title="Our text books preach Jehad against India: Pak institute - Newindpress.com"
href="http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEL20040329063256&Title=Top Stories&Topic=-100&"
target=_blank>This news item is but a very summary of the 200-page report on
the href="http://www.sdpi.org/what's_new/reporton/State%20of%20Curr&Textbooks(final-BB).pdf"
target=_blank>The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan prepared
by A.H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim, both hailing from the Sustainable Development
Policy Institute. I’ve read the report in toto and agree with the findings which
the authors have reached. Briefly, they touch on the following points:

1. Insensitivity to ethnic and religious diversity in
   Pakistan
   
2. Gross historical falsifications and distortions
   
3. Glorification of Jihad
   
4. Extensive praise of Pakistan’s military might
   
5. Gender biases
   
6. Propagation of hatred towards India

The “secret” is now out–that Pakistan’s education department is under the
dictates of its military, and hence these “sweeping” reforms in education. In
keeping with their continuous Jihad against India–I don’t buy the stuff about
peace initiatives, et al–the Pakistani military is consistent in disseminating
its anti-India ideology at the most sensitive level: primary and secondary
education. The indoctrination, which begins at this stage, is complete when the
children become India-hating adults.

Pakistani nationalism is repeatedly defined in a manner that is bound to exclude non-Muslim Pakistanis from either being Pakistani nationals or from even being good human beings.

Not just this. The manipulators members of the Textbook Committee have made sure that
Islamism is studied compulsorily by all students including non-Muslims. How?

…though Islamiyat is not
compulsory for non-Muslim students, they are taught it through other subjects.
Many non-Muslim students end up taking Islamiyat anyway because they have the
incentive of 25 percent extra marks. One may get an impression from these
textbooks that Pakistan is for Muslims alone because Islamiyat is taught to
all students whatever their faith, including a compulsory reading of the Holy
Quran.

The authors of the report have well-attributed the
causes of increasing sectarian strife and religion-inspired violence to the kind
of rot education that children are receiving. 

In his August 14, 2002,
independence day speech to the nation, President General Pervez Musharraf
identified sectarianism, religious intolerance and violence as a major crisis
facing Pakistan.

[...]

What he did not identify was how
and why the ideas and values have emerged that are inspiring these
ultra-Islamists, or how widely-shared these values are in the society at
large. The problems identified by General Musharraf in large part have been
the result of children being educated into ways of thinking that makes them
susceptible to a violent and exclusionary worldview open to sectarianism and
religious intolerance. There is a need to reform the educational system that
produces this worldview.  

Musharaff has as is his habit, uttered lies; I
agree that he needs to please everyone in order to keep his position
intact; on one hand, he says this, on the other he actively
encourages Jihadi elements to send incursions to Kashmir not to mention his
lust for the likes of Al Qaeeda. The current hunt for Al Qaeeda terrorists is
again an eyewash because he is being forced by Big Brother to do it. To put it
another way: he needs an assortment of Jihadis for his holy war against
India, so he encourages Madarassas and other terrorist-breeding grounds; he
needs the support of the US to remain in power/run the country, so he pretends
as if he is in with the battle against terrorism.

In fact, the Islamization of education started in
the ’70s when dictatorial/military rule was slowly becoming the norm.

During Bhuttos time, educational
policy, planning, curriculum and syllabi, books, centers of excellence and
Islamic education were placed on the concurrent legislative list, which
implied decentralization of these activities. Soon after his coup in 1977,
General Zia-ul-Haq called a national education conference, the goals and
objectives of which were to redefine the aims of education, choose basic
strategies, ascertain the main problems in education confronting the nation,
and to bring education in line with Pakistani faith and ideology. The
direction, again, was clear. General Zia said in his inaugural speech: Our
curriculum must ensure that our children are brought up educated as good
Pakistanis and good Muslims. They must imbibe the lofty ideals and principles
of Islam.

