KARACHI: This is with reference to the article “Jinnah’s Pakistan” by Yaqoob Khan Bangash (March 18). As the writer has stated, Mr Jinnah indeed wanted a country based on Islamic principles, but his interpretation of Islam did not entail extremists being allowed to run the country. In one of his speeches, he clearly stated, “ … Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission ...” He would certainly have disagreed with the Taliban’s version of Islam or even its interpretation by our religious leaders.
Mr Jinnah created Pakistan solely because he feared that in an undivided India, Muslims would always be dominated by the majority (Hindus) and could eventually lose their identity. In fact, in the view of religious scholars like Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, Mr Jinnah was so liberal and secular that the name Kafir-e-Azam was coined for him. In his first cabinet, there was a Hindu minister. The first foreign minister, Sir Zafrullah Khan, was an Ahmadi (something which religious leaders even in those days could never have tolerated had they been in power). As far as the dismissal of Dr Khan’s government is concerned, the decision was taken by the cabinet headed by the prime minister. Mr Jinnah was too sick at the time to even be consulted over such a move.
Shakir Lakhani
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2013.
