“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” This is what Charles Dickens wrote about Paris and London in A Tale of Two Cities in 1859, describing the political and social conditions leading to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror (La Terreur in French). But, dear Quaid, this, unfortunately, reflects what our twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been going through since you breathed your last, leaving your dreamland rudderless.

Yes, dear Quaid, you gave us a large and beautiful country. We failed to appreciate its value as a nation. Many challenged your decision, demanding a separate country for the Muslims. You were showered with disparaging titles — the enemy of Motherland Bharat, a megalomaniac, stubborn and narcissistic, an egoist, Kafir-e-Azam, and whatnot. Your opponents included rightists, leftists, Marxists, nationalists, unionists, and Islamists. You had undertaken this huge task on behalf of the common Muslim populace. All the stakes were against you. You had no vibrant political organisation to drive home your political ideals. You had to bank on the disorganised, undisciplined, factionalised, depressed All-India Muslim League, beaten to a pulp in the general elections of 1937 by the arrogant, strident, well-organised and well-led National Congress.

Only you, dear Quaid, had discerned the hidden and hypocritical agenda of the Indian National Congress leaders who spoke in the same vein of secular and democratic dispensation and Ram Raj through their affiliates, including the Shuddhi Movement of Swami Dayanand Saraswati and his disciple Swami........

© The Friday Times