Teaching Hatred in Schools against non-muslims continue in Pakistan

Pakistan’s National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) published a report announcing that the Islamic nation’s government has broken its promise to purge the religious “hate material” from school textbooks, which are plagued with rhetoric used to incite children with rage toward non-Muslims.

World Watch Monitor says that the plan to clean up the biased instruction materials was launched as a result of the Pakistani school massacre that took place two years ago.

“When a Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in Dec. 2014 led to the loss of least 141 lives, including 132 students, it brought about a policy change in Pakistan,” World Watch Monitor reports. “The government introduced a 20-point National Action Plan to discourage religious extremism and to provide a counter-narrative to promote religious harmony in the country, saying an ‘end to religious extremism and [the] protection of minorities will be ensured.’”

Broken promises … hate remains

Despite assurances that the anti-discrimination plan would be implemented, the “Freedom from Suffocating Education” report issued by NCJP alleges that no adoption of curriculum reforms at the school level has taken place, except for a few booklets that were produced.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recently released a report that corroborates the NCJP’s claims that the Pakistani government has done nothing to implement its so-called anti-hate school plan.

“The trend toward a more biased curriculum towards religious minorities is accelerating,” the USCIRF’s report states. “These grossly generalized and stereotypical portrayals of religious minority communities signal that they are untrustworthy, religiously inferior and ideologically scheming and intolerant.”

It was maintained in the NCJP report that previously identified “hate material” – which was primarily found in textbooks issued to students for the 2015-16 school year – was purposely not taken out of the curriculum.

Some of the content that Pakistan’s Sindh Assembly vowed to included was the complete text from a speech made by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on August 11, 1947, called “Father of the Nation.”

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan,” reads one short excerpt from Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech. “You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”

According to the NCJP report, the textbooks of Pakistani children only contain “a small portion of the speech.”

Where’s the change?

The Punjab home secretary briefed the Supreme Court of Pakistan about the much-needed curriculum reforms on December 14, 2014 – just two days before the school tragedy in Peshawar.

“[Students will be taught that] we are all members of the one human race, with similar challenges, and we cannot confront these challenges without forging a common alliance,” the home secretary declared before the nation’s highest court. “The message of all faith is common and for benefit of the entire humanity.”

According to Article 22(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan, religious education is not mandatory for students.

“No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction … other than his own,” the section of Pakistan’s guiding document reads.

Islam … or Islam

NCJP General Secretary Cecil Shane Chaudhry insists that good grades are easy to earn in Islamic Studies – but not in the more general “Ethics” subject.

“Non-Muslim students opt to study Islam so that they are not stigmatized in the classroom,” Chaudhry told World Watch Monitor. “Ethics textbooks are not available in the market and, in schools, no teachers are available to teach this subject. Also, Ethics books are written from an Islamic viewpoint and the students who select Ethics are stigmatized by teachers and students.”

Policymakers in Pakistan’s school system were questioned by those conducting the NCJP study about its rationale for making sure that virtually all Pakistani students are indoctrinated in Islam.

“If Ethics can be a substitute for religious studies for non-Muslim students, then why can’t it be equally beneficial for Muslim students?” the NCJP report asked.

Propaganda rhetoric and isolationism

Besides leaving in hate-filled material targeting non-Islamic religions, Pakistani schools make sure that students are not exposed to various elements of Western culture and religions, such as Christianity.

“In the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami party [has taken out material covering Western society] from primary school textbooks, such as pictures of unveiled females or any depictions of the Christian faith,” World Watch Monitor’s Asif Ageel explained.

Below are a number of passages extracted from Pakistani school textbooks that indoctrinate children to believe false perceptions about non-Islamic religions, which are geared to encourage students to criticize or harbor animosity toward those practicing other religions:

