The year 1947 was both a remarkable and a terrible year: Remarkable in the sense that it saw the birth of a new nation — Pakistan and terrible in the sense that thousands of people lost their lives and property.

For the establishment of this country, our forefathers fought with all their might and rendered huge sacrifices. Surely they were fighting for a purpose; a purpose so grand as to be worthy of ceaseless striving and exemplary sacrifices. So what was that purpose? It could not be merely for a piece of land.

According to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the purpose was to “have a state in which we could live and breathe as free men, and in which we could develop according to our own religion and culture, and where principles of Islamic justice could find fair play.”

Indeed, this could not be accomplished without winning a separate homeland because Muslims living in non-Muslim states don’t usually enjoy as much religious and cultural freedom as we do here, in Pakistan.

Hence Pakistan is not merely a piece of land, it is a place for Muslims where they can practice their religion feely. It is a place where curriculums are in compliance with Islamic law so that Muslim students don’t have to do anything contrary to Islamic teachings; where there are several mosques so that Muslims don’t have to face the inconvenience of taking to car parking areas and garages for worship; where there is no restriction on any Islamic activity. Herein we live our lives with absolute religious and cultural freedom — a virtue many desire to have, and many are deprived of.

So remember, if we solve our problems — escalating prices, unemployment and corruption — Pakistan would be an ideal place for us to live in.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 13th, 2016