Marvi Sirmed on Jinnah

Here.

On the Objectives Resolution

Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani tweeted thusly:

@salarlamar If u care 2 read that debate u will realize many ldrs of #Pakistan Indep mov'mt disagreed with & voted against Obj Res

Civil & Military Gazette

A lot of quotes of Jinnah from the 1940s are sourced from the Lahore-based newspaper "Civil & Military Gazette". I had idly wondered what had become of the newspaper, and by chance, I found out today. 

http://www.therepublicofrumi.com/chronicle/1949.htm

Ban on the newspaper

May 13 {1949}. Lahore-based Civil & Military Gazzette is banned on instigation of other leading journalists, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz (!), progressive editor of Pakistan Times. In an unprecedented move, six leading dailies publish the same editorial urging the government to act against CMG.

The liberals' Jinnah problem

Salman Arshad, in this comment on pakteahouse.net, makes it crystal clear

@ YLH:
If you really admire Jinnah for being the typical manipulative nasty politician who only admitted that “two religions equals two nations” only before 00:00 AM 15 Aug 1947, then there really is nothing to talk about.

You can go your way, let honesty go up anyone’s a***.
You need not even write this article.
.
But if you really admire Jinnah for being a man of principle, then the two nation theory is a matter of principle. Two religions means two nations which means they cannot live together in a democratic setup under the same constitution. In this case all nations MUST exist on the basis of religion (or any other cultural/social difference), and regions with majorities MUST be annexed (eg. kashmir) even through WAR because its a f****ing matter of principle.
.
Both cases are f*****up. No need to go into details. Just put a mirror before Pakistan. It will be clear.
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The third case is the obvious one. Rise above these matters. Lets form our identity on the basis of a MISTAKE.

Let us be one of the few great nations in the world that admitted its own historical mistake. That might actually make us the greatest nation in the world. Lets admit that things have gone way forward and that there is no turning back. We are not merging with India if we admit our mistake.

As soon as we admit our mistake, we will be faced with the task of cleaning up the mess that our theory has created. That itself is a matter of a couple of decades.

Jinnah January 1948

I do not have a record of this in my books, so posting it here for later validation.

Marvi Sirmed in the Daily Times:

Prevalent madness has been dictating everyone in power since partition, including Jinnah and every other leader, who would tow the popular line or make shortsighted attempts to appease the street sentiment instead of leading the alternative opinion. Jinnah did it as early as January 1948 while addressing the Jamaat-e-Islami women who were rallying for the enforcement of shariah. He assured them of the enforcement as soon as possible. (emphasis added)

Jinnah's Revelation

I think Allama Shabbir Ahmed Usmani is the Deobandi cleric, member of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, who asked for the Islamization of Pakistan even during Jinnah's lifetime.

Anyway, we now have this:

One more from Tharoor

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/columnists/shashi-tharoor/no-more-delusions

I do understand that Pakistan has to survive in a tough neighbourhood and it needs a capable military. And I do not expect any Pakistani government, military or civilian, to act in anything but Pakistan’s own best interest.

But — and alas, there is a but — I don’t believe it’s in Pakistan’s best interest to be the country whose military consumes the largest percentage of national resources (both GDP and annual budget) of any military in the world. I don’t believe it’s in Pakistan’s best interest to adopt a policy of seeking “strategic depth” by destabilising its neighbours.

I don’t believe it’s in Pakistan’s best interest to try to wrest Kashmir from India by financing or arming violent militancy. I don’t believe it’s in Pakistan’s best interest to be the cradle and crucible of militant Islamist terrorism. I don’t believe it’s in Pakistan’s best interest to be a country where no elected civilian government has ever served a full term. And I do believe that any Pakistani liberal worth the name (take a bow, Marvi Sirmed) should have no difficulty in agreeing with any of these propositions.

Even if they come from an Indian. Ay, there’s the rub...

A letter of Faiz

The Friday Times

In the early 1950s, poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, along with several left-leaning civilians and military officers, was jailed for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. The trial became known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. A new book showcases for the first time some of the letters he wrote from Hyderabad Jail to his wife Alys, who was working then at The Pakistan Times.

Passed by the censor 7/3/52

Excerpt reproduced here might indicate the creeping Islamization of Pakistan even in 1952.

Life has its surprises, however, even here. The other evening I switched on the Radio to listen to some Indian music from Delhi (what our own Radio calls music is no more than a collection of amateur screechings because real talent like Rafiq, Pukhraj, and Anwar etc: seems to be banned) and do you know what I got? You can never guess. Yehudi Menuhin, perhaps the greatest violinist of all times, playing Bach and Pagannini in the auditorium of the Indian Film Festival. It made me angry and jealous and sad when I thought about it later. This country is now nearly five years old and in five years we have not given the people one real exhibition of anything of beauty, of culture, of ennobling pleasure. And yet there has been no dearth of 'tamashas'. But all that we can think of is to collect some silly old grey-beards from all over the world, make them talk a lot of bilge that no one cares a damn farthing about, give a few people an opportunity for lots of eating and lots of shouting and then forget all about it. India may be a bigger country but culture is not a matter of size but of the ways of living and thinking, and why should the people of this country not be given a chance at least to look at culture even if they can't live in it. Anyway it will all come some day perhaps and perhaps I shouldn't be talking about it.

Awake and caffeinated

Marvi Sirmed, in the Daily Times: After an assessment of India, she continues,

Before the readers dismiss it as a eulogy of India, please consider what havoc we have played with our own people, our own country by not doing what India has been doing. And today, India remains much more respected and trusted than us when not even our closest allies are ready to trust us, including our ‘Muslim brothers’. Even if the central focus of our existence is to tackle India (really?), should we not re-assess our policies urgently? Or do we want our people to keep suffering for shortage of just everything that life demands and inflation of a useless collective religious zeal, which pushes extremist ideologies deep down our system?

Suffering is not a seasonal pursuit in Pakistan. It seems permanent, obscure, dark, infinite and undying. When every moment brings a new embarrassment, anguish, travail onto us, a new migraine to others, and our Generals still talk of hollow and ambiguous ‘honour’, one is obliged to think that Pakistan is a General away from peace, prosperity and honour. Time to shelve old, not-so-melodious music.