Adil Najam
What an amazingly poignant and powerful advertisement. And how timely.
Published in Dawn (11 August, 2006) as a full page ad for the radio station City FM 89 it highlights what I believe to be one of Mr. Jinnah’s most evocative and inspiring speeches. Certainly one that is most relevant to Pakistan’s present as well as future. The key quote is printed right below his photograph:
“You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”
Of course, his vision was not always followed. But on this, the eve of Pakistan’s Independence Day, there could not be a more timely moment to remind ourselves what the vision was.
City FM 89 also has a full day of special music planned for August 14, which by the looks of its sounds very enticing. For example, I would love to find out what their list of the ‘Top 50 Pakistani Songs’ look like. Whatever that list might look like, it is bound to have multiple entries from the incomparable Shahenshah-e-ghazal: Mehdi Hassan.
And that brings me to the second advertisement I saw, also in Dawn (12 August, 2006). This ad also spoke to my sensibilities.
First, this advert from Mobilink pays tribute to one of our greatest artists. That is something we do not do often enough; and do not do very well when we do it.
Moreover, the Urdu verse at the top — yeh watan hamara hai, hum hain pasbaan iss kay — comes from what I think is one of the most moving Pakistani national songs ever (commentary and link to the song here; more ATP posts on this here and here).
Most of song is in the ‘words’ of Mr. Jinnah so that ‘humara‘ (ours) in that line is ‘tumhara‘ (yours) in the song. But the intent is quite clear: we have to make of this country what we make of it. Even as a kid, this song always mesmerized me both for how Mehdi Hassan sang it and even more so for the words…. hum tou mehz unwaaN thay, asl daastaN tum ho!
Unlike so many other milli naghmay which were really naara baazi set to music, this one had a clear and powerful message. It seemed to me that Jinnah was saying to all of us: ‘guys, my time is up, I have done what I could, now its your turn; do the best you can and make the best of what you have.’ Of course, neither he nor the song was saying exactly that. But that is what I took from the song.
It was always a poignant song, but also an uncomfortable song. Because one always knew that we had not really lived up to the responsibility placed on us.
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Pakistan is my heart…………..i devote my life to this precious gift from Allah………….May the soul of our great Quaid rest in the best of heavens…………i m living outside the country…….n………i want to tell everyone living in pakistan………that………Pakistan is the greatest country in the world……..don’t forget ur own treasure in search of exotic pleasures…….
happy independence day to our loveing careing motherland pakistan . hamaara hamaara waataan waataan pakistan jhey jheey pakistan zindabad pkaistan thanks to my lovely motherland for everything that she has provided me with. pakistan is the best pakistan is the best.
from zainab hussain
I love Pakistan ………….my country has given my everything freedom, land, shadow, food all the basic necessities and luxuries.
would like to give a message to all viewers..
LOVE PAKISTAN OR LEAVE PAKISTAN
I agree with most of the posts here, i believe Jinnah wanted a country that would be a land of harmony and prosperity for all its citizens, regaradless of religion and caste, this idea is very clear from many of his speeches.
I dont think he envisioned anything else, he wanted this country called Paksitan to be an example of hormony and tolerence, and wanted Pakistan to carve its own niche in the world. This shows the megnanimity of his vision.
Quaid vision of Pakistan was that:
a land for muslims where they can live their life according to the rules of Islam
also the slogan at that time
Pakistan ka matlib kia
La Ila Ha Il Lalla
PAKISTAN ZINDABAAD
MERE PIARE WATAN K LIYE MERI JAAN BHI HAZIR HAI.
PAKISTAN ZINDABAAD.TU JEEVE WATAN
Adil Najam, urgent !!
just one question about Indian” Bande-Matram” and
Pakistan’s Aao Bacho tumhain Dekhain …….. Pakistan ki
jiski Khatir ham nay dinn Qurbani lakhon jan ki
(written by A Chagla ).
Which one was first written and tuned ??
because to me its the same tune, you agree ??
Pls. inform me about it as I have a raw with Aamer Liaquat
Hussain on this.
hi, by going through the comments and this particular posting it seems that the blogger is from pakistan. i hope i am right (n sorry havnt spent much time reading so cant say confidently) i suddenly got interested in knowing more about jinnah and discovered this blog. i read a book Prejudice and Pride by krishna kumar. it talks how pakistani and indian textbooks of history present the story of freedom struggle. and it is then i realised that whatever we know and imagine of history is all actually an image that we have been made to imagine.
it has made me wonder why jinnah as a person and politician suddenly changed. was partition really needed. why is it that hindus and muslims are at odds as communities but not with other religious communities……..
lots of other quetions but i think enough for now.