How ironic it is that aside from celebrating Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's birthday on every December 25, we don't portray loyalty to his cherished values-unity, faith, and discipline-that he desired us to practice for our common good.
This paradox is the 'achievement' of our politicians who denied generation after generation an opportunity to know how Jinnah practiced these values to the very end of his life. Sadly, that glorious phase of our history is buried in books that are hard to find; this harsh reality is reflected in the visionless self-serving politics that has characterized Pakistan for decades.
More tragic is the fact that, by defying Jinnah's golden values we have descended into a bottomless pit of disrepute globally. Doing so, we lose the right to call M.A. Jinnah the Father of our nation. Today, of the many factions of the Muslim League (that in the 1940s was led by Jinnah), the one that has the most questionable reputation is the PML-N faction.
An example of what a principled personality Jinnah was is reflected in an event relating to his dealing with the clients whose cases he pleaded. By the 1930s, he had become the best lawyer in India, and charged Rs 1,500 an hour for going through a client's case papers. To ensure that clients were charged fairly, he kept a clock in front of him while reading their case papers to note the time spent thereon.
In the instance being quoted, a client submitted his case papers to Mr Jinnah's secretary who, after looking at their volume, asked the client to deposit Rs 3,000 thinking that Mr Jinnah will take two hours to study them. But because it took Mr Jinnah only one and a half hour to read the case papers, he informed his secretary accordingly, and the next day his secretary called the client asking him to collect a refund of Rs 750.
The variety of ways wherein this conduct was reflected inspired faith in his integrity. According to the author of one of Mr Jinnah's biographies, in 1946, Mr Jinnah was addressing a huge public gathering and, as always, in English. With the help of an interpreter, a British press reporter covering the event asked some in the audience whether they understood what Mr Jinnah was talking about. They said although they didn't understand English, whatever he was saying was 'the truth'.
Mr Jinnah's integrity and principled approach to every issue made him an idol well before the creation of Pakistan. After his demise, in its editorial of September 13, 1948 none other than daily 'The Hindu' expressed its admiration for him saying that, "Till barely twelve months ago, he was next to Gandhi Ji, the most powerful leader in undivided India, and not only among his fellow-Muslims but among members of all communities there was great admiration for his sterling personal qualities."
That Mr Jinnah was the most tolerant of all Indian politicians is proved by the fact that he was given the title of 'Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity' by none other than Gandhi; the reason there for was that, despite criticism by his supporters, he accepted the Cabinet Mission's recommendations for a united, secular, and democratic India, because the Congress leadership assured him that the Muslim majority provinces will be autonomous, and the federation will retain only the defence, foreign affairs and communications portfolios.
Partitioning of the Indian sub-continent was the consequence of Gandhi's slogan of Ram Raj aimed at making Hinduism the state philosophy. Until Gandhi's return from South Africa in 1920, according to several British political missions that visited India between 1905 and 1946, Jinnah-believer in a secular India-was in the forefront of Indian politics. In the early 20th century, Nehru, whose duplicity eventually led to the partitioning of India, was a young man and entered politics much later.
What made Jinnah an idol was his belief in justice irrespective of religion, cast, colour or creed because that alone could ensure discipline rooted in equality. In his "Memoirs", former Chief of the Army Staff Lieutenant General Gul Hassan Khan (who served as the first military ADC to Mr Jinnah after he became first Governor General of Pakistan) has included some inspiring incidents about Mr Jinnah's principled approach to life.
There were communal riots in Karachi in 1948. Mr Jinnah knew that General Khan had a Hindu friend living on the Bunder Road-the worst hit area. According to General Khan, one night Mr Jinnah asked whether he was supplying food, etc, to that Hindu friend, and that family was being protected. General Khan told Mr Jinnah that he had been using a car of the Governor House to deliver food supplies to that Hindu friend. Mr Jinnah reacted by saying "I am proud of you; the people of Pakistan, whenever in trouble, must be helped."
Recounting the events at Mauripur airport on August 7, General Khan wrote that he approached the aircraft as it came to a halt. As the door opened, Mr Jinnah appeared wearing a sherwani, salwar, and Jinnah cap. He stood in the doorway to survey the scene. As Mr Jinnah began coming down the stairs, there was a stampede. Mr Jinnah stepped back from the stairs, stood in the doorway, and waved his walking stick signalling that he wanted order-a hint that was immediately taken by the throngs and within minutes order was restored.
General Khan simply amazed "because the welcome was tumultuous and the slogan of Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad deafening". On the one hand this incident manifested the high priority he assigned to discipline, and on the other, his nations' un-questioned submission to his command because of its faith in him. This is just one of the many incidents wherein his call was enough for restoring order.
At the outset, Pakistan faced every conceivable problem, scarce financial resources being the biggest of them. An example of how Mr Jinnah prioritized austerity was the way he checked the details of the expenses incurred on the first cabinet meeting, although the sum spent on serving tea and biscuits to cabinet members was only Rs 38. He ordered that, in future cabinet meetings only cold water will be served because Pakistan could not afford even such small expenses.
Of the many tragedies that now afflict Pakistan, one is denial of the need for austerity. What is required of the leadership is to set examples of austerity in every walk of life for adoption by the nation, but that remains invisible, more so under democratic dispensations. Exuberance, waste, and blatant corruption are rampant, and attempts at checking these tendencies are blunted because institutions responsible for checking theft, let alone imposing austerity, have been politicised.
Mr Jinnah also set a memorable example by donating all his wealth - cash, bank balances and properties-to the state. He also abhorred the idea of favouring his relatives. There were occasions when he refused even to meet them, including his only daughter; he wanted every state office holder to do just that-abhor nepotism and recognize and respect merit - to uphold this key Islamic value that mandates rewarding merit - a golden value that our politicians trample every day.
By his conduct, Mr Jinnah inspired leaders like Liaquat Ali Khan, Sardar Abd-ur-Rab Nishtar, and others, who set examples of integrity and austerity. Today, politicians don't demonstrate these qualities although, more than ever before, Pakistan needs austerity; they show no sense of obligation to the nation-concern for containing rising poverty and exploring and unearthing national resources to maximize their benefit to the economy; instead, scarce resources are being wasted or sold for pittance.
Failure to check waste of limited financial resources year-after-year leads to postponing the needed outlay on Pakistan's crumbling infrastructure. In effect, we are compromising the future of the coming generations - a crime that goes unpunished because legislatures are oblivious to their obligations. This neglect has escalated Pakistan's debt to a suicidal level, while building the repayment capacity there for continues to be ignored.
Mr Jinnah wanted to make Pakistan one of the most progressive (impossible without austerity and judicious use of every penny of national resources) and just societies where, without any distinction, followers of every faith enjoyed equal rights; he reiterated this in his historic first address to Pakistan's Constituent Assembly to highlight the fact that, for progress that spreads prosperity far and wide, unity and national vision is imperative.
By ignoring the values he gave us we have been unfaithful to the Quiad. Aren't these the values whose practice could make the world admire us? Isn't it a tragedy that we are now a nation that is abhorred for its conduct? We must accept this mega failure and launch a nation-wide movement to adopt the Quaid's golden values. Will our leadership do so, is the question begging an answer?
Comments
Comments are closed.