Asghar Ali Engineer is a rights activist and heads two organisations, the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. He has authored or edited 44 books on such issues as Islam and communal and ethnic problems in India and South Asia in general.

For links to his other articles, please go to the top page of this site.

        As Indian textbooks have highly slanted and prejudiced view of minorities, particularly Muslims,  Pakistani textbooks are no different. They  are so designed as to promote hatred against Hindus and India. The powers that be in both the countries have vested interest in keeping the hatred between the communities alive so as to benefit politically from it. The textbooks are not simply written by the prejudiced minds but with a particular purpose. Prejudice is often product of ignorance rather than political design. The Indian and Pakistani textbooks are written with a definite political purpose and are more mischievous than prejudicial. The seeds of hatred are sown in the young minds through these textbooks.

        A Pakistani educationist and a noted scholar Rubina Saigol  examined the Pakistani text books in detail and wrote a paper "Learning to Hate: Fundamentalism, Modernity and Education" which was presented at a South Asia seminar in Berlin last year. The paper makes very interesting reading and is full of extracts from the Pakistan textbooks. In the introductory part of her paper she observes: "Education has often been regarded as a force capable of ushering in modernity, progress and development. It is expected to take society forward into the future armed with scientific knowledge and enlightened thought. In official, political, public, national and international discourse, it is almost always considered a progressive force that enlightens, broadens the mind, creates tolerance and harmony in society."

        The education must cultivate a progressive, tolerant, non-violent and compassionate point of view and break all narrow barriers of race, caste, creed and colour. The aim of education should be to promote a productive, moral and ethical personality capable of making our society worthy of emulation by others. Also, education should teach the student to respect the 'other' as the 'other' is, not how other should be. The 'other' should not be seen as the mirror image of our own, but unfortunately this is what our textbooks teach us to think. We always judge the 'other' from our own viewpoint and accept or reject him/her. We hate those who do not fit into our own mould. Thus our textbooks tend to create intolerance and rejection of the 'other' rather than acceptance.

        Rubina also points out that the stress of Pakistani education system is on technique rather than the content. The Education Policy of 1988, designed by the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan reiterates the need to focus on 'how-to teach and learn' (technique) rather than 'what to teach and learn'. This overwhelming stress on 'how-to' reduces the act of educating/teaching to a mere technical or mechanical act while obfuscating the fact that teaching is moral and political action upon the world. And in fact the absence of focus on what to teach is where the problem lies.

        The treatment of women in Pakistani textbooks, like in Indian textbooks is far from desirable. Thus Nusrat Jaweed, a Pakistani journalist writes in The News: "The Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif surely represents the conservative values of the patriarchal right. Women must be 'protected' and 'controlled' by this type. Rage comes out in the name of defending family honour. Killing in the name of 'our honour' and 'our values'…. exposes the Taliban-type loathing of women, which dominates the PML-N mind-set.  During the bedlam in the Senate over the 'honour killing' of Samia Imran, PML-N leader, Senator Saranjam Khan, was saying out loud; "yes, we, Pathans, must cut those in pieces who betray our honour". This man was elevated to the coveted office of secretary general of Pakistan Muslim League (N).

        The Pakistani textbooks are out to justify separatism and creation of Pakistan. Thus the Social Studies text book produced by the Punjab Text Book Board for class VI has this to say: "Today, all of us Pakistanis, live a distinct and different life-style. Our dress, our music, our language, our way of thinking are all uniquely our own and different, in every way, from those of other cultures and areas. Our unique ways have developed after a journey of several hundred years."

        Justifying the creation of Pakistan on political plane the Class VIII Social Studies text- book absolves the Muslim League of any responsibility and says: "Jinnah's fourteen points ensured a political future for the Muslims. If they had been accepted, the fear that the Muslims would become slaves would have subsided….When the Congress, because of sheer obstinacy, refused to accept these points, the Muslims decided to create a separate homeland…With time, the Congress enmity towards the Muslims became apparent." (emphasis supplied) Here in this passage the Congress is shown as obstinate and that the Muslims would have been slaves under the Hindu majority in united India.

