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.
“And let us not discredit Ayub totally just because he was a military dictator. He was a visionary leader and he did a lot for Pakistan of 1958.”
He overthrew civilian government before elections as it was evident that the nationalistic government heading for power was against SEATO and CENTO… Ayub’s masters got him to do their dirty work. Funny, this guy tells the nation that democarcy is not suitable for Pakistan as it can flourish only in cold climates such as England… and made a laughing stock of himself. Spent billions on new capital (read Ayaz Mir’s column in Dawn), created CID to allienate citizenery from each other, and made many progressives disappear. The self appointed Field Marshal did not even know that his poster boy foreign minister had arranged a war against India in 1965… So much for the visionary! Good Lord – no wonder we are ruled by the people we deserve!
Not to distract from Mullahgate, it is important to ask other religious parties as to what is their position. If they all agree with JUI then there is a good reason to doubt their sincerity to Pakistan. That could be the starting point of unwinding these twisted…
[quote comment=”33508″]Now wait a minute. Don’t we advocate freedom of speech!. [/quote]
Pervaiz Munir Alvi, when were these “religious partiesâ€
Shahran Asim, you are trying to rewrite the history. Leaving the distant history aside for now, Maulana Mufti Mehmood has famously been quoted as saying “Hum Pakistan bananay kay guna main shareek nahain thayâ€
[quote]I agree with Mr. Alvi and we don’t have right to criticize others thoughts.
…
I think all we have abandoned Islam and become communists. [/quote]
You must have a special communist censor. Care to elaborate why you think we have all become communists? And what happened to not criticising other’s thoughts (above)?
[quote]”Quaid Azam was not a superman[/quote]
And Mullahs are? If not what is your point?
[quote]he was also a human being[/quote]
Yes. So?
[quote]…and made lot of mistakes too. [/quote]
Elaborate, like what? He was not an opponent of Pakistan like your buddy Mullahs so what are you talking about? Nothing can be as bad as that.
[quote]He helped to create Pakistan by sacrifying lot of Muslims[/quote]
No. He did not sacrifice anyone. Unlike Mullahs, he was 100% violence free. He was the leader who Muslims followed to the creation of Pakistan. Feel free to check history. There wasn’t a single leader other than Quaid who could have lead Muslim masses to their homeland. And as for sacrifices what sacrifices are these? All the killing that happened was a “side effectâ€
It is often said that Jinnah was not a good Muslim. Why this debate. His greatness comes from the fact that he got a ‘home’ for us that we call Pakistan and not that he was a good Muslim or not. His personal integrity and character was higher than many of the so called good Muslims. I do not understand why we judge and discuss the religion of others. Jinnah would have been my leader even if he was not a Muslim. Pakistan of 1947 was the best our people could get at that time. Thanks God (Allah in Arabic) for Pakistan. Now if most of the prostitutes in India are Muslim women then shame on India. If Muslims in India are living in miserable conditions then shame on India. Please do not lay their misery on Jinnah or Pakistan’s door step. This in an old and tired argument and must be put to rest like the two-nation theory. It is time to build Pakistan and may be then worry about other Muslims of the world. As the good dictator said: Pakistan First.