Today's celebrations of the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah falling in the midst of mounting Indian pressure on world leaders to ensure more results from US-led attempts to force Pakistan into acquiescing to her outlandish demands, vis-à-vis last month's attacks in Mumbai she blames on Pakistan-based terrorists, should serve as yet another reminder of the Father of the Nation's astute leadership qualities that frustrated all attempts against creation of this country.
For deviating from his basic precept of "unity, faith and discipline" after his untimely death in the very second year of Pakistan's existence, we simply allowed India to undo his achievement through armed aggression and partly succeeding in 1971 by helping to transform its eastern wing into Bangladesh.
It is no use recapitulating the errors and omissions of our leadership or of the Indian methods and manoeuvres to accomplish her dreams of Akhand Bharat as a superpower. It was the third war she imposed on Pakistan, the earlier ones to justify her occupation of the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir. And now she is persistently threatening Pakistan in the name of cross-border terrorism. For Pakistan it will appear to be the worst ever hour of crisis.
Now, it will be noted that cross-border terrorism has long remained India's refrain with reference to the Kashmir dispute, with which it has also managed to stall the process of peace she initiated with Pakistan through resolution of all disputes, including the core issue of Kashmir, but linking it with confidence-building measures.
However, although Pakistan has remained a victim of terrorism which was bred during US-supported Afghanistan's war against Soviet occupation of that country, it has succeed in satisfying India in so far as Kashmir is concerned. This should be borne out by successful implementation of a number of CBMs to increasing advantage of India, through facilitation of trade in particular.
Be that as it may, leaving India's instincts and designs apart, this day should also serve as a reminder of our own errors and omissions, all the more so in the context of too long denial of democracy on the very basic principles of which the great leader had carved out this country from the heart of history of the subcontinent.
But as ill-luck would have it, Pakistan has had more of military than democratic governments, during which deviation from democracy remained largely pronounced, thus leading to the present predicament. The people of Pakistan will have all the reason to salute his memory with a profound sense of gratitude for his sense of devotion to peace, tranquillity and democracy.
For it was this aspect of qualities of his leadership that alone helped them gain independence from an alien rule along with freedom from exploitation, through an epic democratic revolution. What distinguished Quaid-e-Azam most among the politicians of his era was evidently his highly reasonable voice in the cause of freedom and rights.
Again, as he exemplified moderation and constitutionalism, he strongly believed that political terrorism was not the road to national liberation but the route to disaster and destruction. That was why the constitutionalist in Jinnah could not reconcile himself to Mahatma Gandhi's scheme of Satyagrah, along with boycott of government schools and colleges, courts and councils and British textiles too.
Notably, he had resigned from the Home Rule League, saying: "Your extreme programme has for the moment struck the imagination mostly of the inexperienced youth and the ignorant and the illiterate. All this means dis-organisation and chaos." Obviously, for the same reason he opposed Gandhi's bid to use the Khilafat movement and unjust tactics in the Punjab in the early twenties.
To him there was no shortcut to independence and that extra-constitutional methods could only lead to political terrorism, lawlessness and chaos, thereby retarding the pace of progress to independence. Steadfast in his constitutional struggle, small wonder he fired the imagination of the desperate and disorganised Muslims with his indomitable will to live as citizens of a nation-state through the enlightened democratic approach of vote and ballot.
But, as he rightly pointed out on that occasion, achievement of Pakistan was not the end, but rather a means to a more glorious end. Cognisant of the challenges ahead, he lost no time in bracing for them. It will be recalled that inheriting with independence an empty treasury, the still unorganised nation faced the problem to feed a huge population of refugees from the north Indian areas.
Added to its woes was the Indian annexation of Junagadh and the Kashmir war over the State's accession, which exposed its military weakness. Miraculously, Pakistan survived mainly due to Jinnah's tenacity who was more than a mere Governor-General. Needless to point out, his very presence at the helm of affairs was instrumental in enabling the nation to tide over the appalling crisis.
For he gathered together the immense prestige and inborn loyalty to energise them, to boost their morale, and to direct them to proceed with profound feelings of patriotism that freedom had generated. It will thus be also noted that though in poor health, he laid down the policies of the new state, called attention to the immediate problems confronting the nation, unambiguously telling Constituent Assembly, the civil servants and the Armed Forces what the nation expected of them.
Little to doubt, he foresaw that law and order will have to be maintained at all costs, despite all the provocations. That must have been why he not only quickly moved from Karachi to Lahore to supervise the immediate refugee relief problem in the Punjab, but also urged excited people there to concentrate on helping the refugees, to avoid retaliation, exercise restraint and protect the minorities.
While timely assuring the minorities of a fair deal, and instilling in them hope and comfort, he lost no time in reaching out to people in various provinces, attending to their specific problems and inspiring the people with the sense of belonging.
Significantly, he reversed the British policy in the North-West Frontier, while also ordering the withdrawal of the troops from the tribal territory of Waziristan, thereby, making the Pakhtuns feel themselves an integral part of Pakistan's body-politics. At the same time, he created a new Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, himself assuming the responsibility for the dawn of a new era in Balochistan.
Moreover, he settled the controversial question of the status of Karachi, secured the accession of States, especially of Kalat, notwithstanding its inherent problems, besides initiating negotiations with Lord Mountbatten for the settlement of the Kashmir issue.
Had these initiatives been carried through in the same spirit and in his unfailing tradition by his successors, Pakistan would be presenting today the model of a peaceful, progressive state, instead of the indignity that has come to stick to it. It is, high time for the democratically elected leadership to emulate the example set by Quaid-e-Azam in order effectively to save Pakistan as an everlasting tribute to the great leader.
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