Adil Najam
Today is August 11.
Sixty-two years ago, on this day, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan, made one of the most important speeches of his – and of Pakistan’s – life. A speech in which he laid out – in the most unambiguous terms – his vision for Pakistan and the rationale for that vision.
In this speech Mr. Jinnah laid out a detailed case for his argument and famously proclaimed:
…in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the [Pakistan].
Read full text and a detailed analysis of the speech here.
Today is August 11.
Barely ten days ago in Gojra, in Mr. Jinnah’s Pakistan, over 50 houses belonging to Pakistani Christians were burnt down by a mob and at least half a dozen Pakistani Christians were murdered for still unproven charges under a draconian law neither whose intent nor whose vigilante implementation Mr. Jinnah could ever have tolerated.
Today is August 11.
Our government has declared today to be ‘Minorities Day,’ but neither our government nor we as a people are willing to repeal the draconian laws that enable the bigots amongst us to persecute the vulnerable and the marginalized amongst us.
Today is August 11.
Today, once again, we will shower platitudes on Mr. Jinnah’s vision of a tolerant Pakistan and then conveniently ignore that vision. A Pakistan for all Pakistanis, irrespective of, as he would say, “caste and creed.” A Pakistan where neither Mr. Jinnah’s vision nor our Pakistaniat would be high-jacked by the sanctimonious custodians of righteousness, the self-styled gate-keepers of morality, and the arrogant arbiters of patriotism.
We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.
We are sorry that we have not been able to actualize the Pakistan of your vision. At least, not yet. Cursed by the very intolerance that you had warned us of, we have not only failed to bridge the divisions that existed already, we have worked hard to create new divisions. We have not only failed the minorities that were, we have created new ones by legislating exclusion.
We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.
We are sorry for being so drunk in intolerance that we made ourselves the arbiters of who was Muslim enough to be Muslim, or Pakistani enough to be Pakistani.
We are sorry, Mr. Jinnah.
We are sorry not only for the Gojra that happened ten days ago. We are sorry for the Gojra that happens every day in the Pakistan you created.
Adil Najam:
You should also apologize to Mr. Jinnah and say sorry for not fulfilling his promise:
What a great essay. Thank you.
The intolerance in society is really a huge problem. Not just on religion but on everything. We could not tolerate the Bengali Pakistanis so they left, then the mullahs could not tolerate the Ahmedis so they were kicked out. The minorities are not tolerated so they are killed. Even political differences cannot be tolerated and you see Musharraf supporters and PPP supporters and PML supporters getting at each others throats like wild beasts without any civility. Just note how some people react to anyone not agreeing with them – barking and biting like mad dogs. All of this is part of the same disease.
We simply cannot have a liberal democracy until we first learn to be tolerant of differences and civil in our disagreement. The extreme end of this is criminal but it stems from some of the same behavior that you see on many websites, youtube comments, etc. It is much less on this site but even here you see it occasionally.
The message of tolerance must never be forgotten.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “ALLAH se dua hai k Pakistan ko wesa hi bana de,
jaisa hamaray leaders nay khwaab dekha tha..
Ameen!”
– “we are sorry Mr.Jinnah…U give us unity & we give u disarray..u give us independent day and we are towards daily to dependent days”
– “We are sorry Mr. Jinnah that we had to live to see the day likes of Zaradri become the President of Pakistan & Nawaz Sharif become an impotent opposition consumed by vengeance alone! But I am glad you died early, otherwise this nation would have devoured you to a level of the scoundrels above!”
– “A great leader a great man…!
I suggest a book ‘Jinnah of Pakistan’ by Stanley Wolpert, In which he describes Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his own way.
He admires his leadership and clearly states that such leaders are revealed to the face of earth once in a thousand years. Miss vijay lakshmi, sister of the former indian prime minister jawahir lal nehru, said on an ocasion, “If Muslim league(A pro partition Muslim party) had 100 gandhi and 200 abul kalam and congress(hindu political party against partition) had only Muhammad Ali Jinnah then hindustan would have not parted”
reference “Dedah Benay-e-Qom””
– “I am so sorry Mr Jinnah we have to live to see people who went after lesser evil Musharraf to get Greater evil Zardari.”
