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Originally Posted by Viceroy
Because of this, their moral responsibility is all the greater. In short, it is the foremost duty of our political leaders to impress upon the masses that the objective of Pakistan is the establishment of a truly Islamic polity; and that this objective can never be attained unless every fighter of Pakistan - man or woman, great or small - honestly tries to come closer to Islam at every hour and every minute of his or her life: that, in a word, only a good Muslim can be a good Pakistani.
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I strongly and completely disagree with these lines. Muhammad Ali Jinnah never wanted Pakistan to be a theocratic state. As we know that the Quaid in his address to the Constituent Assembly, said "
You may belong to any religion or caste or creed for that has nothing to do with the business of the state.........We are all citizens of one state, we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state".
Quaid-i-Azam Muhamamd Ali Jinnah's vision envisaged a democratic country based on the tenets of Islam. His invocation of Islam was not to arouse clerics to mistake it for theocracy. Jinnah earnestly thought that Islam and its idealism had taught Indian Muslims the virtues of democracy as it envisioned equality, justice and fairplay to everybody.
He further emphasized that the Pakistan constitution would be of "
a democratic type; embodying the essential principles of Islam".
He reaffirmed emphatically that
Pakistan was not going to be a theocratic state- to be ruled by priests with a divine mission.
Even the Objectives Resolution recognized not the followers of a particular faith, but the people- all the people irrespective of whatever faith they may follow.
It is a pity that the Objectives Resolution has been interpreted quite differently to suit vested interest. And its a sin not to follow the ideals of our founding father. But its never too late. Now we must separate the religion and the state because so called 56 Muslim countries have failed miserably in their experiment of establishing religious states. They all have failed to integrate into the civilized world of 21st century.
Religion has no business in the business of the state. Its a private matter for all the citizens. In my humble opinion Pakistan should be declared a secular state instead of Islamic Republic as I consider myself Pakistani first and then a Muslim.
Please feel free to disagree.
regards,
floydian