The year of the Quaid

The year 2026 that marks the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has been formally declared as the Year of the Quaid-i-Azam. The announcement is fitting, but it also carries an implicit challenge. Pakistan has, over the decades, excelled at commemorating its founder while steadily drifting away from the political and moral compass he set.

Official assurances of dignified and meaningful celebrations are welcome, yet dignity is not produced through ceremonies alone. The country today is weighed down by economic uncertainty and political acrimony, reflecting a deep departure from the governing philosophy that underpinned Pakistan's creation. To mark the Quaid's legacy honestly is to confront this gap. Jinnah's vision of the state was unambiguous. Government, in his view, existed to serve the people, with particular responsibility towards those at the margins. He warned early on that national progress depended on cooperation and a conscious effort to rise above past disputes. The persistence of divisive politics and zero-sum power struggles suggests how far the country has moved from that counsel. He was equally firm about the conduct expected of those in power. Authority, he maintained, had to be exercised with fairness and without preference. Pakistan's future, he believed, would be secured not by personalities or populism, but by principled leadership committed to justice. He rejected both clerical rule and inherited privilege, arguing instead for a constitutional order based on equal citizenship. Differences of faith, ethnicity or culture were never meant to define a citizen's relationship with the state. Trained as a lawyer, Jinnah insisted that institutions, not individuals, must govern the state. He repeatedly emphasised the need for an independent judiciary capable of protecting rights without fear or favour.

If the Year of the Quaid is to carry meaning, it must extend beyond remembrance. Honouring Jinnah requires, in fact demands, visible commitment to democratic governance and social justice. Without that, 2026 will add another chapter to Pakistan's long record of symbolic reverence.