August 14 is a red-letter day in our history due to the fact that the opponents of Pakistan received a great defeat on this day in 1947 through the emergence of a separate Muslim State in the sub-continents. This glorious success was achieved after a prolonged struggle of our forefathers under the able guidance and dynamic leadership of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and since then, it is recognised as the Independence Day of Pakistan throughout the world.
This day appears every year as a reminder to the young generation to carry out the mission of their forefathers for building the better future of Pakistan. Thus, this day is celebrated by the nation with traditional zeal and fervour to pay tribute to national heroes and martyrs of the Pakistan Movement who gave the sacrifices of their precious lives and material resources in the path of acquiring freedom from the two powerful forces of the alien rulers and their coalition partner, Hindus, through the partition of India.
It is an outstanding achievement of our forefathers that we are now enjoying basic rights, economic, justice, social equality and religious freedom, which were not available to the Muslims during the British Raj. Professor Mumtaz Ahmed quoted the statement of the Quaid about this fact in his book "Current English Composition" in these words:
"Brotherhood, equality and fraternity of man, these are all the basic points of our religion, culture and civilisation. And we fought for Pakistan because there was a danger or denial of these human rights in the sub-continent".
The nation is celebrating today the 63rd anniversary of its independence with a similar spirit to mark the honour of this historic event and to offer prayers to Almighty Allah on acquiring an independent state in the shape of Pakistan. Being a dignified nation, Pakistan is now enjoying good reputation among the Islamic countries in particular and the world community in general with reference to promotion of peace and love, progress and prosperity, tolerance and fraternity, in the entire world.
Similarly, it is the responsibility of the world community to respect the feelings of the Muslims according as today they are being denied justice by the hegemony of the West and the current practice of might is right. The case of Kashmir, where the right of self-determination has been denied, Palestine, Chechnya are cases in point. Even the resolutions of Security Council are not being implemented, where the interests of the Muslim are at stake. On this auspicious occasion, every Pakistani expects from the world community that it will take positive steps for the solution of these prolonged issues for restoration of peace and enforcement of justice.
The day recalls that Islam was the sole purpose behind the creation of Pakistan. Professor Mumtaz Ahmed has quoted the statement of the Quaid in support of this idea in his book "Current English Composition" in these words: "Pakistan means not only freedom from British and Hindu tutelage; it also means Muslim ideology".
After the downfall of Mughal empire, Hindus began to get domination on the political horizon of India. In connivance with the British, they left no stone unturned to harm the Muslims. Besides, the British ignored the Muslims and gave free hand to the Hindus as their allies to achieve progress in every field of life. They adopted this discriminatory treatment against the Muslims just to rule in India with the help of the Hindus on the one hand, and to crush the Muslims, on the other hand. This sense of deprivation directed the Muslims of India to get rid of these two powerful forces for acquisition of their genuine rights through an independent state.
Thus, the idea of Muslim separatism emerged in the political field of the sub-continent, which was at first witnessed by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan from the anti-Urdu campaign of Hindus of Banaras in 1867. This negative attitude of the Hindus compelled him to establish the idea that the Hindus and the Muslims could not live together in an independent country being the two different nations.
Later, this concept of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was seriously felt by the prominent Muslim leaders and as such they decided to unite the Muslims of India at the political forum of All India Muslim League, which was formed by Nawab Salimullah, Nawab Viqarul Mulk, Nawab Mohsinul Mulk, Sir Agha Khan III on 30th of December in 1906 at Dacca to protect the legitimate rights of the Muslims.
After failure of the Hindu-Muslim unity, the Two-Nation Theory of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was adopted by the active Muslim leaders of the day, like the Quaid-e-Azam, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, Liaquat Ali Khan, Allama Iqbal and Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar for starting the struggle of Pakistan Movement.
During the entire period of the British rule, the attitude of the Hindus was always hostile to the Muslims. They wanted to rule over the Muslims on the basis of their majority. This fact was witnessed by the Muslims when the Congress badly suppressed them economically, politically, socially and culturally during its rule in seven provinces of India between 1937 to 1939.
The Congress also highly enraged the Muslims through the enforcement of such policies, which were against the principles of Islam. Even the Hindus did not allow any Muslim in the Ministry unless he became a member of the Congress party. Similarly, the British did not take any interest in settlement of the dispute between the Hindus and the Muslims. This critical position forced the Muslims of the sub-continent to acquire a separate homeland as an ultimate solution to their problem.
Besides, the British had planned to transfer power to the Congress at the end of World War II, leaving the oppressed Muslims at the mercy of the Hindu majority. It was the foresight of the Quaid-e-Azam that he had seen this dangerous situation for the Muslims at the appropriate time. This unwise and unjust decision of the British also brought the Pakistan Movement at the crucial state and compelled the Quaid to carry out the valuable advice of Allama Iqbal, which he gave to him before his death in 1938, that the Muslim League should struggle for the division of India into Muslim and Hindus states.
Thereafter, Mr Jinnah galvanised and united the scattered Muslims of India on the basis of Muslim nationhood. He asked the British to seek a permanent solution of dispute between the Hindus and the Muslims through the division of India into two independent states. His argument was based on the fact that "the Hindus and the Muslims were two different nations with different religions and different social customs and literature in view of the fact that after passage of about 1,000 years the relations between them could not attain the level of cordiality".
The Quaid-e-Azam gave a destination to the Muslims of India in the form of a separate state through the Lahore Resolution, which was adopted by the All India Muslim League on 23rd March, 1940 after being proposed and seconded by Mr A.K. Fazlul Haq and Chaudhry Kaliquz Zaman respectively in the presence of a large number of Muslims belonging to every walk of life from all parts of India.
The Muslim demand faced heavy odds of Hindus, Sikh and British as they did not want to see the creation of Pakistan. These groups vehemently resisted the demand of a separate Muslim State but could not get success in their nefarious designs. Gandhi declared that the demand of Pakistan would mean suicide for "Mother India", which he would only allow over his dead body. B.R. Ambedkar, Master Tara Singh, Pandit Nehru and Raj Gopal Achari were also among the prominent leaders of India who opposed the demand of Pakistan.
Mr Jinnah was a successful pleader of freedom movement due to which he defeated the opponents of Pakistan at every forum. He frequently travelled in and outside India to explain the reasons for the creation of a separate Muslim State. He expressed his firm determination to win the war of freedom in these words: "No power on earth can prevent Pakistan".
The Pakistan Movement spread all over India through this spirit of the Quaid like wild fire. Thus, the downtrodden Muslims of India gathered under the banner of Muslim League for acquisition of a separate homeland for them. At last, after the untiring efforts of the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan appeared on the horizon of the world as an independent state on 14th August, 1947.
It is imperative for the protection of Pakistan to forge similar unity among our ranks as our forefathers had shown to win the battle of freedom. The growing terrorism in and outside the country has laid a great responsibility on the shoulders of ruling and the opposition parties to shun their differences for the sake of national interests. The prevailing situation of the country demands them to adopt a strategy to face this challenge for maintenance of peace and national stability in the region and around the world. This historic day reminds the nation to renew its pledge today to make Pakistan a strong, progressive and prosperous Islamic welfare state.
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