What Gandhi is to India, Jinnah is to Pakistan.
HYDERABAD, INDIA: This is with reference to Nadir Hassan’s article of December 30. What Gandhi is to India, Jinnah is to Pakistan. Both had a great vision for their respective countries. The only point of difference is that Gandhi’s philosophy is still accepted and, by and large, practised in India but the same is not true for Jinnah and his ideals.
Jinnah’s ideology was hijacked by various rulers from time to time and its worst version was enforced by General Zia. The policies adopted by this dictator have lead to intolerance and hatred and this has fostered terrorism and sectarian violence in Pakistan. Had the state adopted Jinnah’s principle of separating state from religion, Pakistan would have been a progressive and leading economic state like India.
RS Johar
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2011.
