Discovery of Pakistan?
The Indus Saga: From Pataliputra to Partition, Aitzaz Ahsan, Roli Books, Rs. 495.
GIVEN the historical baggage that weighs the two nations down, Aitzaz Ahsan's The Indus Saga: From Pataliputra to Partition may just reinforce established mindsets on both sides of the Indo-Pak border. After all, Ahsan's bid to reconcile the Indian denial of the "distinctness" of Pakistan and the Pakistani repudiation of the commonality between the two nations is hinged on the Indus region — his preferred word for Pakistan to establish its separate antiquity — having a primordial existence outside India.
Of the view that Pakistan needs to understand it has an identity beyond being just "un-Indian", Ahsan's effort is to show to his countrymen and people on this side of the prickly border that the Indus region has maintained a "rare individuality and distinctness" since time immemorial. Pakistan, according to him, is not the product of the colonial "divide and rule" policy and can boast of an ancient history.
His argument apart, Ahsan — a member of the Pakistan People's Party and third generation politician — evidently harbours the hope of this book being Pakistan's answer to Jawaharlal Nehru's The Discovery of India. He actually reveals himself in the preface: "Nehru wrote The Discovery of India in the Ahmednagar Fort prison. I began my journey to discover Pakistan in the New Central Jail, Multan."
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