Portrait of a person is as much a function of their physical appearance and character, as the world-view of the artist.
One can clearly see not only the glimpse of Jinnah as a person, but also the prejudices of the writer, Margaret Bourke-White.
A few observations:
1. Jinnah was certainly not satisfied with Pakistan. This much is well-known and documented.
2. He probably fore-saw the coming difficulties too. Creation of Pakistan was possibly the easier thing to do. The real difficult task was putting it on a track despite all that had happened just before, during, and after partition. The role of religion in the state was a challenge that still remains a challenge. Jinnah himself could not stamp his personality onto the state. He did not have time and the strength. This must have troubled him greatly.
3. All his ideas about how Pakistan and India ought to co-exist were washed away with the blood of partition and the war in Kashmir. This too must have been cause of much distress.
4. He probably worried about the role of Army. His speeches to Armed forces hint at it, I think. His displeasure with (later General) Ayub Khan for signs of ambition is documented. Spain had shown the world how a General could rule with an iron fist and get away with it. He must have wondered about this too.
5. The greatest worry, though must have been about his political associates. Matters of political considerations forced Muslim League to co-opt Punjab's Unionist party on a wholesale basis. This allowed Muslim League to triumph in crucial elections and put it in a position to claim exclusive position to call for Pakistan. But these people were not now an asset. They were a burden. These aristocrats could not be expected to be visionary leaders. They were intellectual midgets, but powerfully placed politically.
6. Anyone who has read history of the very early years of the state of Pakistan and read the accounts must know just how difficult were those times financially and resource-wise. There was no money to pay salaries of government employees. There were hardly any office supplies for bureaucracy to work with. Jameelud-Din A'ali, the noted poet and worker of Paksitan Movement remarked somewhere in his weekly columns that on weekends he used to go with friend on a bicycle a few miles from Karachi to collect long thorns of certain type of bushes to be used as pins to staple documents while he worked as a low-level government employee. Pakistan somehow made it. But darkest of those days were the ones of which the lady writes. Jinnah must have felt the weight of the circumstances then, on top of everything else.
7. Jinnah was dying of Tuberculosis. He had known this for some years. As the disease over-powered him in those final months. He must have had all these problems to contend with and must have known that there was little that he could do. I would not want to be in his position, knowing all this.
What gets to me in all this is that the lady writer finds a simple explanation for his drive: quest for power. For her it is that simple. Good for her. Looking back at that period from vantage point of today one feels sorry for Jinnah.
I feel sorry for the lady too. She was completely off with her narrow perspective at that time. USA did build Pakistan up as a bulwark against Soviet expansion. USSR did occupy Afghanistan and sat at Pakistan's door, having crossed all the "wild tumble of roadless mountain ranges". Pakistan did serve its purpose of repelling Soviets from its border, helping smash the Soviet system, breaking USSR and its economy with countless sacrifices of Afghan freedom-fighters. British must have congratulated themselves for having made right strategic decisions when they agreed to British India's partition and left a caricature of a county in today's Pakistan. A country without Kashmir, without Muslim majority districts of East Punjab, and one that put up with such great numbers of refugees from across Northern India.
While researching to write this post I have come across some material. First an August 2007 article by Dr. Adil Najam:
A few years ago a friend gave me a wonderful gift. A copy of the January 4, 1948 issue of LIFE magazine. This is the issue with a rather unflattering portrait of a clearly ailing ‘Jinnah of Pakistan’ on its cover.
For most part the cover story – with pictures by Margaret Bourke-White – is as unflattering as the picture of Mr. Jinnah on the cover. Margaret Bourke-White is an important chronicler of the events of 1947 and beyond in both India and Pakistan. She has strong views on these events, including on the creation of Pakistan and on Mohammad Ali Jinnah. These views, also reflected in the LIFE article, are much discussed and sometimes debated in academic and popular treatise. These are not the subject of this post.
What has always fascinated me much more, and
what I want to talk about today, are the pictures and accounts of everyday life in Pakistan at its birth. How severe were the existential challenges of survival the country faced at that time. How much has changed. And how much has not.
