KARACHI:
Pakistan has a chequered history despite the brilliant vision of the Quaid-e-Azam who altered the course of history, modified the map of the subcontinent and created a new state to ensure freedom for his people, as remarked by Stanley Wolpert. Yet, within years of his death, the modern democratic welfare state that Jinnah so ambitiously visualised was taken over by the remnants of the British Raj.
It was during Ayub Khan’s decadent era that Jinnah’s vision was destroyed. To propagate his control and power, Ayub Khan urged the judges of the time to extract judgments based on the law of necessity. Irrespective of the pressure that was exerted on Justice Munir, he will forever stand condemned to ignobility. Imagine the enormity of pressure imposed by a regime that had no qualms in launching a scandalous campaign against Madar-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah.
If Pakistan had men of character and intellect Jinnah’s Pakistan would have rather flourished. The people could have enjoyed peace with countless opportunities offered by the modern welfare state, instead of the threat of extremism and terrorism that looms over us to this day. Unfortunately, we had to endure the theatrics of people like a former chief justice of the recent times, who enjoyed constitutional protection, yet submitted to temptations and greed without being subjected to the pressures that Justice Munir faced.
Malik Tariq Ali
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2021.
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