Remembering the Dream…

by Yasser Latif Hamdani

Pakistan is mourning. It is not just Benazir Bhutto but the dream of Pakistan itself that is in pieces.Pakistan was envisaged as a modern democratic homeland for the Muslim minority of British India as a last resort by Pakistan’s founding father Mahomed Ali Jinnah, who had fought for it to ensure the political and economic future of his people. As a modern Muslim Jinnah sought to protect the Muslims’ economic and political rights from what he viewed as a devious alliance between the caste Hindu leadership and the Muslim clergy. Failure of Gandhi and the Congress Party to recognize the secular concerns of liberal Muslims like Jinnah deeming the Muslim clergy to represent the Muslims led to Pakistan’s creation.