On Tuesday, May 12, 2015 while discussing the Constitution of Pakistan in my Pakistan Studies class, I remarked at one point that shouldn’t Pakistan have appointed a caliph in August 1947, in order to be a ‘proper’ Islamic state? An eager student in the first row vigorously nodded his head and so I asked him about his views. “I fully agree,” he replied. “But what about the Shias? They might have a different idea about who should be a caliph,” I further asked. “Then the Quaid-e-Azam should have done something else for the Shias,” the confident student retorted. “But then where would the Quaid have gone as he himself was a Shia,” I asked. “Oh,” said the student…
After what has happened at Safoora Chowrangi I feel almost stupid to point out that the founder and first president of the All-India Muslim League — the party which created Pakistan — was an Ismaili. It was His Highness Sir Aga Khan III. The founder of the country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, also belonged to the same sect. All this is true, but so what? No one is going to read these lines and stop killing either Ismailis, other Shias, or any other human being in Pakistan. We habitually point out the irony in Pakistan, feel good, feel sad, and then move on.
Read the complete story via The Express Tribune | Blame it on them!
By Yaqoob Khan Bangash. Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2015.
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