Pakistan Day: Freeing the Colonized Minds of the Elites

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

They may have

The British built Pakistan. Simple as that. if Britain had not come to South Asia there would have been no Pakistan. I have no idea about how the British 'decimated' your ancestors but i do know mine were freed from Sikh rule in 1849. I have no idea how that is decimation. Then they provided us with jobs as sepoys which was better then starving. They also built most of Punjab irrigation colonies without which all of Punjab would have been desert. And finally when they left in 1947 what stopped Nehru from bending over Pakistan like leaf - which he did to Hyderabad? The army Pak inheritated thans to British preferance for recruiting sepoys from certain groups most of them from what would become Pakistan which meant the new state inheritated a large military. It assured the states survival.

The biggest threat and hindrance to the creation of Pakistan were the sikhs. They tried to obliterate our race and nation just as it was born. They failed..........

 

[Stephen Cohen]

And finally when they left in 1947 what stopped Nehru from bending over Pakistan like leaf - which he did to Hyderabad? The army Pak inheritated thans to British preferance for recruiting sepoys from certain groups most of them from what would become Pakistan which meant the new state inheritated a large military. It assured the states survival.

Hi ; perhaps you are not aware but from 1948 onwards ; Britain had become
Pro Pakistan and Anti India

This happened after Kashmir's accession to India and the India Pak war of 1948

They had also convinced US to support Pakistan over India in the UN over Kashmir issue

The reason being UK--US wanted to Balance their Pro Israel stance by
supporting another Muslim country ie Pakistan over the Kashmir issue

 

[RiazHaq]

They may have

The British built Pakistan. Simple as that..

Haven't heard anything more ridiculous than this!!!!

The British Raj enslaved your ancestors and left your people impoverished....coming into a country that produced 25% of the world GDP and reduced it to less than 2%. Destroyed India's textile industry and starved millions in India to death in multiple famines they deliberately caused......

Pakistan was not given to QA MAJ on a platter....it was seized from the British hands by Muslims....

 

[DjSnake]

Pakistan is not respected by its own people, then what do you expect from so called leaders who are simply crooks? Anyone who loves and takes an effort to make a difference in the nation is ridiculed or killed. I blame the ordinary Pakistani who deliberately have negative mindset

 

[niaz]

http://www.riazhaq.com/2017/08/pakistan-day-freeing-colonized-minds-of.html

Pakistan achieved independence from the British colonial rule 70 years ago. However, the minds of most of Pakistan's elites remain colonized to this day. This seems to be particularly true of the nation's western-educated "liberals" who dominate much of the intellectual discourse in the country. They continue to look at their fellow countrymen through the eyes of the Orientalists who served as tools for western colonization of Asia, Middle East and Africa. The work of these "native" Orientalists available in their books, op ed columns and other publications reflects their utter contempt for Pakistan and Pakistanis. Their colonized minds uncritically accept all things western. They often seem to think that the Pakistanis can do nothing right while the West can do no wrong. Far from being constructive, these colonized minds promote lack of confidence in the ability of their fellow "natives" to solve their own problems and contribute to hopelessness. The way out of it is to encourage more inquiry based learning and critical thinking.


Orientalism As Tool of Colonialism:

Dr. Edward Said (1935-2003), Palestine-born Columbia University professor and the author of "Orientalism", describe it as the ethnocentric study of non-Europeans by Europeans. The Orientalists see the people of Asia, Africa and the Middle East as “gullible” and “devoid of energy and initiative.” European colonization led to the decline and destruction of the prosperity of every nation they ruled. India is a prime example of it. India was the world's largest economy producing over a quarter of the world's GDP when the British arrived. At the end of the British Raj, India's contribution was reduced to less than 2% of the world GDP.

Education to Colonize Minds:

In his "Prison Notebooks", Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist theorist and politician, says that a class can exercise its power not merely by the use of force but by an institutionalized system of moral and intellectual leadership that promotes certain ideas and beliefs favorable to it. For Gramsci "cultural hegemony" is maintained through the consent of the dominated class which assures the intellectual and material supremacy of the dominant class.

In "Masks of Conquest", author Gauri Viswanathan says that the British curriculum was introduced in India to "mask" the economic exploitation of the colonized. Its main purpose was to colonize the minds of the natives to sustain colonial rule.

