Ideology of Pakistan

Pervaiz Alvi via e-mail

Your September 1, 2000 issue contains two very interesting letters on the ideology of Pakistan, a subject that is dear to every Pakistani living at home or abroad. Since Pakistan made its debut as an independent state in 1947, the Indian media has been constantly repeating its mantra that the establishment of Pakistan was not necessary and the borders between India and Pakistan are unnatural. The fact is that Indians have never accepted the creation of Pakistan, and given an opportunity, they would never resist harming Pakistan. From Mohandas Gandhi to Vajpayee, the Indian leaders have toiled unrelentingly for Hindu revivalism. They know that they will not see their dreams come true as long as Pakistan exists. Unfortunately, only a few Pakistanis have time for reading and writing. Watching Indian movies laced with anti-Pakistan propaganda is their favorite pastime. Regretfully, even the Urdu literature coming out of India, often written by fellow Muslims, is full of venom against Pakistan. It is therefore up to the Pakistanis themselves to defend the ideological frontiers of the country. Educating the masses through all means available about the real ideology of Pakistan would be the first step in this direction.

There is a great misconception among Pakistanis, even the educated ones, that Pakistan was established for safeguarding Islam and for the Muslims of British India. None of that is true. Pakistan did not come into existence to safeguard Islam all over the world. It is up to the Muslims of the world to protect their faith wherever they are. Secondly, Pakistan was not created to accommodate the 130 million Muslims of India. The ideology of Pakistan is based on the historic March 23, 1940 Resolution passed in Lahore which clearly spelled out that the inhabitants of the Punjab, Frontier, Kashmir, Balochistan and Sindh have a common Islamic heritage, culture, history and geography distinct from the other nations of the world and therefore they have a right to have a sovereign nation state of their own where they could live according to their own wishes.