One day when Jinnah was in Lahore, Iftikhar-ud-din, Pakistan’s rehabilitation minister, and Mazhar Ali Khan, editor of Pakistan Times, flew him in a Dakota over divided Punjab. When he saw streams of people pouring into Pakistan or fleeing it, he struck his hand on the forehead and said despairingly: “What have I done?” Both Iftikhar and Mazhar vowed not to repeat the remark. Mazhar took his wife Tahira into confidence and told her what Jinnah had said, and she communicated Jinnah’s comment to me long after her husband’s death.via Outlook India.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Kuldip Nayar on Jinnah
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Soft-headed Indians like to view Jinnah as a Shakespearean tragic figure. Did Jinnah also despair about the killings he unleashed on Direct Action Day? Or over his Lashkars raping and pillaging Kashmir? Did he have second thoughts about his highly visible legal defense of the assassin Ilm-ud-din who slaughtered the Hindu publisher Rajpal for purported blasphemy? Ironically, another fervent supporter of Ilm-ud-din at that time was Muhammad Din Taseer, the learned father of Salmaan Taseer who was assassinated under a similar pretext some 80 years later.
ReplyDeleteHighly visible "defence"? He was the lawyer in appeal and sought essentially clemency for his client. As for direct action day: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C08%5C16%5Cstory_16-8-2010_pg3_5 ... and finally about Lashkars, it is well known that Jinnah was kept in the dark about the operation till October 24th.
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