Umer Ali:
Ever since its inception, many efforts
have been made to justify the creation of Pakistan. Based on Two-Nation
Theory, one that defines both Muslims and Hindus as different nations,
the said purpose of its creation was to safeguard the rights of Muslims.
The
theory itself is full of glaring paradoxes and has been questioned
innumerable times in the past. To counter these questions, many
state-sponsored historians, most of them belonging to far-right, have
tried hard to prove the authenticity of the theory by relating it to
Muslims rulers from the past.
From Muhammad Bin Qasim to Mahmud Ghaznavi, we have named the foreign invaders as the founders of this theory.
One such ‘historian’, Dr Safdar Mahmud, wrote last year that Ghauri was in fact the founder of Pakistan.
Debunking
this vile claim, Dr Mubarak Ali wrote, “It is customary to be proud of
our invaders such as Muhammad Bin Qasim, Mahmoud of Ghazna and Muhammad
Ghori and to denounce other invaders who looted our country from time to
time. In fact, all these invaders were mass murderers and should be
treated as criminals in history.”
Many
such historians trace the spiritual link of Two-Nation Theory to the
likes of Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi and Shah Wali Ullah. In our textbooks,
the foundation of the idea of two different nations has been credited to
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.
When reading
through the original text from these personalities, one comes to
conclusion that their ideologies were as contradictory and paradoxical
as the theory itself.
