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Jinnah’s address
[DAWN] IT is the greatest leader’s greatest speech.Seventy years ago today, Mohammad Ali Jinnah took to the floor of the Constituent Assembly as its first elected president and delivered the iconic lines, "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 Pakistain. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state." He added: "We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state." Seventy years later, Mr Jinnah’s founding vision and direction for the country have yet to be realised. Indeed, an argument can be made that this nation has drifted further than ever from the one that he had envisioned. The founding father had warned that the "first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state", but society itself has fallen prey to extremism and an infrastructure of hate. Posted by: Fred 2017-08-12 |
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