INTRODUCTION 7
of civilians-and linked them to the atrocities of Pakistan's teeming
Muslims since 1971 War for Bangladesh.
Pakistan in 1981 was only a decade old. Previously, it was "West
Pakistan," the geographically separated other of "East Pakistan." In
1971, the country went through a civil war, and the bloodied eastern
half emerged as Bangladesh. With the violent birth of Bangladesh, the
Muslims of Pakistan, first partitioned along religious lines, had now
repartitioned along ethnic and linguistic lines. Naipaul correctly iden-
tified the resurgent origins narrative that the Pakistani state claimed
for itself: that Pakistan was founded not in 1947 but in 712 AD. Where
Naipaul saw colonial destruction, the Pakistani state saw righteous
domination of their faith over the unbelievers. The Class VI Social
Studies Textbook, first published in 1979 as part of General Zia ul-
Haq's educational imperative, demonstrates this reading in the chapter
"First Citizen" and provides the officially sanctioned story:
Before the dawn of Islam, the tra~e relations had been setup [sic] be-
tween India and the Arabs. 'The Muslims invaded the subcontinent
in 712 A.D. Prior to this the Arabs used to visit this land for the sale
& [sic] purchase of their goods. The Arab traders were staunch Mus-
lims and therefore taught Islam to the people of India. A number of
Arab traders had also settled in Sri Lanka and due to trade had good
relations with the people. With the passage of time some of the traders
died. The Raja of Sri Lanka who was kind hearted, he sent the widows
and their children and belongings on eight ships along with gifts for
the Muslim caliph. When these ships reached near the port of Debal
the pirates plundered these ships. The Arab women and children were
made captives. Some of the Muslims managed to escape and made
aware of Hajjaj bin Yousaf of the entire incident. Conflict between
the Arabs and ruler of Sind started due to this incident. Hajjaj bin
Yusuf sent Muhammad bin Qasim to conquer Sind. This was the
foundation of Pakistan.^12
As I will detail in a subsequent chapter, this particular emphasis
on Islam's"torigins in South Asia, and the usage of the specific example
of assault on Muslim women, can be traced to the work of historians
who wrote these textbooks-I. H. Qureshi and S. M. Ikram-as part of
a select state-sanctioned group responsible for creating the constitutive