Jinnah
& Pakistan
Sir,
In his
review of the book, "The man who
divided India" by Rafiq Zakaria, in
your esteemed newspaper (17-11-2002), Dr.
R L Bhat has quite comprehensively
discussed personal and political mind of
Mr. Jinnah, who many believe was
instrumental for the partition of India.
It is most amazing that despite the fact
Jinnah addressed to the masses in a
language least understood by them, and
had remained as "Englishman at least
in his dress, mannerisms and habits"
they should have remained his blind
followers and faithful to the objectivity
of his goal that was Pakistan. Whatever
might have been his overriding ambition
for the attainment of Pakistan, whether
his "concern for the welfare of the
Muslims" or his overpowering desire
"to transform Pakistan into another
Turkey on the lines of his hero, Kemal
attaturk to completely westernize
Pakistan", the fact which quite a
few remember is that he regretted most
soon after the partition folly of his
political decision to divide India, after
he had suspected a few political starwars
like Liquat Ali Khan, who had remained
with him during long years in India, had
become disloyal and distrustful after he
(Jinnah) was enthroned as President of
Pakistan (Quad-e-azim) and particularly
when he was irreversibly sick and feared
his dream of secular Pakistan might go
awry, as vividly described by historian,
B R Nanda in one of his books.
The fact
is Jinnah's image of Pakistan was more an
ideal one which "neither suited the
pseudo secularists, nor the
fundamentalists" and his frustration
and disgust at having created a State of
Pakistan where he feared governance and
administration were being misappropriated
by a few individuals for their own
political aggrandizement to the detriment
of Pakistan, were irreversibly suspected
by him to be the dominating factors in
the future politics of Pakistan. Jinnah's
disgust at the turn of events had become
quite evident when six crores of Muslims
in sheer loyalty to the Indian State,
stayed back at the time of partition of
their own to make a mockery of his two
nation theory instead of crossing over to
Pakistan which would have given him a
shot in the arm and something he had
regrettably miscalculated.
The
author, Rafiz Zakaria, has been
justifiably harsh on Jinnah to hold him
responsible for the partition of this
sub-continent. Jinnah had developed an
uncompromising attitude towards the
Congress and its leaders, vis-a-vis the
Muslims only to make an opportunistic
move to put forth a demand of Pakistan in
the early forties after Jinnah had known
that India's freedom was at the
doorsteps, after he had been fighting
alongwith other Congress leaders for the
emancipation of India from foreigner
yoke. This was despite the fact that
Gandhi had offered Jinnah the post of the
Prime Minister of the undivided India
after it become free, which Jinnah
vehemently refused, because
"highlighting the Muslim cause was
needed for giving Muslims a say in that
Nation". Though he had only remained
a founding father of Pakistan but had
never any say in the politics and
governance of Pakistan because he died a
year and a month after the partition and
would not have loved to see Pakistan as
it is today, or for that matter, as it
has been after he breathed his last.
History of this sub-continent would have
been different had Mr. Jinnah accepted
the invitation from Gandhi to be the
first Prime Minister instead of choosing
out a moth-eaten Pakistan. Yet it is a
paradox of his personality that as a
non-prasticising Muslim, his concern for
the Muslims was rather inconsistent with
his own liberal, democratic dispensation,
aristocratic and intellectual bent of
mind, with a tremendous political
maturity. He chose to leave rather than
serve this country, or for that matter,
return to England, remains a mystery.
It is
matter of speculation had Mr. Jinnah
lived longer what type of Pakistan with
all his "secular democracy", he
would have ushered in, how much he would
have been successful in prevailing over
"the divisive fundamentals'' and to
thwart the designs of generals to take
over reins of Pakistan and in preventing
Pakistan from becoming a lawless,
ill-governed and financially bankrupt
Pakistan fighting for its survival. For
all his omissions and commission,
Jinnah's two nation theory received yet
another serious setback following his
personal visit to Kashmir in 1946 to
persuade the then Kashmiri leaders like
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam
Ahmed, Mohmmad Saqid a few others for
accession of J&K State of Pakistan
because of its overwhelming Muslim
population. Their outright refusal to toe
his line, his frustration became quite
evident when he ordered armed tribesmen
to invade Kashmir in October 1947 to
annex the territory by force only to
discover that the people of J&K State
stood shoulder to shoulder to resist the
aggression and seal their fate with
Indian Union. Die was cast. Jinnah died a
dischanted and disillusioned person and
Pakistan was on road to anarchy.
Yours
etc...
Chaman Lal Kaul
Vikas Lane, Talab Tiloo
Jammu.
|
