Adil Najam
In late July, the Daily Times broke the story about about how the new Ethics textbook published by the Punjab and Sindh Textbook Boards for class IX do not have a chapter on Christianity and Jesus Christ.
The good news was that there was an immediate uproar from some politicians (Senator Aitzaz Ahsan) and major Pakistani newspapers (Daily Times, News) wrote scathing editorials condemning the omission.
I have waited ten days now to find out what has been done on this. Yet, unless I have missed something — and I really hope I have — nothing seems to have been done yet to rectify the situation.
To be fair, the text books are slowly becoming better and more balanced than they used to be. This is largely because of the pioneering work being done by many civil society activists. Indeed, the fact that the text book in questions does have sections on Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Krisha, and Guru Nanak is great news (these were not there when I was in school).
But as this incident points out, because of our past negligence, the challenge is much bigger and there is a need for continued vigilance. At issue is the education of our cchildren, but also the shape of society and the treatment fo religious minorities in Pakistan.
The News, for example, pointed out:
Mr Ahsan is spot on as far as his remarks on the Christian community are concerned. Unfortunately, he has also hit the nail on the head when he says that the community has been persecuted since the days of General Zia. The reason for this has a lot to do with the fact that the country has become conservative since then and because that military dictator introduced laws that tended to target Christians and other minorities, especially the laws relating to blasphemy. Other policies introduced by General Zia — and which successive governments have failed to discard in many instances — were even more overtly discriminatory. For instance, many public-sector educational institutions give applicants extra marks or credit if they have learnt the Holy Quran by rote. Indeed, if such a policy is to be followed in college or university admissions then applicants of all faiths should be allowed to benefit from it — otherwise it should not be instituted in the first place because it reeks of discrimination….
The News is exactly right. For too long and on too many issues, Pakistan has taken its minorities for granted. An immediate stop must be put to this and we have to learn to treat all Pakistanis, irrespective of their religion, as equal citizens with equal rights. The insensitivity that officialdom and society at large shows to the religious beliefs 
of non-Muslims must be reversed and meaningful steps should be taken by the government to reverse the trends of discrimination and marginalization.
The misdirected zeal of our curriculum designes has created entire generations who actually think that patriotism is just about trashing the ‘enemy’ and faith is about explaining what is wrong with everyone else’s religion. True, others do it too and there are enough hate-mongers everywhere. But that is their problem. Our responsibility is to our own kids and we must not mess with their future!
Speaking of messing with education, now we hear of more propaganda seeping into the curriculum. A story in the August 2, 2006 issue of The Daily Times points out this incident of curriculum abuse:
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s messages to the nation have been replaced by messages from President Pervez Musharraf and Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi in almost all the latest editions of books approved and published by the Punjab Textbook Board… The Punjab Textbook Board chairman said he had noticed the error in books published by the board and had planned to omit the messages of Musharraf and Elahi from books to be published in 2007-08.
In this case it is good news that the Board plans to remove the political propaganda. Let’s please make sure it is removed.
We have fed our youth canned and erroneous histories for too long. So long, in fact, that I would bet if you asked a cross section of our young who Mohammad Ali Bogra was and gave them two choices — sportsman or politician — most will probably guess he was a sportsman rather than a Prime Minister of the country!
So, whatever else we do or not do, please do not mess with education!
(P.S., also see earlier ATP post on what’s happening to libraries).
Why should an Ethics textbook have references to religion? It’s like saying an atheist has no ethics?
Dear Adnan
I am encouraged by your response because you are agreeing with me that the process of conversion is complex and each case is unique…this is why i was saying that the mention of other religions in our textbooks is good for our children to become better citizens with tolerance.. if by their own conduct are able to influence others so much to convert some, then this is the sawab they get…..
I disagree with you completely on our crickets’ grouping based on faith. Lets just disagree about this one. What impact Kineria is under will only be revealed with time.
We must keep Islam out of politics and by all means we should keep it out of Cricket.
The fight between Israel and Palestine/Lebanon is not entirely about religion as it is about regional and global politics…You are therefore only partially correct about Islam being under attack….We do any awful lot of damage to Islam by blowing up planes…We should be happy that the current incident in which 21 Pakistanis have been apprehended was not successful. Pakistan today would have been a different country if this plan to blow up the planes was successful.
Dear Naveed!
