This obviously panicked a right-leaning Choudhry Sahib (who later intrigued his way to become prime minister and later formed Nizam-i-Islam Party) who had issued the instructions to delete the portion of Quaid's assertion in his speech - "You are free, you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan.
You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state....Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State". Choudhry Muhammad Ali back-tracked, saying who could dare order censoring of Quaid's speech and it was subsequently published in full.
Although, the deletion from the landmark speech was timely withdrawn, Quaid's secular vision of the country as emphasised by him in his speech, was subverted subsequently by obscurantist forces who had opposed establishment of Quaid's Pakistan as a liberal and progressive democracy to serve as a model for other Muslim countries to emulate. What the obscurantists sowed, it is the nation that is reaping the bitter harvest today in the multi-faceted forms of extremism, terrorism, sectarianism, ethnicity and divisiveness.
While he had many historic incidents stored in his memory, paucity of space permits me to only narrate one more. Pakistan's creation had become a reality; the Quaid was being met by the senior Muslim officers of the armed forces serving the British. One of them not knowing much about Mr Jinnah and his commitment to democracy, advised him to consult senior Muslim personnel before appointing the chiefs of the forces. This suggestion was dropped like a hot potato when the Quaid reprimanded the officer - addressing every one present there - that "it would entirely be prerogative of the elected government of the day to decide who to appoint and who not to - as head of the armed forces." This incident has been corroborated by the late Major General Shahid Hamid in his autobiography.
In Zuberi Bhai's death we have lost a journalistic icon. He successfully carved out a unique niche in the hall of fame as a forthright journalist and later as a newspaper-proprietor/entrepreneur who stood up to dictators and other adverse and challenging circumstances to uphold the flag of media freedom aloft. Indeed, his ever-lasting contribution as a pioneer in economic journalism as founder of leading financial newspaper Business Recorder will always be recorded in letters of gold. He did it and successfully too when professionally he was told that it would not succeed. His other legacy that will serve him well in keeping his memory alive is his sons - Wamiq, Arshad and Asif. He was a good but tough father who brought them well to serve the profession that was immensely dear to him. May Allah bless his soul. Amen.
(The writer is High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and a former journalist)