Lahore, Apr.17 (ANI): Former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh has described the bifurcation of the Indian subcontinent as the ‘most traumatic event’ of the 20th century and said that both India and Pakistan must accept the reality and find ways to move ahead.
Speaking during the launch function of his controversial, yet popular book: “Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence” here, Singh said people of both India and Pakistan should accept the reality and find way to move ahead and end the animosity as envisioned by Muhammed Ali Jinnah.
Describing Jinnah as an ardent supporter of Hindu-Muslim unity, he said Jinnah wanted to separate religion from politics.
“Jinnah was a pure secularist and constitutionalist who believed in logic and wanted to separate religion from politics, but the consequences of the Lukhnow Pact of 1916 and the Uttar Pradesh elections of 1937 disheartened him so much that he quit politics and returned to England,” The Daily Times quoted Singh, as saying.
Singh said Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi had different opinions over bringing reforms in society.
“Gandhi supported civil disobedience while Jinnah, who was five years his senior in Congress, believed in changing the society through education,” Singh said.
Responding a question over his basic aim behind writing the book on Jinnah, Singh said he wanted to help people understand the past, which he said is shared by both countries.
“We should not stumble again,” Singh said. (ANI)
Radio Pakistan unhappy over criticism of Jaswant Singh book on Jinnah
Abohar, Sep.3 (ANI): The expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has got a new fan in Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan.
In its latest edition, the Punjabi Durbar programme has described all political parties of India be it Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress or Shiv Sena being anti-Pakistan for voicing objection to Jaswant Singh’s book- “Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence”.
In its recent Punjabi Durbar Programme, Radio Pakistan said that Jaswant Singh has paid a huge price for his biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
Many Indian scholars have expressed sympathy with Jaswant Singh, but have taken exception to Pakistan Radio describing all Indian political parties as anti-Pakistan.
Anil Kumar, a historian and a commentator on current affairs has stated that political parties in India have tried their best to cultivate good relations with Pakistan ever since independence.
“India has been maintaining friendly relationship with Pakistan since 1947. India parted with funds held by united India, when Jinnah demanded it. Even after Pakistani aggression in 1965 and 1971, India returned to Pakistan the territory which was in India’s possession in the hope that there would be cordial relations between the two countries,” he said.
“Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have been continuously trying to maintain good relations with Pakistan, but Pakistan continued terrorist attacks in India,” Anil Kumar added.
“India is a secular country. There are more Muslims in India than the total population of Pakistan. Moslems are happy to be in India. Many feel that they are safer than in Pakistan, which is being subjected to violence by the Taliban,” said Anil kumar, who is, an expert on Indo-Pak affairs.
India is continuing talks at different levels despite incidents like Mumbai terror attacks and Pakistan’s ongoing support to militancy in Kashmir.
It is surprising that broadcasters of Radio Pakistan expect political parties in India to sing praise of Jinnah, who was chiefly responsible for the division of the sub-continent on the basis of religious identities.
They accept Jinnah’s contribution during the freedom struggle against the British Raj, but are critical of his role in dividing the country. (ANI)