Jinnah’s vision and social harmony

Professor Anjum James Paul

The nation is celebrating the 66 Independence Day of Pakistan. It is so sad that the Pakistani nation has forgotten the vision of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the founder of Pakistan that he presented to the Constituent Assembly in Karachi on August 11, 1947 on his election as the first President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.

The Pakistani nation has not been faithful to the vision of the Quaid-i-Azam that is why the entire nation is lacking the golden principles of unity, faith and discipline. We are scattered and have not yet become a nation due to forgetting his vision the entire nation is under the shadow of terrorism, extremism and intolerance. No one can claim to be safe in this part of the world. There are internal threats from one corner to the other.

Let us learn lesson from this serious situation. No one can be blamed. These are the last moments to handle the grave situation. The time is passing very fast. The rulers have to take a quick action. At the first stage it is the responsibility of the Parliament of Pakistan to include the speech of the Founder of Pakistan as the Ideology of Pakistan in the Constitution of Pakistan on prior basis. The same speech must be the part of the curriculum on all levels with the content “Ideology of Pakistan according to the Quaid-i-Azam.” Controversial and hate based material which is damaging social and interfaith harmony must be excluded from the textbooks. The contents on human rights and human values must be the part of the curriculum.

The word ‘minorities’ must be excluded from the Constitution because the Quaid-i- Azam did not use this word in his entire speech. According to the Article 25 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan ‘All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.’ So, there is the violation of the Constitution as well by dividing the Pakistani nation on the basis of majority and minority.
The implementation on the vision of the Quaid-i-Azam can bring peace, harmony tolerance, acceptance, religious harmony, social harmony and prosperity in Pakistan.
I am presenting here some of the extracts of the speech of the Quai-i-Azam that he delivered to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11,1947 that promote social and interfaith harmony.
“…The first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State…”
“…If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his color, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make…”
“…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 in the days when there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State…”
“…Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”