Musharraf among 'great personalities' in Indian school book

Book has been withdrawn from school's curriculum following strong objection

Former president Pervez Musharraf has been cited among "great personalities" in an Indian school book.

The book for students of grade three of a private school in India's Jabalpur area hails the former military ruler among "great personalities" and even features a picture of his.

However, the institution, Christ Asha School, has withdrawn the book following strong objection from the District Bar Association (DBA) in Jabalpur. The bar association complained to district authorities about Musharraf's cameo in the book.

The inclusion of Musharraf shocked Indian authorities as the former military chief was largely responsible for the Kargil War in Kashmir.

Read: Going for the jugular: India will never forget Kargil war, says Musharraf

"The book written by Pankaj Jain and published by Gayatri Publication has put Musharraf's picture among the portraits of six great personalities," officials of the DBA were quoted as saying.

They added, "This is highly objectionable. Under the Musharraf regime in Pakistan, the Kargil War took place, in which many Indian soldiers lost their lives."

Commenting on the irresponsibility of the central education departments, the officials said, "It is a folly on the part of the state and central education departments that a lesson is being taught to children at this tender age which shows Musharraf as a great personality. This amounts to playing with the future of the children."

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A petition was filed by the DBA to the district magistrate in which they sought action against the writer and publisher of the book. The publisher, however, claims that its content was in accordance with the syllabus of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT).

The magistrate then wrote a letter to the NCERT and state departments to look into the issue and said, "The departments concerned will make a call on it."

Further, the principal of the school, Manorama Awasthi, confirmed, "When the content of the book was brought to our notice, we immediately withdrew it."

This article originally appeared on One India