Teaching and Research on India in Pakistan - A Conspicuous Absence

This really is very surprising......


such complete turning ... a Blind eye....

this is a very Ostrich Like behaviour...

I wonder whats the cause of it.... simply dismissing it ...... and attributing. this

behaviour to the shenagins of INTEREST GROUPS theory Like Military / Establishment


Does Not explains it......


After all Whats the educated masses ... Like in Karachi University were doing...

from 1958-2002 just 239 Papers None on India....

At least Prior to 1965 and then 1971 ... Situation was Not Bad...

Zia entered in 1977..... So what were the DanishMand Elite of Pakistani`s doing..

till then...


Can any one explain this Outright .... Strange behaviour.... in a more rational


manner...

Thanks Omar!

samina not sure if he reads this board -- this article is article the first part of a two part series we published on our education page in dawn -- second part came on sunday Aug 22 and will be accessible on the Dawn website till next Sunday -- i had told the chowk editors that it would be in two parts but for some reason i think they are content with the first one since they didnt carry the `to be continued` proviso at the end of this piece. akbar zaidi`s email should be at the end of the article in Dawn -- you can get it from the dawn site -- the complete article is over 8,000 words longs -- we edited it down to roughly 5,600 words -- also though he would be a better person to responded, i can safely say that u wont find anything on south asian americans in pakistan`s higher education system --

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Mr. Zaidi,

Absorbing work. A few questions:

1. What is the role of South Asian American and British research in the current pedagogy re: the Pakistani mainstream educational system`s representation and engagement with India and vice versa?

2. Could you please write about the project you are currently working in (that engendered this paper), the Indian and Pakistani institutions that are also involved in this project, and finally UPenn`s Institute of Advanced Study of India?

3. How can one access this paper in its entirety?

Thanks.

Very helpful article; thanks!

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tt singh -- yes i agree

kkkandk -- hahahaha

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o r qureshi, yes I sort of realised later that the author was probably focusing on the public system, but nevertheless, the work done at LUMS has added significantly to the body of scholarship on Indian history, so I figured it ought to be counted in that capacity, though not, of course, as something with a very wide immediate impact, or that was reflective of a big trend in Pakistani scholarship as a whole.
secondly, and this is less important, you`d be surprised at the provincial worldviews professed by some of the O and A levels crowd. If they have worldviews to start with. What I`m getting at is that even for those of us who only took the compulsory history courses to complete the breadth requirements, it was a big learning experience.

Pakistani universities are mostly teaching institutions and small statistical data about research subjects and topics carry large margin of error. If

[Of the 184 PhDs awarded by the University of Karachi, more than thirty percent are on Urdu, 12 each are on Arabic, clinical psychology and philosophy. ]

is the statistical anaylisis, every discipline should be unsatisfied except may be Urdu and Arabic. So what is so special about India more than biology, geography, sociology, anthropology etc etc? Only reason I see is that author presented this in some workshop held in New Delhi dealing with the topic.

Pakistani actually teach, unnecessarily, more about Indian hisotry than it should be. Pakistanis know more about Golconda and Awadh than Talpurs, Soomras and Khoro dynasties from area included in Pakistan. They teach and Pakitanis know more about Hyderabad, AP and Nizam than Jam of Las Bela or Nawabs of Bahawalpur, Swat, Dir etc.

Actually in the hstory taught in Pakistan ahs little mention of the hisotry of the people of the area now constitutes Pakistan. History in Pakistan means only political history and that too of Turko-Afghan empires over subcontinent. The source of historical informations are about 10 books, 5 of them start with name Tareek-e- , such as Tareekh-e-Firozshahi, Tareekh-e-Akbarshahi and other five have Nama as last name such as Babar Nama, Zafar Nama etc.
The history written by court historians has not be researched for verification and taught as is. Moving on to British period`s hisotry, it is also unilaterally by anti-British either for Islamic or by nationalistic writers. The history since 1947 is well-known but military governments make sure that military takeovers are not presented in bad light. Ayub Khan went farthest and included his takeover as great revolution in history textbooks.

Neither Pakistan nor India wishes to teach people`s chemistry at par with history of empires because people histry show no evidence of any special bonding between different people of subcontinent except in civilizational and religious aspects. It is almost 100 percent regional which is bad for both nationalisms. Additionally, people of the region now Pakistan have hard time taking interest in the Tamils of India and not taking interest 40 miles away Sri Lanka. Only political history of empires and modern India would dictate Pakistanis to teach and research on Malayalis or Tamils leaving out Sinhalis. Not surprisingly there is more to know about subcontinent than empires and India/ Pakistan.

