EDITORIAL: It was on March 23, 1940 that the Muslims of subcontinent decided that even when they had coexisted with Hindus for a thousand years they are a different nation by definition. On that day at the historic session of All-India Muslim League held in Lahore the resolution — the Pakistan Resolution — was passed. Moved by the then Bengal Chief Minister A. K. Fazlul Haq and seconded by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and others, the resolution spelt out the geographical contours of a separate homeland for India’s Muslims. However, it was President of All-India Muslim League Mohammad Ali Jinnah who gave expression to the basic concept underlying the resolution.
He said Muslims are not a minority in the sense the Congress propagates: “The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on two conflicting ideas and conceptions… . To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a minority and the other as majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state”. This was the Two-Nation Theory on which Pakistan was founded, and we celebrate as the Pakistan Day in myriad ways, the most prominent being the joint military parade in Islamabad. While on this day Pakistan displays its military might, it also makes known to the world that this military might is for peace.
And it’s one’s earnest wish and hope that the country’s leaderships on both sides of the widening political divide spare a moment and look back at the tremendous struggle the Muslim leaders waged to win an independent homeland for the Muslims of subcontinent. They should also think of the rivers of blood the Muslims had to wade through to reach their own country. If later on that homeland broke into two pieces it was the outcome of political greed.
How tragic it is that the Pakistan Resolution was moved by someone from the place which later on became ‘East Pakistan’, and then came the leaders whose lust for power drove away that part from Pakistan. What we have now made of Pakistan that was not the Pakistan the movers and adopters of the Pakistan Resolution could think of. Of course democracies are essentially rowdy playfields and it is nothing new that the fantastic promises made on the election trail are never met. But the kind of animosity that has come to obtain between the losers and winners following the last general election in Pakistan is unacceptable to an average fan of democracy. So, as we celebrate the Pakistan Day we are also worried about the future of democracy in Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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