Cambridge Curriculum in Pakistan:

The colonial discourse of the superiority of English language and western education continues with a system of elite schools that uses Cambridge curriculum in Pakistan.

Over 270,000 Pakistani students from elite schools participated in Cambridge O-level and A-level International (CIE) exams in 2016, an increase of seven per cent over the prior year.

Cambridge IGCSE exams is also growing in popularity in Pakistan, with enrollment increasing by 16% from 10,364 in 2014-15 to 12,019 in 2015-16. Globally there has been 10% growth in entries across all Cambridge qualifications in 2016, including 11% growth in entries for Cambridge International A Levels and 8 per cent for Cambridge IGCSE, according to Express Tribune newspaper.

The United Kingdom remains the top source of international education for Pakistanis. 46,640 students, the largest number of Pakistani students receiving international education anywhere, are doing so at Pakistani universities in joint degree programs established with British universities, according to UK Council for International Student Affairs.

At the higher education level, the number of students enrolled in British-Pakistani joint degree programs in Pakistan (46,640) makes it the fourth largest effort behind Malaysia (78,850), China (64,560) and Singapore (49,970).

Teach Critical Thinking:

Pakistani educators need to see the western colonial influences and their detrimental effects on the minds of youngsters. They need to improve learning by helping students learn to think for themselves critically. Such reforms will require students to ask more questions and to find answers for themselves through their own research rather than taking the words of their textbook authors and teachers as the ultimate truth.

Summary:

The minds of most of Pakistan's elite remain colonized 70 years after the British rule of Pakistan ended in 1947. They uncritically accept all things western. A quick scan of Pakistan's English media shows the disdain the nation's western educated elites have for their fellow countryman. Far from being constructive, they promote lack of confidence in their fellow "natives" ability to solve their own problems and contribute to hopelessness. Their colonized minds uncritically accept all things western. They often seem to think that the Pakistanis can do nothing right while the West can do no wrong. Unless these colonized minds are freed, it will be difficult for the people of Pakistan to believe in themselves, have the confidence in their capabilities and develop the national pride to lay the foundation of a bright future. The best way to help free these colonized minds is through curriculum reform that helps build real critical thinking.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Alam vs Hoodbhoy

Inquiry Based Learning

Dr. Ata ur Rehman Defends Higher Education Reform

Pakistan's Rising College Enrollment Rates

Pakistan Beat BRICs in Highly Cited Research Papers

Launch of "Eating Grass: Pakistan's Nuclear Program"

Upwardly Mobile Pakistan

Impact of Industrial Revolution

Hindutva: Legacy of British Raj

http://www.riazhaq.com/2017/08/pakistan-day-freeing-colonized-minds-of.html

The post starts with the “However, the minds of most of Pakistan's elites remain colonized to this day’ and in another paragraph declares’ The minds of most of Pakistan's elite remain colonized 70 years after the British rule of Pakistan ended in 1947. They uncritically accept all things western. A quick scan of Pakistan's English media shows the disdain the nation's western educated elites have for their fellow countryman.” Then goes on to target the Western educated liberals. Evidently Honourable Riaz ul Haq does not differentiate between Elite & Liberal. Instead it is implied that ‘Liberal’ and ‘Elite’ refers to the same section of population. Actually, neither all Elite are Liberal nor do all Liberals belong to the Elite.


In my time Elite in Pakistan went to the Aitchison College Lahore. I consider myself a liberal but belonging to an ordinary middle class family, I am certainly not among the ‘Elite. I take this post as an insult to me and to all Liberals of Pakistani.

Before anything else, let us define as to what or who is a liberal?

I would define Elite as a person or class of persons considered being superior to others because of their intelligence, social standing, or wealth. A ‘Liberal’ on the other hand being somebody who is tolerant, broadminded, and open to new ideas and believes that gov’t should encourage social equality. Whereas a Conservative (opposite of the Liberal) would believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets and individual liberty.

Colonial mentality refers to the attitude that colonized people are inferior to their colonizers. One could possibly claim that the ‘Elite’, in order to maintain their elitist position have the colonial mentality. Believing that their class has replaced the colonial masters, the Eilte would like to keep the subject people in perpetual dependency on their masters. Therefore one could possibly argue that some of the Elite, such as Baluch & Pashtun sardars, large landowners of Punjab & Sind have the colonial mentality. However, a liberal by definition believes in social equality; hence it is incorrect to accuse the liberal section of the society of having the colonial mind set.

