By Sharif al Mujahid


JINNAH was not a mere political leader, but also a statesman. Indeed, his statesmanship streak influenced and determined his political leadership role increasingly as he negotiated the tortuous road to Pakistan in the 1940s.

For the most part, a politician deals with matters of the moment. Since his focus is rivetted to short-term goals, he is bound to be severely constrained by a rather limited vision. In contrast, a statesman looks at problems and developments on a long-term basis. This is not only in terms of immediate goals only, but, more importantly, how they could be fitted in, and could be integrated, with the long-term aspirations, larger perspectives and more enduring goals.

Hence a statesman constantly and continuously tends to prognosticate and keep in view the long-term consequences of day-to-day developments he is confronted with. Above all, a statesman looks at events and problems through the prism of a grand vision.

Jinnah developed the demand for Pakistan with a vision. It is not merely that a Muslim homeland in the subcontinent had to be created, but also how it should be structured, what orientation it should opt for, what ultimate goals it should pursue. All this to make its establishment meaningful and significant for the masses.

Political independence from both the British rule and Hindu domination was, of course, the immediate goal, the short-hand metaphor, as it were. But what was to make it meaningful was a process of quests that would change the face of the Muslim homeland for a better tomorrow, a brave new world.

Quests for ideological resurgence, cultural renaissance, economic betterment and social welfare. And this is precisely how Jinnah spelled out the rationale for the Pakistan demand in his epochal March 23, 1940, address in Lahore. He said, “... we wish our people to develop to the fullest our spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of the people”.

Thus, his numerous pronouncements from 1940 to 1948 provide guidelines in a full measure that, when taken together, portray his vision of Pakistan.

First, in his August 11, 1947, address he called for an indivisible Pakistani nationhood — a concept by which all the inhabitants, no matter what their race, colour or religion, would be full-fledged citizens of Pakistan, with equal rights, equal privileges and equal obligations.

Second, on February 21, 1948, he stressed the need for “the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and equality of manhood”. Earlier, in his June 18, 1945, message to the Frontier Muslim Students Federation, he had talked of “the Muslim ideology which”, he said, “has to be preserved, which has come to us as precious gift and treasure and which, we hope, others will share”.

In his broadcast to the United States in February 1948, he was sure that the Pakistan constitution would be of “a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam”. At the same time, he reaffirmed unequivocally that “Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state ... to be ruled by priests with a divine mission”. Thus, he stood for a democratic face of Islam — a pluralist face of Islam.

It is significant that this version of an Islamic democracy was in accord with the view of Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, the foremost religious leader of the day.

The Maulana had strongly supported the Objectives Resolution of March 1949 which ruled out theocracy as the structural framework of Pakistan’s constitution. He argued cogently that “an Islamic state does not mean the government of the ordained priests. How could Islam”, he asked pointedly, “countenance the false idea which the Quraan so emphatically repudiated in Sura Tauba verse 37?”

The Quaid stood not only against theocracy, but also against sectarianism. “Islam”, he said, “does not recognise any kind of distinction of caste, and the Prophet [PBUH] was able to level down all castes and create national unity among Arabs. Our bedrock and sheetanchor is Islam. There is no question even of Shias and Sunnis. We are one and we must move as one nation, and then alone we shall be able to retain Pakistan.”

Unfortunately, though, sectarianism has raised its ugly head in Pakistan during the last fifteen years, creating serious problems for Pakistan. Curbing religious extremism and marginalising jihadi and terrorist groups are, indeed, among the most critical challenges confronting Pakistan today. The future face of Pakistan depends for the most part on how we go about tackling these critical problems.

Jinnah had invoked Islam because, as he had repeatedly said, “Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. Islam has taught equality, justice and fair play to everybody. What reason is there for anyone to fear democracy, equality, freedom on the highest standard of integrity and on the basis of fair play and justice for everyday?

Let us make it [the future constitution of Pakistan]. We shall make it and we will show it to the world.”

At the political level, Jinnah stood for undiluted democracy, constitutionalism, for autonomy of the three pillars of the state (executive, legislative and judiciary) and for a free press, for civil liberties and a civil society, rule of the law, accountability, and a code of public morality. It is in the formulation of such a code that Islamic ethical principles would come in handy, and that ideology would play a pivotal role in Pakistan’s body politic, but, of course, with the consent of the general populace.

He stood for moderation, gradualism, constitutionalism and consensual politics all through his public life. He believed in building up a consensus on an issue, step by step. He believed that controversies should be resolved through debate and discussion in the assembly chamber and not through violence in the streets, through sheer muscle power. He believed in democracy and not mobocracy.

He believed on the lines of Disraeli who laid down the axiomatic rule for the birth and maintenance of a stable and self-propelling democracy when he said, “We must educate our masters, the people, otherwise we would be at the mercy of a mob masquerading as democracy”. This is tragically what has been missing in Pakistan since the early 1950s. More often than not, most of our political leaders succumb to wild rhetoric, weakening the democratic temper of the masses and strengthening the trend towards mobocracy or dictatorship.

On the economic front, Jinnah stood for a welfare state. Among others, this calls for structural changes in the economy, ensuring a balanced and mixed economy with an equitable distribution of wealth. He stood for full employment opportunities for one and all, for a contented labour, for a fair deal to the farmer, and for human resource development at all levels. Finally, his call for an Islamic economic system should not be misinterpreted to equate with the riba question. It is essentially meant to ensure economic equity and social justice to one and all, without any discrimination whatsoever.

Jinnah stood for enforcing law and order, for the elimination of nepotism, bribery, corruption and blackmarketing, for wiping out distinction of race, religion, colour and language, for providing equal rights and opportunities to one and all and for the economic betterment of the masses. “Why would I turn my blood into water, run about and take so much trouble? Not for the capitalists surely, but for you, the poor people”, he told his audience at Calcutta on March 1, 1946.

He counselled the first Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947. “Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor”. He also stood for the emancipation of women for conceding them their due rights, and for taking them along with men side by side in all spheres of national life.

In short, he wanted Pakistan to be progressive, forward-looking, modern and welfare-orientated but firmly anchored to the pristine principles of Islam, since these principles are firmly rooted is the enduring traits of equality, solidarity, freedom and emancipation of the marginalized sections of society.

This, then, represents Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan. And unless and until we translate his guidelines into public policy and ground reality, Pakistan would not become the sort of country that the Quaid had envisioned.