlis-i-Ahrar and Jamat-e-Islami were opposed to Muslim league and the demand for an independent Pakistan. In Punjab Majlis-i-Ahrar exploited Islamic ideology to defeat Muslim League in pre-partition election of 1945 calling Muslim League leaders ‘Kafirs’ and opposing their demand for a separate state.

Ironically, the term “Ideology of Pakistan” was also first coined and used by Jamat-e-Islami who were against the creation of Pakistan and they did not participate with the Muslim League in the movement for the independence of Pakistan.
After the independence of Pakistan, Jamat-e-Islami established its Pakistan chapter claiming that Pakistan was created for Muslims to live according to Islamic Shariah. Jamat-e-Islami even forgets that the Ahmadiya community supported Independence of Pakistan after Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s assurance that Pakistan will be a modern Muslim state, neutral on sectarian matters (Report of the Court of Inquiry, 1954: 196). However, Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan still cannot justify their opposition to the creation of Pakistan if it was being created only for Muslims to practice the literalist interpretation of Islam.

In late 1970’s, after the fall of East Pakistan, the Pakistani educational system began to implement the Islamisation project based on the literalist interpretation of Islam practiced by a very small percentage of the Muslim population. **Jamat-e-Islami and other religious political parties championed the Islamisation project. This is a shameful testimonial to the twisted logic of the handful of Muslim literalists.
**
The unholy alliance of 1980s, between the dictatorial military regime of Pakistan under General Zia-ul-Haq, the unelected literalist religious political party Jamat-e-Islami and American government, cemented Islamisation of all Pakistani institutions including public educational institutions.

**The national education policy was Islamised in accordance with the narrow literal interpretation of Islam. The national educational curriculum was revised and textbooks were re-written to re-invent Pakistan as a purely religious society only for Muslim citizens.
**
Syed Abul A’la Maudoodi of Jama’at-e-Islami prescribed that all educational subjects should be taught from the perspective of the literal interpretation of Quran.

Maudoodi did not accept the distinction between the religious and the non-religious worldly disciplines of education.

**“In the teaching material, no concept of separation between the worldly and the religious be given; rather all the material be presented from the Islamic point of view.” (Curriculum Document, Primary Education, Class K-V, 1995, p. 41.)
**

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute found four major themes emerging strongly from their analysis of the curricula and textbooks of the three compulsory subjects:
**
“1. that Pakistan is for Muslims alone;
2. that Islamic teachings, including a compulsory reading and memorisation of Qur’an, are to be included in all the subjects, hence to be forcibly taught to all the students, whatever their faith;
3. that Ideology of Pakistan is to be internalized as faith, and that hate be created against Hindus and India; and
4. students are to be urged to take the path of *Jehad *and Shahadat.”

**
Literalists have always invented Islam depriving it of universalism and divesting its teachings of its historic context.

‘Pakistan ideology’ is also a case of their figment of imagination that has no basis in Pakistani history.

Islam has multiple interpretations and only one of those interpretations, i.e., the literalist interpretation of Islam, is fatalistic and anti-humanistic. However, there are only a few Muslims who accept or live by the literalists’ interpretation of Islam, whereas more than 95 per cent of Muslims consciously reject the literalist interpretation of Islam.

Literalists themselves fail in avoiding contradictions in their own literal interpretation in their attitude and lifestyle. Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim preacher of these parochial views of unequal human rights for men, women and for people of different faith has recently been restricted from giving a speech in UK and Canada but he is fighting against this verdict on the grounds of freedom of speech and equal human rights. They are not ready to allow equal human rights in their society while shamelessly demanding it from the secular societies.

These literalists simultaneously benefit from all the modern technologies, like getting photographed, using phones, watching television, flying in airplane, using western banking and so on; and criticise them all for being ‘non-Islamic’ and ‘secular’.

Literalists have a very small following because most people find it difficult to live in bad faith with a false consciousness, i.e. believing in one thing and doing its opposite. They have changed already, they should understand and accept it. The idea of a return is impossible; you cannot travel back in history.

Pakistani public education needs to focus on re-designing its curriculum, re-writing and reconstructing teaching material including textbooks and constructing a non-violent, democratic learning environment in the public schools to disseminate tolerant views and employment-oriented education.

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So as per the intellects here,

Pakistan was formed by mistake, actually there was no need of Pakistan, after all people of the region were living together for centuries and were prospering like anything, Mauriya, Guptas are the example of the same, but some bad a s s muslim warriors appeared from no where and looted the extremely rich culture and wealth of Indo-Pak region, they not only looted it but formed their empires here, were Ibn-e-Qasim had Multan under him and Mehmood of Ghaznavi made Lahore his regional headquarter. later Mohammad Ghouri constitute a Sultanate comprises of present Aghanistan, Pakistan and Parts of India. The looting of Muslims continue under different dynasties emerging from Central Asia and Iran, and then the most peaceful and civilized people the British emerged and they took over India from Muslims and reformed the whole country for 200 years, later few idiot called Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Illama Iqbal continued the muslim legacy and lied to the muslims of sub-continent about their national hero and gave a stupid kind of 2-Nation Theory. Hence the whole concept of Pakistan was mistake. We should when grow up, should work against it and try to disintegrate Pakistan or atleast help the people who are working on this mission.

