AH Nayyar. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha

New Delhi, Feb. 23: Human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi is not the only one rewriting history. His counterparts in Pakistan are busy doing the same.

A detailed study authored by Pakistani academics has revealed gross religious prejudices in the country’s national curriculum and textbooks.

“The books on Social Studies systematically misrepresent events that have happened over the past several decades of Pakistan’s history, including those within the living memory of many people,” says the study authored by A.H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan.

“Worse, the material is presented in a way that encourages the student to marginalise and be hostile towards other social groups in the region,” the report says.

In India, academics have protested along similar lines against the human resource development minister’s attempts to “Indianise” history to an extent that has led to factual distortions in the textbooks. For instance, the new history textbooks deleted references to the caste system and the eating of beef, and attempted to push back the date of the Vedas to 3000 BC.

“Two themes that are central to the current rewriting of history in India focus on origins and identity since these were crucial to the definition of the Hindu according to the ideology of the Hindutva,” said historian Romila Thapar while delivering the 7th D.T. Lakdawala Memorial lecture here on Saturday.

Pakistani academics likewise point to the attempt of the Pakistani state to tailor textbooks to its political and ideological compulsions. For instance, all non-Muslim students in the mainstream educational system have to study Islamic religious scripts. Urdu textbooks from Class I to III — compulsory for students of all faiths — contain lessons on learning to read the Quran.

“In Pakistan, it is the curriculum wing under the education ministry which lays down the curriculum framework. The states devise their own textbooks but they cannot deviate from the curriculum guidelines,” Nayyar says.

He emphasises that it is not the madarsas alone that are the breeding ground for hate and intolerance; government-run schools “do more” damage.

According to the report, the themes of jihad (holy war) and shahadat (martyrdom) feature prominently in the post-1979 textbooks.

“The return of martial law in 1977 and the subsequent alliance between the army and the ascendant fundamentalist groups led to textbooks openly eulogising jihad and shahadat, and urging students to become mujahids and martyrs,” says the report.

For instance, the Pakistani national curriculum lays down that students must “realise the importance of jihad in every sphere of life”. It recommends simple stories that will make the student “yearn” for jihad and says: “The student must be aware of the blessings of jihad.”

The report focuses on a two-year course introduced for Classes XI and XII highlighting the importance of war. Titled “Fundamentals of War” and “Defence of Pakistan”, the course focuses on modern weapons, methods of warfare, Pakistan’s problems in the defence sector and qualities of military leadership.

According to the report, the curriculum fuels divisions between religious groups, saying: “A child should be able to understand Hindu-Muslim differences and the need for Pakistan.”

Responding to the curriculum instructions, the textbooks then say: “A Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam. Hindus who have always been opportunists cooperated with the British. All India Congress turned into a pure Hindu organisation.”