پروفیسر حبیب الحق ندوی
فروری کا معارف چھپ چکا تھا کہ پروفیسر حبیب الحق ندوی کے انتقال کی اندوہ ناک خبر ملی۔ وہ باڑھ (پٹنہ) کے سادات کے ایک معزز خاندان سے تعلق رکھتے تھے، مدرسۃ الاصلاح سرائمیر میں میری طالب علمی کے زمانے میں ان کے دوچھوٹے بھائی بھی تعلیم حاصل کررہے تھے جن سے ملنے کبھی کبھی حبیب الحق صاحب بھی آجاتے تھے، وہ خود بھی یہاں زیر تعلیم رہ چکے تھے، پھر پاکستان چلے گئے اور عرصہ سے جنوبی افریقہ کی ڈربن یونیورسٹی سے وابستہ تھے، مولانا سید ابوالحسن علی ندوی مدظلہ سے بیعت تھے، ان سے ملنے لکھنؤ آتے رہتے تھے، اسی سلسلے میں ایک دفعہ بے سان و گمان دارالمصنفین بھی پہنچے، لکھنؤ سے اعظم گڑھ کا یہ سفر بڑا مشقت طلب رہا مگر دارالمصنفین کو دیکھتے ہی ان کی ساری کلفت دور ہوگئی، سرائمیر جانے کی خواہش کی جہاں کی سادگی اور اپنے زمانہ کے استاذوں کے ایثار و قناعت کے بڑے مداح تھے۔ ایک اور دفعہ ندوۃ العلماء میں روس کی آزاد مسلم ریاستوں کے بارے میں میں نے ان کا پُراز معلومات خطبہ سُنا تو انہیں اعظم گڑھ آنے کی دعوت دی یہاں بھی ان کی تقریر بہت پسند کی گئی جس سے ان کے علم و مطالعہ کی وسعت، حالاتِ حاضرہ سے باخبری اور ملی درد کا اندازہ ہوتا ہے۔ دارالمصنفین سے ان کو قلبی لگاؤ تھا، معارف پابندی سے پڑھتے، اس میں ان کے مضامین اور خطوط بھی شایع ہوتے تھے، اپنا سہ ماہی انگریزی رسالہ اور تمام کتابیں یہاں بھیجتے، ادھر عرصہ سے ان کا حال معلوم نہیں ہوا تھا، دفعتہ ان کے ارتحال کی خبر آگئی۔ اﷲ تعالیٰ غریق رحمت کرے اور متعلقین کو صبر و شکیب بخشے، آمین۔ (ضیاء الدین اصلاحی، مارچ ۱۹۹۸ء)
Textbooks produce specific minds so are believed the best way to promote peace and harmony in a society. Policymakers draw ideological lines for specific goals and educate the coming generations through the contents of the textbooks. Whatever agenda a nation has, peace and social harmony cannot be compromised so syllabi mean to promote nationalism along with integration. Although history and social studies textbooks address coexistence and tolerance but even then many writers share their reservations about some points. K K Aziz (1993) in Pakistan castigated the governments and the textbook authors on ‘distortion’ of the historical events and deleting important segments of history from the syllabi. Mariam Chughtai shared her reservation regarding the textbooks being published in Pakistan. Romila Thapar in India raised objections against the BJP government’s effort of ‘religionising the syllabi’ and tried her best to introduce non-communal approach based on social harmony in the textbooks while writing history books but her effort remained a mere desire because the ‘religiously’ extremist political party occupying the main corridor of the national government and having no compatibility with her ideas refused to accept the undisputed historical facts. Dr. Mubarak Ali opined while writing on the textbooks that ‘defective textbooks create a defective mindset. Ideology limits people from acquiring new knowledge in order to understand the fast changing world’ (Dawn, April 16, 2016). ‘National History’ reflects national point of view to produce a generation who represents some specific land, culture, religion, political ideology, art and social ethics. Children are taught to grow with their own culture, religion and social norms. This study finds that syllabus of the subjects of History and Pakistan Studies produced by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) aims at educating the ‘national interpretation of history along with respect for other religious groups’ to the posterity therefore no gaps seem in the textbooks of History and Pakistan Studies. Criticism arises mostly on the old textbooks while the PCTB had revised the textbooks massively and all the historical periods including Indus Valley Civilization, ancient India, Sikh rule, etc. Are being taught at the school and college level. The ‘history textbook’ is not a ‘history’ rather it offers interpretation of the historical events. This article further pinpoints some issues such as communal interpretations in the British India, space in the textbooks, administrative, social, political and religious narrations, and the undeniable position on nationalism and patriotism which cannot be overlooked. The textbooks are playing their role in promoting social harmony and this policy has resulted in a coexistence, tolerance and peace in the society.
The beginning of the 21st Century witnessed the rise of religious militancy in a more severe form exemplified by the traumatic incident of 9/11. While the phenomenon has troubled a significant part of the world, Pakistan is no exception in this regard. This research explores the role of the Mahsud tribe in the rise of the religious militancy in South Waziristan Agency (SWA). It further investigates the impact of militancy on the socio-cultural and political transformation of the Mahsuds. The study undertakes this research based on theories of religious militancy, borderland dynamics, ungoverned spaces and transformation. The findings suggest that the rise of religious militancy in SWA among the Mahsud tribes can be viewed as transformation of tribal revenge into an ideological conflict, triggered by flawed state policies. These policies included, disregard of local culture and traditions in perpetrating military intervention, banning of different militant groups from SWA and FATA simultaneously, which gave them the raison d‘etre to unite against the state and intensify violence and the issues resulting from poor state governance and control. The study explores the unique tribal characteristics of the Mahsuds, such as asylum provision, autonomy and lack of centralized leadership, which had historically facilitated the rise of religious militancy during the colonial times, replicating itself in the post 9/11 period. The flawed state policies encouraged autonomy of the young tribesmen from local institutions of Jirga and Malikship, thereby facilitating them to join the militant movement in SWA. Moreover, such state policies, coupled with military operations caused confusion among the Mahsud tribes and forced them to neither support the military directly, nor halt the activities of the militants. The findings also contradict the widely held narrative that Mahsuds as a tribe participated in the fight against the state in SWA in post 2001 period. As the findings suggest, the religious elite, including the local Imams Madrassa dropouts and the Afghan war militants had a strong role in directly inciting violence and insurgency and influencing young tribesmen. The pre-mature military intervention further pushed the war affected tribesmen, especially the family members of injured/killed/disappeared, into militancy. However, due to several reasons, including the integration of the Mahsuds in the mainstream community of Pakistan, the larger majority of the tribesmen did not participate in the insurgency against the state. The research further explores the impacts of displacement on the socio-cultural and political institutions of the Mahsud tribe as a result of militancy and subsequent military operations. The migration/displacements severely impacted the tribesmen, including their socio-cultural and political institutions of Malikship and Jirga, thereby impacting their tribal identities. Other political implications include a progressive decline in levels of support to religious political parties by local tribesmen. There is a further impact evident through a general tendency to support non-violent ethnicity based social movements against state excesses. The study has primarily employed ethnographic based data collection tools for research, such as semi-structured interviews, informal discussions and personal observations to reach its findings.