Economics, Pakistan has a failed economy, it ranked 67th in the world largest economies, doesn't matter that the economies ranked below Pakistan are not called failed one but since some intellects and websites say so, hence Pakistan is failed one.

Heroes,

Pakistan have no hero, all are looters and plunderers, we fought 3 wars with the enemy 10 times of our size and have lost all of them, over coward army is good for nothing but running from the scene, it was merely Indian Army who thought to not to invade and capture Pakistan. So we should be grateful to India and its army, after all we were same under Guptas and Mauriya and it was only Muslim rulers who got all wrong. Pakistan should be merged into India as soon as possible.

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How come mentioning what has been stated in the articles and asking for more tolerant features in syllabus mean that someone calls Idea of Pakistan a mistake?

Why ideology of Pakistan is so fragile that it can't bear the inclusion of some local people and their sacrifices for their land in the syllabus?

Don't we idealise Mr Jinah as Hindu-Muslim unity ambassador and at same time we can't say anything about intolerant syllabus taught in the country, which was founded by him ?

Wasn't Mr Jinah against the idea of Bharat adapting name of country as 'India' as he thought that name India had a heritage common to both countries?

As far as Iqbal is concerned, India has still kept his 'saare jahan se acha Hindutan hamara' with them, but we made him a poet for Jihadis, who have only done damage to the country. parai aag main koodne wale jihadi.

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These people dont know that the history being fed to them nowadays was crafted in the 80's. Pakistan did well survive 40 odd years before this. With the lies being fed to the people I dont know why we cant figure out why intolerance is increasing in the society. First we shunned Non Muslims, and now different sects within Islam as well.

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Identity and illusion

Pakistan Studies is a compulsory part of the curricula in most disciplines taught in Pakistan. All Pakistani students up to the graduate level have to pass this subject.

It has been observed that textbooks in Pakistan promote a certain mindset, which is seldom challenged, and in fact further fuelled by the media.

The subject of Pakistan Studies was included in the curriculum at almost all educational levels during the 1970s. A Pakistan Studies department was first established at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad with the intention of exploring Pakistan’s geography and geology.

This project was expanded during the Zia era to cultivate nationalist passions and create an undefined ideology of Pakistan as documented by Dr AH Nayyar and Dr Hoodbhoy in their book titled “Rewriting the History of Pakistan” published in 1985.

An important Pakistan Studies book that is consulted by students from the matriculation level to the undergraduate level is written by Sheikh Muhammad Rafiq. It has been published by Standard Book House, Urdu Bazar, Lahore. I read the book while preparing for the compulsory Pakistan Studies exam during medical school.

While the author cannot be blamed for following the guidelines set by the Syllabus Committee, the contents of the book and the ideological leanings follow the particular warped view of history advocated by right-wing forces.

The first unit of the book is on Ideology of Pakistan, followed by a discussion of the Pakistan Movement and its history. One whole unit is focused on attempts to implement the Islamic system in Pakistan and the last chapter is focused on relations between Pakistan and other Muslim countries.

The book has been dedicated to “selfless warriors of Islam who defeated every attempt to defame the Ideology of Pakistan and shed their lives for the establishment of an Islamic system”. It is worth mentioning that “Ideology of Pakistan” is a term that was coined at least two decades after Pakistan’s formation. It was not mentioned in any speech of Mr Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, or the official proceedings of All India Muslim League. The term was first used and popularized by General Sher Ali Khan, who served as the minister of information in Yahya Khan’s government (1969-71). In his autobiography (published in 1978), he has frequently mentioned this ideology and his fascination with this ideology since 1949.

This baton was later passed on to the political party which steadfastly opposed the creation of Pakistan and Mr Jinnah, ie Jamaat-e-Islami. The first chapter of the book starts with a discussion on “Islam as a Revolutionary Movement”, a stance that was proposed and later propagated by Jamaat’s founder, Mr Maududi. The polemic on the history of the “Ideology of Pakistan” traces the roots of this ideology to the arrival of Muhammad Bin Qasim in India in the seventh century.

The portion that deals with the history of Muslim rulers of India for almost one thousand years has been condensed to fit two pages and does not include any details about the internecine conflicts among various Muslim rulers and ruling families.

