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        Recently I saw a programme on one of the Indian TV news channels relating to the so-called imperative public need for Government of India to reciprocate the warm and friendly overtures of Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. The interviewer went so far as to say that why should the Government of India be under the impression that every act of terrorism in India emanates from Pakistan. One of the Union Cabinet Ministers, who had earlier worked in Pakistan when he was a member of the Indian Foreign Service, enthusiastically welcomed the remarks by the interviewer and quoted some lines of Urdu/ Persian Poetry to demonstrate not only his profound and emotional appreciation of the psyche of an average Pakistani but also his boundless love for India and Indians. He wanted to show by the way in which he spoke with fervour and passion for Pakistan that he has been able to enter the jugular vein of an average Pakistani which ought to compel national attention, if not international notice. He is never tired of calling himself 'a secular fundamentalist'. For him, Muslim India is fundamental and Hindu India is incidental even as Sonia Gandhi is fundamental and Mahatma Gandhi incidental.

        It is in this context that I am rather shocked to notice that when a school student Mohammed Qasim participated in a declamation contest held to celebrate Pakistan's Independence Day in August 2005, the topic he was given to speak on was: 'Why Islam and Pakistan are integral to each other'. Deviating from the main theme given to him, this Class XI student of Lahore's Government Central Model School lashed out against the Hindus, giving vent to his inexplicable anger and hatred. This was particularly shocking because the Hindu community, constituting an infinitesimally small percentage of Pakistan's population, has never been an aspect of Qasim's life. Asked to explain his outpouring in the contest, the 14-year-old boy said, 'We hate Hindus because they are Hindustanis and the number one enemies of both Islam and Pakistan. We know it all through our history text books on Pakistan Studies. We learn what happened years ago all the time at school'.

        The attitude of the Government of Pakistan towards India, the land of infidels and listless Hindus, is mainly responsible for this emotional outburst from a 14-year-old student. Most of the textbooks prescribed in High Schools in Pakistan are all primers of hate against Hinduism and India. History or biology, Pakistani students get anti-India and anti-Hindu lessons in their textbooks. School boy Qasim's intellectual rationalisation illustrates vividly the deadly impact of school textbooks in Pakistan, where history is manipulated to foster national chauvinism. There, knowledge becomes a vital tool in the construction of national identity and the sense of nation is promoted through veritable lessons in bigotry, hatred and gross misrepresentation of history. The extracts culled out from textbooks taught in government schools clearly show how the ruling establishment, under the stranglehold of President Pervez Musharraf, is misusing school text-books to develop an anti-India, anti-Hindu mindset and also to fan Muslim sentiments against Christians, Jews and the West. Government's control over the educational system in Pakistan is exercised through Lt Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi, who heads the Federal Education Ministry. As the head of the ISI between 1993 and 1995, Qazi supervised the recruitment of students from Pakistan's madrassas for constituting the extremist Taliban militia.

        These are extracts from government-sponsored textbooks approved by the National Curriculum Wing (NCW) of the Federal Ministry of Education:

        General:

        'Who is a Hindu? A Hindu is an enemy of Islam'

        'Before the Arab conquest, people were fed up with the teachings of Buddhists & Hindus. Before the arrival of Islam in India, people lived in untold misery'.

        'European nations have been working during the past three centuries to subjugate countries of the Muslim world'.

        Class IV Text Book:

        * The Muslims of Pakistan provided all facilities to the Hindus and the Sikhs who left for India in 1947. But the Hindus and the Sikhs looted the Muslims in India with both hands and they attacked their caravans, buses and railway trains. Therefore, about one million Muslims were martyred on their way to Pakistan.

        * The Hindus treated the ancient population of the Indus Valley very badly. They set fire to their houses and butchered them.

        * The religion of Hindus did not teach them good things, Hindus did not respect women.

        Class V Text Book:

        * 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 East Pakistan separated from us. We should all receive military training so that we can foil the designs of the enemy in the future. (By implication, not even a single Muslim in East Pakistan, including Mujibur Rehman, fought against West Pakistanis in 1971)

        * The Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam.

        Class VI Text Book:

        * In the middle of the city of Deebal (Sindh), there was a Hindu temple. There was a flag hoisted on top of it. The Hindus believed that as long as the flag kept flying, nobody could harm them. Mohd bin Qasim found out about this. The Muslims began to catapult stones at the temple and at the flag, ultimately making it fall to the ground. The whole city became tumultuous and the Hindus lost heart. Some Muslims clambered up the walls of the temple and forced open the door. Qasim's army entered the city and after conquering it, announced peace. The Muslims treated the vanquished so well many Hindus converted to Islam.

        * Before the Arab conquest the people were fed up with the teachings of Buddhists and Hindus.

        * The foundation of the Hindu setup was based on injustice and cruelty.

        * The Hindus who had always been opportunists cooperated with the British.

        * The Hindus used to please the goddess Kali by slaughtering people of other religions.

        Class VII Text Book:

        * Some Jewish tribes also lived in Arabia. They lent money to workers and peasants on high rates of interest and usurped their earnings. They held the whole society in their tight grip because of the ever-increasing compound interest.

        * History has no parallel to the extremely kind treatment of the Christians by the Muslims. Still the Christian kingdoms of Europe were constantly trying to gain control of Jerusalem. This was the cause of the Crusades.

        * European nations have been working during the past three centuries, through conspiracies or naked aggression, to subjugate countries of the Muslim world. Hindus always desired to crush the Muslims as a nation. Several attempts were made by the Hindus to erase Muslim culture and civilisation.

        * The Hindus too wished to ruin Muslim civilisation and culture by destroying Urdu which has been closely associated with the Pakistan Movement.

        Class VIII Text Book:

        * During the Khilafat Movement Hindus and Muslims were completely united and like brothers and they started to cooperate and live in peaceful togetherness. But as soon as this movement ended, Hindu hatred of the Muslim re-emerged.

        * Before Islam people lived in untold misery all over the world.

        Class IX Text Book:

        * The Hindus and the Muslims could not amalgamate 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....There lies the difference between the Hindu and Muslim way of thinking.

        * In connivance with the (British) government the Hindus started communal riots and caused loss of life and property. At the time of prayers the Hindus tortured the Muslims by playing music in front of the mosques. Before the commencement of classes the students saluted the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and Muslim students were also forced to do so.

        * Muslims promoted equality and social justice as against the division created by the Hindu caste system.

        Class X Text Book:

        * The ideology of Pakistan...was a revolt against the prevailing system of India in which Hindu nationalism was imposed on the Muslims.

        * Islam gives a message of peace and brotherhood.... There is no such concept in Hinduism. Moreover Islam preaches brotherhood, equality and justice.... On the other hand, the Hindu society is based on caste system which downgrades the entire mankind.

        * After the establishment of Pakistan the Hindus and Sikhs created a day of doom for the Muslims in East Punjab.

        * The Hindus were encouraged by the (British) government to force the Muslims to join the Congress.

        (These extracts have been translated from Urdu which is the standard medium of instruction in Government Schools in Pakistan)

        Dr Mubarak Ali, the eminent historian, has rightly observed that the Westernised liberal elite in Pakistan, which had inherited power from the British in 1947, had given to education a basically secular and modern character. Subsequently, however, the self-seeking and opportunistic elite in independent Pakistan completely abandoned all liberal values on account of political and economic exigencies and this disastrous trend has adversely affected the educational system.