The Pakistani Spectator

14 August 2010 marks the 63rd birthday of Pakistan. It was 27th of Ramazan that God blessed Indian Muslims with an independent state breaking them free from the clutches of British slavery and Hindu dominance. Independence we enjoy today is the fruit of the sacrifices of our ancestors and the visionary leadership of our altruistic leaders of which Syed Ahmad Khan, Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Qaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah stand tall.

The Muslim straggle for separate identity and home land in fact started in 1869 when Syed Ahmad Khan owing to growing Hindu demand to replace Urdu by Hindi prophesied that the path of the Hindus and Muslims will separate. He realized that the condition of Muslims of India won’t improve without spread of modern education. To implement the idea, on 26 December 1870, he organized a “Society for the Educational Progress of Indian Muslims,” which laid the foundation of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College. The process wasn’t that easy, he had to prevail upon governmental functionaries and overcome financial limitations. He employed every possible device to raise funds from running a lottery to touring extensively and luckily his efforts were well rewarded. Hali while describing Syed Ahmad Khan acknowledges that he had many outstanding qualities, “energy, industry, moral courage, a dogged will, great capacity for absorbing knowledge from all quarters, political acumen of the highest order, a puckish sense of humor …… he influenced and brought to forefront a large number of capable men, that has been done by any other modern Muslim leader.”

A stage was set and Muslim conscious was awakened to receive inspirations from Iqbal. Iqbal deeply touched their spiritual and ideological basics rousing them to regain their lost stature. He dreamed of a separate homeland for Muslims as early as 1909 when while declining an invitation for a meeting of Minerva Lodge a cosmopolitan organization he wrote on 28 March 1909, “The vision of a common nationhood for India is a beautiful ideal, and has a poetic appeal, but looking to the present conditions and the unconscious trends of the two communities, appears incapable of fulfillment.”

The idea of a separate homeland for Indian Muslim further crystallized with the passage of time. It was during the annual session of All-India Muslim League, 1930, in his presidential address, he said, “I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.” Iqbal lived with his dream and during his visit to England in 1931 convinced Muhammad Ali Jinnah to take charge of the Muslims of subcontinent. The process was as if he was handing over the baton of leadership to the man of destiny who would lead Muslims of India to deliverance.

Jinnah bought the dream, but was confronted with a difficult situation and while sharing the same with Mr. S. M. Ikram in 1932 said with great anguish of soul, “But what is to be done? The Hindus are short-sighted and I think, incorrigible. The Muslim camp is full of those spineless people who, whatever they may say to me, will consult the Deputy Commissioner about what they should do! Where is, between these two groups, anyplace for a man like me?” Nevertheless he became permanent president of the All-India Muslim League in 1934. In the historic session of All-India Muslim League at Lahore in March 1940 Pakistan resolution was adopted. That marked the formal struggle for creation of Pakistan. The way was paved with the announcement of Sir Stafford Cripps proposal on 20 March 1942 that conceded the right of self determination for the provincial units at the end of the war. It was charisma of Qaid’s personality and his unflinching resolve that in spite of all odds the largest Muslim State emerged on the map of the world on 14 August 1947.

We indeed are indebted to our ancestors for our independence but what about our future generations. It appears that we are heedless of our responsibilities toward them. An underdeveloped, mismanaged and utterly fragmented country is not what we want to hand them over. We have repeatedly failed in combating corruption, nepotism, lawlessness, sectarianism, terrorism and to put in place merit, justice and social order. For the failing we don’t have to blame any one but our selves. One only wishes that we take advice from Iqbal:

منفَعَت ایک ہے اس قوم کی، نُقصان بھی ایک

ایک ہی سب کا نبی ، دین بھی، ایمان بھی ایک

حَرم پاک بھی، اللہ بھی، قرآن بھی ایک

کچھ بڑی بات تھی ہوتے جو مسلمان بھی ایک

فرقہ بندی ہے کہیں اور کہیں ذاتیں ہیں

کیا زمانے میں پنپنے کی یہی باتیں ہیں