This being LIFE, the real story is in the pictures much more than in the text. My favorite picture is the one on the right. The caption reads:
“MODERN PAKISTAN WOMEN are symptomatic of the progress the new nation is struggling to make. Here, led by Zeenat Haroon, young members of the Sind province Women’s National Guard meet to practice the use of the bamboo lathi in self-defense. But most Pakistan women still prefer the old custom, even to the veiled face.”
Personally, I am
not a fan of laathi-wielding women; or men. However, the look of confidence on young Zeenat Haroon’s face is priceless; and the gist of the caption remains true today.
Another interesting photograph shows how college co-education was managed. The caption reads:
MOSLEM COLLEGE in Karachi represents an effort to reduce Pakistan illiteracy rate of 97%. Girls in background are seated out of boys’ view to preserve their modesty.
Much of the article is in the context of the politics of the, then, emerging Kashmir conflict. The main thesis is, however, clear:
“Last week as the tragic division between Pakistan and India increased and as the 72-year old Jinnah grew sicker, it became apparent that Pakistan not only might lose its battle for survival but might also lose its leader.”
The author obviously believed that the country would not survive. One should, however, not be too harsh on her for that judgment. The analytical facts and the weight of ‘informed’ opinion were on her side and it was not an uncommon, nor unreasonable, opinion to hold at that time. For example, the analytical fulcrum of the write-up is a half-page section titled “
Despite Lack of Money and Skills Nation Fights to Avoid Collapse.”
“When Pakistan suddenly received its freedom last Aug. 15, proud and energetic patriots boasted that they had created a nation with more land than France and more people than Germany. Granting these comparisons, Pakistan still lacks most of the attributes of a modern state.”
The section then goes on to indicate how Pakistan was
“fighting a close battle with economic bankruptcy” in six key areas: Labor, Food, Raw Materials, Industry, Transportation and Finances. A few of these are reproduced here:
“
Labor: Of the approximately 70 million Pakistanis more than 80% are farmers, a very few are wealthy landlords and the rest are shopkeepers and artisans. Nearly all of Pakistan’s financial and professional men were among the approximately four million Hindus who fled to India. From India, Pakistan got about siz million impoverished Moslem peasants who for the most part left their agricultural implements behind. Pakistan has huge transient camps fll of landless farmers and an almost complete lack of skilled technicians or businessmen.”
“
Industry: …At present in all of Pakistan there are only 26,000 workers employed in industry. She has no big iron and steel centers, only 34 railway repair shops, no match factories, no jute mills, no paper mills and only 16 cotton mills against India’s 857…”
“
Transportation: In all the 370,000 square miles of Pakistan there are only 7,260 miles of railway and only 9,575 miles of paved roads. There are an estimated 53,000 miles of dirt roads and trails… Pakistan has had difficulty in getting enough coal to keep the railways running and even then has had to pay about three times teh normal price per ton In September alone the country lost more than $10 million on railway operations.”
“
Finances: Pakistan’s financial troubles are compounded out of her political, trade and industrial failures. At the time of the division Hindu businessmen took out all the gold bullion, jewels and other liquid assets they could carry with them. With normal trade cut off by the rioting and use of railroads for refugees, Pakistan’s income probably will not exceed 450 million rupees for the current year against almost certain expenditures of 800 million. Officials talk hopefully of foreign investment or loans, but in Pakistan’s present condition the risks are not very attractive.”
Another picture in the cover-story depicts the realities that this analysis is pointing towards. The caption reads:
“ONE CAMEL TOWN” would be a good description of Karachi in terms of world capitals. Although the city has some modern transport, communications are inadequate.”
By way of conclusion, let me just say that I have never believed that
being dealt a bad hand at birth is any excuse for all the ways that we have messed up our political and economic affairs since then. Having said that, as I re-read the LIFE issue today, I could not help thinking that the country survived those early years despite all the odds was no mean achievement.
Ms. Margaret Bourke-White was probably not the only one surprised by this fact. Unfortunately, this makes thinking about all the mistakes we have made since then only that much more painful.
Note: Originally posted at ATP on 13 August, 2007.
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I am not surprised at all upon her unflattering portrait of Pakistan and Jinnah. Her back-ground and experienced, once taken into account explains a bit. All has to do is to take a look at Wikipedia page dedicated to her.
Margaret Bourke-White, on Left, in Karachi, 1948
