 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
Mrs. Benazir Bhutto assassinated.
Published on May 03, 2009
Pakistan has or had never been a country of my liking, though I was brought up in that theocratic country which called itself �Islamic Republic of Pakistan� since 1956 when it adopted its first constitution. The country was created through hatred, malice and on the basis of the so-called two nation theory, the basis of which as Mr. M A Jinnah, fondly called as Quide Azam by his followers, understood that religion could be the only element of nationhood and no other elements such as culture, language, history and of course geography had any role in nation making. And according this theory Hindus and Moslems constitute separate nations. Jinnah always depicted Congress as the party of Hindus looking after the interest of only Hindus, even not other non-Muslim communities. On the other hand Jinnah claimed the monopoly of Muslims� interest that was being looked after by the Muslim League, and only Muslim League. To him Muslim League and Muslims are synonymous. Even the secular British Rulers fell in the trap of Muslim League, which was created by the British Raj on the philosophy of �Divide an Rule� to check Hindu dominated Bengali nationalism whose main object was to evict Britishers from the soil of India. If logic is to be followed then why India should be of only two nations Muslims and Hindus; then India should have been divided into at least three or four states instead of only two. But to Jinnah and Muslim League logic had no place. Even in Jinnah�s own time he saw the futility of two nation theory when most of the Muslims in India refused to migrate to India to accept the nationality of newly born Pakistan even after the threat given by Sardar Ballavbhai Patel that the Muslims in India who fought for Pakistan had no right to stay in India. Fortunately for the Muslims in India religious but humanist Mahatma Gandhi and secularist Jawaharlal Nehru gave no support to the theory of Patel and stood behind the Indian Muslims who declared allegiance to democratic and secular India. Secularism became the basic philosophy, though not written, of Indian polity under the leadership of great Nehru, a strong believer of socialism ably supported by Maolana Azad, Rafi Ahmed Kidowai, Jayprakash Narayan, Sarojini Naidu and other congress leaders. The proposal of some Muslim Leaguers that Muslim-Hindu population be exchanged between the two countries to make Pakistan a completely monolithic state was out right rejected by Jinnah on the very pragmatic ground. Farsighted Jinnah could see that wholesale migration Moslems from India would create tremendous pressure on the economy of young Pakistan threatening its very existence. Quide Azam many a times advised left out millions of Muslims in India to become good citizens of free India instead of migrating to Pakistan. He even went to the extent of vowing to make Pakistan a modern state run by the states craft based western style liberal democracy and modern economy. Although he did not mention the word secularism, but he made himself clear what the state of Pakistan likely to be in which all citizens would enjoy equal rights and protection of law. Just after creation of Pakistan a few months back MA Jinnah, father of Pakistan, made a historic speech in the first meeting of the constituent assembly about the future of Pakistan and the place of religion in the state affairs. He said. � .. .. You are free to go o your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed- that has nothing to do with the fundamental principles that we are all citizen and equal citizen of our sate. In course of time Hindus will case to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in political sense as citizens of the state. ..�. But after the death of Jinnah, his disciple first PM of Pakistan declared that Pakistan would be a Moslem State that would be run by the Islamic principles and laws. With it died the liberalism, modernity and budding secular democracy in Pakistan permanently. Very shortly it became a theocratic state �Islamic Republic� or Islamic Zamhuriyat. Even Ayub Khan, a Sand rust trained army general with modern outlook could not reverse the path of history. Mullaism, Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism with army backing grabbed the Pakistani state power from which Pakistan had never been able to come out with peoples� true wishes. Throughout its history two thirds of its life Pakistan was ruled by the army generals which supported terrorism and mullahism for its sustenance and perpetuation killing peoples democracy. Even the short periods of intervening so called civil rules were supervised and monitored by the army sitting on the neck of the civil government. It is no wonder that Liaquat Khan was assassinated and in sequence of the terrorist history of Pakistan Benazir Bhutta, daughter of bumptious and talkative Julfiquar Ali Bhutto, is the last victim at the altar of terrorism, mullahism and militarilism To me Pakistan is a dead case and with the funeral of Benazir Bhutto, a colourful lady in Pakistani politics we may pray janaza for Pakistan too. (to be continued)
Prof. Ajoy K. Roy--a reputed scientist and human rights activist from Bangladesh--is the member of Mukto-Mona advisory board. He writes from Dhaka.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
||||
|
|
 |
 |
 |