Pakistan founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah — a true statesman

Pakistan founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah
Updated 13 August 2019
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Pakistan founder Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah — a true statesman

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was no doubt one of the most charismatic leaders in world history. He was there at just the right moment, when Muslims in pre-partition India were facing severe challenges.

Under his leadership, the Muslims of the sub-continent gained independence and created a sovereign state, Pakistan, without a shot's being fired. This has no parallel in the chronicles of history.

Otto von Bismarck, the former German Chancellor, once said: “Man cannot control the current of events. He can only float with them and steer.” Jinnah’s statecraft proved this statement to be true, as he skillfully and successfully steered the adverse currents of events in 1946 and brought the battered Muslim ship ashore, safe and sound, within a year.

Jinnah’s attraction to the world of politics began as a young man working in London. He was very impressed by Dadabhai Naoroji, a Parsi from Bombay who was the first Indian to become an MP in Britain, and upon returning to India Jinnah entered the world of politics and joined the Indian National Congress. The first of the party’s annual sessions that he attended was its 20th, held in Bombay in December 1904.

There is no denying that initially Quaid-e-Azam was an ambassador for Hindu-Muslim unity; given the presence of a non-native government, he did not wish to exacerbate the problems between Muslims and Hindus. Nevertheless, he stood up for the rights of Muslims even when he was a member of Congress. In 1916, a result of his efforts was the Lucknow Pact, an agreement in which Congress accepted the right of Muslims to have separate constituencies and expressed willingness to give them constitutional guarantees.

Quaid-e-Azam was a man of principle who set very high political standards and values and never compromised on them. There were two main keys to Jihisnnah’s successful statesmanship: a rational approach to politics, and a keen knowledge of objective realities, however awkward or complex.

He had the uncanny ability to always make the right choice at the right moment. His statesmanship is evidenced by the fact that he considered each and every proposal put to him, whether it came from the British or from Congress, including the Lucknow Pact, the Roundtable Conferences of the early 1930s on constitutional reform, and the Cabinet Mission that came to India in 1946 to discuss the transfer of power from the British government. He studied them and found and used every opportunity they offered for securing the rights of Muslims.

US historian Stanley Wolpert wrote in his book “Jinnah of Pakistan:” “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”

 

Muhammad Arshad Munir is press counselor at the Pakistani Consulate in Jeddah.


Eight dead in India avalanche as rescue operation ends

Updated 2 min 32 sec ago
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Eight dead in India avalanche as rescue operation ends

  • More than 50 workers were submerged under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp on Friday
  • The workers were living in steel containers considered stronger than tents, capable of withstanding harsh weather

DEHRADUN: Rescuers recovered the eighth and final body from the site of an avalanche in a remote area of northern India, the army said Sunday, marking the end of a marathon operation in sub-zero temperatures.
More than 50 workers were submerged under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp on Friday near Mana village on the border with Tibet in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Authorities had revised down the number of workers on site at the time of the avalanche from 55 to 54 after one worker, previously believed to be buried, was found to have safely made his way home before the avalanche hit.
The army used drone-based detection system to assist in its search operations.
Multiple drones and a rescue dog were also employed.
Construction worker Anil, who only gave his first name, recalled his rescue hours after being buried by the avalanche.
“It was if God’s angels had come to save us,” Anil, who is in his late 20s, told AFP on Sunday by phone from his hospital bed.
“The way we were engulfed in snow, we had no hope of surviving.”
Being alive now felt “like a dream,” he said.
Working on a project by the Border Roads Organization, the workers were living on site in steel containers considered stronger than tents and capable of withstanding harsh weather.
Anil said many workers were fast asleep and a few others were in makeshift toilets when the avalanche struck around 6:00 am Friday.
As the ground beneath them shook, the container in which Anil and his colleagues were in began to slide down.
“At first we did not understand what was happening but when we looked out of the window of the containers, we saw piles of snow all around,” he said.
“The roof of the containers was also slowly bending inwards.”
Everyone started screaming for help and a few men were lucky to get out of their containers.
“But not all of them made it out and they remained trapped,” he said.
His colleague Vipan Kumar thought “this was the end” when he found himself unable to move as he struggled for air under the thick layer of snow.
“I heard a loud roar, like thunder ... before I could react, everything went dark,” he told the Times of India newspaper.
At an altitude of more than 3,200 meters (10,500 feet), minimum temperatures in the area were down to minus 12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit).
Dhan Singh Bisht said his son and nephew were alive only because of the prompt action by the relief teams.
“I am grateful to them,” an overwhelmed Bisht told AFP by phone on Saturday.
Avalanches and landslides are common in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, especially during the winter season.
Scientists say climate change is making weather events more severe, while the increased pace of development in the fragile Himalayan regions has also heightened fears about the fallout from deforestation and construction.
In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand after a huge glacier chunk fell into a river, triggering flash floods.
And devastating monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 killed 6,000 people and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state.


Israeli settlers stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February —  report

Updated 19 min 48 sec ago
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Israeli settlers stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February —  report

  • Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
  • Awqaf documents Israeli violations against several West Bank mosques during military operations

LONDON: Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City almost 20 times in February, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.

The ministry also reported that the number of Israeli settlers touring the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection increased in February. During the same period, Israeli authorities blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a total of 44 times.

Israeli authorities prevented some employees from accessing the mosque in February following the removal of the mosque’s director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, from the site, the ministry said.

Access to the mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, is possible only through an Israeli military checkpoint that surrounds the area.

The ministry condemned the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron as Israel announced new restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, which began on Saturday. It said that measures introduced at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque were an attempt to “empty the mosque of its people and employees.”

