Pakistanis all over the world recently celebrated the 140th birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, the world's sixth most populous nation and a member of the nuclear club. Several leaders of the Pakistani community in Jeddah attended the seminar organized by the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) to mark the occasion. The function was started with a recitation of verses from the Holy Qur'an and it was followed by the recitation of some poems and "naat" glo¬rifying the Prophet (peace be upon him). The speakers lauded the great struggle and sacrifices made by Jinnah in realizing the dream of a separate nation for the Muslims of the subcontinent. This great visionary and charismatic leader, with his genius and ability to present arguments powerfully with sound logic, was able to lead the All India Muslim League party in securing partition of the subcontinent and the creation of a separate nation for Muslims after realizing that this was the only way to protect their rights in the wake of the growing hegemony of the Congress party. According to the speakers, Pakistan will not be complete until stranded Pakistanis are repatriated and Kashmir is joined with Pakistan. They called for resolution of the Kashmir problem by implementing the UN resolutions that call for holding a plebiscite by granting Kashmiris their right to self-determination. They also called on the Pakistan federal government to expedite the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis who have been languishing in squalid camps in Bangladesh for more than 45 years. In my speech, I thanked the PRC and its officials for holding this seminar and for inviting me to attend an event to commemorate this great leader. I find no better words than those of the American writer and histo¬rian Stanley Wolpert who said: "Few individuals sig¬nificantly alter the course of history; fewer still modify the map of the world; and hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three." Jinnah altered the course of history of the subcontinent and modified the map of the world by adding a new nation to it with the creation of a separate state for the Muslims of the subcontinent without any distinction or discrimination. Why should Pakistan not be a state for all Pakistanis, including those who are stranded in Bangladesh? Initially, Jinnah was a member of the Indian National Congress and worked for the cause of a united India after freedom from British occupation. He was well known as a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity. His work as a lawyer and politician was mainly to achieve this goal. However, his noble cause clashed with the arrogance of some Hindu leaders of the Congress party who were not ready to pay heed to his call to guarantee the rights of Muslims through constitutional reforms. When he re¬alized that the Congress leaders were not willing to give Muslims their due share in governing the coun¬try, he left the party and joined the Muslim League. Eventually, it was evident to Jinnah that the rights of Muslims would only be safeguarded through the creation of a separate state for them. The Pakistan Resolution adopted by the annual conference of the All India Muslim League held in Lahore in 1940 declared that it was totally unacceptable for Muslims in the subcontinent to live in anything other than an independent nation. The new nation came into being after a bitter struggle and great sacrifices made by Muslims, especially those from the Indian state of Bihar, who survived unrest and riots with the majority Hindus in the state. This prompted Jinnah to point out that the state of Pakistan would never have been achieved without the sacrifice of Biharis. It is very obvious that Biharis made great sacrifices for the cause of Pakistan. At the time of partition of the subcontinent, they mi¬grated to East Pakistan for the sake of creating an Islamic welfare state, not a secular Bengali state. Later, during the civil war they stood by the Pakistan army to keep Pakistan united. As a result of this position, they lost everything. They were subjected to killing and looting at the hands of the Mukti Bahini, the militia associated with the Awami League party. As a result of this, they have been forced to live in crowded camps where they have been denied even the basic necessities for a decent life. They have endured this suffering and hardship with the hope that one day they would be repatriated and rehabilitated in Pakistan. Unfortunately, Pakistani govern¬ments have never fulfilled their obliga¬tion to them. However, they still pin hope on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who made some efforts toward their repatriation and rehabilitation during his first two tenures as prime minister. They hope that Sharif, who assumed power for the third time, will accomplish the mission that he started earlier. In concluding remarks, a PRC official urged Sharif to instruct the parliamentary committee that he has recently constituted to expedite carrying out studies about the real situation of the stranded Pakistanis. He also urged the government to work for finding a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem in line with the resolutions of the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