For example one could label Akbar Bugti, Mustafa Khar or Mumtaz Bhutto or Nawab Hoti of Mardan with someone with the colonial mentality, but then you wouldn’t call them liberals.

Most Western educated Pakistanis belong to the middle class. They got their education either by winning the scholarships or financed their education thru a combination of financial sacrifice by their parents and by working part time. I have also come across many Western educated doctors, barristers, chartered accountants and engineers who are Conservative; therefore lumping all Western educated section of the society as ‘Liberals with Colonial Mentality’ is a travesty and generalisation in the extreme.

Let us now come to the education. The fact that 270,000 Pakistanis students took the Cambridge University O & A level examinations is interpreted as a proof that Western educated liberals want to keep rest of the population subjugated.

Only 7 of Pakistan’s Universities are in the top 980 universities of the world and none in the top 500. Thus far the entire Muslim world has only produced 3 Nobel Laureates in Science. Prof Abdus Salam (Physics 19179). Ahmed Zewail – Egyptian (Chemistry 1999) and Aziz Sancar-Turkey (Chemistry -2015). On the other hand just one Western institution of learning, the Cambridge University has produced 32 Nobel Prize winners in Physics, 26 in medicine, 22 in Chemistry and 11 in Economics. Therefore it as undeniably fact that in modern science and technology the West is far ahead of us and that very few Pakistani educational institutions can be classified as first rate.

Standard of English language has dropped so low in Urdu medium school that even graduates have difficulty passing the TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language) exam. It is extremely important that Pakistanis get the best education possible. Main reason for the 270,000 Pakistanis taking the Cambridge University O & A level exams is that it helps them to get admission in the UK & US universities.

Critical thought implies critical analysing everything before deciding which way a problem should be handled or a procedure / custom accepted irrespective of whether it is of Western origin or of Pakistan origin. The author blames Western educated Liberals for impeding the spread of critical thought.

Don’t know what kind of liberals the writer has had to deal to form such a base opinion. I can vouch that among my 20 or so Western educated acquaintances who are currently living Pakistan, only one could be termed as opposed to critical thought. IMO this is so because he was affiliated with Jamiat Tulaba during student days and up to now blames the United States for all the ills of Pakistan.

Undoubtedly critical thought is extremely important in educating young minds but abysmal education standard in Pakistan should be blamed on the Education Department. Unless one says that all the teachers and professors are 'Western educated liberals', one cannot blame Western Educated liberals for impeding critical thought.

Reality is that except in Baluchistan where Sardars deliberately keep their subject population illiterate; Pakistani education standard is abysmal not due to ‘Colonial mentality’ but due to greed. Regrettably we can find funds for Motorways and Metros but we don’t have the will to prioritize Education & Health, two most important items for human development. There is more money to be made in building roads that in improving the education.

 

[BATMAN]

And the mind of common Pakistan is being colonized by hindi movies.
I see Pakistani anchors, now using hindi words in their discussion! which is very new to me!

 

[TMA]

Hi ; perhaps you are not aware but from 1948 onwards ; Britain had become
Pro Pakistan and Anti India

This happened after Kashmir's accession to India and the India Pak war of 1948

They had also convinced US to support Pakistan over India in the UN over Kashmir issue

The reason being UK--US wanted to Balance their Pro Israel stance by
supporting another Muslim country ie Pakistan over the Kashmir issue

Well they ain't Pro Pakistan these days.

The biggest threat and hindrance to the creation of Pakistan were the sikhs. They tried to obliterate our race and nation just as it was born. They failed..........

Really I never heard that. I thought is was more due to the extremists followers of Sanatum Dharm

And the mind of common Pakistan is being colonized by hindi movies.
I see Pakistani anchors, now using hindi words in their discussion! which is very new to me!

That is why Persian as a national language would have been a better choice

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

Well they ain't Pro Pakistan these days.


Really I never heard that. I thought is was more due to the extremists followers of Sanatum Dharm


That is why Persian as a national language would have been a better choice

It's a glaring fact that no Pakistani ever notices or for whatever reason fails to accept.

