By Yasser Latif Hamdani
Last week (February 6) marked the 114th Birthday of one of Pakistan’s greatest unsung heroes. Once again, there was no mention of commemoration of his remarkable like. No sense of gratitude from a nation for which he did so much. He has been wiped out of our memory because he was an Ahmadi, despite his glorious contributions to Pakistan and its cause (see related post on Dr. Abdul Salam).
Sir Zafrullah Khan’s services rendered to Muslims of India, Pakistan and the Third World are second only to that of Quaid-e-Azam Mahomed Ali Jinnah. As a jurist, a diplomat and a patriot he stood head and shoulders above the lesser men who have made a mockery of our republic.
Born in 1893 in Sialkot in what was to become one of the earliest Ahmaddiya households, this small town boy rose to be one of the shrewdest legal minds of his time. His early education was in Sialkot, after which he proceeded to Lahore for his bachelors degree, under the tutelage of none other than the great Iqbal himself. He got his law degree from King’s College London in 1914, where he stood top of his class and was the first person from the Indian subcontinent to do so. He was, like most great figures of that time, called to bar at Lincoln’s Inn.
As a practicing lawyer, he soon proved his mettle and had many reported cases to his name. The first major politician to recognize Zafrullah’s talents was Sir Fazli Hussain, the founder of Unionist Party of Punjab. Starting his career in his early 30s as a member of the Punjab legislative Council, he rose to prominence as an indefatigable crusader for Muslims of Punjab. Later he represented the Muslims at round table conference and crossed swords with figures like Jinnah and Gandhi. In 1931, he became the Muslim League president and at the roundtable conference, he cornered no less a person than Churchill in a committee hearing who was forced to accept Zafrullah’s point of view.
Later he was offered a seat on Viceroy’s permanent Council, which he took to further his cause. He also served at varying times as the minister of Railways, Public works, labour and law under the Viceroy. For a brief period, he also became British India’s representative to the League of Nations, just before it was dissolved.
However his greatest contribution came when he drafted the famous Lahore Resolution, which till this day is the rallying point of Pakistan and Pakistani nationalism. He had been tasked with finding a common point between the popular demand for “Pakistan” and Muslim League’s all India requirements. The Lahore resolution was a broad based solution which left the door virtually open for several solutions and negotiation on the issue of partition. In essence it envisaged 2 or 3 great republics for the Muslim peoples and it was this document which forms the basis not just of Pakistan but also of Bangladesh. For this he got a lot of slack. No less a person than Khan Abdul Wali Khan highlighted Zafrullah’s religious belief to play on the popular conspiracy theory that holds Ahmadis to be British touts.
Later from 1942 onwards, he served as a federal judge (equivalent of an Supreme court C judge) of India and finally took leave on the eve of Pakistan to serve the cause of Pakistan before the Radcliffe Commission, on Jinnah’s personal request. On 25th December 1947, Jinnah appointed him the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. At the UN, Sir Zafrullah emerged as the most eloquent advocate of all third world and Islamic issues. It was Zafrullah whose efforts materialized into the UN Resolutions on Kashmir, which are the basis of the Pakistani case and grievance. Later he became the first Asian president of the International Court of Justice, a singular and unique honor for any Pakistani. He also served, briefly, as the President of the UN General Assembly. He passed away in September of 1983 in Lahore.
A prolific author on the history of Pakistan and Islam, his most famous book was titled “Agony of Pakistan” in which he makes plain the great betrayal which wrested the country from the hands of its patriots into the hands of those who were its greatest enemies. Ironically, today Jinnah’s most trusted lieutenant is not even remembered by the state which owes him so much, including its own founding document. It is the memory of people like Zafrullah Khan that will keep alive the original idea of Pakistan and there is no doubt that one day the posterity will reclaim its true destiny as a progressive and modern republic.
Yasser Latif Hamdani is a lawyer in Lahore and a researcher of the history of the Pakistan Movement.
What a shame for the man who dont want call himself with original name but “Bhindigosht”……
we are not at “THABA” brother.ya who said i want equal rights and freedom for all,ya brother YLH,see brother even Bhindigosht have right and freebom of speech in pakistan,this you will not find even in u.s.a May ALLAH protect pakistan and all of you.
MQ,nice joke. pathans ka bhe sense of humor hota hey ya aaj pata chala
Blog moderator i think we should try and start a series of posts that wouldhelp teach the readers of this blog as to the intricacies of critical thinking and writing.
As for example a tutorial in finding, reading, referencing and grading the level of information available to us on different media nd forums should be the first thing. so that atleast people can know that in developed world hearsay carries no meaning if quoted as a reference.
similarly ettiquettes of discussing topics.
also critical analysisi of statements.
actually i think people have to be taught to read and write before thaey can be expected to make posts and read them and then comment on them in a constructive manner.
