Tell us, in one short sentence, how would you redraft the Pakistan Resolution, given the many challenges faced by the country today. A selection of readers’ opinions will appear in a Special Report of Dawn on March 23.
Please include your name, age, profession and location to qualify for the opinion to be published.
E.g. “Education and employment for all”
Sabiha Khan, 21, IT professional, Kohat
Pakistan vs India: You have to have your say (742) Reaction on the streets (445) Clouds of match-fixing hover over cricket (426) Reliving March 25, 1992 (293) Swat operation: Is it on the right track? (287) How can Lahore be secured against terrorist attacks? (272) How vital is the ‘keeper? (266) NRO ruling: beginning of the end? (264) Terrorists target Shia procession in Karachi (264) Pakistan and the way forward (259)
The dignity of human life is inviolable. To respect and protect it within the jurisdictions of the State of Pakistan is the duty of all state authority. The people of Pakistan therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the binding principles for the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly enforceable law. No exception to this principle will be permitted. All existing laws not coherent with this principle are to be deemed as void. Any amendment to the constitution of Pakistan to allow amendments to this effect is not permissible.
There is nothing wrong with Pakistan Resolution and never was.
We Pakistanis are just ungrateful and self gratifying brats, who just have more time on our hands.
Fawad
Consultant
Quran is the only best and authentic solution to all our problems. One of the many things it teaches is: Positive Education Activates Constant Elevation => PEACE.
Instead of blaming the rulers or the governments, each individual must look at himself first.
Well, okay, if a new leader comes, who is of your choice as well, do you think he/she will change the mentality of the people? Do we need any leading other than Quran?
And do we not know what we people are upto? We know of course. All of us have become selfish people. If we rectify ourselves, correct our mistakes, then i don’t think we need any other resolution.
Pakistan Resolution can be rather ‘revived’ if every Pakistani recognizes his/her core moral role, whatever position he is in. In short,
“Self accountability by all, PEACE for all.”
Taiba, 21, Bioinformatician, Mandra
We as a nation need to learn our moral values first as we are far far behind, like relations with neighbours, friends and society, etc. We must know the power of our vote as if we select right people in GOVT we can change the whole thing. Please dont try Zardari, Nawaz again and again.. give chance to new people……..
We still have not learned anything from history,all we got to do is get united..There should be no ”SECTARIANISM”. Talal Paracha,19,student,Karachi
Religion should be separated from affairs of state. Waseem Khan, 25 , Engineer, Lahore
“Providing education, health and justice to all, especially to those who are supressed by the system and cannot raise voice of their own; and to educate the masses to select a visionary leader who can take Pakistan out of its many predicaments and not push it into an abyss”
Muhammad Omar Iftikhar, 29, Journalist, Karachi
A new social contract based on Pakistan Resolution of 1940 will cure the problems faced by Pakistan. Second, make Pakistan a parliamentary democratic country. Bring security agencies under the control of parliament. Politics and religion should be separated.
I think it’s no proper to reconsider Pakistan resolution, Pakistan resolution was drafted in view of the independence movement, now we are free and we have different sets of problem to deal with. I my view uniform education system, speedy justice and social equality are more omportant
Muhammad Ismail, 29, Mechanical Engineer, Rawalpindi
theres nothing wrong with the resolution what has come out as a glaring defect however is our electoral system..
by empowering the elected representatives to decide on electing the president and the prime minister we have taken power away from the people ,
not only has this resulted in corruption and horse trading it has also significantly deteriorated the fiber of our leadership so lets give the power back to the people lets have direct ,not representative elections for the president and the prime minister so that we can get rid of the horse trading and perhaps get some worthy leadership
a pakistan run by honest, educated and patriotic politicians
agreed with Muqarrib. Also, military should mind his own business and let the democracy work independently.
Here is how I would have redrafted the resolution:
1. Muslims, Hindus and all other religious minorities should have parity at the centre. Any law that infringes the rights of religious communities shall be abrogated through a minority veto. In other words, a consociational framework should be established where each community has a veto to protect its communal interests.
2. Provinces should be demarcated along linguistic lines first. In turn, in cases where a community forms a majority in more than once province, then provinces should be allowed to form groups along religious lines. However, no province can be coerced into this setting. If, for instance, NWFP or Assam do not wish to join those groupings it should be not be forced to do so.
3. There should be reservation of seats at all levels of government and other public institutions with the expectation that once a reasonable period of time has lapsed, all communities would be on par and the quota system then should cease to exist.
4. India’s national language would be English. The provinces can choose their own official languages and the the legislature(s) of different provincial groups shall reach a compromise over a suitable official language. No one language can be forced upon any one.
5. At the federal level, there would a parity between different communities, not political parties. In other words, the minority veto will be accorded to minorities not their respective parties, as the electoral base of any political party never remains stagnant. Therefore, we can only expect Hindu-Muslim parity not Congress-League parity.