• The Punjab Textbook Board’s Class III (ages 7-8) book on Urdu teaches that Islam is “superior” to all other religions.
• The Sindh Textbook Board’s Class VII (ages 11-12) book on Islamic Studies teaches: “Most of the [other] religions of the world claim equality, but they never act on it.”
• The Punjab Board’s Islamic Studies textbook for Class VIII (ages 12-13) reads: “Honesty for non-Muslims is merely a business strategy, while for Muslims it is a matter of faith.”
• For Class VI (ages 10-11), the Punjab Board’s Islamic Studies book says: “For the person who is not in financial need, is not governed by a tyrant and still does not perform [the pilgrimage to Mecca], it does not make a difference whether he dies as a Christian or a Jew.”
• The Punjab Board’s Class VI book on Islamic Studies says: “Though being a student, you cannot practically participate in jihad, but you may provide financial support for jihad.”
• The Punjab Board Class V (ages 9-10) Social Studies book says: “Religion plays a very important role in promoting national harmony. If the entire population believes in one religion, then it encourages nationalism and promotes national harmony.”
• “The better a Muslim we become, the better a citizen we prove to be,” says the Punjab Board’s Class IV (ages 8-9) book on Urdu.

World Watch Monitor notes that each Pakistani textbook still uses the Urdu word “Isai” for “Christian.” The preferred term is derived from “Isa”, the Arabic word for “Jesus” used in the Qur’an. It is also noted that the word “Isai” now carries strong overtones – carried over from colonial times – that are tied to “unclean,” demeaning occupations performed by people in the lowest castes.

History … according to Islam

The subject of history is also dealt with in biased fashion in Pakistani schools, according to the NCJP report, as textbooks proclaim that “Islamic rule” and “jihad” have prevailed on the Indian subcontinent for centuries.

“It is wrong to say ‘Islamic rule’ or ‘Hindu rule,’” Dr. Mubarrak Ali, a Pakistani historian and author, told World Watch Monitor. “The Indian wars were political conflicts and not religious conflicts. The political conflict in the Indian subcontinent is seen as a religious conflict, which is why history is described in a binary opposition. We want to see history in black and white, while multiple facts decide one incident.”

The NCJP report cited some other examples of contentious or inflammatory passages in school textbooks:

• The Pakistan Studies book from the Punjab Board for Class IX (ages 13-14) students says: “The free status of Islam and Muslims was hurt with the establishment of British rule. Muslims under non-Muslims remained enslaved and coerced.”
• The Sindh Class VIII book on Social Studies says: “The influence of Christian priests increased greatly [during British rule]. Christian priests were able, with the help of their government, to openly preach their religion.”
• The Class VII Baluchistan Textbook Board book on Urdu says: “The British … feared the Muslims, being the true inheritors of the rule of India, could become a danger for them anytime.”
• “Another book shows that the accusations against [Mughal Emperor of India] Aurangzeb of bias towards Hindus are purely a fabrication of the narrow-minded Hindus and treacherous British,” says the Punjab Board’s Urdu textbook for “matriculates” (ages 15-16).
• The Class V book on Islamic Studies by the Punjab Board states: “The Muslims ruled the Indian subcontinent for about thousand years with magnificence, but they did not forcibly convert a single Hindu. If they had willed, then today there wouldn’t even be a trace of them in the subcontinent. But Muslims showed great tolerance and even raised Hindu to high positions.”
• The Punjab Board’s Class VI History book reads: “Most of the population of Delhi consisted of Hindus who considered Muslims strangers. They … were always busy in thinking about getting free from the rule of Muslims. Hindu landlords used various excuses to not pay land revenue and even sometimes descended into revolt. The Hindus were so much encouraged by [Emperor] Akbar’s pro-Hindu policies that they started demolishing mosques and shrines and started building their temples in their place. Wherever Hindus were in majority, they brutalized Muslims.”
• The History textbook for Class VIII students, published by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board, reads: “Sikhs used to do many brutalities to Muslims and did not allow them religious freedom … The British did not trust Muslims and the policy of injustice and brutality hurt economic and educational conditions of Muslims. And the discriminatory attitude of Hindu landlords further made their condition worse. Under the influence of Hindus, they adopted several heresies.”
• The Punjab Board’s History textbook for Class VII states: “In those days, Sikhs ruled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sikhs had made the life of Muslims terribly difficult. Syed Ahmed Shaheed decided to wage jihad against Sikhs.”
• The Punjab Board Social Studies book for Class VII says that Bangladesh became its own independent nation in 1971 – no longer East Pakistan – due to a conspiracy of “enemy countries of Islam." via http://www.onenewsnow.com/