An Indian blogger’s write-ups on five things Pakistanis love about their country may soon be included in a Pakistani school text book.

The Oxford University Press in Karachi, which is working on a Class 11 text book, has sought Mayank Austen Soofi’s permission to print the series he ran on his blog Pakistanpaindabad.blogspot.com last year.

Soofi had invited Pakistanis from all walks of life to share what they believe are the five best things about their country and to “celebrate their nation”. The book is also expected to include Soofi’s picture and he is elated.

“It feels good to be published in a Pakistani text book,” Soofi said.

Oxford University Press’ editor (higher education) Samuel Ray wrote to Soofi recently to seek his permission to publish the material for a low priced English text book for Class 11.

“This textbook follows the 2006 National Curriculum and material in your blog covers theme on patriotism,” Ray wrote.

Soofi’s blog ran contributions from famous and not-so-famous Pakistanis. Columnist Irfan Mazdak Husain contributed his favourite fives in the “The Proud, Powerful and Pak series”.

“As Pakistan hits headlines around the world, the news all seems bad. From disaster in the World Cup, to poor Bob Woolmer’s death, to the recent bloodbath in Karachi, it seems that Pakistan is the source of much of the nastiness in a nasty world,” Husain wrote.

“But we Pakistanis have become so used to the succession of bad news that we have come to take each fresh crisis in our stride. In fact, it is this resilience in face of so much adversity (mostly self-created), that is one of the things I am most proud of.”