Author is asking to do everything according to national political interests of two national governments. That is fine but national interests change and we find that all interests evaporate overnight. Take for example Bangladesh. Until 1971, they learned, taught and took interest in Kashmir but now, I am sure, Kashmir is not on their minds and its importance in hisotry must be reduced to couple of pages.

So the expansion of teaching and research and unfettered access to learning should not be confined within limits of nation states India / Pakistan, civilizational and religious aspects. Please be sure to teach all people of subcontinent that Tamils, Sindhis or Sikhs in their long history never looked for expansion beyond their natural geographical and political boundries. An make sure to teach that besides Turk-o-Afghan invaders and Congress party hardly anybody was ever interested in uniting people (by conquering, converting and indoctrination) and creating nationhood between diverse people of subcontinent.

The simplest option is actually reducing the importance of all history otherwise people once start learning wish to know more than who ruled them during such and such period.

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#15 by veeresh on August 17, 2004 11:00pm PT
``While I like the article for adding to my knowledge...``

shri veeresh jee, u mean an article published in a pakistani newspaper like Dawn and on India actually ``added to your knowledge`` ? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

how did that ever happen

or a more serious note -- t t singh

yaar most people who are even slightly informed would know that LUMS has a reasonably okay social science dept -- the problem is with pakistan`s public sector universities where the bulk of the students are enrolled -- many students who come to lums come from O and A level backgrounds and their worldviews, esp vis a vis india, are quite different compared to those coming from the matric stream --

Date:18/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/08/18/stories/2004081800370100.htm

---

Metro Plus Bangalore Chennai Hyderabad





The Great Escape


It was the daring act of a father that saved one-year-old Karvina who slipped from the balcony of their third floor flat








THIS IS the season of Toby Maguire, but Vinayagamurthy is an unlikely Spiderman. For one, he cannot defy gravity and for another, he does not have any special sticky webmaker shooting from his wrist. But Vinayagamurthy did something that would seem impossible to most people, something that would make Spiderman take notice. He dived from the third floor balcony of his apartment in the police housing complex, all of 36 feet, seconds after his one-year-old daughter fell from his arms. Father and child landed on the ground with a thud, but in what would seem to be a miracle, the baby, Karvina, escaped unscathed, while Vinayagamurthy, a constable who had held her closely during the fall, suffered fractures.

``I only knew she had slipped and on sheer impulse I leaped and caught her. I don`t remember anything. When I regained consciousness I found myself lying on a hospital bed,`` says Vinayagamurthy. Sundari, Karvina`s mother, found her lying in the arms of her father after the fall, even as neighbours rushed her husband to hospital. ``Vinayagamurthy has suffered fractures in his spinal cord, pelvic region and heel and we are giving him the best treatment. He will be better soon,`` says senior orthopaedic surgeon Mayil Vahanan Natarajan.

Precious child

Hugging her wide-eyed daughter, who has become a sort of celebrity in the crowded second block of the Government General Hospital, Sundari gets emotional while talking about the incident. ``Karvina is a precious child and she was born after 11 years. My elder son Rahul is in the sixth standard. On August 11 around 5 p.m. my husband was playing with Karvina in the balcony and I had just entered the kitchen to complete some work. A loud thud jolted me. I ran out and was shocked to find my husband and child lying on the ground. I could not even react. I grabbed my wailing child from my husband`s arms as neighbours rushed him to hospital.``





Waiting for papa to recuperate. — Pic by K.V. Srinivasan

Relatives who come to enquire about Vinayagamurthy comfort Sundari who still reacts with disbelief to the whole episode. ``Even the name of my child is special. According to her horoscope, her name should start with a `K ` and her grandfather wanted Vinayagam in it. So we named her Karvina.``

Vinayagamurthy, who is described as a duty conscious constable, downplays his heroic act by saying any father would have reacted in the same way to save his precious daughter. However, there is another lesson to be drawn from the story. Take care while playing with children, especially in high rise buildings.

S. SHIVAKUMAR


© Copyright 2000 - 2004 The Hindu

kkkandk # 24

MQM may have had some old skeletons in its cupboard, but I am fully with the reformed MQM. They have changed their Manifesto & stance for the better.

