Pak Tea House » Pakistan » Lessons From Bangladesh
Lessons From Bangladesh
By Yasser Latif Hamdani
Courtesy Daily Times
The poison of General Zia’s bigotry has spread like a cancer in Pakistan’s body politic. Had he not emerged on the scene, it is possible that Pakistan would have taken the regular course of a confessional state to a modern, inclusive and democratic state
Bravo. Bangladesh has done it. It has successfully reversed the cynical Islamisation of its local General Zia. Not only is one fortified by their action that a Muslim majority nation state is capable of rolling back the Islamist project but as a Pakistani I am glad that at least some part of the former original Pakistan is now firmly allied with the principles that Jinnah laid down in his famous August 11, 1947 speech.
Bengalis have never been any less proud as Muslims than Pakistanis. Say what they may, champions of the so-called ideology of Pakistan cannot deny that had it not been for peasant nationalism in Bengal, the Pakistan movement would have fallen flat on its face. While opportunistic landowners jumped onto the Pakistan bandwagon in what became West Pakistan, it was the common man in the then East Pakistan who waged the struggle for a new nation. It may also be remembered that Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the founder of the Awami League, was also one of the founding fathers of Pakistan and that the Awami League was, at one point in its history, the Jinnah Awami Muslim League.
In 1965, when the Quaid-e-Azam’s sister rose to take on a dictator, it was again East Pakistan that rallied to her cause. And how did we pay them back? I do not wish to go into the atrocities of 1971.
One of the many steps taken by this new confident and independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh is the banning of Maulana Maududi’s hate-filled literature. Maulana Maududi is widely disliked in Bangladesh for his role against the Bengalis. There are some who object to this decision on grounds of ‘freedom of speech’. Well sirs, mind telling us where is the freedom of speech for non-Muslim minorities? It is quite like how some years ago many of our proud Pakistani Muslims defended Yousaf Youhanna’s conversion to Islam on the grounds of freedom of religion. And then someone asked, “What if he converts back to Christianity?” Silence.
What is sad, however, is that Maududi’s abuse against Pakistan and its founding father far outweighs his abuse against Bangladesh and yet Pakistan continues to tolerate Maududi’s legacy. Much of his horrendous abuse against the Quaid-e-Azam has been documented in detail. What is more, Maududi and his party openly supported usurper General Zia’s illegal military dictatorship.
The truth is that under the 1973 Constitution, a complete separation of church and the state may not be immediately possible, but if Pakistan can undo General Zia’s legacy, it will become a much better place to live in. For us, it is an urgent undertaking. We have now learnt that the dead body of Prem Chand, who died in the Margalla plane crash, was marked ‘Kafir’. Is there no end to such bigotry? Some might argue that this is because we asked for a Muslim majority state and a partitioned India. Be that as it may, it bears repeating that Jinnah tried very hard to keep Hindus safe and secure in Pakistan and his efforts paid off partially in Karachi. He also spoke of non-Muslim Pakistanis as being equal Pakistanis and having the closest association with the rest of Pakistan. Today, the minorities are marked separately as if they are less human, let alone less Pakistani.
To drive the message of equality and inclusiveness of Pakistani identity home, Jinnah appointed as his law minister Mr Jogindranath Mandal, a Bengali scheduled caste Hindu, and got Jagganath Azad, a Hindu Urdu poet, to write Pakistan’s first national anthem. Mr Azad had to escape for his life soon afterwards when things became unbearable for the Hindus in Lahore and soon after Jinnah’s death Mr Mandal was driven out. A transcript of Mandal’s signed statement is readily available on the internet. It is nothing less than heartbreaking for a Pakistani who wants to see this flag flying high.
Perhaps the founding fathers should have been more militant in their secularism given that they had gotten the state by mobilising a religious identity, like Kemal Ataturk and Ismet Inonu did in Turkey. Their Turkish nationalism grew out of the group identity of Muslims of Anatolia and Thrace and they deployed Islam to mobilise the Turks, Kurds, Macedonians and even the Arabs living in Anatolia during the war of independence in a much more blatant fashion than the founding fathers of Pakistan. Yet, after the emergence of the modern Turkish Republic, Ataturk and Inonu began to redefine Turkish nationalism in completely secular terms. Consequently, even Turkish Jews are Turks before they are Jews.
