Serving the masses means homage to Quaid-i-Azam

Do we ever recall how we observed the first death anniversary of the founder of Pakistan on September 11, 1949? The 70th one last Tuesday found little mention of the great man and his achievement and what he had in mind to do further for the nation.

People want return of what they call their money worth billions to rebuild their motherland according to the vision of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Do we really remember his mission vision?

Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as the first governor general of the new state stressed “the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious belief of its subjects are fully protected by the state, and if we want to make this great state of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people, especially of the masses and the poor.”

Remembering his messages and speeches with sincerity to implement them is a way of paying homage to the father of the nation.

On February 4, 1948, he told Sibi audience that in wanting to give Balochs a voice in provincial administration he had been moved by his commitment to the principle of democracy. “It is my belief that our salvation lies in solving the golden rules of conduct set for us by our great law giver, the Prophet of Islam. Let’s lay the foundations of our democracy on the basis of truly Islamic ideal and principles.”

He wanted Pakistan to be a welfare state. 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.

He believed in people’s government, he warned landlords and capitalists who he said had flourished at “our expense” by a vicious and wicked system. The exploitation of the masses has gone into their blood. They’ve forgotten the lesson of Islam.

The only right way to pay homage to the Quaid is to fulfil his vision practically, and in unity. That is in national interest.

— zasarwar@hotmail.com