There is a large number of people living in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar who in their childhood saw elders engaged in achieving Pakistan at any cost under the unique leadership of Quaid-a-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
They’re now struggling for survival with dignity, also exhorting the youth to unite and work for a welfare state as was envisioned by hundreds of thousands who sacrificed their lives.
“God helps those who help themselves, we’re with you,” that’s how old citizens guide the young and inculcate the sense of responsibility and self-reliance in them.
What was the ideal for which our elders struggled after March 23, 1940? Why that ideal hasn’t been achieved so far? What kind of state the Quaid had in mind for an overall improvement in standards of living. Why socio-economic justice is still foremost in our minds?
The Quaid never wanted a state ruled by landlords and capitalists who flourish at the expense of masses by a vicious and wicked system which makes them selfish. What prevailed before August 14, 1947 has not yet come to an end, they argue.
The Quaid had rightly pointed out that greed and selfishness make such elements subordinate to the interests of others in order to fatten themselves. There were millions and millions of people who hardly got one meal a day then. So, the Quaid couldn’t help saying: “If that’s the idea of Pakistan I won’t have it.”
Unfortunately, the situation hasn’t changed for the better, so people hit by petrol bomb and overbilled electricity are in search of Pakistan millions had dreamed—and that was an exploitation-free state with a government of the people, for the people and by the people, say the old citizens.
How to evolve such a peaceful and prosperous entity? The task may look gigantic, but that’s certainly not beyond accomplishment provided we get united with iron determination to translate the dream. “For that, as true Muslims, we’ll have to zealously guard and preserve our unity. Also, we’ll have to think of ourselves as Pakistanis first, not Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochs and Pakhtuns and so on. And as such we must feel, behave and act in the collective interest,” the 70plus say.
Necessity is the mother of invention and law demands we must do something without loss of time to save the country and make it a welfare state where people do not die of hunger and poverty and disease.
That’s possible only when we stop seeking monetary help from others, surrender to the will of God and mentally decide to serve the cause of motherland.
The people have realized they are the final arbiters of their destiny: adoption of any imperialist economic theory and practice won’t help achieve the goal of creating a happy and contented Pakistan.
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