'Cunning, Greedy': How Pakistan's History Textbooks Vilify Hindu Rulers, Glorify Muslims

Last Updated:May 02, 2025, 15:32 IST

A study by a scholar affiliated with Forman Christian College, Lahore, reveals Pakistan's textbooks consistently glorify Muslim invaders while marginalising Hindu rulers.

Students studying at a school in Pakistan's Lahore. (Image: AP Photo)

“Scheming, cunning, greedy" – that is how Pakistan’s history books have described Hindu rulers while Muslim invaders have been called benevolent rulers. A study titled – Portrayal of Invaders and Conquerors of Indian Subcontinent: Analysis of History Textbooks Studied in Pakistani Schools – conducted by Ashar Johnson Khokhar, a scholar affiliated with Forman Christian College, Lahore, published on the US Education Department website reveals Pakistan’s history textbooks consistently glorify Muslim invaders while marginalising or vilifying Hindu rulers and indigenous Indian history.

“The textbook writers unified the Muslim invaders and rulers of the Indian subcontinent with the rulers of Indus valley civilization, and they shared the same social, cultural, religious, political values," the study says, adding, “The master narrative of Pakistan’s history trivialized the Hindu rulers, and the people of the Indian subcontinent, Hindus, their religion, culture, and values."

The research paper has analysed history and social studies textbooks from classes 6 to 8, published by three Pakistani state textbook boards — Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study says that the curriculum promotes a master narrative linking Islamic identity to national pride, positioning Islam as a unifying force and India/Hinduism as cultural and historical adversaries.

The study unifies the Indus Valley Civilisation and Muslim rulers as positive influences, while minimising the Aryan period and Hindu rule. “The textbooks… presented Muslims and Islam as the true successor of Indus valley civilization and Buddhists rulers," the study says. It highlights how Pakistani textbooks described Aryans as “once refugees in the land, hungry and looking for shelter and food, cruel, ungrateful, unsympathetic, no civic sense, always fighting and quarreling with each other."

The study says Pakistani textbooks described Muslims as “brave, intelligent, lenient, generous, kind, gave money and land to build temples, opened schools (Islamic), build mosques, welcome traders, industrialists, developed infrastructure, improved agriculture, art, and literature flourished, treated local population (Hindu) with respect, gave them land and money to build temples, did not interfere in their religious customs and rites."

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On the other hand, the books described Hindus as “scheming, cunning, greedy, against Muslims and Islam, no contribution in Sciences, literature, art, united by religion."

The study also points out how the textbook writers suggest that Hindus converted to Islam “because of the generosity, kindness, tolerance and equality shown by Muslim invaders and rulers."

The study warns that this one-sided version of history could lead to young people learning a made-up story instead of a more complete and inclusive one.

To correct this, the author of the study advocates for a curriculum recognising minorities’ contributions for a more balanced perspective.

News world 'Cunning, Greedy': How Pakistan's History Textbooks Vilify Hindu Rulers, Glorify Muslims