Remembering Jinnah

Every year we celebrate December 25 as Quaid-e-Azam Day. This is the day when Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was born. At his birth anniversary’s celebrations, we hear the usual rhetoric from our politicians about Mr Jinnah’s vision and how they are trying to follow his path. But if truth be told, Pakistan is anything but what the Quaid wanted it to be. It is time to revisit his August 11, 1947 address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Mr Jinnah’s first observation was that “the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state”. None of our governments have been able to ensure the safety of the life, property and religious beliefs of its citizens. Not only was the independence movement hijacked by the religious right but during the bloody partition, we witnessed the massacre of Sikhs and Hindus on our side of the border. Most Hindu and Sikh families who had been living here for centuries opted to move to India. As if that was not enough, the Objectives Resolution in 1949 strengthened the right-wing forces. Declaring Pakistan an ‘Islamic Republic’ was in itself an antithesis of what Jinnah wanted his country to be.

Mr Jinnah said, “You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” He obviously wanted a secular, democratic, tolerant and non-discriminatory Pakistan. Today, we are left with a moth-eaten country where black laws such as the Second Amendment, the Blasphemy Law and Hudood Ordinance rule the roost; where the mullahs can get away with murder and the rights of minorities are trampled upon every single day; where women are subjugated because of the patriarchal system; where the poor have no voice and the rich continue to exploit the masses; where terrorists roam free but the masses cannot get justice; and where the army has relegated the political class to the backburner.

It is time that the people of Pakistan stand up for their rights and demand that Jinnah’s vision be recovered. The only way this state can survive now is if we espouse the Quaid’s values.

(my editorial in Daily Times)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution without reason

Universities all over the world tend to hire people with a sound academic background as they want the best for their students. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan did the same when they hired Dr Ghazala Anwar as Deputy Dean of Usul-ud-Din (Islamic jurisprudence) at the women’s campus of International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad. Dr Ghazala earned her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA) in 1993, with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. She was appointed at the IIU under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme after her application was reviewed by a Peer Review Committee of scholars. Dr Ghazala Anwar has been part of a movement that has been trying to fight for the just treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Muslims. The movement does not preach to others to become homosexuals, but asks Muslims to be tolerant of these “sexual m
Read more

The myth of September 6, 1965

Every year we Pakistanis celebrate September 6th with a lot of ‘national fervour’ and laud the armed forces for being ‘victorious’ against the Indian forces back in the 1965 war. The state commemorates the ‘Defence Day’ by holding various ceremonies and special programmes. Milli naghmay (patriotic songs) are aired on the local television channels and radio stations, while the newspapers bring out special supplements to mark the day. This is all very well, but I wonder if our people know that in actuality we are not celebrating a victory. Not only did we lose militarily in 1965 – state propaganda aside – but we also lost our national unity in the process. Forty-two years down the road, ours is a country that is on the verge of dismemberment, again. August 1947 gave birth to two independent states, India and Pakistan. It also gave birth to territorial disputes that haunt both South Asian neighbours to date. Kashmir is one of the main disputed territories. The two infant states fought a
Read more

Bitter truth

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza is a loose cannon and, if rubbed the wrong way, will fire away. At the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Dr Mirza was hit by a barrage of complaints by the city’s industrialists and traders for failing to give them adequate protection. Obviously stung by the criticism, he said that “people cast votes for extortionists; they should now talk to their elected representatives for law and order”. Dr Mirza pinned the blame for the deteriorating law and order situation mostly on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). “Dr Imran Farooq was murdered in London, but buses of Pakhtuns were torched in Karachi. Did Asfandyar Wali kill Dr Imran Farooq?” asked Dr Mirza. He went on to allege that when “they [the MQM] want to kill any Pakhtun, Sindhi, Punjabi or Baloch in Karachi, they go about executing their plan methodically”. What Dr Mirza said is politically inappropriate given that the MQM is a coalition partner of the PPP government both at the Cen
Read more