Other sides of the picture
The new issue of the “Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan” published by the University of the Punjab under the editorship of Professor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chawla, who is the chairman of the History Department and the Dean of the Social Sciences, is out with a new look. Unlike the past bland titles, this one is quite colourful and attractive as the pictures highlight the historical, seasonal and geographical aspects of the country. This issue also reflects the growing trend of research, reading and writing among the academia as about twenty-five scholars have contributed fifteen works of research in it. Most of the contributors are from the History department and the Pakistan Study Centre but the scholars from other departments such as political science, social work, administrative sciences and education and research have also made their contributions. In addition, this issue also carries the researches of the academics from other universities such as the Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan and GCUs of Lahore and Faisalabad.
The last viceroy is generally held responsible for the communal bloodbath but Professor Chawla argues that the communal carnage had started in the subcontinent well before the arrival of Mountbatten when the Muslim League observed the Direct Action Day in August 1946
Each scholar has looked into his/her area of special interest yet most of the articles are focused on the issues confronted by Pakistan. Two articles immediately attract attention. The first one entitled “Revisiting the Mountbatten viceroyalty” by Professor Chawla questions the generally held assumption among the mainstream historians that Mountbatten was through and through anti-Pakistan in his words and deeds. The last viceroy is generally held responsible for the communal bloodbath but Professor Chawla argues that the communal carnage had started in the subcontinent well before the arrival of Mountbatten when the Muslim League observed the Direct Action Day in August 1946. The mainstream historians speculate that had he arrested the top Sikh leaders before partition, the bloodshed could have been averted but they ignore the fact that if he did not arrest them, it was because he was advised so by the governors-designate of the East and West Punjabs, who believed that such arrests could spark serious violence by the Sikhs. Similarly, Dr Chawla contends that not accepting Mountbatten as the common governor-general of India and Pakistan was an error of judgement on the part of the latter as that could have put him in an awkward position to act as the balancer between the two warring states. The author asserts that some actions and policies of Mountbatten actually favoured Pakistan — so he was not just a villain — and the learned professor has based his claim after consulting the Mountbatten and Jinnah Papers — the two important primary sources of that time — the former being not accessed by some historians.
The second eye-opening article entitled “Critical analysis of higher education reforms” by Dr Amir Saeed, assistant professor of the Institute of Administrative Sciences at the Punjab University, analyses the reforms in the sector of higher education in Pakistan with regard to curriculum, faculty and research. One expected these reforms to be genuine keeping in view the requirements of the country, unfortunately it was not so because the author concludes that “these HEC reforms were designed by Western scholars who were not fully cognizant of the demands and realities of most of the developing countries. These [reforms] were attached with the loans sought by the government of Pakistan as conditionalities and were forcibly enforced on public academic institutions in a bid to align Pakistan’s curriculum with that of the US so that local beliefs, values and norms are replaced by those of the West and Western culture be adopted as the only universally accepted culture by the rest of the world.” (p 224) This is a serious allegation and smacks of either a conspiracy or a fearful mentality.
The second eye-opening article entitled “Critical analysis of higher education reforms” by Dr Amir Saeed, assistant professor of the Institute of Administrative Sciences at the Punjab University, analyses the reforms in the sector of higher education in Pakistan with regard to curriculum, faculty and research
The article by Rashida Ahmad and Massarrat Abid entitled “The concept of tradition and modernity in madrassa system of education” demands a review and reshaping of the ideas and concepts of traditions in the madrassa system and suggest that it is time that modern education be made a part of the madrassa system. Assistant Professor Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah’s article highlights the role played by Chaudhry Muhammad Ali in the formulation of the first constitution of the country in 1956. He has credited Chaudhry Muhammad Ali for his unwavering commitment to democracy and the parliamentary form of government despite the machinations of the wily all-powerful bureaucrats Ghulam Muhammad and Iskander Mirza, who thought otherwise. The focus of Associate Professor Dr Mahboob Hussain’s piece has been the role of the religious parties in the Islamisation of the 1973 constitution. In the process, he has brought into light some very interesting debates between the ulema and the socialist members of the PPP about the interpretation and understanding of Islam in the national legislature. Dr Faraz Anjum’s research looks into the inter-relationship between travel, history and colonialism. It is a bit unfair not to mention what the remaining scholars have written about but the space in a newspaper is much limited than that in a journal or a book.