NEW DELHI – Five years after courting controversy for praising Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, senior BJP leader LK Advani said that instability in Pakistan is “certainly a matter of concern” for India but disagreed that the country would disintegrate.
“Those who think the state is about to disintegrate… it is not true. It is not going to explode,” He said he had “personally” experienced what Pakistan’s founder would have gone through by advocating for a secular state. “I personally have experienced what referring to Jinnah as a person who basically wanted a secular state with a Muslim majority….,” Advani said, leaving his statement incomplete but giving enough hint as to what he meant to say.
Advani, who had to resign as BJP president after making the controversial remarks about Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan in 2005, referred to the episode at the launch of book ‘Tinderbox – The Past and Future of Pakistan’ authored by eminent journalist MJ Akbar on Tuesday.
At the book launch, Advani again described Jinnah as a secular person and sought to put the blame for the political instability in Pakistan on leaders like Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, who propounded the two-nation theory, and Gen Ziaul Haq. Endorsing Akbar’s views in his book, Advani said, “He (author) rightly says that Pakistan can become a stable, modern nation only if the children of the Father of Pakistan, Jinnah, can defeat the ideological heirs of the Godfather Maududi.”
