Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Miss Fatima Jinnah (extreme left) arrive in Peshawar in 1948

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a proud man, proud for good reason; by the overriding force of his
indomitable will, and that alone, he carved out a country for us. Not following the form of his day,
Jinnah did not go to jail for a single day, never embarked on a hunger strike, did not encourage rowdy
protest marches, he abhorred any form of violence...

“Do your duty and have faith in God. There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan.”’

This belief turned out to be incorrect. The person who held this belief was very optimistic about the
future of the country and was sure that it would prosper. However, he did not realize that the leaders
who came after him were not capable or honest. They were only interested in gaining power, money,
and status for themselves, and their actions led to the downfall of Pakistan.

He was the sole statesman this country has had. Those who followed were small men, narrow of
thought... Within a quarter of a century, half of Jinnah’s Pakistan was lost... It is now an overpopulated,
illiterate, bankrupt country.

When Jinnah addressed the first constituent assembly of the country on August 11th 1947, he embodied
in his speech the core of his philosophy... his vision for the state he had founded. It was a fine piece of
rhetoric; too fine, too moral, too democratic, too liberal, too full of justice, too idealistic for the
Philistines. This speech...has been subject to distortion; it has inspired fear in successive governments
which would have been far happier had it never been delivered...

On August 11th 1947, before the flag of Pakistan had even been unfurled, Jinnah told his people and
their future legislators:

“You are free, 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. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing
to do with the business of the State.”
That same day, he made it clear to the future legislators and administrators that

“the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order...”

He told them he would not tolerate the evils of bribery, corruption, black marketing and

“this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery.”

On that day, he did not realize that the bad things he talked about would become necessary for the
politicians and administrators to keep their power.

In a way, it was fortunate that Jinnah did not live long enough to see the negation of his principles... A
man of high ideals – his disillusion would have been too great to bear...

There is no official set of documents that explain the "ideology of Pakistan". This means that everyone
can have their own idea of what it means. However, it is reasonable to think that the ideology should
come from the ideas of the person who first created the country.

Those alive today who knew Mohammad Ali Jinnah... were well aware of what he wanted. He achieved
his ambition and founded for us what he intended to be a democratic, forward-looking, modern, secular
state.

In the past 53 years, this country changed its name and status three times. First, it was called a
"dominion" until 1956 when it became the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan." Then in 1962, a military leader
named Ayub Khan changed the constitution and called it just the "Republic of Pakistan." Later, he
became a politician and changed the constitution again in 1963 to call it the "Islamic Republic of
Pakistan"

Now to a press conference held by Mohammad Ali Jinnah on July 14, 1947, in New Delhi. I quote
relevant portions:

“Q. Could you as Governor General make a brief statement on the minorities’ problem?

A: I shall not depart from what I said repeatedly... Minorities to whichever community they may belong,
will be safeguarded... There will be no interference of any kind with their freedom of worship... They will
be, in all respects, the citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed. They will have their
rights and privileges and no doubt along with this goes the obligations of citizenship...

Q. Will Pakistan be a secular or theocratic state?

A. You are asking me a question that is absurd. I do not know what a theocratic state means...”

Now to what Mohammad Ali Jinnah had to say on the future constitution of Pakistan, in his broadcast to
the American people in February 1948:

“The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed... I do not know what the ultimate shape... is going
to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type containing the essential principles of Islam...
Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. Islam has taught the equality of men, justice and fair
play... In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine
mission...”
Some people interpret Jinnah's vision for Pakistan in their own way. For these people, the vision is only
about what is convenient for the government. Other people, who are bigoted and intolerant, have also
distorted the vision to fit their own agenda. The country has moved away from Jinnah's original ideas.
Words like "secular" and "tolerance" are not valued by many people anymore, while bigotry is common.
After Jinnah's death, the country lost its way and suffered a serious setback when the Objectives
Resolution was introduced in 1949. Since then, the country has been going downhill, with many people
around the world concerned about its policies and practices.