CHIEF of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has aptly pointed out that the Quaid-i-Azam’s vision about creation of Pakistan based on the ‘Two-Nation theory’ has been vindicated. Speaking at Quaid’s mausoleum in Karachi, where he visited on Wednesday to pay homage to the father of the nation on his birth anniversary, in an apparent reference to what is happening to Indian Muslims, he said creation of Pakistan based on Two-Nation Theory is an even more acknowledged reality today.
It was foresight of Quaid-i-Azam to have made demand for a separate homeland for Muslims of the sub-continent realizing the inherent dangers for them in a Hindu-dominated India as are highlighted by recent events in the neighbouring country where Muslims are once again out on roads to safeguard their interests and protect their identity. The two-nation theory was challenged by critics after break-up of the then East Pakistan in 1971 forgetting that it was product of a conspiracy and not failure of the theory itself. Quaid-i-Azam described Hindus and Muslims as two separate nations emphasizing “Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs and literary traditions. They neither intermarry nor eat together, and indeed they belong to two different civilisations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions.” Growing levels of intolerance in India towards Muslims is a proof that the Two- Nation Theory was correct and that Muslims have no future in India. Modi is espousing a brand of religious nationalism that views India as fundamentally a Hindu nation and there are now formal campaigns in the country to force non-Hindus especially Muslims to either convert to Hinduism or leave India. The episode of Babri Masjid, non-permission for construction of mosques, lynching of Muslims in the name of protecting cows, discriminatory citizenship bill, denial of government jobs and brutalities being committed against Kashmiris are a few example to substantiate the belief that the theory is not ‘dead’ as claimed by Indira Gandhi in 1971. Based on what is happening to Muslims in Modi’s India, Pakistan is a gift of Allah Almighty but regrettably we are not valuing its worth as we should have. The unending vicious cycle of political and economic instability is clouding minds of the youth about the state, which was formed on just basis but has not generally been run justly.
