KARACHI: With Pakistan just two days away from
observing Defence Day and marking the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war,
historian and political economist Dr S. Akbar Zaidi dispelled ‘the victory
myth’, saying that there can be no a bigger lie, as Pakistan lost terribly.
People are unaware of this fact because the history
that is taught in Pakistan is from an ideological viewpoint, said Dr Zaidi
during his thought-provoking lecture titled ‘Questioning Pakistan’s history’.
“Students are not taught the history of the people of Pakistan rather it is
focused on the making of Pakistan,” he said.
The event was organised by the Faculty of Social
Sciences, Karachi University.
Dr Zaidi who also teaches history at the Institute
of Business Administration, Karachi, began his lecture by raising a couple of
questions: what is Pakistan’s history and is there a need to question
Pakistan’s history. And when was Pakistan formed? Aug 14, 1947 or Aug 15, 1947?
For him the fact we are still talking about historical events 68 years later
that are apparently settled is interesting. “These events and questions have
not been settled. They are constantly being reinterpreted, this is because
history does not die, it keeps reliving by questioning facts and truths.”
Coming to the question when was Pakistan created,
he said one obvious answer is it did so on Aug 14, 1947 but he read out an
excerpt from a Pakistan Studies textbook in which it was claimed it came into
being in 712AD when the Arabs came to Sindh and Multan. “This is utter rubbish!”
he exclaimed, rejecting the textbook account. He said the first interaction
with Muslims and Arabs occurred in Kerala in South India for trading purposes.
Some historians claim the genesis of Pakistan lie
in the Delhi Sultanate or the Mughal Empire. He, however, reminded everyone
that the India as we know today did not exist during the Mughal era. It was
during the 19th century the concept of nation-state was formed. There are
others who state Sir Syed Ahmed Khan laid the foundation for Pakistan. Dr Zaidi
felt this statement was partially true, because Sir Syed always maintained that
Muslims should get their rights but he had also said: “Hindus and Muslims are
the two eyes of the beautiful bride that is Hindustan. Weakness of any of them
will spoil the beauty of the bride.”
The 1940 Pakistan Resolution called for the
recognition of Muslims within Hindustan and not for a separate entity, Dr Zaidi
added.
Social history
He then led the debate towards the questions: “Is
the history of Pakistan, a history of the people of Pakistan or is it the
making of Pakistan?”As far as he knew everyone is taught a history that
includes the Mughals, freedom movement, the Quaid-i-Azam leading the All India
Muslim League etc but was completely unaware about the history of the Baloch
and the Pakhtun. “I cannot understand Pakistan’s history without knowing the
history of the Baloch, Pakhtun, Punjab, Shah Abdul Latif and his relationship
with the land.”
He said he was ashamed as a Karachiite that he had
been unaware of Sindh’s history. It was important to know about indigenous
histories because the “issues we are confronted with, we would have a better
understanding in dealing with them”. He gave the example of East Pakistan to
illustrate this point. “East Pakistan has been erased from memory. The Bengalis
of East Pakistan have been reduced to they were traitors, India interfered and
East Pakistan decided to separate. But what about Pakistan Army’s role in its
separation?”
According to Dr Zaidi, history in Pakistan has been
badly treated due to several reasons. Students are forced to study history or
Pakistan Studies as a compulsory subject and hence the focus is just to pass
the exam and get over with it. It is focused on rulers and generals and not on
the social history. He highlighted another important reason for history getting
a step-motherly treatment, citing that it is a subject that is taken when a
student is unable to get admission in other departments in universities.
A robust question and answer session followed the
talk during which students and teachers wanted to know why they were being
taught distorted version of history, why the contribution of religious
minorities to cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar was not mentioned in
their textbooks, why does one have to wear separate identities and how can
identification crisis be resolved to make Pakistan into one nation.
Dr Zaidi responded to these queries, explaining
that Parsis and Hindus contributed hugely in the educational development of
Karachi and in a similar manner the Sikhs in Punjab. “History in Pakistan is
taught from an ideological viewpoint. Pakistan needs to be seen as a
geographical entity.”
Referring to the distorted history, he said: “With
the celebration of the victory in the 1965 war round the corner, there can be
no bigger lie that Pakistan won the war. We lost terribly in the 1965 war.”
He appealed to the attendees to read Shuja Nawaz’s
book Crossed Swords that exposed the reality of the war.
As for wearing separate identities, he replied
there was no need to do so. “I can be a Sindhi, Hindu and Pakistani
simultaneously.” He added that the diversity of nations should be acknowledged,
since nationalities could not be imposed on people.
Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015
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