ISLAMABAD: The nation celebrated the 145th birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah on Saturday. Political leaders and others paid glowing tributes to the founder of Pakistan.
In a message, Prime Minister Imran Khan called upon the youth to adopt Jinnah’s attributes of honesty, hard work, perseverance and dedication. He said those qualities had made the Jinnah a great leader.
“We as a nation need to adopt these attributes to realise Quaid’s vision of a developed, progressive and tolerant Pakistan. Today we celebrate the birthday of our great leader Jinnah,” he added. He said that it was a matter of privilege for the people to be born in an independent Pakistan and that would not have been possible without the Jinnah’s struggle.
He added that Jinnah realised the importance of a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent where all citizens could enjoy the freedom of faith, occupation and equal opportunities.
“Quaid’s determination to unify a nation despite huge challenges and opposition was only possible due to his perseverance,” he added.
Pakistan back on track to realise Quaid’s ideal: PM
He said his government was striving for a society free of corruption and a system that helped the poor and underprivileged citizens as per the founder’s vision.
He went on to say that the country was facing internal and external challenges whose solution was in living by the Quaid’s ideals of unity, faith and discipline.
Prime Minister Khan said today was the day to come together in the same spirit as the founders of the independence movement did.
President Dr Arif Alvi said that with his determination and unmatched character, the Quaid had turned the dream of Pakistan into reality.
“Today on his [Jinnah] birthday, we pay homage to our Quaid, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Our leader of great vision, humanity and tolerance. May all of us rise to follow his legacy,” tweeted Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
In a glowing tribute to Jinnah, chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that attempts were made by the dictatorial forces and their cronies to dent the ideology of Jinnah and drift the country from his vision but the democratic forces led by PPP have always foiled their designs through monumental struggles. He said that Jinnah was the tallest personality among his contemporaries and he dreamt an egalitarian country for the Muslims in the sub-continent to live in peaceful cohesion.
The opposition leader in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif said that the best way to pay tributes to Quaid-e-Azam is “work, work and work” – the governing principle of our national life in a mission to rebuild Pakistan. Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that Jinnah’s tireless hard work and political struggle had given the people the gift of an independent state.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021