AS Pakistan goes through troubled times with myriad political and socio-economic challenges plaguing the country, the nation today commemorates Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s death anniversary with a heavy heart.

His early demise after such a long struggle for the creation of Pakistan left the country with a host of unresolved crises. Most importantly, the country did not have a constitution to manage its affairs in a defined direction.

It is so unfortunate that a constitution, which should have been based on the core principles and the vision of the founding father, could only be prepared after almost quarter of a century of political upheavals of all possible kinds. If it could be done under the guidance of the great leader, things would have been quite different.

Even after the country got its unanimously passed constitution, there have been many a violation of that document. Such violations have always been contrary to Jinnah’s ideology and his publicly stated position. He wanted a strong, prosperous and progressive Pakistan to be run by civilian rulers. There is no doubt that Quaid’s sudden death compounded the country’s problems as the newly-created country had a great deal of challenges to overcome without the guidance of the Quaid.

Today, Pakistan can be on the right path only if the leadership could adopt the Quaid’s vision and learn from his statesmanship and political acumen. We are fortunate that we had a leader in Jinnah about whom American historian Stanley Wolpert rightly remarked in his book Jinnah of Pakistan: “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”

Although we have squandered time, energy and resources owing to lack of visionary leadership, we still can recover if we take a cue from the Quaid’s historic speeches and sayings. We must remember his words and lofty ideals which he had left for us if we want to see our country to be what the Quaid wanted it to be. With the passage of time, the Quaid is being missed more than ever before.

Abdul Qadeer Seelro
Larkana

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2021