Lucknow, Dec. 2: The invisible walls of sovereignty can?t be broken down but history ? according to some scholars ? can at least bridge the divide.

Teachers and delegates are thinking in terms of common history textbooks for students in South Asian countries to help create a spirit of unity as they prepare for the 65th Indian National History Congress in Uttar Pradesh this month.

Their plan is to form a South Asian historians? association whose members would be asked to research and resurrect the old links ? cultural, social and economic ? before South Asia?s map was redrawn in the last century.

?We propose to understand history from a common perspective,? said Uday Prakash Arora, the history congress? local secretary in Bareilly, where the three-day meet at M.J.P. Ruhelkhand University will be held from December 28.

Apart from Indian delegates, scholars from Nepal, Bangladesh, Portugal, Iran, England and the US will take part in the congress to be inaugurated by Union human resource development minister Arjun Singh.

Arora cited the examples of Taxila, Mohenjodaro and Harappa, which were once part of India but are now in Pakistan, and the Tamil cultural tradition which can be traced to Sri Lanka. There are many such examples in Nepal and Bangladesh also, he said. ?Why can?t we evolve a common perspective to understand history from the South Asian viewpoint rather than knowing it from the narrow sectarian viewpoint?? he argued. ?Once we do this, we can work on the possibility of our students having a common history textbook.?

Not all are in favour of a pan-South Asian outlook. ?This approach is going to cause a dilution of Indian tradition and values contributing to shape the vision of Bharat,? said a historian close to Murli Manohar Joshi, the last HRD minister.

But historians who support the idea said common textbooks might remove bitterness and sense of hatred that students of a country inherit and harbour against rival nations.

?The history congress may consider this seriously if these proposals are presented in the session,? said Vijay Thakur, national secretary of the history congress.

Historian Irfan Habib, however, said the meet would focus on academics. ?There will be no dilution of the basic goal of the history congress. It obviously will be an academic exercise. As many as 350 papers would be presented in the congress session in Bareilly.?