Today, 11 September, marks the death anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. What saddened me today was how quietly the day passed. I did not see the kind of coverage in our newspapers and television channels that one would expect for the man who gave us Pakistan.
We have forgotten to listen to what he said while he was alive.
Quaid-e-Azam gave us far more than a country. He gave us a vision of a society founded on integrity, discipline, equality, justice, tolerance and respect for the law.
In his historic address to the Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947, he said:
“We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”
He made his position on religious freedom unmistakably clear:
“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan.”
These were not words meant to decorate history books. They were the principles on which he wanted Pakistan to be built.
And look at the world we live in today.
Deception is rewarded.
Truth is sacrificed for convenience.
Gossip is passed around as information.
Cruelty is disguised as honesty.
People are judged before they are heard.
Justice is demanded when we are wronged and abandoned when injustice benefits us.
We have become very good at quoting great leaders. We have become far less committed to living by what they taught us.
Integrity means telling the truth when lying would be easier.
Justice means demanding fairness even when the outcome does not favour us.
Tolerance means protecting another person's dignity even when we disagree with them.
Discipline means doing what is right when nobody is watching.
Patriotism is not displaying a flag or writing a tribute once a year. Patriotism is how we conduct ourselves every ordinary day.
Quaid-e-Azam's legacy was built on principles. Faith, Unity and Discipline were not slogans. They were the foundations of the Pakistan he envisioned.
Are we living in the Pakistan he envisioned?
The answer is visible in how we treat one another, how we uphold the law, how we speak about those who are different from us, how we respond to dishonesty and how much integrity we retain when nobody is watching.
Remembering Quaid-e-Azam means nothing if we continue to forget his message.
The most meaningful tribute we can give him is to live by the principles for which he fought.
By Beena Khan
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