YLH i think you over played the role and did some over zealous posting.
My respects to Sir Zafarullah Khan the leader and human being. That is enough for me.
Now can someone realy start enlightening us as to the informative aspects of the personality. Let us make this a learning experience. And those who want to fight over the fact that ahmadis are muslim or non muslim can find a forum other than this.
let us keep this forum for learning that is not challanged.
Let us learn to respect and acknowledge point of views. But at the same time let us not mistake Point of views for solidfacts.
And certainly let us not make point of views seem like facts.
both YLH and others side have been guilty of trying to present their point of views as solid facts.
I would take strong exception to the statement made by YLH when he tried to compare ahmaddis with hanaffis. a simple reading on wikipedia tels us that he is grossly mistaken. but even then i would not try and judge him and accuse him of being a bigot. his mistake but acceptable.
similarly the guy making claims and then referencing clips from propoganda sites has tried in his innocence to quote statements grossly misinterpreted.
MQ, lol.
I notice that the words “secularism” and “liberalism” are thrown in this discussion and others on this blog generously and recklessly without even knowing what they mean. I would recommend to those who are obsessed with these words to read two books available in the market:
“Secularism for dummies” and “Liberalism for real dummies”.
According to peace theory of secularists, christians,jews,hindus blah blah blah all are muslims ,after all “who the hell are we to judge?”.
[quote post=”568″]as far as I can tell- is the exact mirror of Hanafi Sunni Islam with one major difference[/quote]
so according to our dearest vetran inhouse scholar YLH, Hanfiat preaches:
-Rejection of Mohammad[saw] as Last prophet.
-rejection of return of Jesus[AS](which is mentioned in QURAN).
-rejection of every other messenger like ADam(AS),Abraham(AS) etc
and lots of other crap.
If this is hanfiat then i ask Yasser to comeup with reference to prove his point otherwise trolling can’t hide his ignorance.
There is a difference between a Qadyani and Qadyaniat, Muslman and Islam. Offcourse no one can read someone’s mind and not anyone can guess what someone belives inside. A qadyani shouldn’t be cursed because nobody knows he might be hiding his orignal faith. Mohammad Yousuf didn’t reveal his new religion till 2005 though he had converted in 2001,for others he was a christian,for GOd,he was a muslim. It’s not wrong to criticize an ideology or faith otherwise Allah hadn’t cancelled all previous shariyahs[judaism,christianity] and declared Islam His favorite religion.
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, Allah is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.(Quran 5:3)
So does Allah appear extreemist here by cancelling previous faiths? Offcourse God never preached in Quran to hate other sects or faith followers. So it’s better you guys learn to make difference between a belief and believer. No Muslim can accept Judaism as a Islamic faith,similarly Qadyaniat which even attack on previous abrahamic faith can’t be accept as Islam due to their teachings. It;s not hard to read books by Mirza Ghulam. Don’t make fruitless efforts. Is it our fault that Mirza declared himself a prophet and rejected things? Don’t curse other for someone else sins, it just shows you guys are throwing up your frustration.
I could consider this post credible if YLH had made it to discuss the achivement of Sir.Zafar as a fighter for seprate Pakistan but he just made this post because Zafar was a qadyani. I bet ylh was not going to make this post if he was not a qadyani. I hope Ylh wouldn’t disagree that.
I kinda agree that this site does promote controversial things in different posts. Promoting Qadyanism at one and banning anti-Qadyani websites by govt on different levels is nothing but sigh of hypocrisy. But if facts can be covered by such lame tactics then Islam could be removed from face of earth long time back.
[quote]
The U.S. has employed every form of undue pressure and every amount of duress to drive the U.N. into the hazards of the partition of Palestine. Now, after the catastrophe, the U.S. cannot simply wash its hands from the mess. The donations of the U.S. are only a partial indemnity for the damage done to the people of Palestine. It is no use complaining of the consequences, when the consequences are the direct result of the policy adopted. This is the price of lack of statesmanship in handling the Palestine question. You did not heed our warnings nor the warnings of great friends of yours. In 1947, when the U.N. was discussing the partition of Palestine, Sir Zafarullah Khan, then foreign minister of Pakistan, a man of great talent and foresight has appealed to you in the General Assembly in these historic and moving words “I beg of you not to ruin and blast your credit in the Middle East”. This appeal you have rejected and most of your credit in our lands has been ruined. What remains is on the way to ruin, should you continue the same policy.
[/quote]
Statements made during the 15th Session of The United Nations General Assembly By His Excellency Mr. Ahmad Shkairy Minister of State for United Nations Affairs Saudi Arabia
Prepared by the Saudi Arabian Mission to the United Nations New York 1961
http://www.ahmad-alshukairy.org/speeches/download/ Statements%20made%20during%20the%2015th%20Session% 20of%20the%20United%20Nation%20General%20Assembly. pdf