They are now Muthahida Quami movement, they call themselves the New Sindhis and they have the closest relationship with Sindhi nationalists. They speak for Sindh`s rights and hate the guts of Mulla Parties. They are on the way to become a national party and have a liberal and a principled stand on almost every issue. They have saved Karachi from dark ages.

Muhajars that went to other provinces have been completly absorbed and no one even talks about them. You have a point in Quota system which can be reformed but perhaps not eliminated otherwise people from Thar, Northern Areas, Tribal Baluchistan will never stand a chance.

The three smaller Provinces must have an equal say in national affairs - otherwise the picture is bleak. I am a Punjabi but the Punjabis have a habit of selling themselves cheap & letting every military ruler settle down.

NHK

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KKKandk # 21

I am not imposing my opinion - I am only expressing.

Since there was never any entity such as Pakistan in history, it must find a logical reason for its existance. It got created on the basis of two-nation theory - Muslims and non-Muslims.

And since only Muslims do not live in Pakistan, how do you resolve this dilemma? The only logical choice is to make the two-nation theory no more applicable so that every one becomes an equal citizen.

As for the four provinces, I am not inventing something new. The 1973 Constitution already provides for a Federation of four provinces and it has been agreed to by all the political parties.

Each provinces is a historical entity by itself through its many characteristics which can not be simply wished away. We tried to do it to East Pakistan and result is for everyone to see.

What I am trying to say is that implement the present Constitution in letter & spirit. It would automatically lead to the local cultures getting stronger and that would kill off the radical religious fringe.

History can not be changed but creating a new nation out of nothing requires fresh thinking, adjustments and re-interpretations. Why should Pakistan stand out in the 5000 years history of mankind to be the only nation created on the basis of religion? Even Israel is a secular state.

I think dumping the TNT is a fundamental issue that we need to get over with otherwise we will keep running in circles without a focus as has happened in the last 56 years.

NHK

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#11 ponniyinselvan

``Otherwise, we will keep churning out pigeon-chested products with a hatred towards wrong people(Pak) for non-existent reasons(historical). ``

interesting. i agree. the private sector such as amar-chitra-katha however has done a good job of covering this in a ``comical`` (yet surprisingly far less ideological) manner.

i wonder if you would also support the following to be taught in schools with govt. support:

- teach ramayan and mahabharat as literary subjects, like westerners study homers work.
- teach kalidasa meghdoot as a part of sex-education to pre-adolescents
- support a course on old indian books with enough coverage in schools so that kids at least know the names of indian books like vedas, puranas, upanishadas, smritis, grammar, mathematics, ecomics and medicine?

- support a course on more modern bookd such as Dnyaneshwari, tulsi ramayan, telugu and tamil poets, jaydev, al-beruni and even babar-nama for more modern lit.

- support a course on indian arts such b. natyam, odissi, kathak, hindustani and carnatic music, folk musics traditions (e.g. the Gouhna and Wedding songs) etc?

if not, i may be tempted to think of your post as standard commie stuff, good for earning cross-border wah-wahs.

NHK:

``Religion is no more an issue of the state. ``

Manto makes a similar arguement but I believe that doing so would undermine the basis or justification of Pakistan in the eyes of its own citizens. You and Manto may be right from a historically factual perspective but what really counts is a people`s perception of themselves. In that sense it is essential for Pakistan to maintain its Islamic identity as a basis for a cohesion.

to the author:

I don`t know if you are aware of this but some young doctoral students and (at the time) recent phd`s from North American universities helped Dr. Imran Ali set up quite a significant history ``area`` (as it was never officialy christened a department). While Dr. Imran Ali had been teaching the South Asian History course for three years already, the new professors added courses such as:
1. Topics in South Asian History -- very detailed and extensive readings, covers the independence movement period (mid 19th to mid-20th century), emphasis on the marginalised movements (in Gujarat, the almost continuous rebellion in tribal areas, the origins of the communist-inspired movements after WWI), the effect of the canalisation and colonisation of previously rain-irrigated areas in (mainly Western) Punjab, Gandhi`s more philosophical writing in comparison with his political theory and political action
2. History of Colonial Expansion -- the process of colonisation, links with the Renaissance, indigenous reactions
3. Perspectives in Development Sociology -- very popular course among those serious about understanding the complex process of the emergence of current systems. the development paradigm, evolution in the fields of sociology, the post-colonial situation
4. Social Anthropology of South Asia
5. History of Decolonisation -- This course examines radical social change in the Third World since the end of World War II by drawing examples from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The course provides an insight into factors such as peasantry, labor, military, regime legitimacy, modes of popular mobilisation and resistance, Marxism, and global capitalism.
6. Socio-Politico Strategic Dynamics of South West Asia
7. Geopolitics of South Asia

