LAHORE, Aug 8: Former Senator Justice Javid Iqbal (retired) has said after achievement of Pakistan, the basis of national ideology should no more be hatred against the Hindus as it was before the partition.

He was speaking at a meeting of the Nazaria-i-Pakistan Foundation held on Tuesday for launching about dozen booklets on Pakistan and the leaders of the Pakistan Movement published by the body. He said the basis of national ideology should be positive and not `negative’ as in the past it was considered justified for the struggle for a separate homeland by the Muslims of the sub-continent. “No nation can be built on the basis of hatred. We shall have to stand on our feet,” he asserted.

He said the Quaid-i-Azam abhorred sectarianism describing it as venomous for the nation. “We have not given up this venom and our mosques and Imambargahs were being attacked.”

He said Pakistan was facing numerous problems, which should be solved with courage. “Independent nations never lose heart, and they continue their struggle to solve their problems.” He said if Pakistan had not been created, the Muslims’ fate would not have been different from the fate of the people of Kashmir, who had been fighting for their independence for the past 59 years. He said the Quaid-i-Azam wanted Pakistan to be an Islamic democratic state, and added: “We should make all-out efforts to make Pakistan a state as visualised by the Quaid.”

On the two-nation theory, he said the concept originated from the views of Muslim historian Al-Bairuni who visited India with Mahmud Ghazanavi, and had written a treatise, Kitabul Hind, in which he had discussed in detail the customs and manners and mindset of the Hindus. Bairuni’s views were followed by Jamaluddin Afghani, Sir Syyed Ahmad Khan and Allama Iqbal, while the Quaid provided political leadership to implement their views. In fact the two-nation theory started taking shape with the constitutional reforms of 1909 when the principal of separate representation for the Muslims was accepted. He said the Muslims had never deviated from the two-nation theory. Pakistan’s political leadership failed to bring about political stability which had been encroached upon first by the bureaucracy headed by Sikander Mirza and later by the army which had continued to rule over the country, he said.

Former chief justice of the Lahore High Court Mian Mahboob Ahmad differed with most of the views expressed by Dr Javid Iqbal. He said Islam in the sub-continent had not spread by the efforts of the Muslim rulers but through the Muslim saints, Sufis and Mushaikshs.

Lauding the foundation for publishing the booklets, he said though the electronic media had come in a big way in Pakistan, the importance of printed material could not be undermined. The print media preserved facts for the next generations and the readers’ concentrated on and assimilated the facts more effectively than they did in case of electronic media, he said.

He criticized the electronic media for airing many `objectionable’ and obscene programmes, and said: “They are destroying our social order.”

He said the Quaid-i-Azam was a champion of democracy and federalism, and wanted Pakistan to be a democratic federal state. He said that the Ummah was facing big challenges which could only be met if Islamic countries form a sort of confederation for the revival of their values.

Other speakers included Dr Rafiq Ahmad, Dr Maskeen Ali Hijazi, Dr Parveen Khan, Allama Ahmad Ali Qasuri, Dr M.A. Soofi, Dr Ajmal Niazi, Allama Asghar Ali Kusar Waraich.