All Pakistanis, Rise For Jinnah

The hostile attitude of many Indians to a book praising Pakistan's independence leader is an eye opener for Pakistanis and confirms the narrow-minded Indian hostility for everything Pakistani.  We believe that after this, if we do not stand up for Our Quaid, Our Country and Our People, we have no business claiming to be true Pakistani patriots.  India has had an unspoken, untold and unsaid 60-year-old stand on Pakistani voices and Pakistani cultural content inside India from day one.  Why is it that we are constantly making way for them by offering them our audiences and market share in every field and industry when the sentiment and goodwill is not reciprocated in any manner from their side?

By ATIQA ODHO

Sunday, 23 August 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM 

Atiqa Odho, a crusader for Pakistani nationalism

Father of the Nation, leader of the Pakistan Independence Movement arriving at the venue in Lahore where the Pakistan Muslim League passed the famous 1940 resolution demanding independence from Britain and the rise of Pakistan.

KARACHI, Pakistan—After observing the BJP's reaction to Mr. Jaswant Singh's book written on our Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, I believe it has become crucial for us Pakistanis to stand up and show our national pride.  One may argue that the Hindu fundamentalist BJP is not the whole of India but if one of our national politicians and a member of a major political party had written a book on India's Mr. Gandhi and suffered a reaction such as the one Mr. Singh is facing, the whole of India would have gone up in arms against Pakistan.

This leaves us Pakistanis with an old unanswered crucial question: Where is our national pride?

We at Our Country Our People [OCOP] have for many months now been trying to assess what India's policy is on Pakistan.  The reaction to Mr. Singh's book on our Founding Father, we believe, tells us finally what their policy or lack of policy truly is.  We believe that after this, if we do not stand up for Our Quaid, Our Country and Our People, we have no business claiming to be true Pakistani patriots.

India has had an unspoken, untold and unsaid stand on Pakistani voices and Pakistani content within India from day one.  Why is it that we are constantly making way for them by offering them our audiences and market share in every field and industry when the sentiment and goodwill is not reciprocated in any manner from their side?

A few days back Ms. Bushra Rehman, a Member of Parliament from the PML-Q, started a debate in our National Assembly regarding Indian television and music content shown in our media.  We appreciate her efforts and would like to add to Ms. Rehman's debate that rather than turning this issue into an internal issue amongst us, we should be addressing this issue as a national cause and taking a position to question what our relationship with India actually is. 

Pakistan must at all times be treated with respect and equal opportunity in all areas when it comes to the relationship with India.  We believe that Ms. Rehman's position should be strengthened by all other political parties joining in and coming to a national consensus on the issue of media, specifically as far as India is concerned. 

As Pakistanis, let us decide on the shape of the bilateral relationship with India instead of letting the Indians have their way on trade and other forms of exchanges.  We must have enough evidence that Pakistani magnanimity and openness toward India is actually appreciated and respected with mutual barter opportunities that have never been offered to us by them as a nation. 
 
Regardless of the number of books the Indians choose to write on Pakistan's liberation hero, Mr. Jinnah is ours and he once said to us, on the December 1947:

"I have no doubt that with unity, faith and discipline we will not only remain the fifth largest state in the world but will compare with any nation of the world.  You must make up your mind now.  We must sink individualism and petty jealousies and make up our minds to serve the people with honesty and faithfulness.  We are passing through a period of fear, danger and menace.  We must have Faith, Unity and Discipline."

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Pakistan Independence Movement

So dear friends, let us start to live up to our Quaid's vision.  I request to his people, the Pakistanis, to rise up and own Pakistan again.

Atiqa Odho is the founding director of Our Country Our People OCOP, a Pakistani nationalist group that advocates the creation of a strong, prosperous and proud Pakistan.  She is a renowned Pakistani actress and television producer.  She can be reached at ourcountryourpeople@gmail.com

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