Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Monday said Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal wanted to establish an Islamic welfare state where Muslims and minorities could live freely and peacefully irrespective of their caste and creed.
Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, the minister opined that today the biggest challenge was to reclaim Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Pakistan, and Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to transform the country into a state in line with the founding father’s vision.
Chaudhry said Quaid-e-Azam made his vision clear of Pakistan in his three major speeches – one in the Constituent Assembly, his addresses to the Army officers, and the bureaucracy. He said both Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal were modern, progressive, and visionary leaders who realised what would happen to Muslims and other minorities in the future. “This confusion should be completely dispelled that the Quaid-i-Azam wanted a religious state. He never saw Pakistan as a religious country and all these people who today on his name are fooling the people that the meaning of an Islamic country was a religious country – this was entirely not the case.” He said his lifestyle was at odds with people who used his name today and wanted to make “Pakistan a backward country”. He said the message of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah about future Muslim state was very clear. He opined that today the biggest challenge was how to reclaim Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He said many Indian and Bangladeshi writers were confused about Quaid-e-Azam and his vision of Pakistan. He said the movement for Pakistan was not led by accomplished religious figures and scholars of the time. Instead, Jinnah and Allama Iqbal had talked about a political theory and politically interpreted Islam that there should be a country where Muslims and minorities could live where a “brutal majority” could not target them. “This fight is very important for Pakistan’s survival and only by winning it can we or any other country move forward.” The information minister once again pointed to the decline in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government which he said was “spreading extremism in the name of a religious majority”. Chaudhry said a movement was needed to effectively propagate Jinnah’s message and understanding of Pakistan to the common people.
Fawad said extremists entrenched in Afghanistan posed a serious threat to Pakistan. “Women are not allowed to travel alone in Afghanistan, and they cannot go to school as well,” he said. “You see that two extremist regimes have cropped up on right and left of Pakistan.
