Very aptly put!

“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.” – General Charles De Gaulle

“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.” – Albert Einstein

… and I totally agree with you ayesha.

so far as the caste syetm and sattee and all that is concerned, it is NOT anti indian or anti HINDU… r u trying to hint that saying Christians believe in jesus being son of God is anti-christian? it isnt! its a fact being stated in context of the early spread of islam.

Ok! now! Satee is not equivalent to Christian’s belief in jesus being son of the god! Satee was a social evil and has been almost eradicated like polio. May be belief in satee can be compared to KKK’s belief in white supremacy or something like that.

*plans to shoot maria*

the mindset it festers!!! the picture you build of the Indian is negative, not likeable. and once you tell the kid that he is the enemy of islam, taadaaa!

as aalways “ash is being oveeerllyyy cynical ”

notice that in saying hindus lived in small and dark houses, it DOES NOTmean hindus r bad. specifically, as I remember this statement was there when describing the muslim architecture in india. you have to be digging between the lines or something to get to that

so far as the caste syetm and sattee and all that is concerned, it is NOT anti indian or anti HINDU… r u trying to hint that saying Christians believe in jesus being son of God is anti-christian? it isnt! its a fact being stated in context of the early spread of islam.

Muslim children of India wear shalwar kameez or shirt and pajama and Hindu children wear Dhoti also. — ayesha how is this anti indian at ALL?

so far as the enemy image is concerned, i DO agree that it is created, but not because it is EXPLICITLY stated per se. but the point is when u discuss kashmir and u discuss 1965 and 1971 and siachin.. what on earth r u supposed to say there? “oh btw we r having a friendly war”??? thats what I mean when I said, REMOVE THESE topics. they shudnt be there for children to grow up with. I dont know if indian texts teach kids this or not, but on our side this is a stupid approach. As i ve said agaain and again, we shud teach children our own fundamentals…and take out everything political.
as far as the whole religious idea goes, i dont ee anything wrong with it. except that a broader curriculum is required for a comparatie studies of religions if needed, which includes everything from hinduism to judaism and islam.

It is clear that in the presence of such material [on that promotes militarism and glorification of war], peace and tolerance cannot be promoted.The minds that have been taught to hate do not have always to hate the enemy they have been told to hate; they can create ‘the other’ from amongst themselves and exercise
violence against anyone, even against their own countrymen. Violence comes naturally to those to whom the military and the use of force have been glorified.

As mentioned earlier in this report, our history is distorted to create an ‘enemy’ image in our curriculum document and text books. These documents and books glorify wars and military heroism. It is interesting to note that this started in the 1970s when the civilian and democratically elected regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced a full two-year course on ‘Fundamentals of War’ and ‘Defence of Pakistan’ for class XI and XII respectively.

Moving on it states the following:

The textbooks then respond in the following way to the above curriculum instructions:
1. Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam.
2. The religion of the Hindus did not teach them good things — Hindus did not respect women.
3. Hindus worship in temples which are very narrow and dark places, where they worship idols. Only one person can enter the temple at a time. In our mosques, on the other hand, all Muslims can say their prayers together.
4. Muslim children of India wear shalwar kameez or shirt and pajama and Hindu children wear Dhoti also.
5. The Hindu Lived in Small and dark houses.

and the list goes on and on.

Is that still not anti-Indian enough? Notice the mindset it festers? That is the basic problem. We are trained to be prejudiced just about everything that is not like us! Heck, we don’t even spare a thought to the minor Hindu majority that lives amongst us. This is primarily why I have major issues with the nationalism that is indoctrinated in our country. For the ideological basis is thoroughly flawed and does not work towards the creation of objective and un-prejudiced citizens.

In the light of all of this, I am not so sure that not many people would be left who have not been prejudiced against India [largely] and non Muslims on a broader perspective. I sure do hope that you are right about it – but my interaction with the most outspoken people has only been extremely disappointing and worrisome.

Though, [after some thought] I do agree with the general character of the youth of Pakistan that you paint. But still I don’t see it makes the above stated realities any less grave!

yes, we are eternally afraid of the YYY [Yankee, Yindu and Yehudi] nexus and justifiably so in some cases – but again the same question does it justify all of the above? In my opinion, no.

I could not find the text of the essay “On Nationalism” by Tagore on the internet, but here are a couple of extracts:

“The Nation, with all its paraphernalia of power and prosperity, its flags and pious hymns, its blasphemous prayers in the churches, and the literary mock thunders of its patriotic bragging, cannot hide the fact that the Nation is the greatest evil for the Nation …. ”

“With the growth of power the cult of the self-worship of the Nation grows in ascendancy, and the individual willingly allows the Nation to take donkey-rides upon his back, and there happens the anomaly which must have such disastrous effects, that the individual worships with all sacrifices a god which is morally much inferior to himself”.

Ironically the national anthems of two countries- India and Bangladesh, have been adapted from Tagore !