A promise in the air

I wait for the vision of Quaid-e-Azam to be incorporated and acted upon in letter and in spirit

Right amidst Nauroz, blossoms galore and idyllic weather conditions comes Pakistan Day on March 23 every year. It commemorates the passing of the Pakistan Resolution in Lahore in 1940. The resolution — written by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and presented by A K Fazlul Haq to the All India Muslim League — was the crystallisation of an idea into a possibility, a dream into a reality. It envisaged modern, democratic states in the Muslim majority regions of South Asia. The resolution gave energy and impetus to the Muslims of India and was the exact moment, according to Stephen Wolpert, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, former ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, was transformed into Quaid-e-Azam.

The resolution unambiguously stated that ‘adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the Constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights’.

The abject failures of all the experimentation done with Pakistan by people who managed to come into positions of power after Jinnah’s death proves that we should never have strayed from the path or the vision of the Quaid-e-Azam and his colleagues.

To fast forward and move to Pakistan Day celebrations this March, the military parade at Shakarparian, Islamabad, had such a feel-good to it. There was a resolve and a promise in the air, of having learnt from our mistakes, of having changed our direction, of being on the way to course correction. It felt like a new era and a new time. I cannot say why I’m saying that with so much conviction because, as I write, nothing has changed on the surface. It is the same mud- slinging by political adversaries on talk shows, the same continuous and sublimely idiotic, opportunistic statements by those who hold the reins of political power. Even the establishment seems missing in action. Despite it all, there is something happening that is not visible to the naked eye.

The participation of contingents from China, Saudi Arabia and the famous Turkish band playing ‘Jeevay Pakistan’, was absolutely wonderful. The regional bonhomie so evident. Iran should have been there too, maybe next year. The women in uniform looked so good as did the amazing fly past and air manoeuvres by the air force. The ending with hundreds of schoolchildren in vibrant costumes of all the provinces singing along with Rahat Fateh Ali the song ‘Hum Sub ka Pakistan’ reiterated the belief that things are changing for the better. It is as if some wand is going to blow away those who think they have it all worked out about how to hold on to the reins of power, coupled with those who want to distance themselves from Hussain Haqqani, etc., along with those who think they hold the keys to heaven and the hereafter.

None of them are gelling in the Pakistan that’s realising where it wants to be positioned in the international community and what sort of people it wants as its leaders. Even though the rumour mills are rife about new deals happening, like they have happened so many times in the past, faith refuses to die. As cynics smirk in the faces of those expecting a change I continue to dream and wish for a national direction that would be a mix of the ideology of the PPP, the energy and enthusiasm of the PTI, the in-house democratic inclination of the JI, the leaning towards infra-structure development of the PML-N. There is something good about all the mainstream parties in our system — if they were not held hostage by people who head them.

We cannot have people as prime ministers or chief ministers for more than two terms and we cannot have their children take over from where they left off in this day and age. Politics is not a family business for profit. It is an endeavour to bring about improvement in the lot of the citizens who vote you into positions of authority. Most of all, I wait for the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and all the leaders of the Pakistan Movement to be incorporated and acted upon in letter and in spirit.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2017.

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