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?
Going by the few Pakistanis – vocal ones – I hear /read, Pakistanis seem not to not like the half naked fakir. I’m curious as to why? Is it just the History textbooks, or do the better read have an opinion? (Please dont come back with ‘for the same reason that Quaid is not liked on the Indian side’). This is no baiting … i just dont know many Pakistanis, and I’d much rather take a chance on this reasonable forum than elsewhere.
This is a very interesting picture. Wow, the founding fathers cast in Bronze! To me these statues bring back similar memories I had when I saw statues of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. If we were to Juxtapose these great men against Pakistan’s founding fathers, how will our leaders stack up? For all our nation’s faults, we are still a young country. Almost 80 years after its founding, America was still wrestling with Civil wars in 1865! They did not give voting rights to woman and minorities long after. 100 years from now, we will all be celebrating these men of vision, courage, discipline and sacrifice.
This is the first time I am even hearing that something like this actually exists in Islamabad. Hi Adil, please do share your experiences with us when you visit the Museum.
Sir Syed:
I told you two wannabie cool dudes to come dressed in a Sherwani, you have no idea the way these Pakistanis are these days.
Quaid-e-Azam: Oh come on Sir Syed take a chill pill, don’t these nit wits know I was educated in England, drove a Rolls Royce, smoked the finest tobacco and played golf.
Allama Iqbal:
Dil-e-zinda-o-bedaar agar ho to bat’adreej
Banday ko ata kartay hain chashm-e-nigraaN or
Alfaaz-o-ma’anee main taffavut nahiN lekin
Mulla ki azaaN or, Mujahid ki azaaN or
Pervaaz hai donooN ki go aik hi faza maiN
Kargass ka jahaaN or hai ShaheeN ka jahaaN or
Quaid-e-Azam:
You and your philosophies Iqbal! perhaps you should accept the fact that no one here can understand what you mean.
They all seem to have a very dejected look on their faces. Perhaps contemplating – had they known how the future leaders will plunder their hard earned treasure…
Dear Jabir Khan,
I am afraid you are mistaken… as mistaken as you are in your misplaced adoration for the half naked fakir.
1. As proven by pictures and historical record, Jinnah and Iqbal never gave up wearing western dress.
2. Yes Jinnah and his daughter were estranged for a short period between 1939-1941 but they were on perfectly normal terms after the assassination attempt on Jinnah’s life by Khaksar. Jinnah’s personal life has no bearing on his ideas of impartiality of the state… nor does the question of identity, Islamic or otherwise, take away from the issue at hand or the real issue i.e. nature of Pakistan as a state. Islam certainly does not favor exclusivist theocracy.
The current issue comes down to this: Did Jinnah wear western dress at the end of his life or not?
Here is a picture taken from the last year of his life that proves that he continued to wear western suits till the end…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/170000/images/_170165_jinnah300.jpg