Excellent speech by my dear friend Yasser Latif Hamdani and a nice article by Dawn as well. The only jarring note was YLH saying "Jinnah was greater than Gandhi". This is like saying that "Roger Federer was greater than Rohan Bopanna". Obvious, avoidable and completely unnecessary IMHO.
A classic post, redolent of all the virtues that you represent. That Roger Federer versus Rohan Bopanna gibe certainly encapsulates that unhappy breed of Indian that will defile everything positive about the leadership of the freedom struggle in an attempt to demonstrate that since no political party can be seen to be responsible for the emergence of an independent India, no political party with an agenda hostile to the composition of the present Indian state needs to feel apologetic about its visible corrosive effect on that state, or regard with any seriousness the flood of criticism of its intents and purposes.
But, of course, it gets better. What is self-hatred unless accompanied by the deepest and most abject self-humiliation?
KARACHI: “Sadly and tragically, we are nowhere near Jinnah’s idea of a modern nation state,” said Yasser Latif Hamdani, who is a well-known human rights lawyer, writer and author of several books, including Jinnah: A Life.
He was giving a talk on ‘Jinnah and the Idea of a Modern Nation State’ at the Quaid-i-Azam House Museum here on Friday.
Could it be, possibly, that the core idea was flawed?
“Jinnah’s idea of secularism was in pluralism. He even had his Aug 10, 1947 oath altered by omitting the word ‘swear’ and ‘so help me God’. There was no mention of God in the oath to keep religion and state separate. He felt that any person with merit should lead Pakistan,” he pointed out.
“We all know of his speech where he said ‘You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan.’ But the most important words in that speech are: ‘Even now there are some states in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class … we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state.’
“He would have never stood for state religion. So what was the idea of Pakistan? Jinnah’s idea was not dependant on Partition. There could still be Pakistan in United India. The idea that is dividing India and Islam may sound good here, but it is a bad story to tell internationally. India sells Gandhi and his ideals of secularism and pluralism abroad. Jinnah was greater than Gandhi, but he has a negative image,” said Mr Hamdani.
Even those of us who acknowledge and salute the personal integrity of this great man are not entirely, wholly, utterly persuaded that he was right in all his formulations.
How could he not stand for a state religion, when his support system was an exclusionary and parochial movement based entirely on an agenda for one community?
How can anyone logically believe that wearing puce today is consistent with banning the shade altogether tomorrow?
“Jinnah was not completely decided on Partition. The division of the subcontinent was not etched in stone, and this narrative needs to come out in Pakistan Studies,” he said.
This is speculative history, of the sort that we see in our dreams.
Every single action or word of the Pakistan movement was towards a Pakistan, and we are told repeatedly that any intermediate stops were merely way-stops, and not the final destination.
These formulations are the flight into fantasy of liberals who cannot bear to admit that their original concept of nationhood was flawed, and led inevitably to today's conditions.
It is for each observer to decide with candour and honesty at least to himself or to herself what these conditions are. If they are good, if the condition of the country is robust, if prospects for the future are excellent, wonderful.
It is for Indians to decide what shape India is in today, it is for Pakistanis to decide what shape Pakistan is in today.