A group discussion was held in the class room by Sameer and Bisma. The topic of discussion was patriotic persons, who laid their lives for the prosperity of their nation. Sameer was looking quiet in this discussion and pondering. “What happened Sam?” Bisma asked. Nothing mmm I am listening but I want to give tribute to my favorite leader in different way. Oh! His friends shouted, “what do you want dude? And who is your favorite hero?”Sameer smiled “I will tell you later, first I want to take permission from headmistress to arrange a surprise function”. Surprise function? What? Bisma said.”Yes Bisma after all we are the senior most students of our school that’s why we should convey a message of patriotism to our junior ones”. That’s a good idea lets go for permission. Bisma and Sameer entered in the office,” Madam we need your co operation, actually we want to salute to our great leader and want to celebrate a surprise function means the name of the leader will not be announced , we will make our collogues to guess our beloved leader”. Very good Sameer keep up your good work, it will create enthusiasm in your juniors too, you can arrange this function any time”. Sameer and Sisma looked happy after getting permission, they discussed with their colleagues and at last the day came when they arranged a marvelous function.
All students were gathered in the school auditorium. Tenth standard students were hosting the programme.”My dear colleagues today we are going to give tribute to that leader whose struggle and effort has given us this dear home land, where we are living according to our religion; a person who gathered all Muslims on one platform and started struggle for an independent state and gave his services to us till his last breath. Can you guess who is this vigorous person? Yes students shouted…this is our favorite leader and founder of Pakistan.. Muhammad Ali Jinnah”. A picture suddenly appeared on the wall of stage, all admn staff, teachers and students stood straight, kept silent for a minute and gave salute to the founder of their country. The auditorium was filled with a huge round of applause.
Sameer has started his presentation. My dear fellows lets briefly explain you the life history of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s achievement as the founder of Pakistan, dominates everything else he did in his long and crowded public life spanning some 42 years. Yet, by any standard, his was an eventful life, his personality multidimensional and his achievements in other fields were many, if not equally great. Indeed, several were the roles he had played with distinction: at one time or another, he was one of the greatest legal luminaries India had produced during the first half of the century, an `ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, a great constitutionalist, a distinguished parliamentarian, a top-notch politician, an indefatigable freedom-fighter, a dynamic Muslim leader, a political strategist and, above all one of the great nation-builders of modern times. What, however, makes him so remarkable is the fact that while similar other leaders assumed the leadership of traditionally well-defined nations and espoused their cause, or led them to freedom, he created a nation out of an inchoate and down-trodden minority and established a cultural and national home for it. And all that within a decade. For over three decades before the successful culmination in 1947, of the Muslim struggle for freedom in the South-Asian subcontinent, Jinnah had provided political leadership to the Indian Muslims: initially as one of the leaders, but later, since 1947, as the only prominent leader- the Quaid-i-Azam. For over thirty years, he had guided their affairs; he had given expression, coherence and direction to their legitimate aspirations and cherished dreams; he had formulated these into concrete demands; and, above all, he had striven all the while to get them conceded by both the ruling British and the numerous Hindus the dominant segment of India’s population. And for over thirty years he had fought, relentlessly and inexorably, for the inherent rights of the Muslims for an honorable existence in the subcontinent. Indeed, his life story constitutes, as it were, the story of the rebirth of the Muslims of the subcontinent and their spectacular rise to nationhood.
BIOGRAPHY OF QUAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALl JINNAH
On December 25, 1876 a child was born in a prominent mercantile family of Karachi who was destined to change the course of history in South Asia and to carve out a homeland for the Muslims of India where they could pursue their destiny according to their faith and ideology. Jinnah was the first child born to Mithibai and Jinnahbhai Poonja. His father, Jinnahbhai (1857–1901), was a prosperous Gujarati merchant who had moved to Sindh from Kathiawar, Gujarat before Jinnah’s birth. His grandfather, Poonja Gokuldas Meghji, was a Hindu Bhatia Rajput from Paneli village in Gondal state in Kathiawar.
