ANOTHER Independence Day (the 72nd ) has passed. Yet another anniversary was observed to reflect and to give thanks to the vision and hard work of Pakistan’s founder, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The books written over the years attest to the fact that Jinnah has been right all along and that the Muslims would have had no place or space in a Hindu-dominated India.

Nehru’s rancour against Pakistan reaches a crescendo in his remarks ‘I shall not have that carbuncle on my back’ (D. H. Bhutani, The Future of Pakistan, page 14). In his book, Jinnah: India, Partition, and Independence, Jaswant Singh, reveals that Jinnah had shelved the idea of independent Pakistan by putting his signature to the Cabinet Mission’s recommendations. However, when Nehru refused to accept the recommendations, the British government decided to divide and leave India.

When Jinnah left India on August 7, 1947, Vallabhbhai Patel said: ‘The poison had been removed from the body of India’while the Quaid was cordiality itself. He said: ‘The past has been buried and let us start afresh as two independent sovereign states.’ Over the years Nehru and his followers continued with their anti-Pakistan diatribe and festering hatred in the post-Partition period.

The Quaid on the other hand always stood out as an enlightened leader. In a broadcast addressed to the people of the USA (Feb 1948), he said: ‘Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests (mullahs) with a divine mission.’

As Governor General of Pakistan he declared: “You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State… We are all citizens and equal citizens of the one State.”

A Pakistani
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2019