On Jinnah's Death Anniversary

Extracts From:
Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan
By Sharif al Mujahid
Dawn: September 11, 2006

JINNAH was not a mere political leader, but also a statesman. Indeed, his statesmanship streak influenced and determined his political leadership role increasingly as he negotiated the tortuous road to Pakistan in the 1940s.

For the most part, a politician deals with matters of the moment. Since his focus is rivetted to short-term goals, he is bound to be severely constrained by a rather limited vision. In contrast, a statesman looks at problems and developments on a long-term basis. This is not only in terms of immediate goals only, but, more importantly, how they could be fitted in, and could be integrated, with the long-term aspirations, larger perspectives and more enduring goals.
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At the political level, Jinnah stood for undiluted democracy, constitutionalism, for autonomy of the three pillars of the state (executive, legislative and judiciary) and for a free press, for civil liberties and a civil society, rule of the law, accountability, and a code of public morality. It is in the formulation of such a code that Islamic ethical principles would come in handy, and that ideology would play a pivotal role in Pakistan’s body politic, but, of course, with the consent of the general populace.

He stood for moderation, gradualism, constitutionalism and consensual politics all through his public life. He believed in building up a consensus on an issue, step by step. He believed that controversies should be resolved through debate and discussion in the assembly chamber and not through violence in the streets, through sheer muscle power. He believed in democracy and not mobocracy.

He believed on the lines of Disraeli who laid down the axiomatic rule for the birth and maintenance of a stable and self-propelling democracy when he said, “We must educate our masters, the people, otherwise we would be at the mercy of a mob masquerading as democracy”. This is tragically what has been missing in Pakistan since the early 1950s. More often than not, most of our political leaders succumb to wild rhetoric, weakening the democratic temper of the masses and strengthening the trend towards mobocracy or dictatorship.

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