Under the heading, “Reasons for formation of Pakistan”, the following subheadings are given: 1) need for separate identity, 2) independence of the Muslim nation, 3) yearning for the establishment of an Islamic republic, 4) defense of Urdu language, 5) conservation of Islamic culture, 6) freedom from economic disparity, 7) establishment of an Islamic society, 8) formation of a centre for worldwide Islamic unity.

The description of each one of these aspects is full of biases and does not provide any answer to why it was only after the loss of government that Muslims of India realized their “separate identity” and there were no such problems during the Muslim rule.

The point that “Islam is a complete code of life” has been repeated in almost each description. Research proves that this argument only began to be made in the twentieth century as a reaction to Marxism and Capitalism. Furthermore, Allama Iqbal never advocated the formation of a separate country (as has been proven by historians KK Aziz and Hasan Jaafar Zaidi separately), and according to David Gilmartin’s research, the slogan “Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya” was not raised at any All India Muslim League (AIML) rally during the 1940s.

It would also surprise the author of the book (and its readers) that Urdu is given more importance these days in India than in Pakistan. Regarding the “economic disparity” issue, Muslims had as many members among the elite as the Hindus, and most leaders of AIML were indeed from the Muslim upper and upper middle classes.

The chapter dealing with the history of the Pakistan ideology starts with Mohammad Bin Qasim and jumps straight to Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi and reaches the “Tehrik-e-Jihad” of Syed Ahmed Shaheed via Shah Waliullah. It is worth mentioning that “Tehrik-e-Jihad” was the first Taliban-style government that was formed in areas surrounding Peshawar. This movement has been discussed in detail by Dr Ayesha Jalal in her book, “Partisans of Allah”. The author has glorified the movement, and its off-shoot Faraizi Movement that started in Bengal. It is followed by brief introductions of Aligarh movement, Deoband movement and Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam.

In the chapter dealing with problems faced after Partition by Pakistan, the massacre of Hindus and Sikhs by Muslims in West Bengal and Punjab has been completely overlooked. The author has provided references from almost all those historians who have distorted Pakistan’s history including Sheikh Muhammad Ikram, Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Chaudhary Muhammad Ali and Ashiq Batalvi.

The chapter on Islamization of Pakistan’s constitution is openly biased towards the author’s preconceived notions. After detailing the Islamic provisions from different constitutions, the author has focused on “Problems in Islamizing Pakistan’s Constitution” and those include: 1) lack of consensus, 2) lack of leadership, 3) role of bureaucracy, 4) attitude of the military, 5) capitalism, 6) socialism, 7) the West’s cultural invasion, and 8) international conspiracies.

The last chapter deals with Pakistan’s relations with various Muslim countries. There is no mention of Pakistan’s relations with the United States of America, our biggest trade partner and international ally since the 1950s.

This book is read by students while they are in their formative years and the only kind of mindset that this book can create is that of utter confusion. This book is based on blatant lies and distortions in history. No wonder the youth of today are utterly confused about their identity and history.

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Re: End of the past?

^^ and history being fed to you was crafted when??? any idea???

Like is said, Pakistan studies is all wrong, what you and other so-called liberals says is the real picture of Pakistan and its formation ( as Altaf Hussain and many others likes of Bacha Khan have said) is mere political and/or historical mistake and this should be taught to the kids... this is what you mean.. now please do not run away and for once post your own view... if you have got one??? apart from borrowed one

39

Re: End of the past?

Hanibal Ali does not consider Pakistan a mistake. Hardly the case. But we need to do more to discuss 1971, the 1960s and the way the military eliminated the true democratic leaders of Pakistan.

I mean for god sake I didn't hear anything about Fatima Jinnah in my Pak studies courses. It was all military focused.

40

Re: End of the past?

^^ I am all for it, Infact if one study the Pakistan Studies for BA, they have used word "gutter" politics, if i recall it right, for Ayoub Khans politics and 1971 fiasco, more over, there are other books which is being taught in Pak which speaks economic development ( which is reality) and political turmoil..

But that is for the mature students, and not for the kids, where to clasee 5th and sixth you tell them that Pakistan is not what it is, imagine feeding that to a generation.... and what will we have in return...

the Pakistan Studies had 1 or two chapters of history and that is more on Pakistan Movement... i.e. talking about how the country we lived in was formed... as a matter of fact it is also stated that Ulema was not in favor of Pakistan but Quaid-e-Azam did it... and then rest of the book talks about Paksitani economics and thing like that... why would one want to tell a kid so many stories, for them formation of the country and devotion to the founding fathers is enough... this is being done through out the world..

one can have deep study if want to specialize.. here it is being said that the local heroes are being neglected, I remember, PTV use to have a weekly play about the local heroes in 90s, talking about Raye Ahmed Khan Kharal, Khan of Qalat and many other unsung heroes.