Quaid’s vision

The nation is observing the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Looking at the ongoing situation in our neighbour and the oppression of Muslim communities worldwide, many are even more grateful for having a separate homeland.

The rise of the far-right in India has made us realise that Jinnah was a far-sighted leader who understood that Hindus and Muslim were polar communities and could not live together. Today the secular values in India are being eroded by the Modi regime, minority rights are being infringed, and massive human rights violations are being committed.

The BJP was responsible for bringing fascism to the subcontinent but never gained power. Peace icon Gandhi was even assassinated by an RSS activist. Now the party has gained a majority and is working on its Hindutva agenda to declare India as a Hindu state and exterminate minorities particularly Muslims from the country. The extremists cannot digest that fact that Muslim leaders ruled over the subcontinent for centuries and now want Hindu supremacy.

The recent incidents relating to the Citizenship Act in India has reaffirmed that the two-nation theory stands correct. Quaid-e-Azam did a tremendous service by struggling for a separate homeland. Jinnah was known as the apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity and worked to unite both communities together. During his political struggle, he was disheartened to see violent riots and injustices and soon realised that Hindus and Muslims could not co-exist.

The struggle for Pakistan was long and bloody in which thousands of people lost their lives, homes and properties. Muslims eventually gained a separate homeland – Pakistan. How this new nation will be governed and what the Quaid envisioned will be long debated, but what is certain is that we have a separate homeland where Muslims have freedom of religion and a standard of living better than those in India.

There have been no Friday congregational prayers in Indian-occupied Kashmir for over four months. This could have been the reality for many of us in a unified India. Muslim would probably never have gained power or formed a government. There has been no Muslim prime minister in India till date.

Though Muslims in India are in a dire situation, Muslims in Pakistan and even Bangladesh are free from Hindu domination. We need also to take care of our minorities so they can live peace and have freedom, or else we would too would lose our moral and cultural values.