Two new courses seem quite interesting, though as always much depends on actual readings and the instructor:

``Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory`` and ``Rural Society in Theory and History``

The reference is: http://www.lums.edu.pk/BSc_socialscience_courseoutline.htm. However, the list is not referenced by topics within the social sciences, so the interested reader would have to do some browsing.

cheers

Stuka # 14

(But to change the national narratives of India and Pakistan, especially the latter, would be harmful beyond doubt)

No. I do not agree. Pakistani narrative must change for its own sanity, future & removing the contradictions within itself.

Its narrative must state that now that a new nation has been born, all citizens are equal in all respects; and the two-nation theory is no more valid. Religion is no more an issue of the state.

It must remove from its text the implied biases against other religions/ethnicities/groups.

It must recgnize that Pakistan comprises four distinct sub-nationalities with their own culture, language and heritage rooted in their own history and geography. And their voluntary coalsing togather creates what is called Pakistan.

What India does to its narrative is India`s business. It has its own worldview & philosophy.

NHK

The entire history of Pakistan is pretty much is the same as for India, give or take 50-odd years. Contrary to what most Pakistanis believe, Indian schools do not teach hatred towards Pakis, for the most part, they are ignored, or reduced to one chapter ``The Muslim League and emergence of Jinnah: 1940-47`` or some such. You shouldn`t forget that most of the history we studied (not so sure about the present generation) was written by those JNU pinkos Romila Thapar and friends, meaning which it was designed to evoke at most a hollow pride at the sacrifices of Congress leaders like Gandhi and Nehru. Even Bhagat Singh was sorta frowned upon, his martyrdom providing the legitimacy his life did not. No wonder such few people study History in India, they get turned off by the elaborate and admittedly elegant lies they are told from an early age. Chapter 1 of our Standard V History text was ``The Aryan Invasion`` featuring a pictorial representation of an army of bearded yogi-types carrying trishuls . It only gets better....

While I like the article for adding to my knowledge, I would like to put forth my view that, going forward, current day traditions provide higher reasons for societies and nations and people to evolve and understand each other than do past histories.

As on today, for better or for worse, in my humble opinion, a form of ``Indian traditon``, symbolised by the best or worst of Bollywood, the best or worst of cricket, and the best or worst of military one-upmanship seems to have entered the ``mass`` Pakistani psyche.

In addition, of late, the best or worst of Indian consumerism seems to be fast catching up, with street level Pakistanis being aware of bikes and cars that cost one-third to half the price in India as the easiest ready reckoner.

Add to that the best or worst of healthcare and education on offer in India, now increasingly available to the middle-class in Pakistan, and you have a pair of socieities evolving which do seem to know about each other, somewhat.

As for history, frankly, raat gayee, baat gayee.

I mean, when was the last time anybody saw a ``historical`` movie, like, say, Gandhi, on a video bus in Pakistan?

Nazarhayat

I would like to express a contrarian viewpoint. My previous post was for benefit of Urstruly and should not be taken seriously.

Honestly, I get scared when Indian liberals and Pakistani liberals start talking and learning about each other. The thing is, an unbiased research on history will tell you that the basis for partition, TNT etc were basically flimsy excuses for partition. Things are not great now and they would not have been great of partition had not taken place. Every alternative would have presented its own set of pros and cons. The point though is that Partition is here to stay and so the Un or Anti India provision of the Pak establishment does play a useful role if it provides much needed cohesiveness.

You know me as an individual and we have talked before. My issue is not with individual to individual contact. Neither do I have a problem with Pakistanis studying India as part of conflict strategy. But to change the national narratives of India and Pakistan, especially the latter, would be harmful beyond doubt.

What do you think?

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Ally # 6 & ponniyinselvan # 11

Good posts. Agree.