        The Pakistan Social Studies textbooks prescribed for Standards IX and X under the title 'Pakistan Ideology" go a step further and say, "Pakistan ideology is based on the ideas of Islamic system and it was also a reaction to the Hindu and British exploitation of the Muslims of the sub-continent. It was a revolt against the prevailing system of India where the Hindu nationalism was imposed on the Muslims and their culture." The textbook further goes on to say "The Hindus and Muslims, in spite of living for centuries could not forget their own individual cultures and civilisation and kept away from each other. They could not amalgamate in each other's way of life to become one nation. The main reason for this difference of cultures, civilisation and outlook was the religion of Islam which cannot be assimilated in any other system as it is based on the principle of …oneness of God….On the other hand, Hinduism is based on the concept of multiple Gods. How a nation who believes in the multiplicity of Gods could bestow its belief in oneness of God and there lies the difference between Hindu and Muslim way of thinking."

        Here it will be seen that whole thing is reduced to belief in oneness of God as if formation of a nation depends only on such religious beliefs. On the other hand, theologians like Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were fully supporting the composite nationalism and vehemently opposing the very idea of two nation theory. The textbook further says, "Islam gives a message of peace and brotherhood….There is no such concept in Hinduism. Moreover Islam preaches brotherhood, equality and justice. It does not differentiate on the basis of colour, creed or status….On the other hand, the Hindu society is based on caste system which downgrades the entire mankind.. How could Muslims and Hindus become one nation in the presence of such glaring contrasts in their outlook and way of living. There was such a vast gulf of ideas which could not be bridged. They lived together like strangers and could never become one society. In such circumstances, there was no way for Muslims other than to demand the partition of India."

        Needless to say what is being said is travesty of truth. Pakistan did not come into existence for these reasons. It all has been invented in the textbook. The main struggle was political and the main question was power- sharing arrangement, which could not be satisfactorily worked out between the Congress and the Muslim League. Jinnah was hardly bothered about theological questions. Also, everyone knows how status conscious Pakistani society is. Ethnic and sectarian conflicts in Pakistan have also proved, if any proof is needed, that only religion cannot be a viable basis for nationhood. Secular nationalism based on the principles of equity and justice can be more viable than religious nationalism based on hegemony of any ethnic group as is happening in Pakistan.

        What is surprising is that the Class V textbook for Social Studies lays entire blame for Bangla Desh movement on the Hindus of the then East Pakistan. The textbook says, "After the war of 1965, India with the help of Hindus living in East Pakistan, incited the people of East Pakistan against West Pakistanis. In December 1971, the Indians themselves also attacked East Pakistan. As a result of this conspiracy, East Pakistan separated from us. We should all receive military training so that we can foil the designs of the enemy in the future." The conclusion drawn is, needless to say, extremely dangerous in as much as it promotes militarism instead of equity and justice and respect for the demands of oppressed ethnic groups. There is also no reference to the role of Mujibur Rehman and his Awami League in creation of Bangla Desh. Entire blame is thrown on the Hindus either of East Pakistan or those of India.

        The Class III textbook produced by the Punjab Textbook projects Pakistan as land of peace and prosperity where every one lives happily. Thus the book says, "Shah Jahan's son, Aurangzeb Alamgir, was a very pious ruler. He had the Badshahi mosque constructed in Lahore which is included among the biggest mosques in the world….Ultimately a separate Muslim country called Pakistan was created in which we are all living a happy and joyful life." It is true the textbook is for the class III but even then such utter simplifications create uncritical and submissive mind. Perhaps this is what the Pakistani ruling classes desire.

        Hindus are projected as eternal enemy in the Pakistani textbooks. Even when the Hindus and Muslims joined hands to oust the Britishers in 1857, the Hindus did so out of cunning and deception. Thus it is said, "Although both Muslims and Hindus participated in the war of independence together, the Hindus through sheer cunning convinced the British that only Muslims participated in it."

        What kind of mindset such books will create among the young students is not difficult to imagine. This is being done to perpetuate eternal enmity between India and Pakistan. India is demonised by Pakistan and Pakistan is demonised by Indian textbooks. It is only peace between the two countries that will be in the interests of the masses of people in both the countries. Such textbooks, should, therefore, be scrapped at the earliest and replaced by those which will bring out the strength of composite culture and commonalities between the two countries.