Jinnah saw ‘peaceful’, ‘prosperous’ state

Founder’s achievements discussed on 144th birth anniversary

ISLAMABAD:

When it was founded, Quad-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah wanted to turn the country into a land of “peace and prosperity”.

This was suggested by speakers at a virtual online conference on ‘Quaid-i-Azam: Shakhsiyat and Khidmat’ on Thursday. The conference had been organised to celebrate the 144th birth anniversary of Jinnah by the National Language Promotion Department of the Literary and Heritage Department.

Professor Fateh Malik said that there was not even the slightest conflict in Jinnah’s personality. Moreover, Prof Malik said, the founder of the nation never changed his opinion due to external pressure.

Instead, he suggested, Jinnah’s opponents maintained a safe distance from him for fear of being affected by his opinion.

Talking about the life and conduct of Jinnah, Prof Malik said that Quaid-i-Azam made his living through hard work and honesty.

Fortunate enough to be highly successful, Prof Malik said that Jinnah made it a point to dedicate a considerable portion of his hard-earned savings to educational institutions such as the Islamia College in Peshawar, his alma mater - the Sindh Madressatul Islam - and the Aligarh Muslim University.

Such was his dedication that he even bequeathed a significant portion of his wealth to these institutions through his will.

Renowned poet Iftikhar Arif stated that today, it has become fashionable to criticise the leaders of the Pakistan movement such as Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal and Quad-i-Azam which was regretful.

Associating such behaviour with anti-national sentiments, Arif stated that there was more to the conflict that led to the creation of Bangladesh than linguistic differences alone.

He noted that since the beginning of the Pakistan movement, all Muslim League leaders agreed that the national language of the new state for Muslims in the Subcontinent should be Urdu.

Earlier, NLPD Director-General Dr Rauf Parekh stated that it was Quaid-i-Azam’s vision and foresightedness that in the presence of so many languages being spoken in Pakistan, he declared Urdu as the national language which would become its “Lingua Franca”.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2020.