The basic knowledge about India is neither taught nor discussed in Pakistan. That creates a steorotype propagandist image of India in the eyes of generations that were born after partition. And now these generations are in the decision making levels with little knowledge about the indian society, culture, politics, even history... And due to the lack of travel between the two countries, it is not even observed or experienced unlike the other countries of the world. 99% of Pakistanis will not even know that a language called Kannada is spoken in India. That is not good.

NHK

there is plenty of pakistani history taught and researched. its called indian history, mughal history, history of classical period etc and not pakistani history.

therein lies the problem..its hard for pakistan to do the same.

A well researched article from S. Akbar Zaidi. There are two different but related issues:

1. The paucity of Indian studies in Pakistani academia
2. The defects in the way history is approached and taught in the country.

The importance of the former cannot be over-emphasized. For instance, one may refer to the detailed country profiles collected by CIA in the USA. One may understand that the publicised data will not even be 1% of the corpus and analysis available for the US government. Such strategic data will obviously be available for the governments of both India and Pakistan. There is no doubt about it. The complaint really is that serious studies have not been undertaken at the ``people`` level. This will help in bringing the two societies closer. (contrary to the govt intelligence which is meant for being detrimental to the other side). This article shall be an eye opener, hopefully.

The next thing is the way history is taught in the schools and universities in Pakistan. The basic problem is the identity crisis of the country. The author has dealt with it nicely. If Pakistan has to remain independent of the Indian shadow, the only way to achieve this is to severe the historical ties. Unfortunately, ``Pakistan`` is an artificial commodity in the world historical process. India, in contrast, is an idea, a part of the process itself. It doesn`t simply denote a country born in 1947. So, the severing of the ties is impossible. The Islamic foundations of Pakistan are not old enough to anchor its history.

So, what is the way out? I do not see any way out in the near future. The ``system`` needs an anti-India stance to perpetuate itself. If there is no such stance, obviously it doesn`t have a locus standi in the affairs of the nation. To keep such a stance afloat, history has to be meddled with in such a way as to show that Pakistan came out of the blues....which will not merely be a distortion, but rather invention of facts. The correction of this can come only with the salvation of the country from the clutches of the ``system``. This article can be a catalyst to such a change.

Having said that, the history lessons in Indian schools are not much better. How many of us know about, for instance, the southern dynasties....until we read ourselves out of interest? Our lessons usually create a sense of helplessness due to the continuous invasions through kyber and bolan passes and thereby kindle a subtle hatred towards the perpetrators (in effect, towards who are seen to be the flag bearers of those invaders today....Pakistan).

We do not read about Vijayanagara Empire and Krishnadeva Raya`s glorious rule, Rajendra Chola`s unique naval expeditions in the world history (The only one in Indian history), Chalukyan Empire etc... They are clubbed as ``South Indian`` history, where they find a fleeting mention. The northern conquests of Rajendra Chola, southern parellel of Samudra Gupta, Akbar`s golden era......These are the things which will instill a sense of confidence and glory in young minds.

Our school history is centred on Patna-Delhi axis. Only if we teach our children real ``Indian History``, instead of north Indian history masquerading as pan Indian, can we expect them to be self confident and informed. Otherwise, we will keep churning out pigeon-chested products with a hatred towards wrong people(Pak) for non-existent reasons(historical).

urstruly epitomizes the negative of Indian subcontinent. He represents the rabid wahabis. Till the likes of him are denounced and repudiated by sensible muslims like Ally in unmistakeable terms, the only fitting language for them is the one from Stuka.

The best way to analyze Pakistani psyche is to draw an analogy with ABCDs (America Born Confused Desis) in USA. ABCDs are second generation desis who struggle with their desi genes and try to fit in desperately with the goras. They try to deny their roots, put on the airs of goras and look down on desi immigrants. However, they soon realize that no matter how hard they try, they just don`t fit in and are not accepted by the goras at a social level. Their desi genes just cannot be wished away. Then they try to rediscover their roots as they realize the hard way - ``Kauwa chala hans ki chaal`` i.e. the crow is pretending to be a swan.

