The Hindu : New Delhi News : Experts call for better exchange of history

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Experts call for better exchange of history

By Lakshmi B. Ghosh

NEW DELHI, FEB. 8. It was perhaps the only time that Pakistani historian K.K. Aziz felt happy about his books being pirated. Having his book on Pakistan published from India may not have been officially possible, but it was clearly one time that piracy helped put an Indian address on his book and bridge the gap in "history" that years of bilateral talks could not.

A shared common history that continues to be written and interpreted differently across the border, historians from India and Pakistan came together this Tuesday to have a dialogue on the common heritage, but different perspectives that have dominated history books and school textbooks on both sides, and called for more interaction to improve exchange on history.

Organised by the Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia in association with the Oxford University Press in Karachi, the one-day workshop, "Transcending Frontiers: Indian and Pakistani Historians in Dialogue", saw experts from both sides discuss the need to move away from being region specific when writing or teaching history in both countries and stressed the need for more collaborative work between the two countries. While pointing out that Pakistani historians constantly face the problem of missing out on great source materials which are in India, Prof. Aziz said: "The lack of accessibility to Indian sources is much more damaging to us than it is for Indians. A lot of our historical research cannot be done without consulting the sources in India. The archives in Pakistan are much poor and there is often little available. From the Aligarh Muslim University archives that house great historical material on Islam and Calligraphy to other places that have great materials, a lot of was lost to us during Partition,'' he said.

Admitting that Pakistani historians were not encouraged by the Government to travel to India for research purposes, he said the historians had to do without the wealth of Muslim religious legacy in India.

Speaking on the major themes and concerns in Indian and Pakistani historiography, noted historian Romila Thapar, said history writing on both sides had seen colonial interpretations and there was need to view take into account the history of the entire subcontinent and not just the region being written about.

One of the important issues brought up at the discussion was the lack of enough writings on the post-Partition period on both sides. Describing the lack of accessibility to Indian history books and archive materials for research as another handicap, Mr. Aziz said: "ou can easily buy a third rate Indian film from any of Pakistan's video shops, but cannot buy a scholarly book published in India."

Narrating an incident of piracy that had helped him reach out to the Indian audience the indirect way, Aziz quipped, "I was once in a London library that also had my books. Much to my surprise, instead of having a Pakistan publisher's address, it had that of an Indian publisher. I wrote to the publisher and thanked him for making my book reach out to Indians and requested him to send me two free copies."

With curriculum revision of textbooks happening in both countries, experts are hoping that the neighbours will be seen in a better perspective. "In place of the current social studies subject that students study till Class VIII, there will be a new book for history and geography from next year, though the subject will be taught together. Although many revisions have been done in the past, this is probably after over 10 years that the textbooks are being replaced ,'' said political and defence consultant Hasan Askari Rizvi.

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