Panel 1: Rewriting History
The panel is part of a follow up of SDPI’s project on the above topic, to be concluded in December 2007. The project captures the personal memories of a generation that simultaneously witnessed Indo-Pak Partition of 1947, the separation of Pakistan in 1971, as well as the trauma of the violence associated with these events. It is hoped that this recording and understanding will also be an enquiry into the cultural patterns, and social profile of the genocidal mentality in South Asian cultures.
The panel will address how the people of India, Pakistan and present day Bangladesh underwent the massacre and migration during and after Partition 1947. What was the role of political and external agents in the establishment, nature and stability of Bangladesh in 1971? How did the Bengalis face massacre and displacement? How the immigrants of 1947, for instance, the Bihari community, had to migrate again? What was the role played by minorities in saving lives and promoting interfaith harmony?
Contact:
Ahmad Salim, Research Associate/Editor, SDPI
Email: salim@sdpi.org
Panel 2: Common History in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have centuries old common past and socio-political histories, but in the historiography of the South Asian neighboring countries, state ideologies “got a mythological interpretation in a cluster of images, symbols, slogans that express the inner agendas of the respective governments to peoples for which politics is too complicated to grasp” (Malkova, 2001). It is also rightly observed that “distortions in the presentation and interpretation of history have contributed to the spread of communalism” (Khan and Daudpota, 2000), intolerance and violence, in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while successive governments with a soft corner for the rightist groups and ideologies have reinforced it “through the government's patronage. Hatred is being preached through distorted history books” (Khan and Daudpota, 2000). It is apt to note that, “history in these countries is loaded with cross communal overtones. Clearly, the sole purpose of this reinterpretation of historical facts is to indoctrinate and poison people's minds with a prejudiced vision of the past” (Hindustan Times, 2000).
Taking the historiography of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh into account, it is proposed that historians and scholars are invited from these countries to take part in these panels. It is noteworthy here that the SDPI does not have a monotonous and mega history concept in mind. The outcome of the presentations should appreciate the diversity and rich culture of the region. There is also a need to identify the events that states use for creating enemy image and present them in a manner acceptable to people of all the three countries. One such example is Partition of the subcontinent in 1947. The panel, in addition to identifying the problems, will also devise a roadmap for furthering the concept of a common and objective history in the region.
Contact:
Ahmad Salim, Research Associate/Editor, SDPI
Email: salim@sdpi.org
References
- Hindustan Times Editorial, “Talibanisation of Textbooks: Sangh Brand History has Crass Communal Overtones,” 6 June 2000:
- Khan, Foqia Sadiq, and Daudpota, Q. Isa, Joint Indo-Pak School History Textbook on the Web,September 26, 2000:
- Malkova, Liliana, USSR: Myth as Reality:
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