In the previous posts of this series, we have considered some of the implications of how Iqbal and his school of thought, i.e. the All-India Muslim League, would have liked us to transform ourselves so that we might participate in the life of our communal self in a conscious manner. Let’s now consider the new …
By participating in the life of our communal self consciously, we can achieve a society free from want and fear.
The individual transformation also requires a change in actions and behaviour, and this change should be motivated by the desire to have a national organization. Pakistan came into being because this desire got realized.
When seen from the point of view of the founding parents of the country, our history reveals that we have a collective ego, or a communal self, which has been conceiving and achieving its goals.
‘Do you visualize that millions have been exploited and cannot get one meal a day! If that is the idea of Pakistan, I would not have it …’ Jinnah, 30th Annual Session of the Muslim League, Delhi, 1943 It is an irrefutable fact that the immediate uplift of the masses was emphasized by Jinnah as …
‘…and the so-called one India is only a means of British domination and British rule…’ Jinnah, Cairo, December 19, 1946 According to Jinnah, there never was any doubt that the British wanted to lead India ‘ultimately’ to freedom and independence, persistent with the ‘great ideal’ of Commonwealth (see his toast to King George VI). However, …
The election on 25 July 2018 has inspired much-needed optimism as well as serious doubts. The feeling that we can shape a better future through an election is not new. It was evidently widespread at least during the elections in 1970, 1988 and 2007. The scale, however, is perhaps a lot higher this time. The …
The more I study the primary sources of the Pakistan movement, the more I feel that the history of the British period has seldom been written from the perspective of All-India Muslim League (which I dare call the Muslim point of view). Of course, there are a few exceptions such as Pakistan Naguzeer Thha by Syed Hasan …
In my book 2017: The Battle for Marghdeen, published five years ago, I wrote that a major turning point would occur in the history of Pakistan in 2017. I wish to thank those friends and readers who have been recalling it in the light of the recent developments in the country. On the suggestion of …
“2017” – revisiting my five-year-old book about the present year Read More »
On the morning of September 6, 1965, the people of Pakistan (including the present-day Bangladesh) learnt that their country was under attack because the Indian forces had crossed the international boundary near Lahore. For the next seventeen days, the media kept informing the nation that heavy losses were being inflicted on the enemy. When the …
A parallel between the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada Read More »