In stark contrast to Turkey, especially after Jinnah, Pakistani secularism has met with one defeat after another. We are now at a point in our history that the highfalutin articles of the constitution protecting religious freedom in Pakistan have been defeated in the courts of law. Pakistan may have ratified the International Convention on Political and Civil Rights, but in reality the application of this is impossible unless of course Pakistan’s leaders realise the urgency of the matter.
The poison of General Zia’s bigotry has spread like a cancer in Pakistan’s body politic. Had he not emerged on the scene, it is possible that Pakistan would have taken the regular course of a confessional state to a modern, inclusive and democratic state. While Islamisation was always a going concern in Pakistan since the Objectives Resolution, it was General Zia who ensured that it would always be negative and exclusionary, catering to the Maududian ideology. Pakistan must decisively roll back General Zia, taking a cue from Bangladesh, and declare all the changes inflicted on the legal and constitutional system of Pakistan from Zia’s coup to that grand explosion in the sky, null and void. This would give Pakistan a fighting chance to slowly dig itself out of the hole it has dug itself into.
Remember the war against the Taliban is a generational undertaking. It will be fought in our schools, colleges and courts for the next 50 years. Let us prepare for the battle by learning from Bangladesh.
Yasser Latif Hamdani is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com
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@ Vajra and PMA
“These are village ponds; you turn up at mid-morning, glare at the giggling women till they turn silent and slightly apoplectic with the effort to be serious, walk down with a dignified waddle into the water, duck, lather, float around a bit”
“Having bathed in village ponds myself I walk the memory-lane so vividly laid out by yourself. The innocence-lost of a fourteen year boy”
Reminds me of one of Zainul Abedin’s Santhal Women paintings from the 1960s.
Bathplug, you are at your literary and creative best aajkal.What a verbiage you weave; make me refer to the online dictionary repeatedly ,make me translate greek script(ha!)….
bonobasi, as was his wont, must be off to his Bon(jungle repose), if you anyhow meet him convey my regards. And tell Vajra(why not Bojra?)that an odd Reader misses him.The twins had a devoted fan in me , you see , Plug.
——————————————–
my favorite bangaali…….the man who founded Bose the sound company …
@rationalist, you r no longer entertaining.
“Reminds me of one of Zainul Abedin’s Santhal Women paintings from the 1960s.”
I would like to add Bathplug and PMA’s prose here captures it better than the work of the great artist!
Bathplug, what is this technique, that you have used by summarizing your para through the bold words,called? Marvellous!!
rationalist (August 12, 2010 at 8:01 pm):
Cry no more Rationalist. I have broken the code. The messages of the script of the IVC says that I am a quisling of Arabs and Turks and you sir are a descendant of Lord Hanuman. Congratulations. It is all settled now.
Zainul Abedin
Born in 1917, Kishoreganj, Bangladesh
“Zainul Abedin’s first memories are centered round unsophisticated life and landscapes, enlivened by the quite-flowing Brahmaputra river, majestically winding its way through idyllic, pastoral countryside.
It was this simple beauty, with the sad introspection and certain tragic quality about it, which he later deftly captured in the scaffolding of his brisk, bold and strong lines and his soft, glistening water colors.
His father was Police Officer and as he went on transfer from one district to another, young Abedin came to adore the green, reverie countryside marked by tall, graceful palm trees and coconut groves. Occasional hills and dales broke the monotony of alluvial plains, as in Sherpur, near the picturesque Garo Hills, where he had his first taste of primary school. Instead of sums, however, he filled his copybook with hieroglyphs, which he himself did not very well understand.
His increasing interest in art, however was much to dislike of his parents, who naturally wanted him to shape as police officer! He was constantly scolded and admonished. Then, one evening, he ran away from his home with children’s poem book of the banks of his favorite Brahmaputra river.
There it lay, as far has he could see, nestling in the expansive countryside landscape, turning it into green carpet of miles of paddy fields. In front of him and all around him was bounteous nature spreading its arms.
On the river were shining boatmen. In the fields worked women, with their graceful figure almost bare, ebonises by the vagaries of life in the open ,beaten by sun and rain.
