Adil Najam
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, it seems, was not a “real freedom fighter” and he did “nothing for Islam.” (On Jinnah, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
So says the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). And by what logic does Maulana Fazlur Rehman and his party come to this conclusion? According to the party spokesman: “Jinnah was not imprisoned during the independence struggle. That is why he did nothing worth remembering.”
I am left rather speechless. So, here is the news item from Daily Times (February 9, 2007) that reports on the matter:
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) will celebrate 2007 by paying tribute to the heroes who played an important role in the independence of Pakistan ignoring Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his companions, JUI officials told Daily Times on Thursday. They said that the party would hold conventions in Peshawar and other cities of the NWFP in March to highlight the services of “real freedom fighters”
“The decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the JUI executive council in Lahore a couple of days ago. National Assembly Opposition Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman presided over the meeting,” they added. JUI information secretary Maulana Amjad Khan said that Jinnah and his companions would not be commemorated because they had not done anything for Islam. “Jinnah was not imprisoned during the independence struggle. That is why he did nothing worth remembering,” Khan added.
He said the JUI would remember only those leaders who had sacrificed their lives for the creation of Pakistan or who had been imprisoned by the British Raj. JUI leader Qari Nazir Ahmed said the party would remember Hussain Maulana Ahmed Madni, Maulana Qasim Nanotri, Maulana Ubaid Ullah Sindhi, Maulana Mehmoodul Hassan, Syed Ahmed Shaheed, Shah Ismael Shaheed, Mauala Rasheed Ahmed and other leaders, who had rendered great sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan. “Maulana Qasim Nanotri established the Madrasa Darul Uloom Deoband. The institute produced a large number of freedom fighters,” Qari Nazir added. He said a schedule for conventions in the Punjab had not been decided yet. JUI Lahore chapter ameer Maulana Muhibun Nabi said the party would also arrange programmes in Lahore in this connection.
Interesting, by the way, that it seems that to be a “real freedom fighter” you have ‘Maulana’ prefixed before your name or a ‘Shaheed’ as a suffix.
Note: My thank to Watandost for alerting me to this rewriting of history.
Adnan Siddiqui mian,
What fail to realise is that by secular Pakistan we simply mean a Pakistan inclusive of all its children regardless of religion caste or creed…
Now this is not fictitious no matter how you wish to spin it.
And before you attack on me, let me clarify what sound ‘fictitious’ to me[ref:jinnah’s speeches for Islamic Pakistan] which was logical for you. Mentioned below:
[quote post=”566″]Pakistan’s future lies legitimately in becoming a secular democracy as envisaged by Jinnah [/quote]
@PMA: What sounds “logical” for you might be fictitious for others so don’t make useless attempt to change history while everything is documented.
Adnan Siddiqui is right, there were religious as well as secular people who opposed Pakistan. And looking at the masthead picture right now I am reminded that many religious people as well as secular people also supported it. So such general assertions are wrong. However, it is true that the forefathers of both teh current JUI and the JI opposed Pakistan in teh beginning and even in the years soon after its creation. Not sure, however, if they still do.
I agree that calling names and asking for death to Mullahs is inappropriate. It puts us at the same level of rhetoric as them. And, yes, the educated classes have partly themselves to blame. But the real shame is that we have allowed history to be so distorted that for most ordinary Pakistanis the real custodians of Pakistani ideology are now the exact same people who opposed the country in the first place. People like JUI and JI. Poor Jinnah sahab must be turning in his grave.