By Yasser Latif Hamdani

I first came across Paul Robeson at Rutgers University in the 100th year of his birth. His image was all pervasive for he was possibly the most well known Rutgers College graduate around the world.  The Paul Robeson centre on Busch Campus was dedicated to art, culture and African American fight for equality in America. Robeson was an extraordinary man; an all American Football Player, a concert singer, actor, communist, international citizen. What I later discovered was his intimate connection to the subcontinent through Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.  The two men had a lot in common including Lady Edwina Mountbatten, that sultry seductress and the wife of the Last Viceroy of India,  who both men had at different times been smitten by.  There was more to it. Nehru the rising star of the non-aligned movement with his own brand of socialism and Paul Robeson the great African American communist were natural allies in a world gone mad. 

In 1958, Nehru came up with the idea of an all India celebration of Paul Robeson. To this end he entrusted M C Chagla, the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. (Even though Chagla was Jinnah’s most famous associate in law, that is not where the Jinnah connection comes up) to head the celebration committee. This created quite a rift between the US and India which is well documented. America strongly objected what it called the “communist inspired anti-Americanism” of the Indian Government. Later relations between Nehru and Robeson were also estranged when the former dismissed the Communist government of West Bengal.

Now to the Jinnah connection. This review had this very interesting snippet of information that caught my eye:

At the Karachi Club a night later, Ken Mac’s band played a special request by Muhammad Ali Jinnah — Paul Robeson’s ‘The End’, which the Quaid-e-Azam apparently used to hum while visiting his wife’s grave in Mazagaon, Bombay.

I tried then to find the the said song on youtube. It turns out that the song was “the end of perfect day” sung by Paul Robeson.

Paul Robeson sings \”The End of a Perfect Day\”

That Jinnah enjoyed the finer things in life is well known.  His suits, cars, dogs etc are a testament to that. However nothing at all has ever been written about Jinnah’s taste in music.  He was after all an avid theatre goer who enjoyed Shakespeare and Milton in literature.  Yet the caricature of Jinnah that has been created is one of a monosyllabic lawyer engrossed in his law books. This song which he allegedly hummed while visiting his wife’s grave shows an intimate side that has not been revealed before. The lyrics are:

 When you come to the end of a perfect day, 
And you sit alone with your thought, 
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay, 
For the joy that the day has brought, 
Do you think what the end of a perfect day 
Can mean to tired heart, 
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray, 
And the dear hearts have to part? 
Well, this is the end of a perfect day, 
Near the end of a journey, too, 
But it leaves a thought that is big and strong, 
With a wish that is kind and true. 
For mem’ry has painted this perfect day 
With colors that never fade, 
And we find at the end of a perfect day, 
The soul of a friend we’ve made.

Why is it that the wretched state that imposes its ideology on us also tries to stifle any semblance of humanity in our heroes?

Pakistan needs rule of law and de-politicisation of police. Those engaging criminal offences like hate speech, threats and incitement to violence, and vigilante violence must be charged, tried, prosecuted, and punished. We will not allow people in public office or public positions, like political parties and traders’ unions to go around supporting hate-campaigns and violence. Please sign this petition demanding an end to violence against religious communities in Pakistan

—————-
STOP VIOLENCE AND THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST PAKISTAN’S RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

The President of Pakistan, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani
Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ch. Nisar Ali Khan
Chief Minister of Punjab Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, PML-N
President Markazi Anjuman-i-Tajran Malik Shahid Ghafoor Paracha

We urge you to intervene and stop the killing of Pakistan’s religious communities, including Sunni (Barelvi), Shia (including Hazara) and Ahmedi communities that are facing a virtual genocide simply for following their religious beliefs and practices.

