San Francisco Chronicle
May 30, 2004
Pakistan's inner battle for education reform
Fight pits as rivals progressive forces and old-school religious factions
Juliette Terzieff
Islamabad , Pakistan -- Progressive forces in Pakistan, a country often derided in the international press as an impoverished backwater overrun with gun-toting wackos, are fighting hard for changes in the education curriculum here that have the potential to bring Pakistan more in line with Western secularized modern education systems and make it a role model for other Islamic countries struggling to progress in the 21st century.
But the battle, which speaks directly to the base identity of Pakistanis, is fierce.
On one side, there are the progressive forces that want a modern Islamic homeland where religion is an individual choice, such as in Malaysia, a developed world player. On the other side, there are conservative forces that seek a narrow interpretation of Islam that determines an individual's life, such as in Saudi Arabia, where thousands of frustrated unemployed youth have few places to turn for relief.
Two years ago, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf became the first -- and so far the only -- Muslim leader since the Sept. 11 terror attacks to acknowledge the damage done by extremist tenets concealed in the education and ruling systems, and, more importantly, vowed to do something about it.
Frustrated in the ensuing period by the resistance to reform put up by many of the country's madrassa (religious seminaries) administrators, and his reliance on clerics for political legitimacy, Musharraf made a tactical decision late last year to pull back, regroup and tackle government-run schools first.
But this battle is proving just as hard.
Just over a month ago, Pakistan's education minister, Zubaida Jalal, was shouted out of parliament for suggesting changes to the current syllabus -- changes including the removal of some Koranic verses and substituting words that might be contributing to making Pakistan a less-tolerant, militant-minded society.
For example, in the eighth class social studies book in Sindh province, authors swapped the word "martyrdom" for "demolition" when describing the 1992 destruction of the 16th century Babri mosque at the hands of a million Hindu nationalists. The Urdu language book for the seventh class changed the description of the deaths of the Prophet Mohammed's companions from "martyrdom" to "murder."
Other changes would have eased the vilification of Hindus and foreigners prevalent in many of the historical lessons.
Jalal's explanation that the changes did not reflect an assault on Islamic ideology went unheard.
Conservative clerics and members of the mainstream Pakistan Muslim League stormed out of the session, decrying the effort as part of Musharraf's plan to "Westernize" the country at the behest of Washington.
"We will resist any and all attempts to turn this country into a secular state," vowed Liaqat Baloch, deputy parliamentary leader for the six-party religious alliance United Action Forum.
Student groups affiliated with the forum took to the streets in protest, circulated petitions, and called for criminal charges against those involved in the changes. Clerics lambasted the changes in their mosques, in the media and in the streets.
The result?
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali spent days talking to every form of media in the country, promising nothing contrary to Islam or Pakistan would be in the syllabus and that the proposed changes would not happen.
In other words, pro-modern, tolerant, worldly forces found themselves on the run as the government backed down.
"This is all about tactics," said physics Professor A.H. Nayyar, who co- authored a report last year for Islamabad's Sustainable Development Policy Institute that heavily criticized the current syllabi for containing historical inaccuracies and lessons designed to impart intolerance toward non- Muslims and the glory of jihad (holy war).
Many of the textbooks used in government schools are based on a syllabus created 10 to 15 years ago -- before the end of the Cold War and the advent of the Internet. All are infused with dictates of former military dictator Gen. Zia ul-Haq, who embarked on an Islamization program that spawned thousands of willing recruits for military campaigns in neighboring Afghanistan and Kashmir and fomented serious divisions inside Pakistan.
"Musharraf would like to see these changes happen, but he is facing a lot of problems right now," Nayyar said, "and implementation is not going to happen in the face of severe pressure -- and the mullahs know this."
But this is one of those rare cases where what appears to be bad news, is actually pretty good.
For its many -- many, many, many -- problems, Pakistan has a relatively open society when compared to other Muslim countries -- such as Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Dissent is, largely, tolerated. The press is, mostly, free. The national pastime -- arguing, shouting, crying, lamenting - - is alive and well. And there is no other issue more important for Pakistan in a post-Sept. 11 world than to decide if its future will be better than the past or whether its past will determine its future -- a debate sadly quashed by autocratic rulers in most Muslim countries.
"This battle goes right to the heart of what we Pakistanis want Pakistan to be," said Nayyar. "It's not about going against Islam. It is a question of whether we want to be Muslims of the 21st century or the 16th."
Should Musharraf lose this particular battle, the war is not lost, for the debate will surely go on -- and that is a lesson political rulers across the globe would do well to learn.
Juliette Terzieff, a member of the Chronicle Foreign Service, is based in Pakistan.
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