THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Ignoring Ms Jinnah’ (July 27), which regretted with good reason that Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s death anniversary had passed away without any proper coverage by mainstream media. The irony is that our news channels present packages on death anniversaries of Indian and Pakistani celebrities, but disregard the real heroes to whom we owe our freedom. Perhaps, it is either due to their sheer lack of acquain- tance with Pakistan’s freedom struggle or they are captive to ratings alone. Television hosts and anchors should perform the role of moderators; not opinion makers or lobbyists.

We must remember that nations that do not revere and respect their heroes end up with a severe identity crisis. The death anniversaries of the pioneers of our freedom struggle should be an occasion for us to remember the crucial role they played. For ready reference, I wish to present a few relevant dates: April 21, 1938, Allama Iqbal; Jan 27, 1917, Viqarul Mulk; Oct 16, 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan; April 27, 1942, Abdullah Haroon; April 5, 1946, Malik Barkat Ali; Nov 27, 1956, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan; June 19, 1976, Qazi Issa; Feb 14, 1958, Abdur Rab Nishtar, and, not to forget, Oct 5, 1968, Jogendra Nath Mandal.

Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2024