You are no doubt familiar with Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s speech to the Constituent Assembly on Aug 11, 1947, in which he said: “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, caste or creed –that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”

The recent attacks on the 12 Rabiul Awal processions in various cities around Pakistan (including Gujranwala, Mansehra, Gojar Khan, Mirpur, Khairpur and Karachi) are evidence of the menace of bigotry and intolerance. The government must act with all of its might to put a stop to this. It needs to be done NOW.

The evil lurks in the belly of the so-called Diffa-e-Pakistan Council, a coalition comprising several ‘religious parties’ including some banned organsiations whose views dont resonate with the majority but are able to use their armed status and street power to attack others with impunity. The activities of this coalition need to be curtailed before it becomes the Destroy Pakistan Council.

Many of those involved in the DPC are also active in the hate-campaign against the Ahmadiyya community. Most recently, hate-mongers have proposed the demolition of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya’s Aiwan e Tawheed building in Satellite Town Rawalpindi. We express our disappointment at the participation of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders in an anti-Ahmedi rally of Jan 29, 2012, attended by Member of Punjab Assembly Zia ullah Shah and traders union leader Sharjeel Mir (nominee for a PML-N ticket). It is also shocking that a leader of the traders community at this occasion made a threatening speech against the Ahmedi community.

We strongly condemn these threats of violence, and urge the establishment of a code of ethics, across the board that prohibits any political party supporting those who victimize others.

The Government, both at the Federal and Provincial levels, must take immediate action against violence, threats and intimidation, including those in the name of religion.

A witness protection plan must be instituted and the police empowered, enabled and de-politicised to act against those who violate basic human rights in Pakistan.

The full force of the law must be employed to ensure that no one attacks or threatens members of any community simply for following their religious beliefs and practices.

—————-

Sincerely,

[Your name]

I remember my Pakistan Studies Teacher relating an incident . Gandhi was addressing a press conference when a snake crawled out of somewhere and passed the leader without biting him. The next day the incident made it to the papers. Later at another press conference this time addressed by Jinnah the journalists asked him what he thought of this miracle. Even a snake would not dare touch Gandhi. ‘Professional ethics’ remarked Jinnah. I do not know whether this story is true or not but it left a mark on me.

It’s a national habit of ours to make our leaders, one dimensional. They become austere portraits hanging over bureaucrats bent over files, lifeless over judges and on the currency notes thumbed repeatedly, their features blurring with use. These men on our paper money who changed the course of history; do we ever wonder what they ate, how they lived and loved.

It was a delight to find out Muhammad Ali Jinnah loved spaghetti, and enjoyed eating grapes and plums. That he had a love of newspapers, had these ordered from all over the world, cut out pieces, wrote notes on them and stuck them in files. He enjoyed reading Kamal Ata Turk’s biography , ‘Grey Wolf’ and was later nicknamed the same by his daughter Dina.

Stanley Wolpert’s Jinnah of Pakistan was a good book to start from. The book goes into great detail about Jinnah’s marriage to Ruttie; Jinnah catching Dinshaw Petit off guard, inquiring his opinion about inter-communal marriages and getting a positive response from Petit, asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The book stirred controversy with passages of Ruttie bringing Jinnah bacon sandwiches and refuting the whole episode of Jinnah seeing the Prophet’s (p.b.u.h) name listed as one of the Great Law Makers of the World in Lincoln’s Inn. Nonetheless, Jinnah with all his flaws appears enigmatic.

Interestingly a recent programme on Dawn News confirmed the presence of a plaque, with the Prophet’s (p.b.u.h) name on a list of the Great Law Makers of the World, by showing it on television, though it is no more displayed.

There are a number of books that let us into Jinnah’s private world. A book by by Saleem Chaudry called Quaid-e-azam: baimisaal shakhsiyat, Daraakhshan kirdaar ki Jhalkiyaan is an excellent read. It is full of extracts, personal observations and anecdotes. Jinnah might appear haughty but his wit crackles and amuses.

