Celebrating Independence Day
By Dr Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud , Minnesota
For many expatriate Pakistanis celebrating Independence Day has become an annual two-day ritual, once on July 4th with evening fireworks on this side of the pond, and the other on August 14th with speeches galore on the other side. Numerous traveling patriots prefer this choice, once with hot dogs and the other with biryani.
This spectacle neatly coincides with summer vacation plans for some to introduce their children to Urdu after they have been entertained by rock bands here and ghazals over there. Rarely is there a group facing such diversity of cultures to minimize the habitual culture-shock.
As far as independence is concerned both America and Pakistan used to be colonies of Great Britain, one for a century and a half, and other for close to two centuries. This bond of commonality is hardly ever brought up. Never by politicians who probably have no knowledge of the history of two nations.
Not even by Pervez Musharraf, the pre-eminent Pakistani elder-statesman, who loves to speak to college audiences with his version of what he considers to be the current inside dope.
At some point the Americans got tired of colonial rule and they simply snatched their freedom away from Britain, forcibly, and by the use of arms. As for Pakistan it negotiated over the course of many years, perhaps close to a decade.
In the end they both received their freedom, one through bloodshed and the other by peaceful means.
The most important aspect of America was that it expressed its intention to be free. That expression of the desire for freedom is embodied in a document known as the “Declaration of Independence.” It is among the loftiest of the documents in the world and the American celebration of independence is largely the remembrance of the contents of that document.
Pakistan too has a document of sorts, though hardly remembered, not even on the Independence Day. The noble words were spoken by the founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, in a speech on Radio Pakistan right after the announcement of independence.
It is worthwhile quoting the essence of the speech: “You are free,” he said and added, “you are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or any other place of worship in the State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or cast or creed; that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”
The extremists have seen to it that these words were never applied in reality. By now their hijacking of the good intentions is almost complete with bombs thrown into mosques, people killed randomly just for being different, and suicide-belts detonated into crowds to kill as many as possible.
They have taken on the army twice, both in the city of Karachi and elsewhere, and want to turn the country into an extremists’ haven.
In America the notion of freedom is communicated all day long on the day of the celebration of independence. The message reaches everyone. It is conveyed through parades, concerts, backyard barbecues, fireworks and political speeches.
The American classrooms from grades 1-12 are the ever present forum for the message. The idea is internalized to such an extent no one wants to give it up.
Not so in Pakistan. Most people are ignorant, in fact, totally ignorant of the meaning of independence or freedom or equality. Many in the media do not know how to explain these ideas to the listeners or the viewers. About 45 percent of the children do not go to school and will remain ignorant. Twenty years ago the number used to be 60 percent.
Jinnah’s Independence Day message should have been used as the guiding principle for the drafting of the nation’s constitution. Unfortunately, it was not. In his speech he had argued: “We are all equal citizens of one State…..in the political sense as citizens of the State.” People may be Muslims, Hindus or Christians, that does not matter. All are equal with similar rights.
His idea was to have a secular government but an Islamic society. He wanted Muslims to live by the Islamic values and to observe the tenants of democracy within an Islamic framework. Jinnah’s clothing, shalwar kamiz or achkan, and the famous Jinnah cap, reflected his Islamic vision.
Tragically, the meaning of freedom was never clarified. It was to leave the country to become an intolerant nation devoid of equality and freedom for many. Similar developments also took place in America though the leaders of the nation, very early in their history, never succumbed to the extremists’ demands.
By their actions Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and others saw to it that the concepts of freedom, equality and justice were forever enshrined in the Constitution and applied in the real world.
