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.
I must say i find this rather amusing…i mean these mullahs lauding only the mullahs…we should perhaps teach them what tolerance is all about by tolerating such antics…after all no matter what they may say they cannot change history…they can wear their glasses to look back at history and we can stick to the facts;)
At least liberals don’t promote the culture of hate in society. Nobody should be hated based on religion/sect or caste differences.
famalik, what or who are these ‘secular extremist elements in Pakistani society’? Could you please enlighten us? How many of these have burnt or bombed mosques, churches etc or committed suicide bombing against anyone like extremist Mullahs do?
Secularim at its heart is inherrently opposed to religion.
If you are interested, please view this 10-min documentary regarding how the secular elite of Pakistan view the religious masses.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=67186435422 48965092&q=pakistan+secular
Time and time again these secular extremist elements in Pakistani society would argue that secularism is not opposed to any religion. But I would suggest you view the video and come to your own conclusion.
YLH,
I’m not here to make a ‘point’ or argue with you, I’m just here to do dawa’h with the best of my ability.
Juwahir, actually it’s the American conservative media which draws this parallel (liberals = soviets/communists). Their logic is that since liberals believe in a welfare state, they are socialists in their outlook. Since communism is an extreme form of socialism, the right-wing pundits regularly refer to left-wingers as communists.