For the next many weeks, he roamed about from village to village, living with farmers and boatmen and working with them, occasionally using indigenous charcoal for sketches and illustrations that filled his book of poems.
Months later, when this illustrated, and, of course, very much faded book of poems reached his headmaster, he was greatly impressed and persuaded disappointed father to send the young boy to Calcutta for proper art education.
Life in Calcutta was difficult and friendless in the beginning, but it had its own compensations. In 1938, he received the Diploma of Fine Arts from Calcutta Art School and was immediately offered a teaching job at the same institution. He taught as well as painted, exhibiting his work and winning several prizes for amateur work in Art Exhibitions in the country, as well as abroad.
In 1951, he visited London and later traveled widely over Europe. The whole body of his works have be seen in individual exhibitions in European capitals.
Zainul Abedin, painter as well as teacher, is himself the founder and leading artist of what has come to “Dacca Art Group”. He was also the principal of Government Art Institute, Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). His paintings and drawings have been widely seen and admired in composite exhibitions by UNESCO and various international bodies, as well as group exhibitions in Europe, Turkey, Japan, Mexico and USA.
Zainul Abedin has painted extensively in wide variety of styles, ranging from purely objective and almost photographic to various abstract and semi-abstract studies. He was very interested in Japanese painting style. “
The pity of it all, as is inevitable in the absence of knowledge or of effort to acquire it, other than by scanning newspapers for pieces of dirt to fit onto one’s own collage of hell, is that rationalist has it exactly wrong.
In India, the two most prominent cases of peaceful acceptance of Islam were in Kerala (the south-west coast of India, actually) and in Bengal.
What that debased and sodden-brained rationalist does not know is that the first mosques on the sub-continent were arguably built in Kerala and further north, in the Karnataka coastal area, most probably by the Bearys, an ancient Muslim community of those parts. It is still being argued whether the first mosques on the coast were built earlier than Muhammad bin Qasim, at the same time, more or less, or slightly after. It cannot have been much after, from the dates that are available for the first Muslim settlers, in all probability themselves a people of a composite culture, with strong links to Arabia. Then as now.
Amitava Ghosh’ In an Antique Land may help the reader unable to handle professional historical writing styles to understand the relationship between Kerala and the Near East a little, although he talks of a period in the 13th century, not the 7th or the 8th.
In Bengal, as I have pointed out again and again and again, adoption of Islam by a Buddhist majority oppressed by largely Hindu landlords and rulers (unfortunately those lunatic ravings of Dastagir have a pale shadow of truth reflected in them) was from the preachings of Arab missionaries there for the trade as much as for proselytisation.
I could answer in detail, but that would involve linking the Muhammad bin Qasim dates (695 to 715) to the Gurjara Pratihara dates (836 to 910) to the Atish Dipankar dates (980 to 1053) to the Mahmud of Ghazni dates (971 to 1030). Who’s interested? Suffice it to say that it becomes very clear that there could have been no Muslim conversion at sword-point earlier than Atish Dipankar, as he was still an honoured man and the dean of studies at Nalanda in his time, leaving for Tibet in his old age. That was during the Buddhist Pala rule of Bengal (750 to 1090). It was after that, during the oppressive Sen dynasty (1095 to 1204, derived from some bigots from – you guessed it – the land between the Narmada and the Krishna), that there was resentment of the rulers among the people, so much so that the laughable last ruler was chased out of his palace by Bakhtiyar Khalji and his ridiculous 18 (!) horsemen in 1204, and nobody cared enough to lift a finger for him.
Seen from this perspective, it will be clear why this observation sounds farcical:
bangali will be victorious over the arab aggression. Bangladesh hs begun to drift away from islam – just as under Mujib in 1975, when the sunni fascists killed Mujib (for this single reason)
What aggression? What drift away? The only half-accurate phrase there is ‘sunni fascist’, which should have been ‘sunni fanatic’. Fascists believe in a theory of the state which brooks no religious intervention, and calling somebody a [here put any religion] fascist is nonsense.
All that can be said is something that should be said of all; that Bengal has a mind of its own, and if it should take a dislike to any fanaticism, whether Hindu revivalist in the 12th century or Muslim revivalist in the 21st, they will effectively throw off the excessive part without a backward glance.
