Adil Najam
This picture is carried today by both Dawn and Daily Times. Dawn’s title is “Still Heroes” and the caption reads: “Bronze statues of Quaid-i-Azam, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal put on display at the Science and Technology Expo-2007 being held at National Memorial Museum in Shakarparian in Islamabad.”
A visit to the Museum is on the top of my ‘To Do’ list when I return to Islamabad end of the month. I hope they are still there.
My first thought on looking at the picture was to note how both Jinnah and Iqbal are wearing suits here (this penchant of ours – me included – to dress up these guys in the garbs of our desires has been has been quite a remarkable historical see-saw!). My second thought was to wonder what the folks at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa might have to say – or do – about this. I hope there is significant security against vandalism here.
But even more than that, I wonder what these three men are sitting there thinking about what is happening today in the country they helped conceive. Late at night when the museum is closed and the statues come alive and walk about, what is it that they sit together and talk about?
Jabir, please go revise history elsewhere. Iqbal and Jinnah drank (and I don’t mean qehva) till their last days. Both of them wore western dress throughout their lives. Jinnah was a secular man and wanted a secular Pakistan. The country was made in order to give muslims a homeland, not to impose a Taliban regime!!! The fear was that India would become a sansritized, RSS-controlled Hindu state where muslims would be quelled, killed and destroyed once the British left. Pakistan was a reaction AGAINST radicalization of religion, not an invitation to it.
Jinnah sahib, please forgive Jabir, for he does not understand!
Harris, when heated discussions are done by westerners, this is called freedom of expression, brain storming etc. Nothing but praise, oh look the great gora has Speakers’ corner in Hyde park. And when we the ‘desi’ lot do the same, all of a sudden a certain inexplicable snobbery sets in (I myself am no exception to this if you are wondering.)
Let’s not see them as conflicts. The basic tenet of unity must not be ignored under any circumstance. If you dispute with your brother, does not mean it must turn in to a conflict. Debates are healthy in essence only we turn them in to venting venues. Maybe a mixture of extended military rule and a feudal mentality have prevailed over us?
Alvi sahib, I think atp should introduce a debating corner, something like Pak Tea House perhaps? That will allow the preservation of sanctity of threads. Just a thought.
Blogs are a reflection of our society. This is exactly how conflicts expand to families and generations. Someone killed someone else’s horse and they inturn killed the other party’s son and then three generations later the bloodshed still goes on and the new generation doesn’t even know why it all started.
Like Pervaiz said above, don’t we have more important issues to talk about, than turning a good post about the thoughts of our elders into another “siyasi khichri”?
“Three bronze statues started a riot in Blogistan that spread to Qadianis, Indian Muslims, Freemasons and the West.”
Going back to the top, it appears that the debate started when Mr. Jabar Khan invoked Mr. Gandhi into the discussion and then Mr. Hamadani provided the rebuttal. Then Sulman dragged India in and Mr. Jabar Khan introduced the Indian Muslims into the discussion. Then Nazir felt compelled to bring in Qadianies into the discussion and the ‘hell’ broke loose and passions flared. Same people, same topics, same arguments. India-Pakistan, Hindus-Muslims, Jinnah-Gandhi, Religious-Secular, Qadianis as non-Muslims agents of west. The beat goes on and on, post after post. Does any one care that half of the nation can not read or write. Does any one care that most of the people are malnourished and live on less than two dollars a day. Does any one care that masses do not have access to health care, clean water, shelter and basic human needs. Please stop this non-sense. Step back for a second and see how silly and non relevant to the realities of our people these arguments are.
Saad noted a list of riots/massacres through India’s independent history. They all – except for Gujarat in 2002 and Delhi in 1984 – had no state complicity. Yes, Muslims died in these riots. But so did Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, atheists … And if you disregard Kashmir, fewer Indians have died in religious strife since 1947 than Pakistanis in religious and sectarian strife during the same period (keep in mind India’s population is 7x Pakistan’s). And we’re not including thousands killed directly or indirectly by the State/Army of Pakistan.