Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The Murder of History : A Critique of History Textbooks used in Pakistan By K K Aziz

Khursheed Kamal Aziz (11 December 1927, Ballamabad, British India – 15 July 2009, Lahore, Pakistan) better known as K. K. Aziz, was a Pakistani historian, admired for his books written in the English Language. However, he also wrote Urdu prose and was a staunch believer in the importance of the Persian language to enhance one's knowledge about the world.
Aziz was born to Abdul Aziz, a barrister and a historian in his own right. He received his early education from the M.B. High School in Batala and then went to Forman Christian College and finally Government College Lahore for graduation. Later he completed his studies at Victoria University in Manchester, UK.
Aziz taught at various reputed institutions such as the universities of Cambridge, London, Heidelberg, Khartoum and the Punjab University in Pakistan. He also delivered occasional lectures at universities in Pakistan: Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad; Bangladesh: Dacca; United Kingdom: Hull, New Castle upon Tyne and Oxford; Switzerland: Geneva and Bergen.
He worked as an advisor to Z. A. Bhutto and was the chairman of the National Commission on Historical and Cultural Research. His career came to an abrupt halt when Z. A. Bhutto was deposed and he was ultimately made to leave the country. He returned his "Sitara e Imtiaz" in protest of this treatment.
Few Examples from the books is given below.
SIR MUHAMMAD IQBAL
He took his doctorate in philosophy in England (NWFP, classes 5 and 7). He received his higher education at Cambridge and London Universities (private, Lahore, English, class 3). He took a degree in Barristery in England (NWFP, claa5;Sind,class5; NWFP, class 7).He took his degree in law in England (private, Lahore, B.A.).
In the Order in which wrong information is imparted:
(1) He took his doctorate in philosophy from the university of Munich in Germany.
(2) The Universityof  Cambridge gave him a certificate of Research, which is not a degree. He never studied at university of London.
(3) To be called to the bar at inn of court is not to earn a degree. A barrister is neither a graduate nor the holder of any other degree.
(4) He did not take any degree in law in any country . He was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1908, and that was that.
THERE ARE NO MUSLIMS IN INDIA
Bharat is the country of Non-Muslims (private, Lahore, English, class 3).
I don’t have exact figures available to me as I write this, But I am sure the no. of muslims in India is larger than the total population of Pakistan; which makes India bigger “Muslim Country” than Pakistan. I don’t understand logic or necessity of making this statement, except to convince class 3 students that India is an enemy state.

MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH
He earned a degree in law in England (West Punjab, Class2; NWFP, class 7; private, Lahore, English, B.A.). He earned a superior and high degree in law in English (NWFP, class 4; Sind class4). He received his higher education in England (private, Karachi, class 2). In August 1947 a grateful nation made him the Governor General of Pakistan (private, Lahore, English, class7).
Corrections:
(1) He did not take any degree in law, in England or elsewhere.
(2) The “superior and high degree in law” is a figment of the textbook’s imagination.
(3) He did not receive his “higher education” in England. He was merely called to bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1896. Why can n’t Pakistani professors understand that to become a barrister is not to earn a degree?
(4)  The grateful nation did not make him the Governor general either through nomination or by election. He selected himself for the office, and he was appointed by the British King.

Our Ancestors arrived from Arabian Peninsula
This claim has been made by the Ghairat Brigade since long. They have tried to downplay the linkages that we have with our subcontinental ancestors and tried via popular media and textbooks to somehow prove that our ancestors were not people living in the Subcontinent for thousands of years rather they came from the Arabian Peninsula.
A look at the genealogies of two of our founding fathers i.e Jinnah and Iqbal tells us that Mr. Jinnah belonged to a Sindhi family that had migrated to Gujarat.(Akbar S Ahmad, Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity; Routledge, 1997; Chapter 1,page 1 ) while Iqbal belonged to a Kashmiri Sheikh family. Also, there was a considerable population consisting of Jatts and Gujjars before Islam came to our part of the world. Most of us are descendents of those early converts. The people most likely to have come down from Arabia are the Syeds who claim to be direct descendents from the Prophet (PBUH). Interestingly, in a research conduted by University College London, Y chromosomes of self-identified Syeds from the Indian subcontinent show evidence of elevated Arab ancestry but not of a recent common patrilineal origin For more on the castes of our country.

Jinnah was born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai,[a] most likely in 1876,[b] to Jinnahbhai Poonja and his wife Mithibai, in a rented apartment on the second floor of Wazir Mansion, Karachi. Jinnah's birthplace is in Sindh, a region today part of Pakistan, but then within the Bombay Presidency of British India. Jinnah was a Gujarati Khoja Muslim of Lohana ancestry. His forefathers were Hindus whom converted to Islam. His father was a prosperous merchant who had been born to a family of weavers in the village of Paneli in the princely state of Gondal (Kathiawar, Gujarat); his mother was also of that village. They had moved to Karachi in 1875, having married before their departure. Karachi was then enjoying an economic boom: the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant it was 200 nautical miles closer to Europe for shipping than Bombay. Jinnah's family was of the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam. 

















No comments: