“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”
14th August 1947 will always be remembered as the day when thousands of our country men sacrificed their lives and endured extraordinary pains to call this state their home. The freedom that we enjoy today was the collective achievement of this country’s leaders, their sacrifice and perseverance in the face of extreme adversity.
However, while we celebrate this historic day, it is important that we recall again the fundamental principle which the founding father of this country had set out to achieve: that we are all equal citizens of this state. Jinnah’s famous saying still resonates today: “You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in the state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or cast or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we lost the very guiding principle of “equality” and “tolerance” that Muhammad Ali Jinnah fearlessly advocated. In the years following the partition, we allowed racial, religious and economic inequality to dominate us rather than more freedom, equality and tolerance. On many occasions over the last three decades, it felt that all the sacrifices of our leaders and countrymen would end up in smoke and dust.
Although Jinnah may have desired a country for Muslims (predominantly), he never aspired to see his country as a state where religious minorities were casted aside, tortured, subjugated and considered second class citizens. The Objective Resolution that was passed by the constituent assembly after the death of Jinnah was the beginning of an unfortunate precedent that loudly declared that people belonging to religions other than Islam were not welcome in this state. As many have already argued that had Jinnah been alive, he would never have given his assent to the resolution in its current form.
The leadership that came after Jinnah’s death has put his mission on sale: those who wanted to see Jinnah’s Pakistan as an Islamic state, denounced and objected to his liberal and secular views; while others, who were interested in painting Jinnah’s mission as a “civilisational struggle” against Hindus rather than a “political agenda,” have mitigated his massage of cultural, social and religious acceptance and diversity. For instance, in a speech, Jinnah endorsed the view that “Pakistan should be based on sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism which emphasises equality and brotherhood of man.”
On the positive side, however, in the last six decades, Pakistan has also achieved remarkable progress in several fields. We have had extraordinary achievements in fields like health, education, transport, industry and agriculture. We have also made great gains in the fields of science and technology. A number of encouraging changes have taken place in social, political and economic fields.
Particularly, in the last few years, a lot of encouraging developments have happened which reflect that as a nation we are bound to rise and overcome our differences and fears. A few years ago, Pakistan was being called a ‘failing’ or ‘failed’ state due to number of different reasons; however, now different security, financial and economic indicators are telling a very different story. International financial markets are considering Pakistan a future economic and technological powerhouse. Titles such as, ‘Can Pakistan be the next Silicon Valley’ and ‘Pakistan as top 10 emerging markets of the future,’ have started to come across very often. Despite some setbacks, the country’s national Action Plan against terror has made significant differences and security has improved to a great extent. In governance sectors there are more talks for passing legislations to ensure equal rights for women. Moreover, over the last one year, the federal government has introduced many progressive policy measures to curb Islamist extremism and give more rights to minorities. In November last year, the Prime Minister attended a Diwali event where he said that “I am a Prime Minister of all communities”. Earlier this month, the government passed a resolution to declare Holi, Easter and Diwali as public holidays.
Like all great countries and nations that went through their difficult formative phases before transforming into a great country, our country is in its formative phase and going through a testing period. Our resiliency as a nation in the face of insurmountable challenges has proven that we have a potential to become as great as any other nation or state. For that, however, we should be aware of our strengths and weaknesses and should not allow ourselves to be consumed by petty differences of cast, creed, sect and faith.
If we continue to remain divided like we have been in the last six decades then we are inevitable to fail not just Jinnah’s mission but of our future generations as well.
jinha was a opportunistic leader,he even never went to any indian freedam movenet,there was indeed other muslim great leader such frontier khan etc.jinha was a leader for pakistan but not a freedem fighter.
The comment by some Raka an obvious indian troll justifies what our Qauid believed in. However our most writers are not conversent with our and subcontinent history or are intellectually dishonest. The only period of prosparity and progress was October 1958 to 1969. It was when Ayub Khan’s Pakistan was a beacon of light for countries from Europe to far east. Dams were built, communication network all over Pakistan. PIA was the best airlines worldwide and there was no religious bigotry. Loud speakers were used for Azaan only. For Khitab the inner speakers were only allowed. We never dared violate traffic rules. And then we owe Gawadar to Ayub Khan who had the vision and purchazed it from Oman unlike Bharat who forcibly grabbed Goa from Portuguese. We were a country to reckon in sports we slept in the open and on rooftops. Best of all our population was manageable and happy. Then came ZA Bhutto and he undid all with a vengeance. He was followed by Gen Zia who gave us the people we are enduring till today. Bhutto for selfish reason had unleashed all religious oppertunists and Zia promoted their divisive philosophy.
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