Well, Mr Jinnah, we are still around, and yesterday, on your 128th official birthday, and the 2004th official birthday of Jesus Christ, a grateful nation once again remembered and saluted you. No guns were heard, strangely. Perhaps none were fired. Perhaps guns are now obsolete in this nuclearized nation.
Both President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have exercised restraint this year and refrained from making the usual lengthy speeches or statements so short on substance. Their statements happily were pithy. The general: "We need to inculcate in ourselves the spirit of dedication, high moral character and honesty of purpose coupled with the guiding principles of unity, faith and discipline enunciated by the Quaid." The skilled banker-turned-prime minister: "We need all those qualities which singled out the Quaid as a politician, a thinker, a planner, a patriot and a freedom fighter if the nation is sincere in its devotion to this country which had been universally described as the first ideologically founded state in the world."
The meaning of these two statements would be lost to the majority millions of illiterates whose minds have been infected with the bigotry that encompasses them. As to being the first "ideologically" founded state, lucky are all the rest of the states in this world if we are to go by the good any "ideology" has done us. It has rightly been pointed out many times in the past that there is no written specified ideology as such. It changes with the times and with the whims and aims and objectives of our mixed bag of rulers. Yet, strangely, by law, those opposing this mythical "ideology" can be punished.
Lest we forget, it was Mohammad Ali Jinnah who stressed the democratic liberal fact that religion is not the business of the state: "You may belong to any religion, caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state." (August 11 1947) "...make no mistake, Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it." (February 19 1948) "In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state - to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Parsis. They are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and they will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan." (February 1948).
Of late, General Musharraf has concentrated on building highways, byways and flyways. Let them be built. Good roads are a necessity, not a luxury. But can he not ensure that his Frontier Works Organization men, the few capable and the many incompetent, check their levels, slopes, cambers, drainage - all vital attributes?
The intelligent amongst our road builders and engineers would benefit by a study of the primers read by engineer standartenfuehrer Dr Fritz Todt (1891-1942), and by architect Albert Speer (1905-1981), the builders of the great autobahns of the German Third Reich. Sher Shah Suri and Adolf Hitler, both long dead, are still remembered for the highway networks they built and left for posterity.
The general has also supported the building of the "the tallest tower in the world" on Karachi port land, yet to be reclaimed, and a jet d'eau, which will for sure not be equipped with the ability to pump water for the next 300 years. Is he trying to compete with the builders of the Colossus of Rhodes? These two schemes he is supporting, after listening to highly dicey advice from those unworthy of rendering sensible and practical advice, amongst them some of his "dynamic" corrupt ministers, are but scams - as usual.
If Musharraf wishes to go down in history, let him emulate an accomplishment of our neighbours. It makes stimulating and uplifting reading - it is a true achievement.
This July, the president of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (India's sober answer to our own rampaging proliferating AQK), inaugurated The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC) at Hyderabad, a green business incubator and a conference centre. It has since become "the greenest building in the world" after it was awarded a Version 2.0 Platinum rating by the United States Green Building Council - the first in India and the first outside the US to obtain this particular grading under the leadership in environment and energy design programme.
It was launched as a concept in 2000, when former US President Bill Clinton visited Hyderabad. This most environment-friendly building has many unique features - thus the ultimate award. Eighty per cent of the material used in its construction was recycled, including fly ash and wasted material from cement and other industries. It discharges zero water, as all used water is recycled, and its vast water body utilizes rainwater harvesting.
One of the innovative ideas used is waterless urinals in which chemicals are used to store and recycle urine without any odour. The GBC uses 55 per cent less energy than a conventional building and is constructed in such a way that the intake of natural light does away with the need for external lighting.
Sixty per cent of the roof is covered by a roof garden which provides excellent insulation and cuts down the air-condition load. The building has two tall wind towers which pre-cool the air and also reduce energy consumption by the air-conditioning unit, and the use of photovoltaic cells augments the power requirements.
The chairman of this new "not-for-profit" centre is Jamshyd Godrej of the Godrej Group, one of India's most environmental-conscious corporate entities. A public-private partnership between the CII, the government of Andhra Pradesh, and the Pirojshah Godrej Foundation is responsible for the construction of this splendid edifice, built at a cost of approximately Rs.100 million on an area of five acres. In terms of savings on power and water it is expected to pay for itself in three to four years' time.
The CII-GBC (as the partnership is known) has set itself the task of building 10 green buildings in India by 2006, and by 2015 to make India a world leader in the environmental area. Godrej and his partners do not intend to just put up a demonstration building, they want to be world leaders - they intend to promote Indian industry as one of the foremost competitive industries as far as green buildings and environmental matters are concerned.
Long may, what remains of Jinnah's Pakistan, live!