What became of Mr. Jinnah’s vision of a truly democratic state of Pakistan where religion had nothing to do with the affairs of the state?
— Nasir Khan, April 25, 2017
Many Pakistanis, especially those indoctrinated by Islamists and clerics, have their own views on the origin of Pakistan and the role of Islam in it. Without commenting on the views of such people here, I will reproduce below a passage in which the founder of Pakistan Mr. M. A. Jinnah (1876-1948) outlined his vision of the role of religion in Pakistan.
But first a few introductory words: The Indian National Congress was the leading party that led the movement for the independence of India from the Raj. At that time, the leaders of the Muslim League demanded a separate homeland for Indian Muslims. Such concerns for Muslims had also some other considerations. Muslim feudal lords, lanlords, professionals, and newly-emerging industrialists were eager to gain political power, influence and social leverage in the new country.
The so-called ‘two-nation theory’ became the rallying call for the leaders of the Pakistan movement to demand a separate homeland for Muslims. I will not discuss here the question whether such a demand was justified or represented the interests of all Muslims of British India. However, the leaders and supporters of the two-nation theory succeeded in creating Pakistan. Muslims of India had created a homeland, but about half of the Muslim population of the independent state of India remained in India!
What was to become of the Muslims who remained in India? No leader of the Pakistan movement bothered to speak about them or what was to become of them when they were left politically in an extremely weakened position. In fact, their tragic story of political marginalisation within the Indian state had started then. As the anti-Muslim forces of militant Hindu organisations and parties as BJP, RSS, gained political power, the votaries of right-wing Hindutva reject the right of 200-million Indian- Muslims to live in India.
The hatred against Muslims is so common; this is also visible in ordinary good-natured Hindus. How are Muslims seen in India presents us a depressing aspect of their existence in their motherland. This is all due to the creation of Pakistan, a historical event that Indians neither forget nor forgive. The Indian Muslims have to bear the brunt of the universal hostility and discrimination. The leaders of the two-nation theory are responsible for their bitter fate.
After the emergence of Pakistan, Mr. Jinnah knew that the time to play the ‘religious card’ was over; now he faced the reality of a multi-religious state in which there were Muslims (Sunnis, Shias, Ahmadis, various Sufi orders), Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Bahais, Parsis, etc. What was to be role of religion in the new state?
On 11 August 1947, he said the following historic words in his address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan as the guiding principle about the relationship of state and religion:
You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State. As you know, history shows that in England conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens, and equal citizens, of one State.
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