Adil Najam
Today is 9/11. Much will be written and much discussed on the 5th anniversary of the cruel attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, on what has happened since, on all the ways in which the world changed, and on all the other ways in which it did not. Today is a sad day, and at ATP our hearts and prayers go out to the dear ones of the victims of this tragedy, and to the loved ones of all who have lost their lives in the events that were unleashed by it.
While 9.11.2001 will be much debated elsewhere, we here at ATP want to recall the events of 9.11.1948.
For Pakistanis, 9/11 has always been a sad date. A date on which – barely a year after the nation’s birth – its founding leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, died. Here is a short (50 sec) newsreel video clip on Mr. Jinnah’s death :
Like every year, APP has announced in advance how the “nation” will mark this occasion, and every newspaper (e.g., Dawn) has printed this “news” on its front page:
ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The nation will observe Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s 58th death anniversary on Monday with a pledge to transform Pakistan into a vibrant, progressive and enlightened country as envisioned by the great leader.
I am glad that the APP has he psychic power to know exactly how this “nation” will observe the anniversary, even before the occasion. They have been making the same stale prediction every year for as long as I can remember. Maybe, we as a “nation” do actually make that “pledge” every year. Its just that we have not been very good at keeping the pledge.
Some might argue that the “nation” had already begun to let Mr. Jinnah down even in those brief 13 months that he lived in the country he had founded. Others like to believe that Pakistan’s history might have taken a very different path had he lived longer. It may well have. I am just not sure what that path might have been given that tensions between him and those who were running day-to-day Pakistan had begun to appear even while he was alive.
His death, and the circumstances of his death, was itself not without controversy (see, for dramatic effect, the opening scenes of the movie, Jinnah, here). But today, September 11, should not only be a sad reminder of his untimely death. It should also be a moment to reflect on his life. And, maybe, it should be a moment to reflect on what lessons that life might have to offer for the future.
From its very inception, ATP has had an ongoing discussion on the legacy of Mr. Jinnah and the various meanings it has for different people. Today seems to be an appropriate day to continue that discussion; to think, yet again, about the meaning of the life and death of Mr. Jinnah.
Related ATP Posts:
– Read about the Other Side of Mr. Jinnah
– Watch Jinnah: The Movie
– Read about Jinnah’s first message to the nation
– Watch historic footage from August 1947
– Read about the Jinnah-Gandhi relationship
– Listen to and watch Mehdi Hassan’s classic, “yeh watan tumhara hai”, which is in many ways Jinnah speaking to the rest of us.
If one really wants to find racism in Jinnah, it is very easy to find it. What is really the point of such an exercise, however? (which is why I refuse to give any examples). Jinnah and Gandhi were complex individuals, with long careers. There is really no point setting them up against each other. Each of them had great achievements, each of them had great moments of weakness and each of them had great failures. The best approach one can take is to see the life of each in its totality, get inspired by positive aspects of their lives and learn from their weaknesses and failures.
Dear Saima,
I have no evidence of Gandhi changing his views on black people… but surely you have to be kidding me when you say that good aesthetic sense should be considered a crime equal to racism.
It is not about being “uncivilised”. Mr Gandhi gives a very clear “genetic reason” for black inferiority. If you read the comments, he feels that they are not of Indo-Aryan stock. Please refer to comments above.
Gandhi also believed- despite the impression that is given to the contrary- in caste system. To quote his article in “Niya Jawan”:
(3) A community which can create the caste system must be said to possess unique power of organization.
(8) To destroy caste system and adopt Western European social system means that Hindus must give up the principle of hereditary occupation which is the soul of the caste system.Hereditary principle is an eternal principle. To change it is to create disorder. I have no use for a Brahmin if I cannot call him a Brahmin for my life. It will be a chaos if every day a Brahmin is to be changed into a Shudra and a Shudra is to be changed into a Brahmin.
This is the core of Gandhi’s world view in my opinion.
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I can honestly say that I have never come across anything about Gandhi that has touched my heart either… because I always knew the context- the underlying philosophy. But I suppose that is a relative thing…
However… most people who have read Manto’s sketch of Jinnah have been moved to tears… just like the protagonist Azad at the end. Similarly… the teary welcome from the common people, Jinnah’s daughter Dina Wadia and her son Nusli got when they came to Pakistan in 2004 shows the depth of feeling for Jinnah… Just because something doesn’t touch you doesn’t mean its the same for everyone… don’t you think?
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Adil… I quoted Saadat Hassan Manto’s article in full for the effect that it has. Other than that… all that I say usually has a primary hardcopy source… so I can’t produce a link.
yasser Latif Hamdani,
Thanks for this piece of Writing on Jinnah (i’m still reflecting) but in Monto’s story a line says that jinah would never say sorry and monto deduces that this characteristc defines Jinah….well i feel regrets are part of evolution and why would an intelligent man be reluctant in accepting his mistakes????or was it that he felt he was always right?????
On the other hand gandhi comes out as a man who constantly evolved….he had baises about blacks but he didn’t hide it….instead he tried to overcome it, he felt he was more civilised then them and yet tried to understand their situation……i don’t see how you would call his actions a drama….he evolved and didn’t hide his weaknesses behind a fine lifestyle……..Jinnah had a good aesthetic sence and liked fine things which is alright and if gandhi is disturbed by the kaffirs for the uncivilsed behavior its drama….I am thinking out loud… as i said earlier there are fine pieces of writing about him but nothing that comes from the heart, even manto’s story paints a picture of a man who was generous with money but never related to a common man on emotional and human level….I will read this piece again….until then!!!!!
Yasser- glad to see that I came across as reasonable :-)
My intention was not to open the history books, but just see what elements in Jinnah’s legacy are seen as relevant by the present generation of Pakistanis. Perhaps, it is a topic for another post- or a series of posts.
It is sad but true that ‘borders of the mind’ have been created over the years on both sides- and opening them is not as easy as opening the physical borders between the two countries. Patient and persistent exchange is the only way out.
I must admit that commenting on this forum gives me an enriching perspective that is much different from one I grew up with.
Yasser:
I am sorry – I was not saying what you have interpreted my comment as. I said nothing about Gandhi and nothing about Jinnah either, for that matter. If there was scope for misinterpretation in my comment, I readily offer my apologies.
Let me only say that Jinnah will be remembered by history as a great leader and it will be well deserved. I may not agree with all of his political actions (and do not agree with all political actions of any other leader either). But I have no hesitation in saying that he was a great leader of the freedom struggle. A reassessment of how history in India treats him is also necessary, in my opinion.
Finally, I do believe that it is not necessary to put down Jinnah in order to prove that Gandhi was a great leader, just as I think it is not necessary for you to put down Gandhi in a commemmoration of Jinnah’s greatness. Greatness is not a mutually exclusive thing, that it can be accepted for one only at the cost of the other.
P.S. Thanks for your welcome. But I don’t think we have interacted before. I say this in case you are mistaking me for some other Sridhar you might have interacted with.