Pakistani Pride, where art thou be ye?

My Operations Management professor, said that he is a part of the group that is currently working on a project of correcting history. It seems that most of our history is not true. For example, a huge chunk of the population believes that we actually won the 1965 war, and there was no UN ceasefire. The Mughals have been portrayed as ambassadors of the peak of Islam in the sub-continent; the part about the prostitutes and dancers present in courts has been left out. The reciprocal killings by muslims of hindus at the time of Independence are not mentioned. So my question attacks the very norms of truth itself. Is it really necessary for everyone to know things as they really are? Answering this question is like stepping into the grey area where the right thing is not the right thing to do.

There are a number of ways to unite people. One of them is by giving them heroes. Textbooks in primary and secondary school take care of that by implementing a force of love and affection for Islam and Pakistan. They paint glorified pictures of war and mercy shown by muslims and Pakistanis throughout time and as a result the new generation starts feeling proud of its heritage. But somewhere along this instillation, some unpleasant factors start kicking in. We start hearing stories of betrayal and fraud being associated with the nationality and then the little bad things, like running late for an appointment or cheating someone are phrased like, “He has proven himself to be a true Pakistani.” So where did our pride go? Are we not the same people who were masters of the sub-continent and loved by everyone, as written in our textbooks? We hear stories of corruption by each and every individual in the bureaucracy. We hear millions and billions of the tax-payers money, vanishing in thin air. We hear about poor planning of policies, people dying of hunger, rising unemployment, industries shutting down, and so our pride starts disintegrating. We lose affection for our homeland and soon we want out.

A reason why a common American feels that he is a part of the greatest nation in the world is not because he really truly is. It is because throughout his life, the only thing he has heard is that his nation is the best nation in the world and there is no other comparison to it. So, it does matter what kind of information you need to give to the country. If information is controlled then you have patriots, if not, you have terrorists. I agree that truth should prevail. It is just the ‘under all circumstances’ part that really bothers me. No history is untarnished and pure. There are areas or incidents that should never have happened, a part of every civilization the world has ever had. The reason people do not know about them is that knowing them will only cause harm to everyone. I believe that there should be no corruption and everyone should have equal rights. I also believe that the judicial system should be fair and MPAs and MNAs should really truly represent the will of the people. But apart from this, I also believe that sometimes, doing the wrong thing is the right thing to do. In this case, the right thing seems to be, distorting the truth.