A few weeks ago the Azme Alishan movement asked me to go to London to help promote a unique TV documentary called Home from Home.
There, I stayed in a hotel just around the corner from Lincolns Inn where Quaid-e-Azam first made his name as a brilliant law student and advocate. Just down the road, the British House of Commons, where the Quaid spent so much time studying the art of statecraft and watching the cut and thrust of political debate, sat under a blanket of snow. The fogs and winter in London upset me a great deal, he had said shortly after landing at Southampton docks and catching the boat train to the capital. As I walked the same London streets that once bore his footprints, the icy weather and biting cold caused me to reflect that I knew exactly what he meant.
Despite the weather, the Quaid loved London and learned a lot from its society and political life. It was here that he cemented his views on liberalism, and imbibed the values of fairness, equality, justice and human rights that he carried with him on his journey to create the free nation of Pakistan. It was here that he first became politically active, helping to secure the first seat for an Asian MP in the British Parliament. In more ways than one, the journey towards the Lahore Resolution whose 70th anniversary we have celebrated during this past year, began on the dark, cold streets of the British capital.
So the young political activist would have approved, I think, of the huge mass of university students who have taken to Londons streets in recent weeks to protest against their governments plan to introduce a new charge of around 1 million rupees a year for a place at university. The proposal has sparked a wave of student protest across the country that is unrivalled in modern times.
He would have approved I think, not simply because of the focus of the protests themselves though an inclusive education policy was something he regarded as critical in order to build up the character of our future generation as he put it but also because of the idealism, energy and determination shown by these young people who have not been prepared to sit back and just let things happen.
Much of his life was spent encouraging young people to recognise the critical role they could play in advancing causes such as freedom, justice, equality and human rights. And he was very clear that the success or failure of his own project that became our great nation of Pakistan rested heavily on the shoulders of the youth.
Pakistan is proud of her youth, particularly the students who have always been in the forefront in the hour of trial and need. You are the nations leaders of tomorrow and you must fully equip yourself by discipline, education and training for the arduous task lying ahead of you, he told the Punjabi Muslim Students Federation in Lahore in October of 1947.
So he would, I think, have welcomed the activism of the students in London and hoped to see such idealism, energy and passion reflected in the young people of his own homeland of Pakistan. Fortunately, here I am able to report some good news.
There is a myth about Pakistani youth, spread largely by some western media outlets, that suggests they are either apathetic or bent only on destruction. As an active member of the Azme Alishan movement over the past year, I can honestly say that this view is both wrong, and on the way to being changed.
When we launched the movement in March it was not necessarily with the youth audience in mind, but there is clearly something about the aims and ambitions of the initiative that has captured the imagination of young people across our nation and beyond.
From the outset, we secured strong support from the schools and colleges of Lahore. Then when we launched our first programme a city-wide environmental awareness and clean-up drive it was largely the youth of Lahore that responded by coming out onto the streets of their communities to help make their city a better place.
The Azme Alishan National Song Competition attracted hundreds of submissions from young amateur musicians across the country, while thousands more took the time to visit the associated website to vote for their favourite track and take part in the discussion boards.
When tragedy struck and the rains swallowed the homes and livelihoods of so many of our fellow Pakistanis in August, teams of largely young people responded to Azme Alishans call to collect and deliver food parcels to displaced families in the relief camps. Other organisations too were overwhelmed with young volunteers rushing to help those in need.
And when we asked people to take a moment to make a personal azm for a better Pakistan, it was so often the young people of our towns and cities who responded with a pledge to work towards a better future for our country. Today, Azme Alishans message boards and Facebook pages are alive with young men and women from across Pakistan and around the world joining together to celebrate Pakistans triumphs, reflect on her shortcomings, and commit themselves anew to doing what they can to transform the image of the country at home and abroad.
The idealism of these youngsters has been an inspiration to everyone on the Azme Alishan team. They have taken up Azme Alishans message of hope as their own, but today they are searching for an answer to the simple, practical question what can I do for Pakistan?.
In 2011, Azme Alishan will seek to provide some answers to that question. An initiative that was first designed as a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Lahore Resolution will continue into 2011 because of the demand among the young for more and more ways in which they can get involved in shaping the future of their nation.
So as we look towards a new year, the Azme Alishan team is busy planning the next phase of activities to engage our young people in promoting a more positive view of Pakistan.
All this would, I think, have made Quaid-e-Azam proud. To know that the caricature of Pakistans youth that is too often taken up by the western media as reality is being challenged by the words and actions of young Pakistanis from around the world, would vindicate his own faith in the inherent dignity and self-worth of the Pakistani people. And to recognise that there is a large constituency of young people who, like the students on the streets of his adopted city of London, are unprepared to sit back and let themselves and their futures be defined negatively by others, would strike a chord with a man whose very example teaches us that the future is not set in stone, but is there to be shaped by the determination of man.
Azme Alishans work in 2010 has shown that our nations young people today do recognise their responsibilities towards their homeland and are prepared to bear the burden of change. All they ask is that someone shows them the way.
In 2011, Azme Alishan will humbly attempt to do what it can to continue to tap the energy and passion of Pakistans youth.
It is an endeavour that would, I hope, have found favour with a man whose values, ideals and example echo down the ages from the dark streets of England to the vibrant cities and rural areas of Pakistan today.