Bathplug (August 12, 2010 at 9:45 pm):
One observation. Muslim Bengalis tend to have a ‘four name’ combination to their given names generally without any reference to certain tribal or historical family link. In contrast most Pakistanis tend to have a two or three part name with tribal name present as well as being absent. Also Pakistani names tend to be either Arabic, Persian, Turkish or a combination of the above. On the other hand Bengali Muslim names tend to be mostly Arabic. Any thoughts on that. This may be in support of your argument.
Bathplug:
Nice post, minus the unnecessary jab at the people who inhabit(ed) the region between the Narmada and the Krishna rivers. This is also the region of Ellora, one of the finest examples of coexistence of religious faiths.
12 Buddhist structures, 17 Hindu structures and 5 Jain structures within one complex. A major Shiva temple across from there in Ghrishneshwar. And perhaps the most significant Muslim Dargah at Khultabad, a few miles away. The construction of some parts of the Ellora complex was almost contemporaneous with the Sen dynasty in Bengal.
Khalid Saab,
Before I say anything, allow me to apologize for my hasty conclusion that you hadn’t read Huntington’s thesis. I agree with your objections to his ideas though I don’t think it is silly and far fetched. I shall write in detail later on.
Thanks.
Bathplug,
Nice post, though a few bold inaccuracies. If Khalid mian wants to know what Girish was referring to as the leftist bias in our history, he should check for the unsubstantiated interpolations in your post.
“adoption of Islam by a Buddhist majority oppressed by largely Hindu landlords and rulers ”
From what I know, there is no proof of “oppression” by largely Hindu landlords and rulers. The “hindu” religion in Bengal at the time of Muslim invasion was more fluid and different from the classical Hinduism of Gupta age or even of much later, Al Beruni’s times. It was a syncretic mixture of Hinduism with the tantric Buddhism that had developed during the Pala times. In fact, one reason why some historians say that Islam had an easy time in Bengal and Kashmir was the absence of the more rigid caste system in these places.
“It was after that, during the oppressive Sen dynasty (1095 to 1204, derived from some bigots from – you guessed it – the land between the Narmada and the Krishna), ”
Again, gross historical inaccuracy. Do attach your references that portray the supposedly oppressive Sen dynasty. In fact, Lakshman Sen was known as an exceptionally benign ruler. You have fallen into the same trap as the later day British “historians” who always paint the Nawabs of Murshidabad as worthless blood sucking tyrants, a fact that is horrendously untrue. Before the ravages of East India Company, the general life in Bengal was fairly content.
“that there was resentment of the rulers among the people, so much so that the laughable last ruler was chased out of his palace by Bakhtiyar Khalji and his ridiculous 18 (!) horsemen in 1204, and nobody cared enough to lift a finger for him.”
That is also a patently false propaganda spread by the write Minhaj-ul-Siraj. There is little historical evidence that Lakshman Sen was chased by Bakhtiyar Khilji and his atharah(18) Ghursawar(horsemen.) This troll is same as that propagated by some other Marxist Historians about the supposedly wicked rule of Dahir in Sind, a complete and utter nonsense. Qasim’s invasion had nothing to do with Dahir’s “wicked” rule, nor with spread of Islam. The big reason was to secure the sea trade route for the Arabs.
In your hurry to paint Bakhtiyar Khilji as some kind of Robin hood, you have wisely omitted his more egregious task, the sack of Nalanda.
Girish Saab,
“Nice post, minus the unnecessary jab at the people who inhabit(ed) the region between the Narmada and the Krishna rivers. ”
Of course, we don’t need to remind Bathplug that one of the greatest kings of any era, Krishnadeva Raya, also came from the same region.
@PMA [August 12, 2010 at 10:27 pm]
Bathplug (August 12, 2010 at 9:45 pm):
One observation. Muslim Bengalis tend to have a ‘four name’ combination to their given names generally without any reference to certain tribal or historical family link.
