Karachi: Pakistan "lost terribly in the 1965 war" with India, a Pakistani historian has admitted.
Dispelling "the victory myth", historian and political economist Akbar S Zaidi said there cannot be a bigger lie as Pakistan had lost terribly, Dawn reported on Saturday. Zaidi said people are unaware of this fact because the history taught in Pakistan is from an ideological viewpoint. Zaidi said, "Students are not taught the history of the people of Pakistan. Rather it is focused on the making of Pakistan."
Zaidi, who teaches history at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, added, "With the celebration of the victory in the 1965 war round the corner, there can be no bigger a lie that Pakistan won the war. We lost terribly in the 1965 war," he said.
The remark comes with Pakistan just two days away from observing Defence Day to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war.
On when was Pakistan created, he said one obvious answer is it did so on Aug 14, 1947 but he read out an excerpt from a Pakistan Studies textbook in which it was claimed it came into being in 712AD when the Arabs came to Sindh and Multan. "This is utter rubbish!" he said, rejecting the textbook account.
Zaidi also acknowledged that Parsis and Hindus contributed hugely in the educational development of Karachi and in a similar manner the Sikhs in Punjab.
