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| 12 Apr 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com Objectives Resolution and Secularism—IX |
The founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, wanted a separate country for Muslims but his political upbringing in a pluralist society prevented him from declaring Pakistan an Islamic state. Contrary to the general perception in India, Mr Jinnah was arguably a secular and liberal Muslim who wanted a Pakistan where all citizens would be equal in the eyes of the constitution irrespective of their religion, caste or creed. But leaders like Liaqat Ali Khan and power hungry opportunistic religious leaders wanted it to be otherwise. In this beautifully written series titled, "Objectives Resolution and Secularism", Mr Wajahat Masood delves deep into history to find out how Jinnah's dream of a secular and democratic Pakistan was shattered. – Editor
In his historical statement he(Maulana Maududi) further said: "If we establish an Islamic government in Pakistan, we will not have any objections if the Muslims are treated like Malechhas and Shudras, the laws of Manu are applied to them and they are not entitled to the rights of the citizens and participation in the governance in India."....
This is a fact worthy to be noted that Qaid-e-Azam Md Ali Jinnah had appointed Joginder Nath Mandal, a Hindu as the first Law Minister of Pakistan and Zafarullah Khan the Foreign Minister in December 1947. No maulvi had the guts to demand the removal of Joginder Nath Mandal or Zafarullah Khan on the basis of belief during Qaid-e-Azam's life. One interesting aspect of the whole episode is that the ulema's stance was that the foundation of law-making should be laid on Shariah and Mohammad Ali Jinnah was appointing a Hindu as the law minister. -- Wajahat Masood
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Objectives Resolution and Secularism—IX
By Wajahat Masood
(Translated from Urdu by Sohail Arshad)
In his historical statement he(Maulana Maududi) further said: "If we establish an Islamic government in Pakistan, we would not have any objections if the Muslims are treated like Malechhas and Shudras, the laws of Manu are applied to them and they are not entitled to the rights of the citizens and participation in the governance in India."
Here Maulana Maududi firstly admits that the reason for his demand for the establishment of an Islamic system in Pakistan is that the non-Muslims have gone from here lending it permissibility for the imposition of Islamic system. It would be noted that the exchange of population or the evacuation of the Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan was not a part of the plan of the partition. People were forced to migrate due to the riots. In this situation, either Maulana Shabbir Usmani is correct who said that Pakistan was established for the imposition of Shariah or Maulana Maududi who said that due to the evacuation of non-Muslims, the permissibility of imposition of Islamic system had arisen. The second point to be noted is that Maulana Maududi is thinking about the West Pakistan only instead of the entire Pakistan because if it was difficult to impose the Islamic system in West Pakistan having a minority population of 26% how was the imposition of Islamic system permissible in East Pakistan having a minority population of 25%.
The 'guiding principles' of Maulana Maududi give birth to a third theory that if the population of the Muslims in a particular place increases to such strength that they can forcefully impose their preferred system, they should go ahead and do that. In the given situation how was Maulana Maududi propagating the government of Allah in India as the Muslim population was only 25% there.
It should be recalled that immediately after his arrival in Pakistan, Maulana Maududi had compared the birth of Pakistan to 'the birth of a beast' in his magazine. Maulana Maududi's admirer Altaf Gauhar forgot the simile and kept repeating the line from Faiz Ahmad Faiz's peom 'Azadi'--- ye dag dag ujala ye shab guzeeda seher.
Putting aside the self conceived notion of democracy of the religious peshwas of Pakistan, the basic principle of democracy is the equality of the citizens and the equal right to participation in the governance The basic demand of the Equality of the citizens is that they should not be discriminated against on the basis of sex, belief, language, culture or caste.
The fact that declaring religion the fundamental factor in the political process and administrative system opens the doors of discriminatory treatment of the citizens is established by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani's demand immediately after the formation of Pakistan that the key posts should be given to the Muslims alone. A few years later, this demand resulted in the demand for the dismissal of the foreign minister Zafarullah Khan.
This is a fact worthy to be noted that Qaid-e-Azam Md Ali Jinnah had appointed Joginder Nath Mandal, a Hindu as the first Law Minister of Pakistan and Zafarullah Khan the Foreign Minister in December 1947. No maulvi had the guts to demand the removal of Joginder Nath Mandal or Zafarullah Khan on the basis of belief during Qaid-e-Azam's life. One interesting aspect of the whole episode is that the ulema's stance was that the foundation of law-making should be laid on Shariah and Mohammad Ali Jinnah was appointing a Hindu as the law minister.
Between 1940 and 1947, Muslim Leagues stand was that the security of the Muslims of India will be guaranteed by the good treatment of Hindus in Pakistan. The supposed harmony in the stances of the Muslim League and the Jamaat Islami led by Maulana Maududi can be guaged by the fact that shortly after arriving Lahore in the government truck sent by Sardar Shaukat Hayat, Maulana Maududi became so oblivious of the Indian Muslims that he did not bother if they were treated like the malechchas or shudras.
As a result of the exchange of population, the change in the proportion of the Muslim and non-Muslim population in both the countries gave the mullah the opportunity to demand to make the Muslim-majority country an Islamic state and thus hijack the whole system of governance.
The change in the stance of the Muslim League about the Muslims left in India after the decision of partition can be ascertained in the excerpts produced below:
Mushtaque Ahmad Wajdi was a senior officer at the time of formation of Pakistan. Late he retired as the auditor general of Pakistan. On page 148 of his book " Hungamon mein zindagi' (A tumultuous Life) he writes:
"On May 30 1947, Shujaat Ali Husni invited all the Muslim officers over tea in Delhi with an emphasis on attendance. The reason was not known. On reaching there we saw Qaid-e-Azam, Liagat Ali Khan, Sardar Abdur Rab Nashtar and some others. As the tea was over, it was announced that Qaid-e-Azam will speak. After the speech while replying to a question Qaid-e-Azam said, "From now on, the nationality of Indian Muslims will be Indian. They will have nothing to do with Pakistan." I was shocked to hear this. Five crore Muslims were declared Indians at one go. Until yesterday they were promised a new country which would be an abode of peace for them. They were asked for sacrifices on this ground and they sacrificed their lives and fortune for this cause. Today they were pushed into a virtual hell with two words. What happened to the Two nation Theory? Then I thought that after all Qaid-e-Azam, Liaqat Ali Khan and other leaders were also Indians. Definitely, they will stay back and take care of them, but that was not to happen."
In his book, Pathway to Pakistan, Choudhry Khaliquzzaman writes," Qaid-e-Azam had now realised the dangers facing Muslims left behind in India. On August 1, 1947, before leaving for Karachi, Mr Jinnah invited all the Muslim members of the Legislative Assembly to bid farewell. Mr Rizwanullah asked some unsavoury questions about the status and future of the Muslims left in India. Never before had I seen Mr Jinnah so nervous and at a loss for words because he could clearly foresee how the Muslims were going to suffer. As the situation became really unpleasant I requested my colleagues to stop the discussion. I believe that this last conversation compelled Mr Jinnah to say good bye to the Two Nation Theory on August 11, 1947 as the designated Governor General and the President of the Legislative Assembly."
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11:28 PM
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