Pakistan: The Founder’S View

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan had visualized Pakistan as a state where a minority would become secure from religious discrimination, not as a state where religious discrimination would be practiced.There is incontrovertible evidence, that Jinnah openly opposed the concept of an Islamic State for Pakistan.The memoirs of his closest lieutenants attest to this.In 1943, Jinnah speaking to the Muslim League said that if Pakistan meant a place where people could not get a square meal a day, he did not want Pakistan! That is why Jinnah broadcast his view that Islamic Socialism was most suitable for the country.All his closest associates, including Liaquat Ali Khan, the Raja of Mahmudabad, and Miss Fatima Jinnah, voiced their agreement with him at different stages of Pakistans history.However since Pakistan had a Muslim majority, the same Ulama who had opposed the Pakistan Movement exercised street power to give the constitution of Pakistan, a fundamentalist and militant complexion.They assert their authority to excommunicate communities and practice compulsion in religion, an action expressly forbidden in the Holy Quran.Pakistan has been caught up in violence like bomb blasts, because militants have acquired power due to certain undemocratic exigencies, and can survive only by following the founders precepts.