Factors that led to creation of Pakistan discussed 

Speakers at a seminar, titled “Why it had become necessary to create Pakistan”, speakers on Tuesday concurred that what we had to see to first and foremost now was sustaining the God-given gift of Pakistan.  

Rearranging our priorities to give education top importance was the need of the hour; otherwise, the cause behind the dream of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent could never be realised, they said.

The seminar was organised by Bazm-e-Fikr-o-Amal in collaboration with the KMC Officers Welfare Association at the KMC Sports Complex on Kashmir Road. 

Abdul Majid, proprietor of National Foods Ltd. and chancellor of the National Textile University, said that the world was going through the fourth industrial revolution, and “here we, the people of Pakistan, instead of seeing to its progress and ensuring it a place in the future, are just busy with ethnic and religious bickering, thus blocking its progress”.

To ensure ourselves a place in the future, he said, we had to give foremost preference to the endeavour of education; otherwise our achievement of our long-cherished dream of a separate homeland for the Muslims will have been rendered to naught.

He narrated how he came with his father as a seven-year-old from his village to attend the session that passed the Lahore Resolution in 1940.

Justice (retd) Wajeehuddin Ahmed also highlighted the indispensable importance of education.

He said one of the reasons for the friction between the Hindus and the Muslims was the lack of education among the Muslims and it occurred when the British rulers started imparting education in the subcontinent. He said the Hindus stole a quick one over the Muslims in that they readily accepted to be armed with western education while the Muslims resisted. 

Consequently, Justice Ahmed said, the Hindus assured themselves a place in the bureaucracy and other coveted jobs while the Muslims lagged behind and the Muslims realised that if they had to compete with the Hindus, they would have to give education top priority. 

“Pakistan is a blessing which has no equal and the only way we can sustain the blessing is by equipping it with the indispensable asset of education,” he said. “If, after the next 15-20 years, the uneducated are going to steer the ship of state, then God help us,” he remarked.  “For one, revive all schools that have lain shut for decades and put maximum stress on primary education,” he said.

The creation of Pakistan, he said, was an evolution, not an event, and the causes for its emergence had started taking place much earlier on in history. He said that our education system had rotted rapidly, what with all that cheating in examinations and cheating being facilitated by those who were supposed to prevent it. 

Khwaaja Razi Haider, director, Quaid-e-Azam Academy, said, “When the British began to hold sway, it became clear to the Muslims that they could not achieve supremacy  despite their rule over the Hindus for a thousand years. As such the creation of Pakistan became indispensable.” 

Professor Haroon Rashid said the Muslims of the subcontinent began to be suppressed by the end of Aurangzeb’s rule. He blamed the East India Company for the depressing state of the Muslims and said that 30 percent of the Muslims had to struggle for supremacy against the might of the 70 percent Hindus. This made the Muslims realise that they needed a separate homeland. 

He said, “Pakistan was a separate entity on account of a distinct Muslim civilisation and culture.” He said that the fall of our eastern half in 1971 was a tragedy but for that we had to carry out a catharsis, a self-reflection and determine our blunders that brought matters to this tragic pass. 

Raziuddin Syed lamented that the history of Pakistan was being erased from the curricula deliberately so that the future generations may never get to know the untold sacrifices made by their elders for the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims. 

People who came from that side of the dividing line, despite the prosperity they left behind, opted to live in tents by the roadside but swore to remain true to the ideal of Pakistan. “Hindus and Muslims could never weld into one nation because of our totally diverse religions and culture,” he said.

Arif Mustafa, president, KMC Officers’ Welfare Association, said that the failure of the cabinet mission made the creation of Pakistan absolutely imperative. He said that there were three kinds of people: those who opposed Pakistan’s creation; those who still oppose it; and those who have got reconciled to it.

He said that those who had got reconciled to it could be forgiven but there could be no forgiveness for those who still opposed it.  Amna Alam recited a very touching poem about the creation of Pakistan.