IT was on Aug 11 that the founder of Pakistan made a historic speech to the Constituent Assembly members. He said: “You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”

There is no denying the fact that the rulers of the country have distorted Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan and given it a new meaning. The result is that some rulers tried to make Pakistan a theocratic state. Theocracy has got nothing to do with the people of Pakistan.

If the rulers had been sincere and had made the Quaid’s speech their guideline, the state of the nation would have been different. We forget that he had also emphasised on the eradication of corruption, nepotism, jobbery, blackmarketing and other social evils. We find that even after more than 70 years, the situation is alarming.

All these evils have entrenched deep into the roots of society. If we had acted upon the advice of our Quaid, we would have been a successful nation in the world.

Hanif A. Mirza

Multan

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2019