One of the greatest statesmen and leaders of the modern age, Muhamad Ali Jinnah is a common name to hear in discussions of politics, justice, law and history. However, every now and then the picture of him playing snooker in a club in Bombay resurfaces, showing a more refreshing, less talked about, side of this great man. It was during the British Raj that snooker was introduced in the sub-continent and Jinnah himself was quite a keen player, indulging in the sport whenever he had the time. Beyond that, he has often shown appreciation for the discipline, team spirit and leadership sports induces in the individual.
Jinnah did not forget to include sports in his strategic vision for the nation of Pakistan. On 25th of February 1948, the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) was formed with Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as its patron-in-chief to oversee the active participation of Pakistan at the Olympics. The First Pakistan Olympic Games (sometimes referred to as the first Pakistan National Games) were held in Karachi in April 1948, organised by the POA. On his speech at the Opening Ceremony of this event, Jinnah said: “I agreed to become the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Olympic Association in the realisation that the success of our people in all walks of life depends upon the cultivation of ‘Sound Minds’ the natural concomitant to ‘Sound Bodies’.” He also highlighted the POA’s requests for the creation of a State Department of Physical Culture and Education and of a stadium in Pakistan large enough to host the Pan-Islamic Olympics.
Despite the nation being in the infancy stage of its independence, the POA managed to make Pakistan attend the Summer Olympic Games held in London in 1948. Jinnah showed great appreciation for the athletes going to attend this event, saying: “After these games [the 1948 Pakistan Olympics Games] you shall go to the World Olympics at Wembley Stadium, London, representing us as messengers of our goodwill and my best wishes will go with you. Remember to win is nothing, it is the effort and the spirit behind the effort that count.”
There are few things that can teach the youth to practice and defend the ideology of Pakistan more than participating in sports can. The qualities of a good sportsperson include belief in one’s team and talent, the ability to work together through difficulties and a routine of consistent training and discipline. Jinnah wanted the nation to be built upon these same traits, following his motto of “Faith, Unity, and Discipline.” He emphasised on this in a meeting with the organising committee of the First Pakistan Olympic Games, where he told the first President of POA, Ahmed E.H. Jaffar: “Dedicate yourself to sports promotion, for when you and I are gone, leadership will go into the hands of the youth, and the youth is our wealth, a raw material that must be hammered into shape, into burnished steel, to strive and smite in defence - the defence of the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan - the defence of the ideology of Pakistan.”
Jinnah’s philosophy on the importance of sports for Pakistani youth was expressed with more clarity in his letter to the late M. A. Khaliq, the Organising Secretary of the First Pakistan Olympic Games in May, 1948: “I maintain that we have only run the first lap of a marathon relay race. I have passed the baton to others to dash on from lap to lap, determined and dedicated, united and disciplined, with faith in themselves and God. Your race to destiny shall be calculatingly cluttered with obstacles, and if you have Unity, Faith and Discipline, nothing will ever stop you from becoming sturdy and strong. Strength alone is an effective deterrent to aggression. Build leadership on the play fields, and try to become good followers. Remember, no one can ever command who does not learn how to obey. Be a builder. Build for others.” By this it becomes apparent that Jinnah not only recognised the important role sports play in implementing traits in the youth of Pakistan that allow them to work towards their country’s betterment according to its ideology, but he also understood the significance of sports as a force to deter aggression and violence. This works with his vision for the foreign policy of the nation as well, a policy Jinnah described as “one of friendliness and goodwill towards all the nations of the world.”
The idea of sports as a peace-building agent is one that is best represented by the symbolic rings that make up the Olympics logo. The inventor of the design, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, said “it represents the five continents of the world [North and South America were taken as one continent], united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.”
Jinnah wholeheartedly believed that athletes should be a force for advocating peace and building bonds between nations. He put greater emphasis on the health benefits of partaking in sports than on the militaristic boost. His message to the athletes at the First Pakistan Olympic Games was to: “build up physical strength not for aggression, not for militarism, but for becoming fighting fit all your life, and all the time in every walk of life of your nation, wherever you be, and always to be a force for peace, international amity and goodwill.”
The spirit of unity and peace that the Olympics promotes is what Jinnah wanted for Pakistan as well. This is elaborated on best by his declaration on 12th April 1948: “For sound minds we should have sound bodies and that is why nations over the world attach so much importance to bodybuilding and physical culture. The first Pakistan Olympic Games should act as an incentive to all Pakistan nationals to emulate the Olympic Motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ i.e. ‘Faster, higher and stronger’. I wish the organisers of the games and all competitors the best of luck. Build up Pakistan higher, firmer and stronger.”