Faisal, 22, Undergraduate Political Science Student, Toronto
I’ll borrow the opening line from the US Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and inspired by John Locke:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
I envisage Pakistan as a secular country, which respects the separation of politics and religion.
Zain Siddiqui, 23, Economist, United States
1. Permanently get rid of corrupt and hereditary politicians.
2. Get rid of the feudalism through out the country.
3. Distribute the hundreds of thousands of acres of land owned by feudal lords and their families to the peasants who work on the land.
4. Rich and poor should be equally accountable by the judicial system.
5. President and Prime minister should not be allowed tenure for more than two consecutive terms.
6. Members of the senate should be elected through a general election.
7. President should also be elected through the general election similar to the the American system.
8. Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, religiosity, gender and age should be abolished.
9. Religion should not dominate the running of the country as Quaid presumed.
10. There should be a solid system of eradicating corruption through out the society.
11. All political parties by law should have open and transparent elections to chose their leaders.
12. Efforts should me made to improve solidarity between different ethnic groups and provinces to make Pakistan a one nation country despite diversity.
13. There should be a mechanism to route out the ‘failed government’.
Islam is the best and complete way of life as ordained to all the humans by Almighty Allah. The only authentic source of solutions to all challenges we have is the Holy Quran.
Keeping in mind this, i would restate Pakistan Resolution as:
“Positive Education Activates Constant Elevation => PEACE”
Tayyaba Iftikhar, 21, Bioinformatician, Mandra.
We should make resolution to change countries name back to Pakistan. This would make people respect each other as human being and reduce religious extremism, sectorian attacks, improve tolerance.
- 50% representation of women in the Federal legislature – at least a 30% in Provincial
– “Citizens” (instead of “Muslims”) shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the Laws of the State (instead of “teachings of Islam as set out in the Quran and Sunnah”). The Law of the State has to be different for people belonging to different religions. For Muslims, they can choose to lead their lives as per the Islamic Principles individually. Under collective spheres, all citizens are EQUAL
– The State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the “Educated” people.The right to vote should be restricted to a certain level of education
Faraz Husain, 29, Telecom, Karachi
I think there is no need to redraft resolution, we already have enough resolutions,rules and laws. Need of hour is just to enforce all the laws and follow them properly. Everything will be at it place IF “WE” follow rules.
Maryam, 24, Researcher, Islamabad
Well said !
All Pakistanis are equal, whatever their religion, race and creed. That is what Quaid said. The white strip in Pakistan flag is for minorities in Pakistan. Treat them as equal citizens.
We are Muslims (M.A) and study your history and learn and prepare for the future. We are one Nation . Work hard and with honesty .Be united and be aware of this strength. We have smart and good people all around.
Encourage yourself and your fellows to become proud Pakistani! Stop social/moral wars , we are just killing ourselves and our next generation with it. Spread and spread love of Pakistan and Pakistanis.
irfan Munir, 32, IT professional, Lahore
age, 38, audit officer, fbr, islamabad.
“true leadership with a dedicated team, clear vision, devotion and integrity shall henceforth be the need of the hour”
The leaders should have moved the resolution as:
“The different provinces of British India and Native India in the region of south Asia should come together as a federation of autonomous states to form a sovereign, secular and democratic republic.”
Such a resolution would have been broadminded and all embracing. If followed through, it would have avoided the terrible trauma of partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and the killings and migrations that resulted from it. It would have also have prevented the horrible killings and civil wars that led to the further division of the subcontinent in 1971.
with regards
S.K.I.
Kanpur
I agree with you and what is happening in kashmir could have been avoided.
With Regards
Bilal
UK
Looks like majority of the readers agree that there is nothing wrong with the resolution. It’s the mentality of the politicians and ordinary Pakistanis (mainly because of corrupt politicians) which needs to be changed. It is a classic project management dilemma: It’s not the plan but the planning which failed….
Zurich, Switzerland. IT/Project management
The document is already well written , i dont know why people want Pak to be secular state. we can even progress by being an islamic state, yes every body should say that we have to become an independent islamic welfare state.
and all the religious extremists (hipocrates mullas) and some liberal extremists who have nothing to do with the religion , ideology of pakistan nor its culture and tradition should be treated in a same way, both are dangerous to pakistans identity and society.
also redrafting the historical documents or just expressing emotional ideas for pakistan will not change any thing as majority of the nation is illeterate (jahil) most of kids do not go to schools , and we all use to bash the polititions for all the rubish in country but we do not hold our selves accountable as on election day’s we vote for them on the basis of just (Roti, 1000 RS, provincelism, hatered, punjabi, sindhi,muhajir,bradari system etc) . we should think for Pakistan first then all other issues…..if we want to progress other wise we will always hang between secularism,modernism,religion or provincelism and other nations will reach the new hights of progress …… think Pakistan….