Masses without true leadership

“If there were leaders like Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Shaheed-e-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan and Masud Khadarposh, there would have been no chaos in the mind of the common people even today—- no anger and no confusion among consumers about roti, clothing and shelter ,” this is how the elder citizens react to their party leaders.

One of the basic problems soon after the establishment of Pakistan was roti. An active supporter of Khaksar Movement chief Allama Enayatullah Khan al-Mashriqi set up a hotel in well-known Paisa Akhbaar Street of Lahore. The unique slogan—‘one anna roti, daal mufat’(six paisa only for one roti and masoor pulse ) attracted hundreds of lower middle and poor segments of the city every day.

That was a symbol of humanitarian approach towards solving the roti problem of the people of the area. When people of rural and urban areas came to learn about the manifesto and its popularity they joined the organisation. They realised Allama Mashriqi and his programme would actually achieve independence from the British rule.

About 23 years after the Establishment of Pakistan emerged a new political party— the Pakistan People’s Party—-whose chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto won the general election and eventually became the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In an interview to the then Editor of the ‘Egyptian Gazette’ and ‘Gamhouria, Dr.Amin Aboulenein, he said : “I am fully committed to the concept of the slogan ‘Roti Kapra and Makan’ for everybody…I coined two party slogans, one was Roti, Kapra and Makan, and the other, enunciating the three principles of the party—-Islam is our ‘deen’, Democracy is our policy and Socialism is our economy…

“Roti, Kapra and Makan might have been used as a slogan, but it is not a slogan. It’s an outlook, it is a philosophy. I am not so foolish as to have believed that with the limited resources of Pakistan

we would be able to provide roti, kapra and makan. I was also not so foolish as to believe the election I was fighting was going to be my last election and so I could tell lies.” What happened afterwards everybody remembers.

Worth-watching, worth- seeing, worth-experiencing, worth-assessing and worth-appreciating is the hard work the new leader is doing for a new Pakistan. Masses are waiting for some fruitful result of the gigantic task the new leader has taken in his hands. The common man wants the Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Shaheed-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan and Fatima Jinnah had wanted for masses.

— zasarwar@hotmail.com