Recent events in Gaza, and the extreme barbarity perpetrated upon innocent citizens living under occupation, alongwith disregard of basic human rights by so called champions of free-world, must wake us to ground realities. In our neighborhood, under Modi’s Hindutva, Muslims and Christians have been subjected to misery in Kashmir, Manipur etc. It is time we realized that Pakistan is a blessing and a legacy of MAJ and other pioneers of freedom struggle. There was no armed struggle involved. It is a legacy, which we have collectively betrayed since 1954, when few men blinded by their lust for power, totally devoid of implications and negative fallout, embarked on a plan to achieve political power via Bathinda.
For those not familiar with proverbial meaning, Bathinda in 1901, was a major rail junction in East Punjab on NWR network in British India, with six track branches. Every train from South Punjab passed through it. This effectively increased distance from Karachi to Bombay from 550miles to about 1800miles via Bathinda. It is proverbially meant to describe anything done in an illogical manner. Pakistan’s transformation from a British colony to an independent sovereign state is one such example. The political process, which was the basis of our freedom struggle was derailed through EBDO on 7th August 1959. All politicians of repute, including those who participated in the freedom struggle were banned and replaced with a concocted system, dominated by pygmies. The architects of Pakistan gave a comprehensive plan for democratic self-rule with a constitution as supreme law. All that was needed, was to build the edifice of a state, serving its citizens, in accordance with vision of Father of Nation, which he elaborated upon on 11 August 1947. Yet, greed and ambition, blinded few, who grabbed power and dismantled Jinnah’s vision. These men lacked both in vision and intellect to comprehend the negativity generated by their greed, or else were least bothered. Most of them have abandoned this country, having made “Hay while the Sun shines. Unfortunately, each one of us, collectively and individually, has betrayed our obligation to give back to this country, what each one of us owed it. Pakistan came into existence through a democratic constitutional struggle and its survival is wedded to democracy. MAJ never exploited religion in politics, and he gave us an independent state, where the will of the people was to reign supreme, with a written constitution to which all state institutions must submit. Yet within few years of our emergence in 1947, there emerged few, who imposed their will through brute force and tried to convince us, that democracy is not suited to our people. What they were trying to insinuate is that the Muslim majority living in Pakistan were intellectually inferior to Hindu majority living in India, which simultaneously achieved independence from British Colonial rule in August 1947 and adopted a constitution by 1950. Both India and BD are economically more viable than us. The first subversion was introduction of BD system. Jinnah’s vision of democracy was replaced by indirect electoral college, which could be manipulated to achieve their version of democracy via Bathinda.
It was at Dacca in 1906, that foundations of AIML were laid by a politically conscious Bengali leadership, and sadly they were first driven to desperation, resulting in tragic events of 1971. MAJ understood diversity in culture, customs and dialect of the federating units, and the importance of constitutional democracy, with its checks and balances, to achieve Unity, Faith and Discipline, so vital for Pakistan to exist. Instead, the remnants of the British Raj, the paid civil and uniformed bureaucracy and the political toadies, like Unionist Party in Punjab, gathered together to transform Jinnah’s modern democratic welfare state, to a client state serving their former colonial masters.
On September7, 1920 Quaid presiding over a special session of Muslim League at Calcutta elaborated “Every country has two principal and vital functions to perform; one to assert its voice in international policy, and the other to maintain internally the highest levels of justice and humanity. But one must have one’s own administration in one’s own hands to carry it to one’s own satisfaction”. There was no ambiguity that Pakistan would be a modern democratic welfare state, where all citizens would enjoy equal rights. Almost 103 years, since the Calcutta session, we are still in a confused state of mind. After 26 years of achieving independence, we adopted a constitution in 1956, which was abrogated, leading to 1971 debacle. We finally managed to unanimously adopt a constitution in 1973. This has been suspended twice already, yet managed to survive. It was Jinnah’s firm belief that there is no conflict between Islam and democracy. We, as a nation, are still at crossroads, struggling to maintain our economic sustainability, without which national sovereignty, can neither be secured, or maintained, nor the vision of a modern democratic welfare state achieved. Every citizen of Pakistan, was to be free to practice their faith, but united in our commitment to preserve the democratic welfare state which Father of Nation promised to the people and was the objective for a separate identity. MAJ was very clear and so were other pioneers. In Jinnah’s vision “Islam came in the world to establish democracy, peace and justice; to safeguard the rights of the oppressed”. Jinnah believed that “The Holy Prophet PBUH fought for these ideals for the major part of his life. Is it not, therefore, the duty of every Muslim, wherever he/she maybe, to do his level best to preserve the great ideals, and the glorious traditions of Islam, to fight for the equality of mankind, the achievement of man’s legitimate rights, and the establishment of democracy?” Each one of us, needs to do some self- introspection. Decision to completely stop smuggling across our borders must be implemented, brain drain curtailed, tax-net widened and unchecked flight of foreign exchange must cease.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
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