Discovering the Quaid’s Pakistan

Most of educated young people discuss the purpose behind the struggle and achievement of Pakistan and the role Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his sister Fatimah Jinnah played in that regard.

“It seems our leaders have forgotten the Quaid’s vision of an economically strong, progressive and well defended Pakistan,” say the youth. Do our leaders not need to get united again to meet challenges in this hour of trial, and recall what the Quaid had wanted of his followers in the national interest? The need is dire because the enemy is up to making last bid to crush our homeland socio-economically.

The Quaid believed in Islamic principles and democracy and advocated the cause of the common man. He had conceived Pakistan based on foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism which stress equality and brotherhood of man. He was concerned with the problem of poverty and backwardness among Muslims for the eradication of which they looked, on the one hand, to the urges of dynamism, struggle and creativity in Islam and, on the other, to the Islamic principle of distributive justice.

The Quaid’s speeches during the freedom struggle reflected his vision. He declared during his struggle for Pakistan: “It will be a people’s government; I should like to give a warning to the landlords and capitalists who have flourished at our expense by a system which is so vicious, which is so wicked and which makes them so selfish that it is difficult to reason with them; the exploitation of the masses has gone into their blood; they’ve forgotten the lesson of Islam; greed and selfishness have made these people subordinate to the interests of others in order to fatten themselves.”

City elders rightly say: “We will have to unite as the Quaid had done; build our character as he had defined and then implement his dream with a strong determination.” That will mean rebuilding Pakistan as was also visualized by hundreds of thousands who sacrificed their lives.

The question is: when will our leaders learn a lesson to mend their ways and dedicate their energy to rebuilding Pakistan? We should never forget that united we stand, divided we fall. Let the enemy fall.

-- zasarwar@hotmail.com