Happy Independence Day!!!

Pakistan Zindabad

Long Live Pakistan! That is what the title of this post says. And that is what you will hear many Pakistanis say when they are in their deepest patriotic moods. It is not just a slogan. It represents a nation’s quest for survival as an independent state to this day. Some may say it represents a misplaced fear, but that is not so true, not any more…Pakistan is still struggling for its survival, not just against a formidable neighbor that is sometimes seen as too aggressive, but also against its internal enemies who have yet to come to terms with concept of Pakistan becoming a modern political nation state.

14th of August (1947) is when Pakistan was founded.It was founded as a country where Muslims of the South Asian Subcontinent would be fre to practice their religion. It was not an Islamic state, but a state where the principles of Islam, equality, fraternity, brotherhood, freedom, and yes…democracy would reign supreme. Unlike India which retained a British Viceroy even after its Independence, Pakistan’s leaders decided to completely discard the shackles of colonization, and created a nascent government that had much to worry about in its early years, and continues to be weak, wobbly and subservient to its military. In an early speech, one of its founding leaders, Jinnah, boldly and clearly declared the secular principles on which Pakistan was to be built, for history to preserve in its books for the rest of time:

“You are free to go to your temples; you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”