The book records an incident about him travelling on a train as the reason for reserving a whole coupe for travelling alone. Once when he was travelling to attend the National Assembly from Bombay to Delhi on a first class ticket, he found himself alone in the compartment. From a station an Anglo Indian woman got on the train. She sat down silently on the seat opposite him. The train started moving. Jinnah lay on his seat reading something when he heard her saying, ‘Give me a thousand rupees or I will pull the chain and defame you.’’ Jinnah kept silent.

He gave her the impression that he had not heard her talking. The woman repeatedly demanded the same thing over and over again. Jinnah knew the next station was still some distance away. Angrily the woman came close to him, and violently shook his arm saying. ‘Cant you hear anything? Why are you not listening to me? Aren’t you worried about getting disgraced?’ Jinnah relates, that by this time he had thought of a way of getting out of this sticky situation. Without saying anything, using signs and gestures he got it through to her that he could not hear anything. He pushed a pen and paper towards her to write whatever she wanted to say to him. When she had written down what she was saying on the piece of paper Jinnah took the paper and pulled the chain. Immediately the Guard entered the compartment and Jinnah handed him the paper. The woman was arrested and the train resumed its journey. This incident made him extra cautious and he decided to always book the entire compartment.

A man labelled ‘cold’, ‘stubborn’, ‘arrogant ‘or even an ‘average lawyer who was a late achiever in life.’(Nehru). I find him brutally honest, witty and hard to pin down. How else could you describe a man who could snap at a Governor’s wife (Lady Willingdon as recorded by Hector Bolitho) when she suggested his pretty wife cover her bare shoulders with a wrap to prevent herself from getting a cold?

My favourite passages of Saleem’s book are ones that take the reader into the courtroom where Jinnah played the main lead. The man who had once dreamt of playing Romeo at the Theatre commanded rapt audience in real life courtrooms.

Jinnah had stopped practicing law by 1944 but a request by a Muslim inspector forced him to take his case. The case dealt with the issues of divorce and iddat and required Jinnah to explain about the Muslim Lunar Calendar to the judge. The Judge asked Jinnah about the moon, ‘if it does not rise?’ Jinnah replied, ‘then I cannot make it rise, my Lord.’

In another case when a Judge inquired about a ruling Jinnah was referring to during the proceedings, saying he had not seen such a ruling. Jinnah was quick to answer, ‘Mr. Jinnah says so.’

What baffled me while reading these incidents was if it was audacity to the point of recklessness? For example during the proceedings of a case, an English magistrate, bored and tired of the long discourse interrupted Jinnah in a sarcastic tone, ‘Mr. Jinnah I just listen to what you say from one ear and let it fly out the other’. Jinnah’s retort, the place between the magistrates’ ears must be empty if whatever he says goes in one end and flies out the other, makes me laugh in awe.

I think I am charmed by Jinnah like Sarojini Naidu, a prominent Indian Leader also known as the Nightingale of the East. Some sources claim her to have been besotted by Jinnah, with her writing love poems for him. A profile picture of her sitting in the National archives sent to Jinnah is signed ‘from your friend’ and there are many who deny the infatuation. Jinnah has that power. There is nothing average about him and nothing one dimensional about him.

مزارِ قائد، بانیِ پاکستان قائدِ اعظم محمد علی جناح کی آخری آرام گاہ ہے۔ سفید ماربل سے بنے ہوئے اس مقبرے کو کراچی کی پہچان اور علامت کی حیثیت کے ساتھ پاکستان کا قومی مقبرہ ہونے کا اعزاز بھی حاصل ہے۔ مزارِ قائد کے گرد تقریباً 60 ایکڑ پر پھیلا ہوا خوب صورت اور سرسبز باغ ہے جہاں فوارے اُس کی خوب صورتی کو چار چاند لگاتے ہیں۔ مقبرے میں ایک شان دار فانوس نصب ہے جسے پاکستان کے دوست پڑوسی ملک چین کے عوام کی طرف سے تحفے کے طور پر پیش کیا گیا تھا۔

