ISLAMABAD: Historian Dr Mubarak Ali was awarded with the Khawaja Ahmed Abbasi International Award, 2018 on Thursday.

The historian, activist and scholar has written many books, the central theme of many is that many of the history books written in Pakistan have been dictated by the ruling class and he believes that these history books represent a perversion of facts.

The event was organised by Anjuman Taraqi Pasand Musanifeen Pakistan and the Khawaja Ahmed Abbas Trust at the Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Speaking at the event, President National Party Punjab Ayub Malik said the history of kings was written in the past and that it was Dr Ali who pointed out that the history of the poor and labourers should be written as well.

“He believes that the history of the labourers who built the Taj Mahal should be written instead of the king who financed it,” he said.

Status of women

Meanwhile, speaking at the launch of a book titled Aurant Kahani by Riaz Akhter on Wednesday at the National Press Club, Dr Ali said women are not being given their rights as the legislatures belong to the exploitative class.

He said that till the working class, which constitutes 99pc of the total population, was not elected to parliament, women cannot enjoy their rights. He said Riaz Akhtar had analysed all civilisations and assessed the roles of women in them.

“In Greece, the woman would not venture out, she would not answer [the door]. So the woman is absent. The woman in India would be burnt alive and one man would have more than one wives. So in some cases hundred or 150 women would be burnt upon a husband’s death,” Dr Ali said.

Riaz Akhter said he wrote the book as a mission and with full dedication. That status of women has been historically reduced deliberately by men at different stages of evolution of mankind, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018