Martin Luther King Jr once said ‘almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world a better place’. Jinnah wanted the Pakistanis to respect our minorities. I want to reiterate that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to give minorities their due rights. He envisioned following the model of the state of Medina. Mr Khan’s zeal was witnessed when he proposed that Dr Atif Mian was the panacea for the economic calamity of Pakistan. He desired to see Dr Atif as the Finance Minister in his ‘Naya Pakistan’. The desire was a rhetorical. Nevertheless, Mr Khan coerced Dr Atif to resign from the Economic Advisory Council, owing to his faith; which is indifferent to our economy. Consequently, Dr Imran Rasul resigned in protest. This robbed our Economic Council of competent members. However, Jinnah would have daunted the government’s decision because he guaranteed justice, equality, and opportunities for the minorities. Jinnah was a protagonist of minority rights. He stood for the Muslims when they were a minority in the colonial India. Jinnah must have been disenchanted following this inauspicious decision.
The premier idealises Jinnah and pledged to withhold the values of the father of our nation. The white part of our flag denotes Pakistan’s minority. One need not be a Muslim to serve this country. Any person regardless of their religion is capable of serving his/her state without prejudice. Unfortunately, our government has unceasingly disdained almost every other Pakistani, who had the audacity to choose a dissimilar trajectory since the demise of Mr Jinnah. Pakistan loses her chance to prosper when every Joginder Nath Mandal, Sir Zafarullah Khan, Abdul Salam and in this case Dr Atif is left to the mercy of the bigots in the country.
This is a startling moment for our homeland. The food for thought is that can our nation flourish with this myopic attitude and is Pakistan alike India when it comes to minorities? Ostensibly, those who claim to be the harbinger of revolution, need to aspire for the Pakistan of 1947 i.e., ‘Purana Pakistan’.
Barrister Arsalan Chaudhry
Narowal