قائدِ اعظم محمد علی جناح کی 11 ستمبر 1948ء میں رحلت کے چند سال بعد اُن کا مقبرہ بنانے کے منصوبے پر کام شروع ہوا۔ ممبئی سے تعلق رکھنے والے ماہرِ تعمیرات یحییٰ مرچنٹ کا نمونہ منتخب ہوا جس کی تعمیر جون 1970ء کے قریب موجودہ شکل میں مکمل ہوئی۔ درختوں کے جھرمٹ میں 43 میٹر بلند مقبرے کی عمارت دور ہی سے نظر آجاتی ہے۔ رات کے وقت مقبرے پر پڑتی روشنی قابلِ دید نظارہ پیش کرتی ہے۔

مزارِ قائد کے احاطے میں تحریکِ پاکستان کے چند دیگر اہم راہ نما بھی مدفون ہیں جن کے نام درج ذیل ہیں:
لیاقت علی خان (پاکستان کے پہلے وزیرِ اعظم)
نور الامین (پاکستان کے آٹھویں وزیرِ اعظم)
سردار عبد الرب نشتر (قیامِ پاکستان کے بعد پنجاب کے دوسرے گورنر)
فاطمہ جناح (قائدِ اعظم کی ہمشیرہ)

کراچی کے دورے پر آنے والی ہر سیاسی و عسکری شخصیت کی مزار پر حاضری اہم تصور کی جاتی ہے۔ مزارِ قائد پر خصوصی مہمانوں کے تاثرات درج کرنے کے لیے ایک رجسٹر بھی موجود ہے۔ پاکستان کے قومی دنوں خاص کر یومِ پاکستان 23 مارچ، یومِ آزادی 14 اگست، اور قائدِ اعظم کی رحلت 11 ستمبر کے دن مزار پر خصوصی تقریبات ہوتی ہیں۔ اُن دنوں مزار کی حاضری کا الگ ہی لطف ہوتا ہے۔

Image via Wikipedia

This will probably be one of the many articles that I plan to write about the construction of contemporary Pakistani national identity. While I have many versions of theories of nation available to undertake this project, I have decided to focus primarily on the mainstream statist narrative that Pakistani media, the school system, and the foundational intellectuals rely on to  construct the narrative of Pakistan.

In this highly idealized and ideological narrative, Pakistan is posited as the terminal outcome of an elitist dream of separatism defined in difference and in conflict with the larger “Hindu” nationalism of India before partition. We have been telling this story to our children, showing its unfolding in well crafted historical TV shows and movies. As a result, the Pakistani national narrative has now streamlined itself as more or less a religious narrative of nationhood. In my humble opinion, unless Pakistan dismantles and restructures this psuedo-religious national narrative, it will continue to struggle as a nation perpetually in crisis.

There is a dire need for a new kind of historiography: a historiography that does not rely on usual clichés of a great leader fighting against the machinations of Hindus and the British to wrest a country for Indian Muslims. Those of us who have read the events and politics of the creation of Pakistan know, through textual analysis, that mr. Jinnah, until the very end, would have been happy if the British and Indian National Congress had agreed to a sort of federation in which the Muslims of India could have had parity at the federal level. It was the failure of this particular thrust of Jinnah’s struggle that ultimately resulted in the failure of his larger dream and creation of Pakistan as a less-than-perfect alternative. We need to seriously read and discuss this hidden aspect of the creation of Pakistan.

We also need to seriously question all those who assert that Pakistan was to be exclusively a Muslim nation: that was never what Jinnah had intended. In fact, the religious leaders–most of them–were opposed to the creation of Pakistan and did not lend their full support to Mr. Jinnah until the very end.

A critical historiography will highlight these aspects of the struggle for Pakistan and will also open space for imagining a more diverse, equal, and egalitarian Pakistan. A kind of Pakistan in which histories of minorities, women, and peasants are not whitewashed but foregrounded.

