Dead general brings history debate alive for MPAs

KARACHI: 

General Zia-ul Haq may have died 23 years ago but his spectre still looms large on Pakistani politics. On Wednesday, Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq was asked in the Sindh Assembly whether it were true that O’ Level students are being taught from a book in which the dictator has been given a more favourable profile than Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

It was surprising to learn from Haq that an education department committee is working on “set[ting] the record straight” by “deleting anti-democratic material including the [sic] notorious dictator General Zia”. It would also introduce “pro-democracy and anti-dictatorship” lessons in textbooks.