‘Jinnah is the most misunderstood leader’
Political scientist and chairman Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed believes that the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was in some ways greater than Mustafa Kemal Attaturk but at the same time he was also the most misunderstood leader.“As a
student of contemporary world history, I would say Jinnah was the biggest Muslim leader in the 20th century. In certain respects I would put him ahead of Attaturk because he achieved his goal through political means while Attaturk had to rely on the army for the realisation of a republican Turkey,” he told The News on the eve of the birth anniversary of Jinnah.“I also consider Jinnah to be the most misunderstood leader Muslims ever produced,” he said.“He was someone who employed modern political ideas and creatively applied them to the Indian situation. He involved the modern concept of nations’ rights of self-determination for ensuring Indian Muslims legal and political rights but since he had to invoke the idea of Muslim separation and Muslim nationalism for this purpose, the Ulema and almost all Muslim religious groups of India opposed him because they thought religion did not constitute an adequate basis of nationalism,” he said.“They (religious groups), therefore, opposed the creation of Pakistan but once the country was established, they claimed a role for themselves in it on the assertion that in Pakistan’s creation the name of Islam was used,” he explained.“The authoritarian and undemocratic regimes of Pakistan, particularly the military juntas of Ayub, Yahya and Ziaul Haq used religious groups and deliberately distorted Pakistan’s actual perception of Pakistan. Jinnah never wanted the country to be a theocracy or so-called religious state in which the clergy and the puritans would have the veto powers in affairs of state craft. Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular, modern state,” said Dr Ahmed.Dr Ahmed pointed out that in a speech in Chittagong after the creation of Pakistan; Jinnah also used the term “Islamic socialism” as the social ideal he would have liked to follow.“He believed in provincial autonomy and a genuine parliamentary system in which the executive should be answerable to the legislature. Never in the wildest of his dreams would have Jinnah believed that the country he was creating would see recurrence of military rule,” said Dr Ahmed.“While speaking to the officers of Quetta Cantonment he in fact referred to the oath of the military and asked the officers not to forget that they are servants of the State and were bound to follow the orders of the civilian government,” Dr Ahmed explained.“If Jinnah visits Pakistan today, he might not recognise it to be the country he once created,” he said.After the untimely death of Jinnah in 1948, the civil and military bureaucracy started asserting itself and ultimately grabbed power through demagogy and deceit.“The accelerated pace of promotion can be demonstrated by the fact that that the first Pakistan’s C-in-C of the Pakistan Army (Mohammad Ayub Khan) was promoted from the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel to that of General in a period of less than four years,” writes eminent defence analyst and scholar Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi in his book “The Military and Politics in Pakistan”.“Pakistan had seven prime ministers and eight cabinets during 1947-58. They belonged to different political parties and bitterly criticized each other’s policies but all of them attached equal importance to the maintenance of strong armed forces,” according to Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi.“Jinnah’s vision was to create a modern, democratic political system that derived ethical inspirations from the teachings and principles of Islam. He strongly believed in constitutionalism, civil and political rights, the rule of law and equal citizenship irrespective of religion, caste, region or gender,” Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi told The News.“The military establishment undermined and subverted the democratic process and the clergy diverted the attention from the principles of Jinnah by working for a religious state rather than a democratic state. Gen Ziaul Haq was the first ruler of Pakistan who used state apparatus to implement orthodox vision of a political system that negated Jinnah’s notion of Pakistan,” he elaborated.
Political scientist and chairman Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed believes that the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was in some ways greater than Mustafa Kemal Attaturk but at the same time he was also the most misunderstood leader.“As a
student of contemporary world history, I would say Jinnah was the biggest Muslim leader in the 20th century. In certain respects I would put him ahead of Attaturk because he achieved his goal through political means while Attaturk had to rely on the army for the realisation of a republican Turkey,” he told The News on the eve of the birth anniversary of Jinnah.“I also consider Jinnah to be the most misunderstood leader Muslims ever produced,” he said.“He was someone who employed modern political ideas and creatively applied them to the Indian situation. He involved the modern concept of nations’ rights of self-determination for ensuring Indian Muslims legal and political rights but since he had to invoke the idea of Muslim separation and Muslim nationalism for this purpose, the Ulema and almost all Muslim religious groups of India opposed him because they thought religion did not constitute an adequate basis of nationalism,” he said.“They (religious groups), therefore, opposed the creation of Pakistan but once the country was established, they claimed a role for themselves in it on the assertion that in Pakistan’s creation the name of Islam was used,” he explained.“The authoritarian and undemocratic regimes of Pakistan, particularly the military juntas of Ayub, Yahya and Ziaul Haq used religious groups and deliberately distorted Pakistan’s actual perception of Pakistan. Jinnah never wanted the country to be a theocracy or so-called religious state in which the clergy and the puritans would have the veto powers in affairs of state craft. Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular, modern state,” said Dr Ahmed.Dr Ahmed pointed out that in a speech in Chittagong after the creation of Pakistan; Jinnah also used the term “Islamic socialism” as the social ideal he would have liked to follow.“He believed in provincial autonomy and a genuine parliamentary system in which the executive should be answerable to the legislature. Never in the wildest of his dreams would have Jinnah believed that the country he was creating would see recurrence of military rule,” said Dr Ahmed.“While speaking to the officers of Quetta Cantonment he in fact referred to the oath of the military and asked the officers not to forget that they are servants of the State and were bound to follow the orders of the civilian government,” Dr Ahmed explained.“If Jinnah visits Pakistan today, he might not recognise it to be the country he once created,” he said.After the untimely death of Jinnah in 1948, the civil and military bureaucracy started asserting itself and ultimately grabbed power through demagogy and deceit.“The accelerated pace of promotion can be demonstrated by the fact that that the first Pakistan’s C-in-C of the Pakistan Army (Mohammad Ayub Khan) was promoted from the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel to that of General in a period of less than four years,” writes eminent defence analyst and scholar Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi in his book “The Military and Politics in Pakistan”.“Pakistan had seven prime ministers and eight cabinets during 1947-58. They belonged to different political parties and bitterly criticized each other’s policies but all of them attached equal importance to the maintenance of strong armed forces,” according to Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi.“Jinnah’s vision was to create a modern, democratic political system that derived ethical inspirations from the teachings and principles of Islam. He strongly believed in constitutionalism, civil and political rights, the rule of law and equal citizenship irrespective of religion, caste, region or gender,” Dr Hasan Askari-Rizvi told The News.“The military establishment undermined and subverted the democratic process and the clergy diverted the attention from the principles of Jinnah by working for a religious state rather than a democratic state. Gen Ziaul Haq was the first ruler of Pakistan who used state apparatus to implement orthodox vision of a political system that negated Jinnah’s notion of Pakistan,” he elaborated.
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