Our national narrative should also focus on the rapacious role of the zamindari system, the sardari system, and the destruction of our public sphere by the mullahs and their followers. We should have the courage to challenge all these sectors of political power that seek to present Pakistan in their own contorted and outdated vision of  national life. Unless Pakistan tells a story in which the people have the ultimate power and, Pakistan will remain the crisis state that it is so aptly dubbed by its friends and foes alike.

Most importantly our historians and writers need to stop valorizing the military and need to highlight the destructive role that the armed forces have played in keeping democracy in check and in maintaining the socio-economic status quo.

The stories that we tell our children should be about a more diverse and democratic Pakistan and not of a religiously defined nation perpetually in embrace with all the outdated and repressive forces in of our public sphere. All assertions of exclusive ideas of identity–may it be regional, political, or religious–must be challenged and questioned perpetually by the public intellectuals and the media.

A critical historiography, a democratic didactics, and a re-imagining of our past to create a vision of a better future would be a good start!

Related articles

• Interview: Martial PTV plays indirectly boosted jihadist mentality (pakistaniaat.net)
• Engage With Pakistan at Harvard University This Summer (pakistaniaat.net)

© 2011, Masood Ashraf Raja. This article may not be reproduced in any form without providing an active attribution link/ reference to The Pakistan Forum. All attribution links within the article must also be retained.

A nation that formed and gelled through ten centuries of imperial rule, culture and religion was destined to emerge. The Quaid made it happen in 1947.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Pakistan was destined to emerge thanks to our history of a thousand years in this region. It was a matter of time. A destiny’s hand made it happen in 1947. That hand is Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Pakistan Independence Movement and the man who helped create modern Pakistan.
Pakistan’s ancestors, the Muslim dynasties of Central and South Asia, ruled the region for centuries. This rule came to an abrupt end in 1857 at the hands of British invaders. But it only took us 90 years to regain our power to rule our destiny again; 90 years from 1857 to 1947, gaining independence from imperial Britain. Modern Pakistan could not claim all the former glory of its ancestors. Most of the dominion ruled by our ancestors, the last of them the Mughal Dynasty, went to Indian Hindus who were in the majority in those dominions. That is how India gained independence from Britain one day after Pakistani independence. India came into existence for the first time in ten centuries as a nation ruled by its indigenous majority, freeing itself from both Muslim and British rule.

In Pakistan, 14 August 1947 marks the day when Pakistanis successfully ended British occupation and formalized their centuries-long history of successive empires in Central-South Asia. This history is credited at its peak with producing brilliant art and culture in three languages: Persian, Turkish and Arabic, and producing wonders such as the Taj Mahal, located in what is known today as India, and other countless magnificent historic buildings that stand today in Pakistan.

Pakistan is a long story that culminated in 1947 at the hands of a man chosen to do destiny’s work.

By: Shazia Yousuf

On the birth day of the greatest leader of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, let us recall his message to us as a nation:

“The creation of Pakistan has placed tremendous responsibility on the citizens of pakistan… 

It gives them opportunity to demonstrate to the world how a nation with containing many elements can live in peace and amity and work for the betterment of all its citizens irrespective of cast or creed…

Our objective should be peace within and peace without…

Let us impress the minorities by our words, deeds and thoughts, that as long as they fulfill their duties and obligations as loyal citizens of pakistan, they have nothing to fear…

We have no ambition beyond the desire to live honourably and let others live honourably…"

Read more »

By Amaar Ahmad:

There is a vociferous debate surrounding Pakistan’s national identity. Let there be no doubt that there will not be a Pakistani today more patriotic than the founder of Pakistan – Muhammad Ali Jinnah. On the 11th August, 1947, Jinnah addressed the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan as the man who had led and inspired the Pakistan Movement. In his historic address, he does not shy away from mentioning “India”, in relation to the “Pakistani Identity”. In fact, his entire speech hovers around the task of building the Pakistani Identity. In his speech, he mentions “India” at least 10 times, very deliberately, very positively and very unapologetically.

