Quaid’s vision of Pakistan

The common people say they are sick of what can be frankly called dirty politics void of democratic principle and patriotism and care for the poor’s welfare. “The way our power-hungry leaders are fighting against one another proves none of them is sincere to our country’s cause; they never care to know how many men, women and children sleep at night half-bred.”

They say there are hospitals but most of them remain either without doctors or medicines. “We have to buy medicine from borrowed money because it’s beyond our reach.”

Old citizens are right, they speak the truth. They have the same vision the Quaid who fought for Pakistan had.

Most politicians seem to have forgotten the Quaid-i-Azam’s mission and his vision of Pakistan and are playing their game in self-interest. Do they not need to recall what the Quaid had wanted of his followers in the common man’s interest?

The ordinary man is in search of social and economic justice, so he wants a leader who comes to his rescue -- and concentrates on the welfare of the masses.

The Quaid believed in Islamic principles and democracy and advocated the cause of the poor. He had a dream; he visualised a welfare state. He had conceived Pakistan based on foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism which stress equality and brotherhood of man. Like Allama Iqbal, 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 speech at the 30th session of the Muslim League during the freedom struggle reflected his vision, saying “it will be a people’s government.”

He gave a warning to landlords and capitalists who flourish “at our expense by a system which is so vicious, which is wicked and which makes them so selfish that it is difficult to reason with them.”

The city olds not happy with the current situation 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 achieving the Pakistan visualized by hundreds of thousands who had sacrificed their lives and property.

The question is: when will the power-hungry politicians learn a lesson to mend their ways and dedicate their time and energy to building a new happy, prosperous and defence-wise strong Pakistan?

zasarwar@hotmail.com