The first-born Jinnah was soon joined by six siblings, brothers Ahmad Ali, Bunde Ali, and Rahmat Ali, and sisters Maryam, Fatima and Shireen. Their mother language was Gujarati; in time they also came to speak Kutchi, Sindhi and English. The proper Muslim names of Mr. Jinnah and his siblings, unlike those of his father and grandfather, are the consequence of the family’s immigration to the Muslim state of Sindh.
From his very childhood, young Jinnah developed the habit of stem independence and self-reliance. In 1892, he was called to the Bar at the very early age of 16. He stayed for four year in England and on his return, started his practice in Bombay. The early period was spent in hard and constant labour. However, he soon came to be looked upon not only as a brilliant lawyer, but also as a man of great integrity and character. He was soon elected to the Imperial Legislative Council where he moved the famous Muslim Waqf Bill-the first instance of a Bill passing into legislation on the motion of a private MemAfter coming back to India, he went to Bombay to start his practice. In the beginning, he faced some problems in getting cases but even at that time he refused to accept anyone’s help and soon overcome this crisis. In the begging Jinnah was a great supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity, so, he joined All India National Congress. In 1913 Jinnah joined Muslim League and took an active part to make it effective.
It was through his efforts that Muslim League and Congress Party agreed to a political settlement in 1916. This agreement is known as “Lucknow Pact”. According to this pact, Congress for the first time recognized a separate position of the Muslims and accepted the Muslim demand for a separate electorate. As the time passes and Jinnah realized that Congress is only for Hindus and only protecting Hindu’s rights, Jinnah left Congress and devoted all his energies for the welfare of Muslims of Indian Sub-Continent. In 1928, when Nehru put forward his report also known as “Nehru Report” in the history, in which he rejects the fact that Muslims are a separate nation in the India.
In his report, he insisted that there is only one nation in the India i.e. Hindus (although Congress agreed in Lucknow Pact that Muslims are a separate nation). Jinnah put forward his fourteen points in 1929, in which it is clearly said that there are two big nations in the India i.e. Muslims and Hindus not one as it was claimed in Nehru report. Jinnah fourteen points also includes demands for some constitutional reforms. Jinnah was very anxious about the future of Muslims of India. He wished that the Muslims should emerge as an effective force but Muslim League suffered from internal problems. In 1934, Jinnah took over control of the Muslim League and made it strong and organized party within few years. In 1940, at the 27th annual session of the Muslim League, held in Lahore, Jinnah with other Muslim leaders analyzed the political problems of Muslims in great deal. A resolution was passed unanimously which is known as Lahore Resolution. In this resolution it was demanded that Muslims of the Indian Sub-Continent should have a separate homeland comprising the regions of the Sub-Continent having a Muslim majority. After the Lahore Resolution passed on 23rd March, 19940, the Muslim League entered into a new phase and under the presidency of Jinnah soon become a popular party. Jinnah put his best to made Muslim League a true representative party of Muslims. The results were obvious in 1945-46 elections, when Muslim League enjoyed a landslide victory both in central assembly as well as in provincial assembly elections. The Muslims continued their organized efforts under the guidelines provided to them by Jinnah.
Jinnah’s vision for Pakistan
While giving an interview to American press representatives in July 1942, when asked by one of the journalists whether the Muslims were a nation or not, Jinnah replied:
We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all cannons of international law we are a nation
As a result of these efforts Pakistan came into being on 14th August, 1947.Jinnah was the first governor general of Pakistan. The establishment of Pakistan was the result of the constant struggle and great sacrifices of the Muslims of the Sub-Continent. It was due to determined and shrewd leadership of Jinnah that the Muslims of Sub-Continent had a homeland of their own. Jinnah passed away on 11th September 1948. He was given the title of Quaid-e-Azam (The greatest leader) by his nation for his services for his nation.
By: FAEZA IQBAL
greaat people of the nation