The Enigma of Pakistani Identity by Haroon Khalid
It is a travelogue but not in the real sense.
For me, it is a kick in the chest
pit of a Pakistani nationalist which could be fatal. The book is a punch below
the nose of an Indian nationalist which could be life-threatening, a spit at
the face of a British nationalist and a reverberating slap on the face of the academicians
at school and higher education stages who decide the syllabus of National history,
political science and sociology.
In order to understand the
content of this small book, one should know that history is very harsh, rude
and blunt if one is a serious learner. Secondly, as per the new trends of
history, Folklores are also the archives for historians. If one is a traditional
historian who believes only in written words and documents, then it is an opinion
of a young Pakistani who is probably from a village near to the village of Ranjha
at Takht Hazara. The author has his education in Archaeology from a university
in Pakistan. For a superficial reviewer
of this book at Amazon site from where I have bought this book for a pittance
as a Prime Member, it is a useless book which merely refers to some places in
Pakistan but does not provide any useful information. It depends upon the intellectual
level of a reader to treat it as per his or her learning level.
The overall length of the book is
not more than 15 to 18 odd A4 size typed pages. However, it is developed into nine
chapters. The book is published in India by Westland Publications Ltd in 2017, which probably
is the same publication which made Savi Sharma a best-selling author.
The content of the book will
tease and tantalise the readers from both sides of the Redcliff line
differently. The language is lucid. It is only at one place the syntax of a
sentence is a bit confusing. The line is reproduced below.
“Out of all of the provinces of the country, it is Punjab has experienced the greatest Islamization after the creation of the country.” Haroon Khalid. The Enigma of Pakistani Identity (Kindle Locations 418-419). Westland Publications Ltd. Kindle Edition.
In the rest of the book, the flow
of the narrative is very smooth, and one can read it in less than one hour. This
book is strongly recommended to the Indian readers provided they have a good
understanding of Indian culture and history. The reader has to overlook the
bias of the author in some places. It will be of interest if this book is
available in Pakistan also.
The author of this book has also published other
books. The author is available on Facebook.
