Past Imperfect

Retcon is the device whereby (usually in comics) history of character(s) is extended or modified in order to suit present, usually a radical departure from the theme. Serious (and boring) people call it historical revisionism.

The reason I am talking about this is the recent decision of powers that be in the land of pure, to contemporize history of partition. Now no one can accuse history as it is taught in Pakistan of neutrality or objectivity, which you must admit are trivial when compared to upholding ideology of Pakistan, never mind if the result is a prejudiced generation.

However since our "brothers from across the borders" became FATWAT , there is pressure by their benefactors to reform the education system so that their young people have career options other than future foot soldiers of Jihad. Hence the need to de-emphasize Islamic nature of Pakistan, hence instead of focusing on cultural differences arising out of mutually incompatible and antagonistic religious identity as the cause for partition, the new instruction will emphasize the economic aspects behind the event.

This is disingenuous to say the least, movement for separate Islamic nation constituted of Muslims from different economic backgrounds, an urge to retain distinct and disjointed identity being the only common bond.

But that really is not the point, rather what we should realize is that the partition was essentially based on flawed premise, that intellectuals and even the common public is disillusioned by the unraveling of the nation which was supposed to be "the other" of India, Since accepting the original error will be denial of the Pakistan itself, hence the constant need to reinvent history, which ranges from clever distortion to simply absurd, or to imagine past grievances.

Seen in this way, the tragedy of Pakistan is also the story of one billion Muslims.