With such illustrious predecessors serving as guides,
the outcome is bound to be disastrous, as this report highlights. Here’s a
partial list of objectives (and suggested topics for teaching) that this
kind of education seeks to attain:

• 
  
  To create awareness of and love
  for Islamic beliefs, and to bring up children according to Islamic
  values.


• 
  
  Be proud of Islamic way of life,
  and try to acquire and adopt Islamic teachings 


• 
  
  Should try to adopt principles
  of Islamic way of living To participate in Salat Ba-Jamat in
  mosques


• 
  
  To develop a sense of
  respect for Muezzin and Imam 


• 
  
  Listen to the events
  from Islamic history and derive pleasure from them


• 
  
  Events from the life of the Holy
  Prophet, His family and Islamic leaders Stories of Imams and the Prophet’s
  companions (sacrifice: from the life of Hazrat Usman)


• 
  
  Stories about the
  Pakistan movement, eminent personalities of Pakistan, and martyrs of Pakistan
  


• 
  
  Simple stories to urge
  for Jehad


• 
  
  Unity of the Islamic
  world

And so there we have! The grand scheme for imparting a
pure Islamic education presented in the garb of “school” curriculum (school as
in the sense of Western style of education). I’ve highlighted the most important
items in the above list to draw attention to the fact that these items alone are
sufficient to pave way for the total Talibanization of Pakistan. What’s more disturbing is what follows:

Associated with the insistence on
the Ideology of Pakistan has been an essential component of hate against India
and the Hindus. For the upholders of the Ideology of Pakistan, the existence
of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus, and hence the Hindus have
to be painted as black as possible. That the pathological hate against Hindus
is only because of adopting the so-called Ideology of Pakistan is borne out by
the fact that the pre-Ideology textbooks of Pakistan did not contain this
hatred.

[...]

Such was the enlightened teaching
of history for the first twenty five years of Pakistan even though two wars
were fought against India in this period. The print and electronic media often
indulged in anti-Hindu propaganda, but the educational material was by and
large free of hate against Hindus. Then came the time of replacing
Indo-Pakistan History and Geography with Pakistan Studies, and defining
Pakistan as an Islamic state. The history of Pakistan became equivalent to the
history of Muslims in the subcontinent. It started with the Arab conquest of
Sindh and swiftly jumped to the Muslim conquerors from Central Asia.

[...]

Simultaneously, there started a
trend in the seventies of stressing upon the so-called Ideology of Pakistan.
This involved creating an ideological strait-jacket in which history of
Pakistan, especially that of the Pakistan movement was to be re-written with
an utter disregard for the truth….Pakistan was told to have been obtained to
establish a truly Islamic state in accordance with the tenets of the Quran and
Sunnah. The Ulema who had bitterly opposed the creation of Pakistan were
therefore turned into heroes of Pakistan movement. The Quaid-i-Azam was turned
into a pious practicing Muslim. And hate and denigration was created for
Hindus….Curriculum documents ask the following as the specific learning
objectives:

• 
  
  Develop understanding of the
  Hindu Muslim Differences and need for Pakistan


• 
  
  Hindu-Muslim Differences in
  Culture


• 
  
  India’s evil designs against
  Pakistan (the three wars with India)


• 
  
  Identify the events in
  relation to Hindu-Muslim differences, which laid the foundations for
  Pakistan


• 
  
  Hindu has always been an enemy
  of Islam.


• 
  
  The religion of the Hindus did
  not teach them good things — Hindus did not respect
  women…


• 
  
  Hindus worship in temples
  which are very narrow and dark places, where they worship
  idols.


• 
  
  O color=dimgray>nly one person can enter the temple at a time. In our mosques,
  on the other hand, all Muslims can say their prayers together.
  


• 
  
  The Hindus lived in small and
  dark houses.

And so it goes on, the list against evil India. It is
anybody’s guess as to the impact on the child’s psyche, of this kind of education.

And that’s the reason I repeatedly say, India, beware of
Pakistan; wake up before it’s too late. Alas! the cricket matches go on.

But what am I saying? Go ahead and read the entire
report; if not for enlightenment, for fun at least.