What makes me laugh is that you have Pakistanis condemning and hating Jews because of their treatment of Palestinians and Arabs but how many Pakistanis have the Israelis and Jews killed: 0. Do the Palestinians/Arabs give a damn about Pakistanis, Kashmir and the massacre of over a million Pakistanis in 1947 by the Sikhs?

Do the Arabs/Palestinians hate the sikhs for killing over a million Pakistanis in 1947?

If the answer is NO to the above then I could not care less about the Arabs, Palestinians or Jews. Not our problem. I do not however condemn the treatment of Palestinians by the israelis.


PS The ONLY community on this planet that has commited genocide against us are the sikhs. No one else. 1 million Pakistanis killed by the sikhs in 1947. That's the evidence all you need to confirm how much they did not want Pakistan to be created. How much they opposed it.

 

[TMA]

It's a glaring fact that no Pakistani ever notices or for whatever reason fails to accept.

What makes me laugh is that you have Pakistanis condemning and hating Jews because of their treatment of Palestinians and Arabs but how many Pakistanis have the Israelis and Jews killed: 0. Do the Palestinians/Arabs give a damn about Pakistanis, Kashmir and the massacre of over a million Pakistanis in 1947 by the Sikhs?

Do the Arabs/Palestinians hate the sikhs for killing over a million Pakistanis in 1947?

If the answer is NO to the above then I could not care less about the Arabs, Palestinians or Jews. Not our problem. I do not however condemn the treatment of Palestinians by the israelis.


PS The ONLY community on this planet that has commited genocide against us are the sikhs. No one else. 1 million Pakistanis killed by the sikhs in 1947. That's the evidence all you need to confirm how much they did not want Pakistan to be created. How much they opposed it.

So it was Sikhs and not vedantists. I did not know.

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

So it was Sikhs and not vedantists. I did not know.

They're both ultimately the same thing from our POV.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Brofessor sb,

Mughals did not loot their people.

The Mughals didnt "loot" their people in the sense of "taking wealth out of the country" because they couldnt. Where could they have taken their loot-to Uzbekistan? from where they were booted out in the first place?

Regards

They lost their homeland actually. Babur's Central Asian lands were overrun. The irony.

 

[Zibago]

And the mind of common Pakistan is being colonized by hindi movies.
I see Pakistani anchors, now using hindi words in their discussion! which is very new to me!

I have a different view the 2010 and onward youth has higher anti India sentiment than pre 2010 youth they are more informed

 

[ghazi52]

Happy Pakistan Independence Day to all Pakistanis around the globe!

While all Pakistanis are celebrating Pakistan's Independence Day with national zeal and fervor, I salute our greatest leader, founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his great colleagues, followers and all those brave Musalmans who struggled day and night,make all their efforts, left their homes, properties and sacrificed their lives to build and protect Pakistan.

Tributes to all those sons and daughters of this prosperous soil who contributed their time, money, lands, homes, efforts, respect, blood and lives to give us an independent state.Their determination ensured Pakistan's existence.

 

[Sine Nomine]

Mr Riaz I am sorry I disagree with you. Tharoor is himself a "inglorious basket" is a Pakistan hater to boot. I do not want to deviate thos thread but I have zero confidence in claims he makes or the notion that everything was hunky dory until the British came along. There is a industry out there that is feeding on British guilt and at the same time is peddling a very India-centric narrative.

It goes something like this. There was one united India living in peace and unity. All the Indians were prosperous and living in harmoney with each. Diversity was celebrated in a land of plenty. Along came the evil British. They divided and conquered. The plundered the country. India became a land of poverty and disunity. The once united communties living together in eternal peace fractured and became eternal enemies.

Gender violence increased as misogny took root because British sponsored fuedual class with land grants. Religious divide was encourgaded as part of "divide and rule". Great Indian industry shrunk and India became a disjointed, begger nation, divided, poverty stricken and at war with itself. India was a superpower which had been turned into a broken pauper.


Really? To begin with if I wanted to study on crime in Rajanpur District in Pakistan with a look at economic factors I would have hell of a job. I would struggle to get hold of accurate statistics for crime and economic activity in that district. This is despite the existence of Federal Statistics Office GOP., and FB-Revenue who are manadated to keept tabs on variables in question. We all know the utter unreliability of records in Pakistann. We even had to use the army to carry such a basic thing as census.

