What is freedom? And what is Pakistan? Both questions are to be solved before discussing the question of the freedom-context of Pakistan.
Freedom doesn’t mean any lawlessness, principle-less ness, going off track or unboundedness. In fact it is the spirit of living and giving others the opportunity to live also. Life must be slavery less and free with freedom-limits, representative of freedom. Liberty doesn’t allow the devaluing of the liberty of others.
Pakistan, as all know, was created on 14 August 1947 in the name of Allah and Islam, as reflected in the slogan ‘Pakistan ka matlab kya La ilaha Illallah (What does Pakistan mean? There is no god but Allah). Pakistan is the first state created on the basis of a religion, in our present times. ///no doubt, it is an exemplary creation History cannot give a previous example, as Israel, which is still not a widely recognized state, came into existence later, in November 1948.
Today, we have become 74 years old as a nation. It is a tragedy that inspite of gaining nearly three-quarters of a century of experience, the past of the last seven decades-plus is not satisfactory. Both from the aspect of modern techniques and practices, and of Islamic methodologies. It is an unfortunate fact that we are still not actually a free nation.
In each field, whether that of culture, religion, educations, laws and their implementation, economy or society, we greatly depend on Western systems, even though our elders, and even we, spoke out and raised slogans against the West, and even took further steps, against the West and Western systems. It is also painful that our Constitution, in common with those of all subcontinent and all Commonwealth countries, is not entirely free from the British, who had made us slaves under their colonial rule in the first place.
In spite of all the progress that has been made, and there has been undoubtedly been some, we have not become a nation which is imbued with the spirit of freedom. Neither non-democratic nor democratic regimes have been able to change the fate of Pakistan and the destiny of its people. Besides other causes, a major factor has been that we have become accustomed to follow the practices of the West, even if they are not the best for us, in politics and private life. They may not be the worst, but they are not necessarily the best. We should only take what is beneficial and leave alone what is not. We must avoid blind faith in the West.
In spite of all the progress that has been made, and there has been undoubtedly been some, we have not become a nation which is imbued with the spirit of freedom. Neither non-democratic nor democratic regimes have been able to change the fate of Pakistan and the destiny of its people. Besides other causes, a major factor has been that we have become accustomed to follow the practices of the West, even if they are not the best for us, in politics and private life. They may not be the worst, but they are not necessarily the best. We should only take what is beneficial and leave alone what is not. We must avoid blind faith in the West.
We must be good Muslims and good Easterners, against the West and its worst. It is necessary to develop the habit of using Eastern items of daily use, and eschewing those imported from the West. Avoiding such imports would be a good step towards becoming an independent nation.
The proper use of freedom and independence require the following: al-avoiding laziness and being active at all times, both individually and collectively
-removing the lack of the power of decision making
Being united and integrated
-being honest and true
-being loyal to Islam and Muslims
-being loyal to nation and country
-implementing Islam in all aspects of life, death and society
Not making Pakistan a police state
-avoiding strictly handing Pakistan over to the feudal lords
Western democracy has totally failed. In fact, the system presently practised is not true democracy. No political party is running, or is based on, democratic means. The learned scholar of Islam, as well as of modernity and the West, as well as the great Urdu poet, Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal, very correctly told us about Western democracy in the following famous couplet Jamhooriat ik tarz-i-hukoomat hai jis mein/Bandon ko gina jaata hai, tola nahin jaata (Democracy is a ruling system in which/People are counted, not weighed). How right he was!
The real meaning of freedom is freedom of the mind. So long as we remain in mental bondage, we will never really enjoy the benefits of freedom. This Independence Day, we must pledge to become truly free, by rejecting those habits of mind which keep us enslaved, and thus unable to enjoy the full benefits of the political independence obtained so many decades ago.
