The best way to remember Quaid-e-Azam would be to honour his ideals
Pakistan is mourning the gruesome killing of 132 children as the birth anniversary of country;s founder Quaid-e-Azam is celebrated. At the same time the country is preparing itself to take hard decisions to rid itself of the scourge of terrorism which poses an existential threat to it. With the tragedy in Peshawar having united the entire nation, what is required is to take crucial decisions which the civil and military leadership has been dodging all these years. Such is the force of the public pressure that it is no more possible for any political party to be seen to be soft on the terrorists.
The terrorists stand for everything that Jinnah had vehemently opposed. The TTP wants the establishment of a worldwide Khilafat while Jinnah had opposed the Khilafat Movement way back in 1919. Unlike the TTP which wants to achieve its aims through violence and coercion, Jinnah stood for parliamentary struggle. While al-Qaeda, TTP and Daish oppose the countries defining themselves within geographical borders, Jinnah created Pakistan as a nation state. The Quaid was an ardent supporter of democracy, which the extremist groups consider a system alien to Islam.
It is a matter of satisfaction that after years of vacillation, capitulation and retreat, the country now stands united on taking the terrorists and their supporters head on. The army has intensified attacks on terrorists. Political parties have formulated a joint action plan. The prime minister is highly motivated and has vowed to lead the nation to victory. Issues like the role of the madaris, banned outfits working under new names, extremism which serves as the well head of terrorism and the extent of the role of the military courts would soon be debated in Parliament. Hopefully the exercise would be completed within a few days, putting the country back on the track that leads to creating a Pakistan visualised by the Quaid as a federal, democratic, modern, pluralistic and welfare state inspired by the Islamic ideals.