In the same way, after 1947, Pakistanis were desperate to fit in with the Islamic world of Central Asia and Middle-east. They looked down on their own desi genes and tried to pretend that they are central asian, even though 99% Pakistanis have no central asian blood. They tried to deny their own roots based on conversion, they moved away from their own culture, they looked down on Indians and put on the airs of Mughals, Central Asians etc. as if they had arrived from outside and ruled India. What a delusion!! However, after a while Pakistanis realized that they are just not accepted by the muslims in the Middle-east of Central Asia as their equals. They are treated with the same racist indignation that Indians are treated to. Their desi genes just cannot be wished away. Now, finally Pakistanis are realizing the hard way - ``Kauwa chala hans ki chaal``. No matter how hard they try, to the rest of the world, they are nothing more than desis who practice Islam and live in the north-west corner of the subcontinent.

Urstruly:

Hhe is not talking about mutual understanding. He is talking about understanding the enemy. What are our dynamics etc?

If a referendum is held, a large part of Kashmir will opt to stay with India. Ladakh with a Buddhist majority and Jammu with a non Muslim majority and significant Shia population is pro-India.

Only problem is Valley. The Muslims of Valley did not think of Hindu Ummah before giving a Danda to the Hindus of Kashmir. Now the Hindu Ummah has been giving a danda to the Valley Muslims for past 15 years. We will give them such a danda that they will think of 19888 pre insuregency time under Indian rule as paradise. Then we will give them that paradise.

I personally think the reason why India is avoided in any serious study in Pakistan is because, once ppl do serious studies of India, its culture and people, and our (Pakistani) history with an open mind, this will actually remove a lot of the propaganda that our state has tried so hard to make our ppl believe. It will de-demonise India and Indians, it will start to show them in more humane light, and God forbid, it will show our cultural/racial/religious connections, links and crossovers.

Pakistan still hasn`t come to terms with its identity, its history, what its culture `should` be, we are still searching, we will go anywhere so long as its not east, so long as its not towards India. Running, running, constantly running away from ourselves, trying to hide and trying to re-invent ourselves, at pains to differentiate ourselves from India.

The sooner we accept our history, our root culture, the outside influences, our spiritual present, our geography, our place within South Asia and the world, the sooner we will become more self assured, self confident, witness an increase in the national self esteem, and we will be able to move forward as a confident and modern nation, hand in hand with the rest of South Asia as an important socio-economic partner.

There is nothing to teach or learn by this effort so why bother. The only ``misunderstanding`` between two countries is Kashmir. Indians are oppressing Kashmir through force. If today free plebicite is held Kashmir will join Paksitan. This is a fact that no Indian can deny. Now please explain to me what is there for a mutual understanding. Will India share Paksitani text books which explains how Kasmir is under occupation or Paksitan will induct Indian curriculum that explains Kashmir as atoot ang? Unless India gives Kashmiris their right to life all such efforts are just self delusion (and American agenda to put Paksitan under Indias watch) and we will let that happen; yeah right.

Good one.

From Indian side - the story is pretty much the same - there is hardly any serious research on Pakistan or any other country for that matter.

I remember a chat with a friend of mine. The topic somehow veered into Indo-Pak issues ..... and I mentioned that I regularly read Pakistani newspapers on net.....He was appalled - how can I do such a thing - how can I tolerate propaganda from the enemy country...... I told him how it is not just propaganda - it gives a glimpse into the ``enemy`s`` mindset, thinking process and also told him how there is no serious research on pakistan from Indian Academia, which is actually seriously hampering India`s effort to put effective counter-moves to keep pakistan restrained.

So -t he mindset is that knowing more about ``enemy`` somehow un-patriotic and useless.

That of course doesnot explain why there has been no serioud studies on other countries/cultures - China, Burma, Indo-China(SE Asia), SriLanka. I think this is because of lack of such a institutional culture, lack of vision and long term focus on part of the narrow-minded leadership that India has been beset with since Independence.

Yes, there is mutual lack of understanding. In order to cut the Gordian Knot, University Grants Commissions in the two countries need to institutionalize the sister studies in two top universities of both countries. These could consist of biannually cosponsored conferences on the areas limited to joint Indo-Pakistani studies. The first area of study should be the sources of systematic misunderstanding generated/aggravated by the British from 1800 to 1947. The detailed determination of the universe of FACTS instead of the political propaganda would lead to mutual understanding. Hopefully the climax of all this would be closer econo-political collaboration between two countries.

I agree with you soyasause, being a teacher myself I too am looking forward towards such exchanges between the two countries. A timely article Zaidi Sah`eb.

Do you know how much academic research there is in india of pakistan? Probably not much. It seems that some sort of academic exchange is starting to happen. Hopefully this will kindle some mutual interest.