A fair point; in a wool-gathering kind of way, the same discovery had led me astray into a whimsical consideration of names of the Romans, and presently the Spaniards: {Typical first name}{Family name}{Personal epithet}, thus, C. (for Caius) Julius Caesar, Caesar being his personal epithet, or cognomen, to be accurate. Modern-day Spaniards follow the same order. Since most Bangladeshis have that sort of name – A. A. K. Khaliquzzaman Pappu (name changed for privacy) – it was a pleasant and meaningless blind alley. On applying your ‘rule’, it seems that the entire first three parts of the ‘formal’ name are the highly arabicised part, the fourth tends to be a wildly separated religion-neutral cognomen.
What is sometimes disconcerting for the staider breed from West Bengal is that we never use these cognomens in public; it is always in the bosom of the family, or among great friends, that these are used. So Satyajit Ray was ‘Manik-da’, but not, as in Bangladesh, Satyajit Ray ‘Manik’. The use of this cognomen seems to be growing.
The second disconcerting feature is the extremely personal nature of these cognomens. Nothing salacious or untoward is implied; it is just that many of these names would not find their way into normal conversation, more to the cooing of a mother to her child. To encounter these terms suddenly, out of ambush, is panic-inducing.
There are/were exceptions a-plenty, of course; Khwaja Nazimuddin, for instance. All the Dhaka Nawab-bari people were Khwaja {personal name}. Their web-site is worth visiting, just to satisfy the ethnographer in us.
@ Girish [August 12, 2010 at 10:42 pm]
the unnecessary jab at the people who inhabit(ed) the region between the Narmada and the Krishna rivers.
Oh, no, Sir, indeed, Sir, a most necessary jab, Sir, but to the wrong point, Sir; look you on these words, and shalt cry “Traitor” and “Fie on him”:
I who lives in the Krishna-Tungabhadra basin, am actually not a hindu.
I beg pardon from all who ruled and lived between Tungabhadra and Narmada.
And so make my bow and depart, but not before telling all:
If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation; and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift,(45)
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe
If I forgive him!
@Bade Miya [August 12, 2010 at 11:13 pm]
Khalid mian wants to know what Girish was referring to as the leftist bias in our history
There is no leftist bias in my history, only a humanist bias.
“adoption of Islam by a Buddhist majority oppressed by largely Hindu landlords and rulers ”
From what I know, there is no proof of “oppression” by largely Hindu landlords and rulers. The “hindu” religion in Bengal at the time of Muslim invasion was more fluid and different from the classical Hinduism of Gupta age or even of much later, Al Beruni’s times.
Well, obviously!
The classical Hinduism of the Gupta Age? That was in the early half of the millennium; naturally in five hundred years, in well into the second half of the millennium and into two centuries of the next, this ‘classical’ Hinduism had degenerated into something else.
It was a syncretic mixture of Hinduism with the tantric Buddhism that had developed during the Pala times. In fact, one reason why some historians say that Islam had an easy time in Bengal and Kashmir was the absence of the more rigid caste system in these places.
Have you watched the series, Pirates of the Caribbean? When Will Turner is asked on whose side Captain Jack Sparrow is, he is forced to ask,”At this moment?” For reasons that you will find hard to comprehend, this episode comes to mind as I read your observations.
More later – if you insist.
“It was after that, during the oppressive Sen dynasty (1095 to 1204, derived from some bigots from – you guessed it – the land between the Narmada and the Krishna), ”
Again, gross historical inaccuracy. Do attach your references that portray the supposedly oppressive Sen dynasty. In fact, Lakshman Sen was known as an exceptionally benign ruler. You have fallen into the same trap as the later day British “historians” who always paint the Nawabs of Murshidabad as worthless blood sucking tyrants, a fact that is horrendously untrue. Before the ravages of East India Company, the general life in Bengal was fairly content.
Bathplug,
“Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes.” Someone famous once said that. You are a stickler for rigor; follow your own creed.
“When Will Turner is asked on whose side Captain Jack Sparrow is, he is forced to ask,”At this moment?””
I do understand your swipe, though it hardly answers my queries.
“There is no leftist bias in my history, only a humanist bias.”
Sorry, should have written “woolly” bias.
Bathplug (August 13, 2010 at 1:18 pm):
From one ‘wool-gatherer’ to other: Thanks for the very informative reply. Now that Nawabs of yesteryear are totally discredited in Banglaland, their particular naming practise may not be relative to that society anymore. My observation of Muslim Bengali Arabic names goes back to the sixties. Things might have changed now.
