Ardeshir Cowasjee

ON September 11, as has happened each dreary year since 1948, the government of Pakistan and its factotums observed, mindlessly and senselessly, the death anniversary of the man who gave them their country. In due solemnity, those in Karachi trundled off to his tomb for a photo opportunity — surely for nothing else as they have shown themselves, along with all their brethren in all our assemblies, to be clueless as to what the man, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, actually stood for.

The next day, September 12, a member of parliament from the ruling party, Minoo Bhandara, moved a private bill, the subject of which was that mythical thing known as the ‘ideology of Pakistan,’ asking his fellow parliamentarians to “Tell us what exactly is the ideology of our country.....”. He rightly observed that it was not reflected in the Objectives Resolution which forms both the Preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan and its Annexe (this Annexe was made a substantive part of the Constitution, Article 2A, by the man who has caused us untold harm, Ziaul Haq in March 1985). The bill was naturally rejected as the most honourable representatives of the people of Pakistan were not in unanimity as to what exactly is the ideology. They had their own varied interpretations but none wished a debate (can they debate on any subject ?) on the indefinable subject. None had the courage of his or her convictions. Bhandara had made his point.

Factually, the ideology of Pakistan is as defined by its Founder and Maker, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. All one has to do is refer to his speech of August 11, 1947, and to what he told the future legislators of his country. How ignorant, how blind, are those that have been installed, by whatever fraudulent means, to sit in the people’s assemblies and pretend to govern.

Before moving on to this speech, let us revert to the Constitution of 1973 with its endless amendments and to the Objectives Resolution, passed in March 1949, after Jinnah had been safely dead for six months. Had he been alive, he would never have allowed the passing of any such dangerous resolution which had untold implications for the future of his country. Now, to dishonesty and hypocrisy, two major national traits, as exhibited in this document regarded almost as sacred (though, in fact, it had an undisturbed life of merely four hours.)

In the Objectives Resolution as reproduced as the Preamble to the constitution, one passage reads : “....... adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures.” In the Objectives Resolution which forms the Annexe (Article 2A) this same passage reads : “....adequate provision shall be made for the minorities to profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures.”

Why, just why, was the word “freely” omitted from the Resolution by Ziaul Haq, and why does this blessed document contain this discrepancy? Does anyone of our many experts have an answer?

Lies and deceit and the distortion of what Jinnah stood for, what he believed, what he had set out for the future policies of his country have been with us from the time he died. Those who followed were bereft of any trace of gratitude for what he had given them and future generations, and they betrayed him without one wink of an eye.

In the early 1950s, the then government decided it was time to publish an official biography of Jinnah and Hector Bolitho was called in to do the job. He spent two years researching Jinnah’s life and whatever information he asked for was provided to him by the government.

Bolitho rightly records that in early August 1947 Jinnah devoted his time to “writing the greatest speech of his life,” the presidential address he was to give to his constituent assembly on the 11th of that month. He was led to misquote one single passage from this speech :

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens of one State.........”.

Now, this was a wicked bit of mischief on the part of the then government. What Jinnah had actually said that day, and what was subsequently recorded in a book containing Jinnah’s speeches made as governor-general of Pakistan (published by the government of Pakistan in April 1962) was in fact :

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State ......We are starting with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.......”.

The words “that has nothing to do with the business of the state” were omitted, purposefully — not by Bolitho, but by those who had provided him with a copy of the famous speech. This was crass dishonesty. Why the mangling? When Jinnah said that religion had nothing to do with the business of the state that is exactly what he meant. Men who had known him during his lifetime, who had worked for and with him, were denying his belief and his intent. Such was the influence of the manifest duplicity of the Objectives Resolution, which has blighted the lives of so many citizens of Pakistan for the past 57 years.

Bolitho was allowed to qualify the misquote and to qualify it well : “The words were Jinnah’s; the thought and belief were an inheritance from the Prophet who had said, thirteen centuries before, ‘All men are equal in the eyes of God. And your lives and your properties are all sacred; in no case should you attack each other’s life and property. Today I trample under my feet all distinctions of caste, colour and nationality’.”

These are fine words which it seems have sadly been forgotten or discarded by our practitioners of Islam who have thrust down the throat of this country their own expedient brand of a tolerant and compassionate religion.

So, friend Minoo Bhandara and any others who seek clarification on the ideology professed by this country should continue with their quest for a response from those who have by hook or by crook wangled their way into our assemblies to represent the 170-odd millions of this deprived land of ours. May I suggest that they all go back to the basics, return to the very beginning, to Founder-Maker Jinnah and the “greatest speech of his life” delivered on August 11, 1947.

For further elucidation on the elusive ideology of Pakistan, our legislators, and the others who interfere in our lives may refer to the government publication of 1962, pages 6 to 10 (the greatest speech in its entirety), page 58 (“Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it .....”.), and page 65 (Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission ......”.)

E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk