EVERY year on this day of March 23, the Pakistani nation celebrates Pakistan’s Republic Day with its full national zeal and zest to pay homage to our founding fathers and remember the significance of the 1940 Lahore Resolution in shaping the destiny of a future Pakistan. It is the day, when the idea to create an independent state of Pakistan was propelled and transmitted in Muslims’ rank and file under the heroic stewardship of Quaid-i-Azam. Needless to say, Pakistan Resolution was a precursor to the ideological frontiers of Pakistan, therefore, its impact cannot be seen in isolation of the Objectives Resolution, tabled in Pakistan’s first Constituent Assembly in March 1949. This is the day of resolve to uphold Jinnah’s credo of Pakistan.
The Boulevard towards Pakistan: Pakistan Resolution was the landmark in the history of Muslim of South-Asia. It determined for the Muslims a true goal and their homeland in north-east and north-west. The resolution, written by Zafarullah Khan and other prominent Muslim League members, proposed the establishment of an independent state to safeguard the interests of the Muslim community in the Indian subcontinent.
The acceptance of the Pakistan Resolution accelerated the pace of freedom movement. The Lahore Resolution holds immense significance in the history of Pakistan. It was a formal statement presented by the All-India Muslim League, advocating the creation of a separate state for Muslims based on their predominantly Muslim population. During the period (1940-47), All India Muslim League was encapsulated with new enthusiasm as League‘s branches of the party were opened even in the remote corners of the subcontinent.
Under Jinnah’s mentorship, the Muslim league underwent a mass mobilization —becoming a popular party with the Muslim masses in the aftermath of Lahore Resolution, the Muslims of Sub continent were united under the banner of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s poised, dynamic and astute statesmanship— marching on a boulevard towards the state foundation of Pakistan. The subsequent political vicissitudes of the events during 1940-47 period hold sufficient evidence to Jinnah’s statesmanship accompanied by a political truth, had there been no Jinnah, there would have been no Pakistan.
After the failure of Cabinet mission, (1945) both the Congress and the Muslim League had had no choice but to accept the lord Wavell Plan. Two largest Muslim majority provinces,—Bengal and Punjab—were partitioned. The Assemblies of West Punjab, East Bengal and Sindh and in Balochistan, the Quetta Municipality, and the Shahi Jirga voted for Pakistan. Referenda were held in the North-West Frontier Province and the District of Sylhet in Assam, which resulted in an overwhelming vote for Pakistan. As a result, on August 14th, 1947, the new state of Pakistan came into existence.
Ideological orientations of Pakistan: The state of Pakistan embraces its national ideology rooted in the political and philosophical teachings of Allama Iqbal and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Late Professor Sharif-ul Mujahid, a research scholar and an authority on Jinnah and Pakistan movement in his book, the ideology of Pakistan argues that Pakistan’s emergence as an independent state was predictable because the Muslims of India tended to view themselves as a separate nation and they had “event-making” personalities, especially Jinnah —who postulated the two-nation theory successfully—which was the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan. As for the he Muslims of India, nothing was more subtle and acceptable than a distinct nation —entitled to self-determination and de jure recognition.
The objectives Resolution: Objectives Resolution is one of the most important documents in the constitutional history of Pakistan as it chartered our constitutional moorings. It was passed by the first Constituent Assembly on 12th March 1949 under the leadership of Pakistan’s first Premier Liaquat Ali Khan. It laid down the very objectives to be drafted in the formulation of our constitutions, and became the foundational stone of Pakistan’s constitutional legacy-cum-development.
The most diverse feature it entailed was that it adopted the spirit of politico-religio syncretism –fostering principles of both the Islamic political system and Western Democracy. It is why that it served as a preamble for the constitution of 1956, 1962, and 1973, thereby becoming part and parcel of the Constitution of the 1973via the Eighth Amendment in 1985.Though some constitutionalist have framed their reservations, how the Supreme Court has used the preamble, undeniable is the fact that our constitution’s sanctity chiefly rests with the true interpretation of its preamble. Undeniably, the objectives resolution serves as a guidepost to an enlightened commitment made by the founding fathers to promote civil liberties, religious freedom, and democracy within society.
Jinnah’s Pakistan: all famous scholars of Pakistan Movement unanimously agree that Jinnah’s Pakistan was the embodiment of a liberal Islamic and a modern democratic state. Needless to say, Jinnah’s Pakistan was a state based on the fundamentals of liberal Islamic ideology void of religious extremism and sectarianism. Since religion had played an important role in the creation of Pakistan, the role of religion in the context of an independent Pakistan assumed paramount significance. Jinnah, from the very beginning of the foundation of Pakistan made it clear that Pakistan was not going to be a theocratic state, rather a liberally democratic state—ruled under Islamic ideals of a welfare state, where all citizens will be equal before the law. Today we need to realign ourselves with the ideals of Jinnah’s Pakistan.
Today our nation, including our armed forces share the spirit of an unflinching resolve to adhere and defend Pakistan’s ideological and territorial frontiers. On the eve of this historical day, the people of Pakistan cannot help paying a rich tribute to the defenders and martyrs of Pakistan who rendered their supreme sacrifices in the war against terrorism. As a nation, we all must be united to foil our enemies’ agenda to divide us. The world knows that we are a resilient nation: since its creation, Pakistan has survived through multiple crisis and Inshallah, it will also survive through the current challenges via inculcating faith, unity, and discipline in our rank and file. Pakistan Paindabad!
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-international law analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law. He deals with the strategic and nuclear issues.
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