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?
Thanks Suleman, yaar sorry I failed to note the sarcasm in your post. But kindly note more than one person ‘managed’ to misunderstand it.
These days of relentless negative media bombardment on muslims turns one brain into spaghetti :)
Are Muslim in India put in prison *legally* for professing their faith? If not then Indians still lag behind us is in religious persecution. In Pakistan it is allowed in by law to persecute on religious grounds;
Excerpts from Pakistani law (ORDINANCE XX OF 1984);
[quote]Any person of the Quadiani group or Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’ or by any other name) who by words, either spoken or written, or by visible presentation, refers to the mode or form of call to prayers followed by his faith as ‘Azan’, or recites Azan as used by the Muslims, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine. 298C. Person of Quadiani group, etc., calling himself a Muslim or preaching or propagating his faith.
Any person of the Quadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’ or by any other name) who directly or indirectly, poses himself as a Muslim, or calls, or refers to, his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims,shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine….[/quote]
Ref: http://www.thepersecution.org/archive/ordxx.html
Jabir, you cannot make me believe that Indian Muslims are lower than Dalits now in India or achieving less than Dalits or whatever it is you are trying to say.
tina I don’t know what it will take to make you believe ‘anything’ at all. But kindly pay attention to the following. And if you have a counter argument, I will gladly give you an ear.
Muslims in India are even more disadvantaged than low-caste Hindus, a report commissioned by the government in Delhi suggests.
Rest here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6159178.stm
Dear Hamdani, you just dont get it do you?
Ehrar League, or Majlis e Ehrar, how big a difference it is that you are demonstrating your scholarly knowledge in my ignorant brain? lol.
And you said it yourself, Jinnah was indeed opposed, by none other than groups of muslims, (I’ll forgive you for labeling my grandfather’s party as fanatic, long debate, not here not now) and isn’t that what I was referring to in my first post? Jinnah was opposed by conservative muslims not as much for his western manners but because of the way he came in and created the first nation in the world’s history solely in the name of Islam. In the presence of all those other religious leaders, a non-religious person comes and does something to serve so many followers, (whatever percentage you said) while all the bearded mullah’s watched. There are still factions in pakistan who criticize Jinnah for that, and most of them happen to be your right wing hard liner Molana’s, who are, I am sure, covertly appraising the whole Hafsa crap. And thats what I was pointing to, that since there’s a statue of Jinnah, (statues are prohibited by sharia law) the self-proclaimed sharia enforcement bandits should be pissed off at this.
Sigh…Moen Akhtar, I dont know how you make these people laugh…its tough man.
Jabir, you cannot make me believe that Indian Muslims are lower than Dalits now in India or achieving less than Dalits or whatever it is you are trying to say. India has the second biggest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia and they are generally understood to be an affluent minority.
Pakistan is a fait accompli since the last sixty years so this argument is no longer really necessary.