tirsdag 8. august 2017

India and Pakistan: Collecting 'difficult memories' from the birth of two nations

As Pakistan and India turn 70, those who were there for the birth of the two nations are getting old. At least two civil groups are racing against time to document as much of their oral history as possible for future generations. At a government-run school inside the historical Walled City of Lahore, a teacher lectures a class of 14-year-olds on the creation of Pakistan. "Muslims were the rulers of this land, but they lost power to the British. They were then oppressed by both the British and the Hindus," Allah Rakha tells his class of 30 or so students. "Hindus and Muslims are like fire and water. Their lifestyles and belief systems are totally incompatible," he says.