Creating a Pakistan of distortions
Author: Amit Bhattacharya/ New Delhi
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 13, 2003
*Hindus worship in temples which are narrow and dark places, where they worship idols. Only one person can enter the temple at a time. In mosques, on the other hand, all Muslims can say their prayers together.
*The religion of the Hindus did not teach them good things - Hindus did not respect women.
*Hindus, who have been opportunists, co-operated with the English
These aren't the views of a blinkered mullah in an obscure madarsa. They are passages from Pakistan Government-approved social studies textbooks being taught to students of Class IV to VI in the Pak province of Punjab.
Such and other illuminating instances of how young minds in Pakistan are being fed on falsehoods and hatred, find mention in a recently released document, The Subtle Subversion - The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan, prepared by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.
The document, part of an independent initiative for furthering a 'progressive, moderate and democratic Pakistan', highlights the extent to which public education is being used as a tool of national and social indoctrination for political ends. This, the study notes, 'has created deep social problems and encouraged the development of a more violent polity."
The trend of resorting to stereotypes, omissions of historical periods and falsehoods, says the study, found fillip during the dictatorship of Gen Zia-ul-Haq. In 1977, Gen Zia called a national education conference, the goals of which were "to redefine the aims of education... and bring education in line with Pakistani faith and ideology."
Under the new policy, Islamiat was made compulsory up to BA, as was the teaching of Arabic to students of all religions. Madarsa certificates were equivalent to university degrees. The measures literally thrust a narrow version of Islam down the throat of Pakistan's minorities. Islamisation was turned into an article of faith, as this line from a curriculum document shows: "The Ideology of Pakistan be presented as an accepted reality, and be never subjected to discussion or dispute."
One of the papers in the document argues that the hate material against Hindus was, in part, a result of promotion of the 'Ideology of Pakistan'. Interestingly, says the paper's author A H Nayyar, despite the bloody partition, school textbooks during Pakistan's first 25 years were relatively free of the current pathological hatred. For instance, "history books contained chapters on not only the Harappan civilisation, but also the mythologies of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The great kingdoms of the Mauryas and Guptas were extensively covered, often with admiration. One still found in school textbooks chapters on M K Gandhi, using words of respect for him and admiring his qualities. Some books mentioned that the most prominent religious leaders were all bitterly opposed to the creation of Pakistan."
Then came the 1970s and 'Indo-Pakistan History and Geography' was replaced with 'Pakistan Studies' and Pakistan defined as an Islamic state. The history of Pakistan became equivalent to the history of Muslims in the subcontinent. So much so that "the Quaid-i-Azam was turned into a pious, practicing Muslim."
In contrast, books like this 1956 edition of Tareek-e-Pakistan-o-Hind, were quite objective even with regard to Mohd bin Qasim, who brought Islam into the subcontinent.
The book says: "(Qasim) laid the foundation for Muslim rule in India. But the first brick of the foundation were defective... Had Qasim and the conquerors relied less on the sword to increase their numerical strength... we would have been spared the events because of which we are presently facing tribulations."
Compare that with this unprecedented piece of 'historical' narration from a current textbook of Pakistan Studies: "Pakistan came to be established for the first time when the Arabs under Mohd bin Qasim occupied Sindh and Multan in the early years of the eighth century and established Muslim rule in this part of the South- Asian subcontinent. Pakistan under the Arabs comprised the lower Indus Valley."
The textbook then proceeds to trace the development of 'Pakistan' during the Ghaznavids, Khiljis and the Mughals: "After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the process of the disintegration of Mughal rule set in, and weakened the Pakistan Spirit."
Analysing the use of history as an official imagining tool to conjure Pakistan, Ayesha Jalal is quoted thus: "When petty officials carry the brief of writing history as victory, the imaginings of power can discard the stray 'truths' of pure inspiration and pretend to monopolise the enterprise of creativity. A sort of amnesia descends."
The study, that looked into problems associated with four key areas taught to Classes I to XII - Social/Pakistan Studies, Urdu, English and Civics - also makes recommendations to undo the damage and bring education in line with the democratic aspirations and pluralistic reality of Pakistan.
But, is anyone listening? Textbook case of falsehoods
*Hindus very cunningly succeeded in making the British believe that the Muslims were solely responsible for the (1857) rebellion- Social Studies, Class VIII
*In order to appease Hindus and Congress, the British announced political reforms. Muslims were not eligible to vote. Hindu voters never voted for a Muslim- Social Studies, Class VIII
*Hindus lived in small, dark houses- Social Studies, Class VI
*There ought to come out (in essays) an angle of propagation of Islam and the ideology of Pakistan- Class Iv, V Urdu curricula
*While Muslims provided all types of help to those wishing to leave Pakistan, the people of India committed cruelties against the Muslims. They were murdered and looted- Civics of Pakistan, Intermediate classes
Creating a Pakistan of distortions