PMA answers my post (with “humour” that causes no change in my facial expression), but it has been deleted by some super-clever person.
how does one discuss under such conditions?
Why force a person to change his identity?
This seems to be a typical muslim illness – forcing new identities on the people or forcing poeople to assume new identities.
Laughing at a thesis does not make it invalid.
@rationalist
I had got that you were dumb – metaphorically. I knew that you were deaf – to anybody and everybody other than your own monotonous whine. But this is the first proof that you are blind. Your post, to which PMA replied with great grace and a refined sense of irony which was beyond you to grasp, is reproduced here from its site, where it has been lying peacefully ever since you posted:
rationalist
August 12, 2010 at 8:01 pm
pakistanis can claim to be descendants of the IVC (indus valley civilization) if they can decipher and read and understand and live as per (some of) the messages of the script of the IVC. Right now they are just quislings of arabs, turks and other marauders in the Sindhu valley.
The women in IVC were not veiled. The people were polytheistic (=more tolerant and open-minded and less totalitarian).
Bangladesh is doing introspection. But can islam do it? Ergo, BD can do introspection only by setting aside the so-called holy arabic book. The bangali language has more wisdom and intelligence and humanism to offer.
I have, in the last 3 days, read every single article and every single editorial appearing in the Times of London between 01 January 1937 and 31 December 1948 that related to Indian politics. Surprisingly, there are not that many articles, even in the days after the end of the World War – I guess Britain had too many of its own issues to worry about to let Indian matters bother it too much. These articles are also typically not front page articles, even for relatively momentous events.
It was a very interesting (and long overdue) exercise for me. I would recommend it to anybody else interested in the history of the time.
I was trying to find archives for Indian newspapers such as the Times of India, the Tribune, the Statesman, the Hindu, the Dawn etc. and was unable to find them for the period. Any suggestions on how to access these would be very helpful. Thanks.
Girish (August 13, 2010 at 11:43 pm):
Two Pakistani English language newspapers – Dawn and Pakistan Times were started at independence. So you will not have any pre-independence records there. Try Civil and Military Gazete which predates independence. Again since this newspaper is no longer in publication you may not have any luck. Also try American Library of Congress.
No PMA. Dawn started in 1941 as a weekly and as a daily in 43. And Pakistan Times is from Jan 1947 … Both were founded by Jinnah and latter was designed especially as a left wing mouthpiece by Iftikharuddin and Faiz its first editor.
Dawn was actually published from Delhi initially. I don’t when exactly it moved to Karachi, but my guess is from around the time of independence.
Moved to karachi in 47.
YLH (August 14, 2010 at 6:53 am):
About Pakistan Times, Mian Iftikhar-ud-din and Faiz I knew. But thanks for correction on Dawn.
The most famous editor for Dawn from that period was Pothan Joseph. He was a Syrian Christian and an Indian nationalist. He supported the League because he believed that the League was bolster an opposition to majority Congress.
YLh (August 14, 2010 at 9:37 pm):
Do Syrians have names starting with letter ‘P’? Just curious.
Syrian Christian is the name of a community in India and Karachi.
I believe Arundhati Roy is a Syrian Christian.
Arundhati Roy is half Syrian Christian. Her mother is Syrian Christian, her father is Bengali Hindu.
Syrian Christians are largely Keralites in India, though they are present all over the country (and the world). One of the earliest Christian communities in India.
Pothan Joseph gave a detailed interview long after Jinnah was gone. This was referenced by A G Noorani… It doesn’t seem to quite follow “proud as lucifer”.
TJS George can say whatever he wants but I am in possession of the original correspondence between Joseph and Jinnah… Joseph left because he was offered a job in the information ministry.
So drop the “googling” and put some serious research out.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2217/stories/20050826003003400.htm
Quote from Assessing Jinnah:
Pothan Joseph was handpicked by Jinnah to be Editor of the League’s organ Dawn. He recalled that “there was no trace of pressure or censure and he was anxious to test his views by inviting criticism in the seclusion of his drawing room… the notion of his having been a common bully in argument is fantastic, for the man was a great listener… he was really a man with a heart, but determined never to be duped or see friends let down. He didn’t care a hang about being misrepresented as Mir Jaffer or Judas Iscariot. No one could buy him nor would he allow himself to be betrayed by a kiss.”
