Thursday, July 11, 2019

The Enigma of Pakistani Identity by Haroon Khalid

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.

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