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
I asked, “Please tell me
if you would like to bring back the reign of khilafat-e-Rashida (the Abbasid
caliphate) in Pakistan?”
“Why not, we shall bring
back the same, what else?”, the Nawabzada (Liaqat Ali Khan) replied in an
enthusiastic voice.
“I am afraid the end
would be the same then”, I said.
Nawabzada was taken aback. He
asked me bitterly, “What do you
mean?”
I said, “I meant that out of four caliphs, three
were assasinated.”
“Lahaul wala quwwat. What are you saying,
man?”
Sardar Abdur Rab Nashtar sort of corroborated me
and said,”He is right. After the establishment of Pakistan, we should keep the
Quran and the Prophet’s life as our guide.”
Again I asked,” Will there be democracy in
Pakistan?”
“Yes, why not. There will be nothing but
democracy.”
I said, “My apologies, but Mr Jinnah says that
Pakistan will be a modern state like Turkey but in the same vein he speaks about
socialism as well. Democracy is neither in Islam nor in
Socialism.”
Sardar Abdur Rab Nashtar said,” By Islamic
Socialism he means Islamic equality, Islamic fraternity and modernity. You have
already been told that it does not run contrary to
Islam.”
“Where will this Islamic state situated,
sir”.
“In those states where the Muslims are in
majority, say in Assam, Bengal, Punjab, Kashmir, Frontier Province, Balochistan
and so on and so forth.”
“And what about Delhi?”, I
enquired.
“ Delhi and Agra too, because the entire history of the Muslims is
scattered around in Delhi and Agra.” – Wajahat
Masood
By Wajahat
Masood
(Translated from Urdu by
Sohail Arshad)
In 1940 Khwaja Hasan Nizami
launched an Urdu weekly called Dictator from Delhi. Khwaja Hasan
Nizami’s son Hussain Nizami was made its chief editor while Akhlaque Ahmad
Dehlvi was appointed as the editor. Akhlaque Ahmad Dehlvi visited Liaqat Ali
Khan to get his message for the inaugural issue. Coincidentally, Abdur Rab
Nashtar was also present there. Akhlaque Ahmad Dehlvi writes:
I asked, “Please tell me if you
would like to bring back the reign of khilafat-e-Rashida (the Abbasid caliphate)
in Pakistan?”
“Why not, we shall bring back
the same, what else?”, the Nawabzada (Liaqat Ali Khan) replied in an
enthusiastic voice.
“I am afraid the end would be
the same then”, I said.
Nawabzada was taken aback. He
asked me bitterly, “What do you
mean?”
I said, “I meant that out of four caliphs, three
were assasinated.”
“Lahaul wala quwwat. What are you saying,
man?”
Sardar Abdur Rab Nashtar sort of corroborated me
and said,”He is right. After the establishment of Pakistan, we should keep the
Quran and the Prophet’s life as our guide.”
Again I asked,” Will there be democracy in
Pakistan?”
“Yes, why not. There will be nothing but
democracy.”
I said, “My apologies, but Mr Jinnah says that
Pakistan will be a modern state like Turkey but in the same vein he speaks about
socialism as well. Democracy is neither in Islam nor in
Socialism.”
Sardar Abdur Rab Nashtar said,” By Islamic
Socialism he means Islamic equality, Islamic fraternity and modernity. You have
already been told that it does not run contrary to
Islam.”
“Where will this Islamic state situated,
sir”.
“In those states where the Muslims are in
majority, say in Assam, Bengal, Punjab, Kashmir, Frontier Province, Balochistan
and so on and so forth.”
“And what about Delhi?”, I
enquired.
“ Delhi and Agra too, because the entire history
of the Muslims is scattered around in Delhi and
Agra.”
I asked, “ OK, sir, Delhi and Agra are fine but
what will happen to the rest of the Muslims of
India?”
“Pakistan is being established for the sole
purpose of protecting the Muslims of India”, Liaqat Ali Khan said, “Those who
will come into the areas of the proposed Pakistan, that is, the Muslim majority
states, will become 100 per cent safe, won’t they? And Muslims in the Muslim
minority areas will be safe because the Hindus will be in minority in Pakistan.
The Muslims in India will be safe because the Hindus will be safe in Pakistan,
or if they wish they can come over and settle in
Pakistan.”
“How will they settle in Pakistan? Sajjad Zaheer
says that in Delhi there are Muslims who have not seen the Lal Qila from inside
because they can not afford the entry fee of two annas. How can such poor
Muslims be shifted from one place to another?”
Sardar Rab Nawaz came forward with his reasoning
and said, “You are aware that His Highness the Nizam of Deccan Mir Usman Ali
Khan possesses such a huge treasury of gold that if it is distributed equally
among the ten crore Muslims and each one sells the gold and deposits the money
in bank, he will receive an interest of Rs 50 every month simply sitting at
home. It means you will never run short of funds.”
“But perhaps the state of Hyderabad wll remain in
India.” I asked.
“No way. We shall annexe the state of Hyderabad
to our country”, Liaqat Ali Khan said with
conviction.
Firstly, let’s give a thought to the aspect of
the sanctity of sood (interest) as a
writ of the government of Pakistan requesting a revision of a judgement of the
Federal Sharia Court on riba ( interest) has been pending in the Supreme Court
of Pakitan since
1992.
One basic principle in the division of India was
geographical proximity. How could the
non-Muslim state of Hyderabad surrounded by the proposed India on all sides be
included in Pakistan? Liaqat Ali Khan did not give it a thought. Let it be
remembered that the absence of geographical proximity was the most important
reason that drove East and West Pakistan apart.
All the dimensions of popularity-based and
one-point politics can be seen in the conversations of Liaqat Ali Khan and Abdur
Rab Nashtar. That is, wherever and whenever a demand is raised, say that it will
be fulfilled. If someone wanted democracy, he was promised that. Those who were
fascinated by Abbasid Caliphate, were lured with caliphate. Those interested in
socialism were reminded of the Islamic equality. If the people of Agra asked
what their fate would be, they were told the Taj Mahal was in Agra and Pakistan
could not be considered complete without
the Taj Mahal. When the curtain rose, we realised that we did not even get
Gurdaspur and Ambala, leave aside Delhi and Agra. Even the hills of Kashmir
could not be scaled in the last 62 years while the culture of Hyderabad Deccan
remained a distant dream.
The one-point politics manifested in all this
because the definition of nation was limited to religious association alone. In
other words, the Muslims are one nation. The basic difference in the leaderships
of the Muslim League and the Congress was that the former wanted to restrict the
definition of nationality to belief whereas the stance of the latter was that
geography, composite culture, lifestyle and economic factors were as important
as belief in the formation of nationality. If the definition of nationality
presented by the Muslim League was correct, then all the Muslims of India should
be considered the citizens of Pakistan. Secondly, the bond of religion could not
keep East and West Pakistan united. One basic paradox of the six decades of
Pakistan’s history has been a strong centre and provincial independence. The
centre has been stressing on religion while the small provinces in terms of
population and area have been interested in their cultural identity and economic
rights.
9:43 PM
Sultan Shahin
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