Second, if all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians were to be equal citizens, what was the fun in creating a separate country for Muslims only? The same constitutional guarantees for minorities were very much there in the Government of India Act 1935 and later the Indian constitution.
One consequence was that the subcontinent where millions of human beings with diverse culture and religion had lived together side by side with tolerance and harmony butchered each other in the name of religious ideology. As for Muslims, they were to associate themselves with the Arabian Peninsula and not the subcontinent, with Mohammad Bin Qasim and not Raja Dahir, with Mecca and Medina and not Moenjodaro and Harappa. The relationship with the soil and the soul of the subcontinent was buried forever.
As a continuation of that policy of communalism, today we are Sunnis and Shias, Deobandis and Barelvis, Christians and Ahmadis, Pathans and Mohajirs, Sindhis and Balochis. We would also find several brands of ‘True Muslims’ yet hardly a Pakistani- all turned against each other.
Soon after partition, the leader Mr. Jinnah opted to become the Governor General not accountable to anybody, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru who chose to become the Prime Minister, who is answerable to the Parliament. Several other stalwarts of the Muslim League were also engaged in a battle for the control of resources, perks, privileges and high office. The common folks were encouraged to act as ‘qabza group’ and get hold of all property left over by the Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India. Hence, loot and plunder of material resources became a norm in the newly created State. It was patronized by the ones at the helm of affairs while acting as role models and encouraging common people to grab whatever would come in their way.
Today that attitude of loot and plunder prevails. In the parliament, in government, in judiciary, in the private sector we find people whose motto is ‘I, me, and myself’. Everything else comes thereafter. Corruption today is an accepted norm.
On August 15,1947, Mr. Jinnah took oath as Governor General of Pakistan and on August 22, just after a week, dissolved the elected government of Dr. Khan Sahib in the NWFP. On August 23 the Muslim League minority leader Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan took oath as CM who was then encouraged to create a Muslim League faction in the assembly through ‘lotacracy’.
On April 26,1948 the government of elected Chief Minister of Sindh Mr.Ayub Khuhro which enjoyed the support of majority of the members of the provincial assembly was dismissed as Mr.Jinnah ordered the Governor Mr. Hidayatullah to dispose him off.
On orders emanating from Mr. Jinnah, Baluchistan was forcibly annexed into Pakistan on March 28, 1948 when on March 27 1948; Lt.Colonel Gulzar of the 7 Baluch Regiment under GOC Major General Mohammad Akbar Khan invaded the Khanate of Kalat. General Akbar escorted the Khan of Kalat to Karachi and forced him to sign on the instrument of accession, as reported by Selig Harrison in his book ‘On the Shadows of Afghanistan’, while Pakistan Navy’s destroyers reached Pasni and Jiwani. The Khan of Kalat signed the accession papers on March 28, 1948. Mr. Jinnah signed them on March 31, 1948. The Khan was then detained, his cabinet dissolved, a large number of Baloch ‘dissidents’ arrested and the army assumed full control of the province.
The Punjab assembly was dissolved on January 25, 1949 as Mr Liaqat Ali Khan the Prime Minister wanted Mr. Mumtaz Daultana to replace Nawab Iftekhar Mamdot whom he did not like. Individuals took precedence over institutions as we did not allow our institutions to grow and evolve. Today all our institutional structures are in tatters.
On March 7, 1949 the Constituent Assembly approved the Objectives Resolution that plunged the State into an imprecise, complex, obscure and controversial abyss of religious ideology.
Today our entire society has been engulfed by obscurantism, intolerance and religious extremism.
On March 19, 1948 ,Mr Jinnah while addressing a gathering at Ramna Race Course Dacca declared that Urdu and Urdu alone should be the State language of Pakistan and those who oppose Urdu as the State language of Pakistan were the enemies of state. In continuation thereof today we deal with domestic issues with high handedness. More than half the country is being governed through the application of force causing large scale resentment against the federation and the state apparatus.
In the first week of September 1947, Pakistan merely two weeks of coming into existence under Mr. Jinnah’s directions started infiltrating tribal warriors backed by Pakistan regulars into Kashmir. The infiltrators started looting, plundering, raping and killing.It was at a time when a deal was being negotiated with Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah, Mian Iftekharuddin and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. That action by the tribal militants forced the Maharaja to accede to India on October 27, 1947. It is said that he in fact did not want an accession with either of the two states.
In continuation of policy of interference in neighboring countries today, Iran, Afghanistan, and India justifiably accuse us of interference while China has strong reservations over our clandestine activities in Xinxiang province.
In August 1947, Mr.Jinnah requested the United States to extend monetary assistance to Pakistan worth two billion dollars.
Today we feel no shame in acting like beggars when we seek dollars from World Bank, IMF and the US Government. The character and conduct of those who played the pivotal role in the creation of this State 66 years ago laid the foundations of our present degeneration of the whole society. This society of ours is seen today by others as an untrustworthy, dishonest, immoral, intolerant and corrupt crowd of individuals who are not only a threat to each other but also to the entire civilized world.
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