– “khawab daikhnay wala tu chal gia, ab tu jo kuch moojooda hukmaran khawab daikh rahay hain wohi ho raha hai aur in ka khawab sirf loot mar aur Pakistan ko destroy karana aur Pakistan ko sale karna hai jo k yeah ahista ahista kar hee rahay hain aur kartay rahain gay. Yeah pakistan k internal enemies hain aur in say sirf aur sirf Allah he mehfooz rakh sakta hai aur Inshallah Allah aysa hee karay ga. Idher to Govt: hee bahir waloon k isharay pay un ko milti hai jo bahir walloon k agent hotay hain aur un k agenda pay kam kartay hain, iss country main kabhi loyal aur patriot ko successful nahi honay diya gia. Qiadat haimasha iss mulk ko khanay wali hee mili hai. jo ata gia apna hissa lay kar jata gia izzat say ya bai izzat ho kar, yeahtu ab dheet ho gay hain, jo marzi keh loo ya kar loo inhoon nay apni hee karni hoti hai. Allah hifazat karay ham sab ki in sab say jo islam aur pakistan k dushman hai. InshahallahPakistan haimasha hee rahay ga, hope sustains life”
– “we r blaming government here sitting at home and all the time wondering that Allah will help pakistan to get rid of these problems the truth is that Allah will not come on earth and solve these all problems he has given us mind and power… but we r not using it. if we actually want to get rid of these people in government then we must do some thing like we did for justic…..
let us not forget that we were the people to select them and we will get rid of them with the help of Allmighty Allah… we have to take the step …..”
– “not agree, Allah will definately help us being a muslim n protect our beloved pakistan who was made on the name of Islam for Muslims. All we need to pray, yes off course we should play our role but can we? who let us play the role, idher to koi banda mamooli baat na manay ya govt: k against hoo sirf mentally hee tu banda hee ghaib ho jata hai, her tarf ghairooon k tareekay, islam ko civilization k nam pay peechay kar diya, per phir bhee kuch logoon aur buzargoon ki dua say yeah pakistan qaim hai, after all it is made for muslims and it is an islamic country jo k sab ko kantay ki tarah khatak raha hai. we should play our role by reducing firqa wariat and by spreading love between each other. jaisa tum guman karoo gay Allah waisa hee karay ga. Aur Allah zaroor poochay ga ka jab tum museebat mai thay aur koi kuch nahi kar sata tha tu kia tum ny mujay bhee baibas samjha, kion nahi manga muj say. We have to ask allah to solve all the problems. Woh khud kehta hai mangoo jo mangna hai muj sy”
– “Kya ‘We Are sorry Mr Jinnah* kehna kafi hay……ya kuch amli qadam bhi uthaya jana chahye? hamain khud bhi to kuch karna chahye ..na k har waqt hakoomat ko ilzaam dena chahye..”
– “Lot of views… will to work to bring change but no practical example…I am sure that everyone can suggest above solutions but of no use until practised..How many of you visited refugee camps in NWFP ??? How many of you raised funds for the victims of army operation??? How many of you running his/her own political party if not agreed with the present ones???Why dont u people mention ur practical services for pak here on chat so that others get inspired…Actions speak louder than words..”
– “hakoomat ka koi kasoor nahi hota…..Allah tala har koom koi aisi hi government daitay hain jaisay k wo khud hotay hain”
– “I agree with Wahab 100% .. well said .. and Allah said himself – he will give you ruler that you deserve .. so stop accusing the govt – govt is just the extension of the people .. bad people bad govt and vice versa .. If you want to change anything in Govt or ruler then change the culture and habits of population.”
– “This is with the continuation to Ali Ahmad…
Action speaks louder than words.
More output is achieved when the strike is made in the right direction and by discussion we are driving ourselves to the right direction. Action is more important right after the discussion but the discussion is mendatory.”
The intolerance that Prof. Najam points out is the greatest curse for us as a nation. People on every side think they and they alone have the truth and anyone who has any opinion at all different from theirs are evil. We question that patriotism even the religion of anyone who does not agree with us. The tolerance of extremists of all sorts is what is killing us.
Thank you so much for writing this and pointing this out. I think the best part of this is” “We are sorry for being so drunk in intolerance that we made ourselves the arbiters of who was Muslim enough to be Muslim, or Pakistani enough to be Pakistani.”
Wonderful piece. Thank you.
Dear Dr. Najam,
Excellent. But you also should apologize to him for putting up glowing tributes to Jamaat e Islami’s second Amir who worked hard to oppose and subvert Mr.Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan.