pakistani followers of bin laden claim that jinnah wanted pak to be jihadistan central. this argument is completely false and idiotic.
jinnah lived little bit more than a year after the creation of pak. during this time he had absolute sway over pakistan. did he in this period take any steps which indicated that he favoured a creation of saudi or iranian style theocracy? no he did not. he did not appoint a group of religious scholars which would have veto power over law passed by the government. he did not appoint a saudi or iranian style religious police which would ensure that citizens would live their lives in a manner demanded by the mullah. consumption of alcohol was legal when jinnah was alive and remained so until the dying days of zab regime.
so was jinnah a hypocrite for creating a country for muslims in which muslims would not live their lives according to that prescribed by the mullahs? no he was not. jinnah realised that despite protestations to the contrary by congress, neither would muslim interest be protected in a united india, nor would muslim’s be free from discrimination. jinnah and his saathis realised that while congress claimed to be a secular organisation, reality of south asia was such that religion would be the most important factor in determining the relationship between majority and minority community. congress track record in running state governments under british indicated to muslims that without any checks and balances, muslims would get a raw deal at the hands of majority community.
the other and equally important reason for demand for pakistan was that jinnah believed that muslims of south asia possessed a unique identity which had something positive to offer for the rest of the world. jinnah’s experience of dealing with congress made him realise that independent muslim state would be the best vehicle through which muslim of south asia could meet their aspirations. jinnah genuinely believed supremacy of system rooted in islam over other belief systems such as secularism, socialism or communism. however, jinnah not being blind, realised that muslims had been losing to the west for two hundred years and he was smart enough to identify what those reasons were that caused west to gain supremacy over islamic world. essentially jinnah wanted to pakistan to be a modern muslim state which had incorporated in its fold those ideas through the west gained supremacy. jinnah believed, and history has proved him right, that only that state would be successful which did not discriminate against its citizen on the basis of caste, creed and origin which is what islam teaches. jinnah also realised that even within muslims, there are all types and it was not the job of government to make people live in a particular way.
in my opinion, among all the current muslim countries, malaysia would be the country that would be closest to the country jinnah wanted paksitan to be. we have our founding father, one of the foremost muslim leaders produced by modern islamic world. too bad we are too dumb to understand his vision.