Like I said T S George is wrong. Refer to Jinnah’s exchange with Pothan Joseph in a collection of letters called “Plain Mr. Jinnah”.
Meanwhile we have Pothan Joseph’s own interview which I quoted above on what Joseph’s opinion of him was.
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@ YLH (August 15, 2010 at 12:01 am)
“…there was no trace of pressure or censure and he was anxious to test his views by inviting criticism in the seclusion of his drawing room… the notion of his having been a common bully in argument is fantastic, for the man was a great listener… he was really a man with a heart, but determined never to be duped or see friends let down. He didn’t care a hang about being misrepresented as Mir Jaffer or Judas Iscariot. No one could buy him nor would he allow himself to be betrayed by a kiss…”
This is truly a quotable quote. An impressive description of Jinnah.
“…..He didn’t care a hang about being misrepresented as Mir Jaffer or Judas Iscariot…..”
This is why Jinnah was able to follow his convictions. He had no fear of mullahs and their fatwas. He interpreted freely, without the fear of being misinterpreted himself. He did what he deemed right.
NSA
“The Muslim has to be educated out of his sense of privilege and brought into a liberal code of disputation”
Very interesting passage. Indeed I agree with this although it seems to me that Muslims don’t have a monopoly over this sense of privilege.
Serious Research , my mfhusain alive (mfhusain is my euphemism for “My foot!”).
I have done some very anxiously research about the judges and juatices of pre-NNJP era who took pakistan for a disastruous and bumpy ride (including plots, plots, pewlf and peccadillos not excluding Rhodes for second rate progeny), to turn their QUE SERA SERA into QUE SERAS SERA(TUL MUSTAQUEEM).
The Research Buastards (thy are turningf beasutiful because of many mud-baths they indulge everyday) are PR deviates , in a nutshell, are laickadaisical and lack lustre… their disgraceful presence in pakistan reminds me of what All Miughty God has said in ther Holy Koran , 17:16.
AMEN!
Mr. Slarpore: Thank you for your honesty in assessing my “beauty”, be that what it may!
there is so much out there to learn from … just by reading this …
when we will learn… seriously when we will?? i wanna know now
@Lady Guinevere:
It appears that you have some sense augmented by sense of humor in spite of your working CONditions at Bhandhari Naqvi and Pan Ganges .
My LawWhore chambers are on fourth floor , so hot that no other humanbeing can stay there for more than 10 minutes. No airconditioning works there facibng Subn from 3 sides. Climbing stairs, up and down 8-9 times a day keeps me fit and healed and heARTy. Improves my stamina against mudsluggers indyulging bad mathematics.
My London chambers are by far the finest in europe 13-14 Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, London WC2, if you visit London, look me up, I will take you to lunch at theInner Temple. July August 2011 I will be in London, Paris and New York.
Did Faisal Naqvi-Jhangvi (New Jersey Version) exodus his quick-fix delusion of mine having never studied at Harvard out of his Sissytum. He made one grave tacticaln blunder. I live my life entirely at my own terms and never leave the scene of the accident. Whenever I come across some Lemons I lucidly squeeze pink lemonade and bill them.
The idea of making a Pakistan in a certain specified area in India was a brilliant one. But history shows that many got hurt in the process, disappointed to the extent of resignation, some escaped for the good and for others the journey has not ended yet. Time and time alone has remained sovereign of the situation as usual. I wish if the world could find a recipe of integrating the intellectual idealists with the majority of the commoners who have never asked for more than freedom, dignity and a dwelling and simple nourishment for the family to live in peace.
Rex Minor
OH MY, Sir Geoffrey how you do turn my head! I would love to have lunch or dinner with you! Just the two of us!
Lady Guinevere!
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i am from bahrain and i know that Muslim that were in india got alot of pain they were killed.
PAKISTAN IS THE BEST <3
Zaid is an ignorant man from Bahrain. he knows only of the pains which muslims had to suffer (mostly due to their own backward fascist religion), but not of the many more pains which non-muslims had to suffer due to islam and its agent and quisling muslims.
Is Bahrain full of ignorant persons like this Zaid?