Today those, like me, who still believe in Jinnah’s inclusive democratic Pakistan have to fight the intellectual battle on many fronts. We have to fight against the right wing Mullahs of all sects who shamelessly insist that the country was created so that their exclusionary brand of Islam could be imposed on it. We have to fight against Indian nationalists and Hindu nationalists who insist that Pakistan’s creation was nothing less than a crime against humanity. We have to fight against some of our self styled intellectuals who have never really bothered to carefully analyse the Pakistan movement but insist on being fashionably liberal by bashing the idea of Pakistan. Finally we have to fight against our own deep state, which is more interested in achieving its own objectives rather than working towards a progressive Pakistan. The deep state has done untold harm to Jinnah’s idea of Pakistan. This is the burden we, who believe and will continue to believe in Jinnah’s Pakistan, must bear. Last week when Jinnah’s bust was unveiled by the Mayor of London at British Museum and finally placed at Lincoln’s Inn, all these groups were out in full force against the decision. Lincoln’s Inn has long associated itself with Jinnah’s legacy and has had a portrait of the man in its Great Hall since the 1960s. Tens of thousands of Pakistani lawyers have been called to the bar there. I became a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn precisely because of Jinnah’s legacy even though I did not need to in order to practise law. Such is the compelling nature of the man’s legacy. Unveiling the statue, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan emphasised religious freedom, democracy and women’s rights as key postulates of Jinnah’s ideology. It is about time Jinnah was recognised for these and at the same time we must recognise how far we have deviated from Jinnah’s ideas on these matters as a country. Despite a strong Islamic undercurrent in the Pakistan Movement especially in Punjab, Jinnah refused to turn out the Ahmadis from theMuslim League or to declare them non-Muslims It must be remembered that Jinnah did not need to fight for Pakistan. It was the Muslims who needed Jinnah to be their lawyer. As a long time Congressman Jinnah was hailed as the Best Ambassador of Hindu Muslim Unity. He had disagreements with Gandhi but there was nothing irreconcilable between the two great men. Despite the political acrimony, their personal relations were extremely cordial. Gandhi would have welcomed Jinnah back with open arms had he agreed to come back into the fold of the Congress. Jinnah might well have managed to become United India’s first Prime Minister, Defence Minister or Law Minister and would have gone down as one of the founding fathers of Independent India. Jinnah instead chose to champion the cause of the Muslim minority because he had seen up close the Hindu Mahasabha and right wing within the Congress. In demanding a Muslim majority area, he saw an opportunity for Muslims to fashion for themselves a modern polity where they would take charge not just nation building but would be able to excel economically and educationally. Jinnah wanted to replicate Ataturk’s Turkey for Muslims in South Asia.Therefore Lahore Resolution was put up as a demand for an autonomous region within the subcontinent. The final shape of an all India union was left up to negotiation. At critical points Jinnah climbed down from the demand of sovereign Pakistan. Jinnah’s idea of Pakistan was always that of an inclusive democratic state with complete religious freedom and equality- call it a secular state or a Muslim state. Anyone who denies that has not bothered to read Jinnah’s speeches and statements in detail. Even Gandhi commented after his unsuccessful talks that Jinnah’s idea of Pakistan is that of a perfect democracy with equal rights for all. The Lahore Resolution specifically spoke of safeguarding minorities in Muslim majority areas. Congress despite its protestations of a multi-religious democratic India acted badly in response. Against the Muslim League which was primarily a party of Muslim modernists educated at Aligarh, Oxford, Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, Congress put up an array of Muslim organisations like Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam, All India Momin Conference, All India Shia Political Conference and All India Muslim Majlis. Many of these organisations attacked Jinnah for being too secular and westernised to lead Muslims. Other organisations like Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam attacked the fact that prominent Ahmadis like Zafrullah Khan were associated with the Muslim League. It is true that in Punjab for example the Muslim League did rely on Barelvi Pirs primarily to counter these Islamist organisations but Jinnah did not compromise on principles. He did not let these Barelvi Pirs and Mullahs dictate policy to him. Despite pressures and a strong Islamic undercurrent in the Pakistan Movement especially in Punjab, Jinnah refused to turn out the Ahmadis from the Muslim League or declare them Non-Muslims. This is why Ahmadis supported Jinnah enmasse for the Pakistan Movement and then migrated to Pakistan after the country was created. Jinnah’s Pakistan was not supposed to be a theocratic hellhole. Repeatedly he told his listeners that Pakistan would not be a theocratic state to be run by priests with a divine mission. On numerous occasions he opined that religion was ultimately a matter between man and god. He also spoke of Islamic ideals but always in terms of their compatibility with modern democratic norms. It is this vision that powers that be in this country have buried last week in Islamabad. During riots in Karachi and Lahore in the immediate aftermath of partition, Jinnah had given shoot at sight orders against Muslim mobs. One assumes that according to Imran Khan, the cricketer turned politician, Jinnah too was a khooni liberal. The protection of life property and religious belief of every citizen regardless of caste or creed was the foremost duty of the state according to Jinnah. It is this duty that our state forfeited utterly last week when it surrendered to the mob. Now at this critical juncture in our existence as a Pakistani nation, our very survival is at stake. Do we want to be Jinnah’s Pakistan — a modern Muslim majority state where Pakistanis regardless of religion caste or creed can show the world that Islam is a progressive faith that can coexist with democracy and modernity? Or do we want to be a theocratic dystopia run by priests with divine mission? If it is the former than we must be regroup and get ready to fight on multiple fronts to save what is left of Jinnah’s Pakistan. We must restore religious freedom and equality to all citizens of Pakistan including Ahmadis who are now being threatened with genocide by bigots and intolerant fanatics. We must make Christians and Hindus of Pakistan feel equal stakeholders in the progress of this nation. This is the only country we have and we cannot give into people like Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his ilk. The writer is a practising lawyer. He blogs at http://globallegalforum.blogspot.com and his twitter handle is @therealylh Published in Daily Times, December 4th 2017.