According to Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it is the immediate responsibility of every Pakistani to completely eradicate poverty and fear from society before turning to anything else.
It seems that according to Jinnah, the immediate responsibility of every Pakistani is to achieve a society completely free from poverty and fear, and not dissipate energies on anything else until this goal has been achieved first.
Here is some evidence.
Fact 1: the most frequently mentioned goal
The immediate uplift of the masses is the single most frequently mentioned goal in his public statements. He repeated it practically every time he spoke from 1936 till his death, except when the occasion restricted him to some specific issue other than this.
Hence, the issue was emphasized in (a) the election manifesto issued by the League in 1936 and many resolutions passed subsequently, including the Pakistan Resolution; (b) each and every presidential address delivered by Jinnah on the annual sessions of the League after 1936, and in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan; and (c) various addresses to the civil and military officers, speech at the opening ceremony of the State Bank, and so on.
The words used were “the people’s welfare”, “the wellbeing of the people”, “the immediate uplift” of the masses, “the betterment” of the citizens and “good life”.
The areas in which he wanted this uplift to happen were economic, social, educational and political.
The terms used, especially after independence, were “Islamic social justice” and “Islamic socialism”, explained by him as “to remove want and fear of all types.”
For instance:
It should be our aim not only to remove want and fear of all types, but also to secure liberty, fraternity and equality as enjoined upon us by Islam.
You can see a selection of quotes from the most important occasions.
Fact 2: the most emphasized goal
It is also the most heavily emphasized goal in his public statements.
The words he chose for emphasizing this subject denoted a priority over and above everything else, e.g. “foremost duty”, “immediate uplift”, “immediate relief”, “take off your coats”, “quickly”, “make some beginning”, “First”, “wholly and solely”, and so on.
For instance:
To the Mussalmans of India in every province, in every district, in every tahsil, in every town, I say, your foremost duty is to formulate a constructive and ameliorative programme of work of the people’s welfare, and to devise ways and means of social, economic, and political uplift of the Mussalmans.
Before the birth of Pakistan, he stated officially that if the idea of Pakistan is that the exploitation of the masses may continue, he “would not have it.” Afterwards, he reiterated that Pakistan was “means to an end” while the end itself was to have a society where “the principles of Islamic social justice could have a free play”, and also that “the State exists not for life but for good life.”
In one of the annual sessions of the League – Patna, 1938 – he stated, formally, that the Muslim League “would be the ally even of the devil if need be in the interests of Muslims.”
Question
Can we say, therefore, that Jinnah told his followers that their first responsibility is to free the society completely from poverty and fear, and not get distracted by anything else until this goal is achieved?
This is not a rhetorical question. Your opinion can be helpful for me in testing my conclusions.
Greetings,
Thank you for this post!
To me, it’s quite powerful in how it depicts Jinnah indeed appearing to remain focused on the goal of telling his followers, and working toward, freeing the society completely from poverty and fear, and not getting distracted by anything else until this goal is achieved.
I admire Jinnah and how he clearly kept his attention and energy focused on something that was/is as simple as possible, and only as complex as necessary. What I’m saying is that Jinnah appears to have acted on an ethic that was/is fixed wholly on one target, the people, and not political party specifics, agendized superficialities, etc.
I like the quotes a lot. Thanks for including a link to them :).
All good wishes,
robert