Speakers at the launch of a second edition of ‘How Pakistan was Created’ underscored on Thursday the need to share with the people the real aims of the Pakistan movement so that they come to know how the establishment distorted the history to drag the country into the present quagmire.
The research-based book is co-authored by the late Zahid Chaudhry who was a journalist and Hasan Jafer Zaidi, that narrates how the aims of the creation of Pakistan were different from the ones fabricated by the establishment to keep people in the dark about policy making which caused not only dismembering of the country but also trapped it into the present mire of extremism and intolerance.Former federal minister Dr Mubashir Hasan who helped the authors conduct the research in the 70s, presided over the function. He said the Pakistan movement aimed at protecting the interests of Muslims of undivided India. It was not based on religion that had no threats.
He said if Pakistan had been made on the basis of religion, its chief executive would have been a khalifa. Pakistan ought to be created anytime afterwards if not in 1947 as nations were getting freedom after the culmination of the World War II and the movement of the Indian Muslims ought to end up in a state which had been named as Pakistan even before the 1940’s Lahore Resolution.
He said bureaucrat Muhammad Ali had censored the Quaid-i-Azam’s speech in the legislative assembly on August 11, 1947, because he belonged to the establishment which had been the actual owner of the country. “There has been the army backed government of the civil authorities and not of politicians,” he said.
He said there were two Pakistans, one of the poor people and another of the rulers. The former one was genuine and the latter a phony as the people were not included in the decisions taken for the country.
Dr Hasan said that the civil administration that had grabbed power in the country was falling apart. According to him, if this disintegration is not stopped, the state would fail.
“Pakistan at present is not a tenable state but it can be made as such,” he said.
He said the book was written with the perspective of the poor people in the country and that is why it was not recognised by the establishment.
Dr Mehdi Hasan said history was distorted in Pakistan in the name of religion. Those in power were not familiar with listening to the reality. Bureaucrat Chaudhry Muhammad Ali who had censored the Quaid’s speech of August 11, 1947, became the country’s prime minister afterwards.
The speech was made public with the help of a German NGO in 1997. “When you censor the speech of the father of the nation you are bound to make the country which we have today,” he said.
He said making the Objectives Resolution a preamble of the constitution which had not been written was another cruel joke with the country. The mischief started by Chaudhry Muhammad Ali saw its zenith during the Zia regime. “Bloodshed is the
result when one uses religion for politics,” he said.
He said Pakistan came into being because of the fear of a democratic rule in undivided India having majority population of Hindus. All demands made by the All India Muslim League from 1906 to 1947 were political. The leading religious parties had
opposed the creation of Pakistan, which was their political right, because it was not going to be an Islamic state.
He said every thing being done in Pakistan was a violation of the ideas of the Quaid who stood for equal rights to minorities.
His six-member cabinet included a Hindu and an Ahmadi.
He said the book mentioned that the Quaid had supported the independent Bengal movement. Nehru had opposed the idea on the ground that it could lead to Balkanization of India. Had the movement gained the strength, the entire Bengal could have become Bangladesh.
Journalist Khalid Ahmad said it was important to promote alternate discourse to let the people know the real ideology of Pakistan. Difference of opinion should not be considered a threat to the monotonous Pakistan ideology imposed on the
people. Revelation of more facts would lead to the amendments in the imposed ideology.
He said many facts about the Pakistan movement kept hidden for years had been exposed in the book.
“Does the monotonous ideology of Pakistan have strengthened the country and united the nation?” he said, adding that permission to alternate discourse could have made things better for the country.
Journalist Masood Ashar said the book narrated history as it unfolded. History here had been written sentimentally.
Mujibur Rehman Shami said rejection of the Cabinet Mission Plan which Muslim League had already accepted led to the creation of Pakistan. He said now the country should be run strictly in accordance with the 1973 constitution.
He disagreed that terrorism had a direct link to Islam, saying that extremism took roots in India despite its secular claims.
Repeated military take-overs in Pakistan actually played a major role in fanning terrorism. Continuity of democracy would have prevented the interpretation of Islam made by the Zia regime.
Hasan Jafer Zaidi blamed the distorted history of Pakistan movement for the conditions the country was facing now. One ideology of Pakistan was made by the Pakistani establishment and another by the Indian establishment what was not true.
He said majority of those who had worked for the creation of Pakistan rejected the establishment’s ideology and made a new country for themselves.
“Pakistan was made as a result of a political process which also led to the creation of Bangladesh. As this process is going on more countries can emerge if the establishment fails to correct its directions,” he said.
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