School Books That Teach Children To Hate
Mohammad Shehzad
Muslims
alone have the right to rule the world and are allowed to kill infidels
that stand in the way of Islam. This is the message being taught to
schoolchildren through textbooks used in the network of institutions run
by Jamaat ud-Daawa, according to a research report on Hate Speech complied
by the Liberal Forum Pakistan.
Democracy,
Freedom, and Peace in Textbooks: Campaign against Hate Speech reports that
books published by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (the first incarnation of ud-Daawa)
immerse young children in a culture that glorifies violence and hate. For
example, the Urdu textbook employed to teach children the alphabet uses
Bandooq (gun) as an example of a word that starts with the alphabet Bai,
Talwar (sword) and Tank for Tai, Jahaz (fighter plane) for Jeem, Khanjar
(dagger) for Khai, Rocket for Rai, and Tayyara (fighter plan again) for
To-ay.
"Infidels
are cowards by nature," claims the Urdu textbook used in the second
grade (for seven-year-olds). "When a holy warrior attacks them, they
scream with terror and fear." Mujahideen are glorified as the alpha
male on a mission from God. They are the superheroes that kill Hindus,
fashion all sorts of gadgets from found material, and make the infidel
world cower in fear.
Art and
music are forbidden so instead of handicrafts, children are asked to
purchase plastic guns and trained to shoot at balloons. Games on the
playground include playing guerrilla and ambushing infidel convoys. Poems
relay stories of young boys that wage jihad. In Brave Child, ten-year-old
Gul Rehman kills hundreds of Russians in Afghanistan. Probably fictitious
letters from jihadis killed in battle strewn across textbooks. "If I
am killed in battle celebrate," reads a letter from one Abdul Nasir
to his mother and sister which can be found in the seventh grade textbook.
"Make sure you conceal your body and never wear perfume."
India is
presented as Pakistan's sworn enemy and Saudi Arabia as its best friend.
Kashmir is presented as Pakistani territory forcibly snatched by Hindus
and Pakistan as a country created only for Muslims. Children are
instructed to "mercilessly beat up" non-Muslims. "Every
student should become a holy warrior," the second grade textbook
states. "We should all be willing to lay down our lives for the great
nuclear power that is Pakistan."
Published by
the ud-Daawa press these are given to students free of charge and are not
available on the market. TFT caught up with Abu Naseer, an official at the
ud-Daawa Rawalpindi center who explained the books were meant to inspire.
"We aim
to inculcate a truly Islamic spirit in our students," said Mr Naseer.
"We earnestly desire to enable our students to view Islam as a
complete way of life rather than a mere set of rituals. So through our
textbooks we introduce our students to the inspirational ideas and
objectives of Islam, we introduce them to our glorious past."
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