We need not try to be more loyal than the king. In view of this unchallenged status of Jinnah, it may be prudent to examine his understanding of the identity of the country he made.There is a feeling that people are looking to construct a new identity for Pakistan. Some may describe Pakistan simply as the Anti-India as if the reason for Pakistan’s existence today needs a hostile India. But Jinnah clearly had a different understanding.

Following are ten quotes from the speech of Jinnah:

1. “…the whole world is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the clan of creating and establishing two independent sovereign Dominions in this Sub-continent.

2. “This mighty Sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled.”

3. “One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering – I do not say that other countries are free from it, but, I think our condition is much worse – is bribery and corruption.”

4. “I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division of India…”

5. “…it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India’sconstitutional problem.”

6. “Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen.”

7. “We should begin to work in that spirit and in 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, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish.”

8. “Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago.”

9. “No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this.”

10. “…history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today.”

Let these words guide the objective reader to reflect. If one thing is evident from these quotes from the famous 11th August 1947 speech, it is the fact that “India”, the word, the name, the region, the culture, the history and the nation, are all very much part of the “Pakistani Identity”. Regardless of what name we give it – British India, United India, Undivided India, Pre-Partition India or the Indian Subcontinent – the fact remains that Pakistan was born out of it, as was today’s Republic of India. It appears that Jinnah almost identifies Pakistan with India.

In the ninth quote above “No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this” Jinnah treats the Indian Subcontinent as one nation about to be politically partitioned into two states. He clearly speaks of “a nation”, defining it by its strength of 400 million – the population of the Subcontinent rather than that of the emerging Pakistani state alone.

We need not search for any new Pakistani identity as the job has clearly been done by the founder of Pakistan. Pakistan is simply a country comprising the Muslim-majority states of the Indian Subcontinent. Pakistan is as much heir to the thousands of years of history and culture of the Indian Subcontinent as our neighbor Republic of India itself. This recognition is perhaps necessary to defang the extremists in both sides of the border.

A freedom fighter giving a speech to his countrymen. A speech I wrote for a competition.

‘Think 100 times before you take a decision, But once that decision is taken, stand by it as one man. ‘

-Muhammad Ali Jinnah

My fellow fighters,

In a few hours you will put your lives on stake, in a few hours, you, my fellow countrymen, will fight for your right because you chose to fight against the tyranny inflicted upon the common people of our beloved nation. You my fellow Pakistanis have decided to rise and earn respect for our country, our families, our children.

During 1947, our forefathers laid their lives down for us. To give us a new country where peace, equality, justice, literacy and most importantly love would prevail. But, now 64 years later, the mentioned 5 components that would have made our country prosperous have vanished from the face of this land. And to top it all off, our rulers are doing nothing to control the chaos.

The common man has to collect every single penny to provide his children a standard education. And then there is always the fear of sending our children out of our homes, because it’s just too dangerous. The streets of Pakistan no longer have children playing cricket or riding bicycles on the road. Corruption is rising day by day, blasts and target killings are a part of the norm. Every waking minute there is fear in the hearts of the Pakistanis, ‘Will we be alive tomorrow or not?’ The conflicts between political parties and the influential leaders lead to mass killings throughout the country, tearing thousands of families apart.

Two months into 2011, 708 people were killed due to violence on the streets. In this country, there is no peace, only fear, there is no justice only violence, there is no love only hatred. You my fellow fighters have decided to fight against the government to bring back peace and love, equality and justice with bravery and commitment.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say it is to stand against a monstrous tyranny. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim?

It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. It is to bring justice to all those people who just became a part of statistics of those killed in street violence. It is to once again, see the streets of Pakistan full of lights and the skies specked with brightly coloured kites.

So get up and lay your lives down for your sisters, mothers and children. Get up to rise and deliver.