Growing up in Pakistan, our first introduction to the history of partition came through Pakistan Studies textbooks in public and private schools, as well as popular culture, including dramas and novels. The narrative we were taught was one of thousands of Muslims massacred by Hindus and Sikhs, who sacrificed their lives to win the land of the pure.
The horrors and trauma of partition are a silent chapter in our official history, neatly boxed in columns of sacrifice and victimhood. But the reality is different from this mix of half-truths and fiction taught to entire generations.
A cursory glance at the violence that erupted against non-Muslims in Northern Punjab and NWFP in March 1947 is enough to confirm this. After the Unionist Party government in Punjab was dismissed on 2nd March 1947, governor rule was imposed as the All India Muslim League failed to declare a majority in the parliament. Soon after this, Lahore and Amritsar witnessed the first attacks against non-Muslims on the 4th and 5th of March 1947. Mobs led by the Muslim League targeted Hindu and Sikh communities in Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum, and Sargodha.
The harrowing details of what followed in the summer of 1947 in East and West Punjab are known to everyone.
In this very land of Potohar, terror was unleashed on Hindus and Sikhs. Rawalpindi villages witnessed weeks of violence where ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs was carried out. In Thoha Khalsa, a village in the Kahuta Region of Rawalpindi, 200 Sikhs were killed by Muslim mobs from surrounding villages. 93 Sikh women committed mass suicide by jumping inside a well to save their honour.
The harrowing details of what followed in the summer of 1947 in East and West Punjab, where millions were uprooted and lost their lives, and thousands of women were subjected to sexual violence, are known to everyone. Violence followed more violence. What remains missing, however, is the acknowledgement and acceptance of the gravity of this collective trauma in our official history. To this day, a tragedy as traumatic and grotesque remains blanketed under the cover of sacrifice. The suffering and trauma of countless, faceless innocent men, women, and children could never find a voice.
The only consolation and catharsis that humanity badly needed found itself in literature and art. Perhaps, no other writer has done justice to the callousness and trauma of partition than Saadat Hasan Manto. In his short stories, bigotry and hatred were laid bare, and the voiceless, faceless victims found a voice.
Selective reading of history can indeed blindfold one to any alternative opinion and put one in denial of facts and truth. States shape the official narratives of their history to suit their nationalist agendas. Often, the pursuit of studying and teaching history is employed as an effective tool for nation-building. In such endeavours, a selective reading of history is used where truths are cherry-picked, and at times, outright lies are included.
In Pakistan, the project of nation-building has been carried out with the help of a curriculum with state-sponsored Pakistan studies taught to students from early grades till university.
A similar project is underway in India, where the BJP government is rewriting history in school textbooks, moulding it to fit its Hindu nationalist agenda of a saffronized India dominated by Hinduism with no place for the country’s minorities. In this version of history, the Mughals have been removed as they are villainized as Muslim oppressors and invaders.
Attempts to tamper with history to achieve what may be lofty goals of nation-building, where ends justify the means, are a dangerous endeavour. Indoctrinating young minds with selected and sometimes false truths may seem ideal in developing a sense of strong national identity and ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ However, objectively speaking, this can result in creating false narratives, thus giving rise to hyper-nationalism and jingoism in the long run. It creates intolerant and bigoted individuals and a society where hatred and majoritarian privilege reign supreme.
Pakistan is plagued with religious intolerance and sectarian violence. Over the last decades, there have been numerous incidents where violent mobs attack religious minorities and blasphemy is used as a pretext for lynchings in broad daylight. Only recently, armed mobs attacked and burned two churches and homes belonging to the Christian community in Jaranwala, after two Christian residents were accused of blasphemy.
There is an extreme need to inculcate tolerance, peace and rationality in our academia, culture and social fabric and an accurate reading of history might be the first step for it. History should be a mirror reflecting the multifaceted reality of our past, not a selective tool used to promote one narrative over another.
It is important that we study history with a critical and objective lens whether it’s the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the Kargil war or various other tragedies and debacles. The events of the past, no matter how painful, must be acknowledged and remembered. Or we can remain in denial and oblivion and let history keep repeating itself.
The writer works for an international aid agency. He loves watching world cinema and having intellectually stimulating conversations