Pakistan is a multi-ethnic society, but the textbooks being approved by its concerned provincial educational ministries contain contents which hurt the religious sentiments of non-Muslim citizens of the country. In fact, religious discrimination in textbooks creates a sense of isolation amongst the religious minorities.

The population of Muslims in Pakistan is almost 96.28%, whereas, the remaining 3.72% population consists of religious minorities.  Of them, 1.59% are Christians; ‘1.85 caste Hindus and 0.33 scheduled castes; 0.35 Ahmadis; 0.01 Sikhs and 0.03 others, which includes Parsis, Bahais and others (Rahman 2013).

In Pakistan, there are many issues facing religious minorities. They are treated like second class citizens and ‘don’t have equitable participation in local, regional and national politics’, they also undergo discrimination and face religious extremism. ‘In schools and colleges, history books spread hatred towards religious minorities’ (Hussain 2008, p. 3-4).

Textbooks should be devoid of any prejudice. Rehman (2010) opines that, ‘delay in revising school textbooks to promote the values of pluralist and participatory democracy, inter-faith harmony and human rights will render the government liable to indictment for laying, unwittingly if not deliberately, the foundations of religious extremism.’

Saigol (2009, p. 73) writes that textbooks convey national history related stories to future generations in a way that these stories not only get told but also revised and reiterated. It is time to discourage religious extremism and militancy in the country. Equally important is to safeguard the rights of the minorities.  Rahman (2013) seeing the tide of extremism raises the question whether the ‘white part of our flag will survive with honour’ in the country.

This study reviewed contents of the latest editions of the textbooks of 2014 and 2015 from Pakistan’s Sindh province to explore the issue of religious discrimination against minorities. English, Pakistan Studies, Social Studies and Islamiat textbooks from Class One to Twelve (intermediate level) were analysed; and interviews with ten Non-Muslim teachers from the Sindh province also conducted to understand their perceptions about the contents and other pertinent issues such as forced conversions and kidnappings.

The findings indicate that some contents of the texts do not conform to the beliefs and sentiments of religious minorities. The study recommends revising Sindh textbooks in letter and spirit. The Government should involve experts of comparative religious studies to review the textbooks and take decisions to do away with controversial contents and incorporate lessons of tolerance and mutual respect for people of all religions. Given rising extremism in the country, it is important to promote tolerance and religious harmony for a peaceful society.

References

Hussain, I. 2008, ‘Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Mapping Sindh and Balochistan’, Centre for Peace and Development, Quetta, Balochistan,

<http://fhrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/RELIGIOUS-MINORITIES-in-PAKISTAN.pdf>, accessed 24 October 2015.

Rahman, T. 2013, ‘The white part of our flag’, The Express Tribune, 8 December,

<http://tribune.com.pk/story/642865/the-white-part-of-our-flag/>, accessed 24 October 2015.

Rehman, I.A. 2010, ‘Is this education?’ Daily Dawn, 11 November, <http://www.dawn.com/news/580453/is-this-education-by-i-a-rehman>, accessed 24 October 2015.

Saigol, R. 2009, ‘Strangers in the House: Minorities in Pakistani Textbooks’, in Living on the Margins - Minorities in South Asia, R. Manchanda (ed.), South Asian Forum for Human Rights, pp. 73-85, September, <http://www.eurac.edu/en/research/autonomies/minrig/Documents/Eurasia/EURASIA-Net_Deliverable_18_materials_NGOs_final_colored_cover.pdf>, accessed 24 October 2015.