DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 20 September, 1998
Not the business of the state - 2
Ardeshir Cowasjee
"IN these days of rank communalism, he has always remained a staunch and fervent nationalist. I know that attempts have been made in certain quarters to throw a great deal of mud at him by suggesting that he has fallen a victim to Muslim blandishments and is no longer the Jinnah of Congress days.
"It is only those who have the privilege of knowing him intimately who can say how passionately he loves his country. Like Motilal Nehru [Jawaharlal's father] he is temperamentally incapable of thinking in terms of Hindus, Muslims or Parsis."
So wrote Barrister Mohammad Currimbhoy Chagla in the June 1927 issue of the 'Bombay Law Journal'.
In 1947, the first Constituent Assembly was formed and charged with the framing of the constitution of Pakistan. Jinnah was elected as its president and in his first speech to the assembly on August 11, 1947, he clearly and unambiguously enunciated his creed upon which the constitution was to evolve.
He was and remains head and shoulders above all the leaders of our country who have since followed and have successfully made a right royal mess of what could have been a modern, forward looking, powerful democracy.
The narrow-minded obscurantist heads of state and government who followed him, to suit their own selfish ends distorted all the good that Jinnah stood for to the extent that his recorded speeches and printed words were edited and misquoted. Even his official biographer commissioned by the government, Hector Bolitho, was misled and given a chopped version of the vital August 11 speech. Bolitho's book, 'Jinnah - Creator of Pakistan', was first published in 1954, reprinted in 1956, 1957, 1960, and 1964, each time with his speech distorted and uncorrected.
These were the most telling words he spoke:
"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 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 with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State."
These were edited to read: "You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State." Why? What was the intention behind this?
Jinnah spoke about the majority and minority communities, the scourge of sectarianism, religion, colour, caste, creed. He told the future constitution-makers :
"A division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgment there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record its verdict in favour of it. And what is more, it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India's constitutional problem. Any idea of a United India could never have worked and in my judgment would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen. All the same, in this division it was impossible to avoid the question of minorities being in one Dominion or the other. Now that was unavoidable. There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in cooperation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste, or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.
"I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in the course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community - because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatiris, also Bengalees, Madrasis, and so on - will vanish. Indeed, if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free peoples long ago. No power can hold another nation and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time but for this. Therefore we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to 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 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 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 with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.
"Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease 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 the political sense as citizens of the State."
Later, in February 1948, he broadcast to the people of Australia and he told them: "But make no mistake, Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it. Islam demands from us the tolerance of other creeds and we welcome in closest association with us all those who, of whatever creed, are themselves willing and ready to play their part as true and loyal citizens of Pakistan."
Again, in his speech broadcast to the people of the US, also in February 1948, he declared: "The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam. Today they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State - to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims - Hindus, Christians and Parsis - but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan."
Jinnah had the good fortune to learn from, to live with and to work with, liberal nationalists, men of independent thought and beliefs. Amongst the enlightened with whom Jinnah was associated were men such as Dadabhoy Naoroji, Sir Peerozshaw Mehta, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, Sir Dinshaw Mulla (author of 'Mahomedan Law'), Sir Jamsetjee Kanga, Motilal Nehru, Dinshaw Daji, Sir Dinshaw Watcha, Kanyalal Munshi. None of these men, nor Jinnah, would ever have dreamt of creating a theocratic dictatorship or even a country in which religion was to be the business of the State. Jinnah's juniors who are living in Pakistan today, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada and Yusuf Abdullah Haroon, will unhesitatingly confirm this.
Anyhow, the worms have turned. Nawaz Sharif, with the divine right he seems to have assumed, last week summoned back his partymen from various parts of the world as he wished to rush the Fifteenth Amendment through National Assembly on Friday. At the PML parliamentary party meeting called by him on Thursday evening, Fakhr Imam, who has the courage of his convictions, spoke up against the proposed amendment as did Khurshid Kasuri (at last trying to establish that he is Tiger Kasuri's son), and many others. They spoke not as dissenters but as conscientious objectors. Kasuri went to the extent of handing over his resignation to his party chief. Sensing revolt, Nawaz Sharif theatrically rejected the resignation. Friday's Assembly proceedings ended in a whimper.