Cat Stevens had a nervous breakdown due to a drug overdose..So the void is filled by faith
Let me add further.He was a drug addict no doubt but what cause him to be an addict was his mental disability on his earliest belief.Allow me to add more that when he was admitted in hospital ,someone handed him a copy of Quran and he actually read the translation of Surah Ikhlas which impressed him a lot.You might have read the story of Umar(RA)’s acceptance of Islam when He(RA) heard Surah Maryam which was being recited by his sister who had already accepted Islam.According your theory Umar (RA) coudnt be a good muslim since he never read Islamic books but can anyone in current earth can claim more pious and muslim than Umar(RA) Himself?
Junaid Jamshed has admitted that he is confused d..
allow me to expand it further.Junaid Jamshed didnt come in current form in a go.He came to Islam,returned back to pop culture,came back then return to culture and finally in 3rd attempt he was sucessful.How do I know this.I have listened the man who helped him to come out of frustration tht is Mulana Tariq Jameel.Beside that Junaid has been studying Islam for several several years.I remember when i was in University,I ussed to hear tht Junaid Jamshed visits Madni Majsid near Ayesha Manzil for Dars.
Saeed Anwar unfortunately lost his 4 year old d
that was a reason but not a turning point.So many people on earth lose their kids but do all seek peace in Islam?Its just an excuse.He had to change his path anyway.IT was destined.
Yousuf Yohana…well how would you feel that if Inzimam & his likes when he praises Allah for his team performance in every interview
that’s a bohtan on that chaap.Again you are not aware that Yusuf had been visiting Raiwin for 4/5 years,and Inzy was not that which he is now.He was a clean shaved buddy at tht time and very ordinary muslim.Why didnt keneria follow the path.These are all just excuses that Inzy and Co used to chant Allah Akbar everytime thtswhy he became muslim.If saying Allah Akbar and Bismillah only can make world a muslim then I would ask Adil bhai to collect money and start a TV channel from USA so tht we can chant Allah Akbar everytime :)
Lets be honest and ask ourselves that when we are in groups, in our colleges and at work,
Why start with other religions…Why not educate the kids about Shia Faith & Sunni faith
I agree you here.Its also important and I also despise that we easily say kafir to other sects people while only God knows who is on righteous path.But currenly we have to face non-muslims who are attacking us more than oponent sect people.
Atleast I am .My co programmer is a Christian ,my peon Yunas is a christian and I even hugged both of them when returned back from Umrah.Thing is if we are good then we would see good things around.otheriwse everyone else would appear as a satan infront of us
Sorry, please read my earlier comment as follows rather than existing
“Take away Israel’s behaviour towards Palestine & Lebanon and you will have justice in the world order”
Adnan – Lets agree to disagree….
And imagine this scenario…Cat Stevens had a nervous breakdown due to a drug overdose..So the void is filled by faith. The guy singing and asking everyone to join his PEACE TRAIN was supportive of the Fatwa by Imam Khomenie to kill Salman Rushdie.
Junaid Jamshed has admitted that he is confused due to the glitter of the popular culture. So he finds salvation in Islam.
Saeed Anwar unfortunately lost his 4 year old daugher to a terminal disease. He found solace in Islam.
Yousuf Yohana…well how would you feel that if Inzimam & his likes when he praises Allah for his team performance in every interview \….would this not cause emotional isolation on Yousuf’s part & then he he treats Islam as the only way in which he is made to feel part of the team….
The truest converts are those, as you have correctly highlighted, who read about Islam on their own and have this relative analysis of what their current faith gives them and what Islam has to offer. These are the most moving case studies that make our faith stronger. Not by some mullah who does not know his behind from a hole in the ground
Take away Israel’s behavior towards 9/11 and you will have justice in the world order…it is then they you can truly have greater momentum of conversions because Islam has been damaged by 9/11 and not otherwise…
We will present a much moderate view of Islam if we were to have modern interpretation of Islam and emphasis is put on tolerance…this idea that when our children would read about Hinduism they would be able to defend their faith (or actually convince others to consider Islam as their new faith) is something i do not agree on….
Our children need to learn about other religions so that they do not become bigots
Why start with other religions…Why not educate the kids about Shia Faith & Sunni faith… this will be a good start as well so that the believers of these two sects within islam accept the other as muslims and do not refer to each other as kafirs as is the case generally….
Lets be honest and ask ourselves that when we are in groups, in our colleges and at work, are we really honest in treating the person of the different faith as equals or are our fangs showing the moment we speak to someone different