Yet Tharoor writes and talks as if he had records from Moghul times prior to British arrival that are mandated by the Medieval World Bank or some Moghul equivalent of FBR. The fact is records of most things were sketchy to say the least before British arrival.So how someone can write books and make amazing claims is beyond me unless he has access to time machine.

I can certainly tell you the peoples of present day Pakistan benefited enormously from British Raj. Indeed there would have been no Pakistan without the British Raj. One look at the irrigation system, the army, the rail system should be enough to tell us that.

Have you ever came across,Alha ud din khilji Taxation system,if not please read it.

Eventually one needs a bridge language to build a nation.

For India, that language as it evolved is Hindi. And it also happens to be the mother tongue of a large number of Indians.

For Pakistan, it should ideally similarly have been Punjabi.

I don't know why Urdu was chosen.

Maybe this once more goes back to Pakistan's inherent in(dis)ability in cutting it's umblical cord to India.

Maybe a subconscious yearning to be able to continue to converse with, abuse, and be understood by the largest possible number of brothers they broke away from, decades after the partition.

Who knows.

Subliminal.

Cheers, Doc

Hindi mother tongue of how many Indians?
8.11% population.

 

[RiazHaq]

Only 7 of Pakistan’s Universities are in the top 980 universities of the world and none in the top 500. Thus far the entire Muslim world has only produced 3 Nobel Laureates in Science. Prof Abdus Salam (Physics 19179). Ahmed Zewail – Egyptian (Chemistry 1999) and Aziz Sancar-Turkey (Chemistry -2015). On the other hand just one Western institution of learning, the Cambridge University has produced 32 Nobel Prize winners in Physics, 26 in medicine, 22 in Chemistry and 11 in Economics. Therefore it as undeniably fact that in modern science and technology the West is far ahead of us and that very few Pakistani educational institutions can be classified as first rate.

It's the same argument that is offered by the "liberals" among Pakistan's former colonial masters.

http://www.riazhaq.com/2013/08/critics-muslims-have-few-nobel-prizes.html

It has become fashionable among Muslims and non-Muslims alike to bash followers of the Islamic faith for their lack of achievement and propensity for fratricidal violence. Some criticize Muslims for having won only 10 Nobel prizes since the prize was launched in 1901. Others lambaste Muslims for killing each other. Let's examine both of these charges in some detail below:

Muslims as Low Achievers:

Renowned atheist scholar Richard Dawkins has recently disparaged Muslims by pointing out that the entire Muslim world has had fewer Nobels (10) than Cambridge University's Trinity College (32). He is not alone in attacking Muslims for their lack of achievements; I have heard this from many Muslim critics for many years.


What Dawkins and other critics, including well-meaning self-critical Muslims, fail to mention, according to Christian Science Monitor, is the fact that other large (billion-plus) religious, gender and ethnic groups have won even fewer Nobels than ten won by Muslims: Hindus (four), Chinese (eight) and Africans (nine). Or the fact that women have only won 44 Nobel Prizes, compared with 791 for mostly white men.


It is important to note that today's Muslims and other ethnic-religious groups with very few Nobel prizes have grown up under the shadow of colonial and neo-colonial rule which followed the Industrial Revolution and preceded the launch of Nobel prizes in 1901. Going back in history, it was the Industrial Revolution that created technology which led to the ascendance of the West and the colonization of the East. It marked the beginning of a major shift in economic, military and political power from East to West.

Dawkins' tweet did acknowledge that "they (Muslims) did great things in the middle ages". Clearly, the history of humanity is not just 100 years old. It did not begin with the launch of Nobels in 1901. It stretches much further back. The defining work of Muslimsin earlier centuries (8th to 13th century) built the foundation on which modern science and today's Nobel Laureates stand. It included development of decimal number system (still called Arabic numerals), Algebra (Al-Khwarizmi), the concepts of scientific method (Al Biruni) and algorithms (Al Khwarizmi), first camera (Al Haitham), Medicine (Avicenna), first human flight (Ibn Firnas), astrolabe (Al Frazari) etc.