CALGARY, CANADA: At school we were taught about the glorious past of Muslims. We read about the wars that we won. We were taught about our ‘martyrs’. We cheered for our cricket team. Every cricket match against India was treated like a war. I was taught nothing positive about the 100 years of united India under British rule. Our history books erased the memories of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. They were replaced by the contributions of ‘glorious’ Muslims. The aristocratic Mughal were celebrated, the Westernised Turks were glorified and the Central Asian conquerors were cherished.
My history books said nothing about the Rajputs who were the real builders of Lahore and the direct ancestors of many families in Punjab. Those books spoke nothing about Rani Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi; Mangal Pandey or Tantya Tope who fought gallantly against the East India Company in 1857. They spoke nothing of Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, Sukhdev and Kartar Singh for their efforts for liberation. While my Urdu textbook contained generous excerpts of poetry from the likes of Iqbal and Hali, it completely forgot to mention Firaq Gorakhpuri. Yes, all memories of united India were erased from my mind.
There was some mention of how Muslims of India were subjected to oppression by the Indian National Congress, particularly during the years of Congress ministries. But the textbooks completely forgot to highlight that the Congress was a secular party and many of its leaders were Muslims, too. My school did not teach me that our leaders, including Mohammad Ali Jinnah, would stand up to defend a freedom fighter like Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak; that Mr Jinnah was born into an Ithna-Asheri Shi’ite family; and that he lived as a tolerant, liberal individual and favoured secularism. I have grown up saluting a founder who adorned the Jinnah cap and sheerwani and looked rigid and Islamic. I was never introduced to the liberal, secular man who dressed elegantly and enjoyed reading Shakespeare.
As I explored the world of books on my own and met people of different communal backgrounds, I came to know that I have much in common with people on the other side of the border. The hatred was an effort in futility. I hope that one day, our textbooks will discard the sentiments of hatred and teach our children the truth. As an independent thinker, I know that the disease of intolerance can only be treated at the grassroots level and we need to fix the problem at its root.
Ayesha Aizaz Qureshi
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
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@Masood Khan: bhai, while I agree, bjp is distorting history but it will not succeed.India is too big and diverse to be affected by one moronic party. bjp is absent in east and south india except for karnataka where they will loose today if elections are held today. Bjp party does not have the monopoly of being nationalistic. All Indians are proud nationalists.They have lost 2 elections, third on the way. Except for Gujarat, they are not stable anywhere properly. Anyways, teaching honest history and about equality of faith is not bad for Pakistani children. my ancestory is from pindi and gujranwala, I would wish the best for them. rab rakha. cheerio
@kaalchakra: History is a portrayal of true incidents that happened in the past.One cannot choose to make his own history.You can have different versions of history based on the historian's bias.If history is not based on facts ,its called fiction
This hate-game is ongoing on both sides of the border; if right wingers in Pakistan are busy distorting the history books, their counter part in India such as BJP is doing the same in states controlled by them. By this, both right wingers live on hatred which is bread & butter (better say oxygen) for them.
Let me present another disturbing angle. Within the next 50 years, the history of the world will be rewritten closer to what it really was. And, India will take its rightful place as one of the three main human civilizational entities. After all India, china and the west dominated everything since the dawn of civilization. I already see history departments in the US increasingly focus on India. The sad part is we were the progenitors of indian civilization and we have an equal right to be proud of it. But we have boxed ourselves out of it and mohenjodaro, Harappa, gandhara, Vedic civilization will never be condidered ours. That is the true disadvantage to disowning our indian ancestry and becoming false camel herding Arabs.
@kaalchakra: hahaha. You are unwittingly very funny.
This is silly, ayesha. Pakistan has a right to choose its own history. Don't be so small minded.
Indeed an urgent calling. Pakistani education system needs urgent reform - starting with factual books & devoid of imaginary stories printed in them & taught to unsuspecting minds. Bravo to the scribe.
nice one, Ayesha.
Very well put. Education is the only way to eradicate intolerance. Pakistani rulers have changed school curriculum many a times with a different twist. For the record, prior to the two centuries of British rule, India was ruled by Afghan and Central Asian rulers - the descendants of Chengis Khan. Parts of South India being an exception. Indian history for the past thousand has been written by the conquerors. I have to failed to understand why would Pakistan change the school texts so often. Growing up in the 50 and 60's in Delhi, every morning in school we used to sing our national anthem and Iqbal's Saare Jahan se Achha Hindustan Hamara. This Iqbal's song is not taught to school kids in Pakistan, I am told. Unless correct history is taught, I am afraid, Pakistan will continue to drift into uncertainities. Even in Middle Eastern countries Pakistan education is considered to be inferior to that of India.
As your former neighbour (indian) who is also currently your neighbour (live in US), I hope your wishes come true.