Pakistan Independence: Learning lesson from history | Partners | Belarus News | Belarusian news | Belarus today | news in Belarus | Minsk news | BELTA
PESHAWAR, 2 August (BelTA — APP) — As the nation gears up to celebrate
another Independence Day on August 14, our motherland demands result
oriented policies and measures from our ruling elites, political
parties, judiciary and other pillars of state to pave way for a glorious
future.
With 77 years down the road and people still looking for
panacea to their hardships, the downtrodden are once again looking
towards those in the helm of affairs to unveil some program for their
overall socio-economic uplift.
When we ponder on philosophy of
Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal and wisdom of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
we feel we have not yet become a nation but a crowd running towards an
unknown destination.
Peeping through the history, we find that
during 800 years rule of British regime especially after failure of 1857
uprising, Muslims were increasingly marginalized, oppressed and
deprived of fundamental rights and liberties in United India.
They
faced intellectual, political and educational decline under the British
rule and relegated to status of rivals after East India Company
overthrew the Mughal emperors as we feel today among the comity of
nations.
Then Sir Syed Ahmed Khan emerged on the horizon as a
beacon of hope for Muslims as a prominent educationist and ignited quest
for knowledge among Muslims by establishing educational institutes.
“Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan led an intellectual revolution among Muslims through
educational, political and social reforms. His efforts ensured political
rehabilitation of Muslims and their social, economic, and educational
advancement,” said Muhammad Younas Khan, Chairman Pakistan Studies
Department, Islamia College, Peshawar.
Sir Syed established a
modern school at Ali Garh for Muslim students that became a college in
1877 and then a university where Muslim students were imparted modern
education. All India Muhammadan Educational Conference (AIMEC), founded
in Aligarh in 1886, was Sir Syed’s vision for modern education,
socio-economic empowerment and political unity among Muslims.
“Sir
Syed’s reforms excelled Muslims in various fields whose strong voices,
the British rulers also had to listen,” Younas noted and said prominent
figures like Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, Abdur Rab Nishtar, Maulana
Muhammad Ali Johar, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan and Chaudhry Rehmat Ali
also joined hands with Sir Syed for wellbeing of Muslims.
Dr
Younas said the independence movement gained momentum with the
establishment of All India Muslim League (AIML) on December 30, 1906 in
Dhaka and its efforts resulted in right for Muslims to elect their
representatives to Legislative Councils under 1909 Indian Legislative
Act.
In 1913, the Muslims demanded “appropriate self-government”
in India through a resolution supported by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, who joined AIML in the same year after observing the Indian
Congress’s insincerity towards Muslims.
From there onwards, after
passing through different phases, the destination got clear after Dr.
Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s historic 1930 address in Allahabad where he
proposed a separate state for Muslims of India.
“Allama Iqbal
articulated the two-nation theory, stressing a separate homeland for
Muslims,” Dr. Younas said and explained that Pakistan Movement
progressed significantly after Chaudhary Rehmat Ali proposed the name
“Pakistan” in 1933. The name ‘Pakistan’ and Iqbal’s address set a clear
direction for Muslims to achieve their goal.
The historic
movement reached its zenith on March 23, 1940, when Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah led the passing of historic Pakistan Resolution in
Lahore.
Thereafter, Quaid-e-Azam reorganized AIML on modern
lines, visiting Muslim-majority provinces to gather support. His
untiring efforts gained overwhelming support in the 1945-46 elections,
where AIML won all reserved Muslim seats in central assembly and
majority of provincial seats.
Following AIML’s success,
Quaid-e-Azam insisted on Pakistan’s establishment before the Cabinet
Mission of 1946 that eventually resulted in a partition plan proposed by
Lord Mountbatten, announced on June 3, 1947.
It was only after a
relentless struggle by Muslim leaders of India under the leadership of
Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that Pakistan appeared on the world map
on August 14, 1947 and the nation celebrates this day every year as
‘Independence Day.’
Sharing this story or some of historic events
does not only mean to remind people about creation of Pakistan but more
importantly the spirits, leadership and conduct of our forefather who
burnt midnight oil to win this country.
But, this discussion
brings to our mind; are we still the same who created a motherland.
Perhaps not, as over the period we have far deviated from the advices
and morals of our great leaders. Today we need to ponder how, a struggle
starting from Ali Garh reached culmination to create a separate
homeland.
If we think for a while, we find all revered values like
education, unity among ranks, clear vision, untiring struggle, honesty,
truthfulness, righteousness and commitment to a cause, united at one
place that made our ancestors to create a homeland.
But, when we
forgot their teachings, we plunged deeper and deeper into pits of
humiliation, backwardness, dishonesty, adulteration, tax evasion,
bribery, nepotism and number of other evils shattering the fabric of a
vision given to us by our forefathers.
Therefore, on this
Independence Day, let us revive the same spirit of our elders to once
again to steer the nation out of social turmoil and challenges and
secure a bright future for our coming generations.
