Re: Did Jinnah mean to create a Islamic State?
Without sounding cliched..it depends on your definition of Islamic. What he definitely didn’t want is a theocratic state, knowledable secularists and liberals will cite his famous speech where he said: *You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. *
However, his distinct aim was the creation of a state where Muslims could practice their religion without fear. On the other hand barely a year after his death, Pakistan under Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan and at a time when many of Jinnahs closest friends were still alive, the constituent assembly passed the objective resolutionwhich stated:
- “Where as sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty and authority that He has delegated to the state of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust…” (Binder, 1963, p.144).*
My own opinion is he wanted something that is fairly common as is..he wanted a Muslim state that was all inclusive to minorities.
p.s: he also wanted the army to be kept firmly under civilian control and was a passionate believer in the rule of law. while his democratic credentials were dubious as a Governor General, he seeked reconcilliation with former rivals like Ghaffar khan and Suhrawardy..but ill health and sabotage by some members of his own party.. pushed for further confrontation