Israeli violations were also documented against several West Bank mosques during night raids and military operations in February. These included Barqa Mosque, northwest of Nablus, and Salah Al-Din Mosque in the town of Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem.

In Kasra village, south of Nablus, the ministry said Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in front of the town’s mosque during the Maghreb call to prayer, causing difficulty in breathing for some worshippers inside the mosque.

The ministry urged international organizations to halt Israeli violations in order to preserve religious, heritage, and historical sites in Palestine, according to a statement.


Syria forms committee to draft transitional constitutional declaration

Updated 18 min 29 sec ago
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Syria forms committee to draft transitional constitutional declaration

  • New authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad’s removal in December
  • Presidency announced the formation of a committee of experts tasked with drafting a constitutional declaration

DAMASCUS: The interim President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, announced on Sunday the formation of a committee to draft a constitutional declaration for the country’s transition after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad.
The new authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad’s removal on December 8, ending more than half a century of his family’s iron-fisted rule and 13 years of devastating war.
The presidency announced “the formation of a committee of experts,” including one woman, tasked with drafting “the constitutional declaration that regulates the transitional phase” in Syria.
The seven-member committee would “submit its proposals to the president,” it said in a statement, without specifying a timeframe.
In late January, Sharaa, leader of Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) which spearheaded Assad’s overthrow, was appointed interim president for an unspecified period.
Syria’s new authorities have repealed the Assad-era constitution, and Sharaa has said rewriting it could take up to three years.
In late January, Sharaa promised a “constitutional declaration” to serve as a “legal reference” during the country’s transitional period.
Sunday’s announcement came “based on the Syrian people’s aspirations in building their state based on the rule of law, and building on the outcomes of the Syrian national dialogue conference,” said the presidency.
It also came “with the aim of preparing the legal framework regulating the transitional phase,” it added.
A national dialogue conference held this week in Damascus set out a path for the new Syria.
Who are the committee's members?
The committee includes Abdul Hamid Al-Awak, who holds a doctorate in constitutional law and lectures at a university in Turkiye, and Yasser Al-Huwaish, who was appointed this year as dean of Damascus university’s law faculty.
It also includes Bahia Mardini — the sole woman — a journalist with a doctorate in law who has been living in Britain, and Ismail Al-Khalfan, who holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law, and who this year was appointed law faculty dean at Aleppo university.
Another committee member, Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law from Idlib university, where he graduated in 2023.
The final statement of this week’s dialogue conference called for “a constitutional committee to prepare a draft permanent constitution for the country that achieves balance between authorities, sets the values of justice, freedom and equality, and establishes a state of law an institutions.”
Syria’s conflict broke out in 2011 after Assad brutally repressed anti-government protests.
It spiralled into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more domestically and abroad and battered the economy, infrastructure and industry.
In December, a caretaker government was appointed to steer the country until March 1, when a new government was due to be formed.


Pakistan PM asks authorities to ensure provision of food items at affordable rates in Ramadan

Updated 42 min 35 sec ago
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Pakistan PM asks authorities to ensure provision of food items at affordable rates in Ramadan

  • The development comes amid a decline in consumer inflation in Pakistan, but many Pakistanis say they are still feeling the pinch
  • A day earlier, the Pakistani government launched a Rs20 billion relief package to support 4 million needy families across the country

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed federal and provincial authorities to ensure provision of food items to people at affordable rates during the holy month of Ramadan, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday.
The prime minister gave the directives while presiding over a meeting in Lahore to review supply and prices of sugar in the South Asian country.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, wherein Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise till sunset for a month.
While the government tries to keep the prices in check, hoarders often create artificial shortage of essential items to make illegal profits during Ramadan.
“Shehbaz Sharif said provision of sugar and other food items at affordable rates to people is top priority of the government,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“He emphasized strict action against smuggling and hoarding.”
The prime minister said the government’s crackdown on sugar smuggling helped combat it successfully in the last few months, directing authorities devise a strategy for provision of food items at affordable rates, according to the report.
The provincial chief secretaries assured the meeting that stern action will be taken against hoarders and the district administrations will work vigilantly to this effect.
The month of Ramadan, the exact start date of which depends on the sighting of the new moon, began in Pakistan on Sunday, with many Pakistanis saying they were feeling the pinch despite a decline in consumer inflation to 2.4 percent in Jan. as compared to 24 percent in the same period last year.
On Saturday, Sharif launched a Rs20 billion ($71.4 million) Ramadan relief package to benefit 4 million families across the South Asian country. The Pakistani government is providing each family Rs5,000 ($17.87) to support them during the holy fasting month.
“This [package] would cover the whole of Pakistan, all provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” Sharif said at the launching ceremony.
“This amount will be distributed among deserving people in all these areas through a digital [wallet] system.”


Israeli settlers storm Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February: report

Updated 02 March 2025
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Israeli settlers storm Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February: report

  • Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
  • Awqaf documents Israeli violations against several West Bank mosques during military operations

LONDON: Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City almost 20 times in February, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.

The ministry also reported that the number of Israeli settlers touring the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection increased in February. During the same period, Israeli authorities blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a total of 44 times.

Israeli authorities prevented some employees from accessing the mosque in February following the removal of the mosque’s director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, from the site, the ministry said.

Access to the mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, is possible only through an Israeli military checkpoint that surrounds the area.

The ministry condemned the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron as Israel announced new restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, which began on Saturday. It said that measures introduced at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque were an attempt to “empty the mosque of its people and employees.”

Israeli violations were also documented against several West Bank mosques during night raids and military operations in February. These included Barqa Mosque, northwest of Nablus, and Salah Al-Din Mosque in the town of Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem.

In Kasra village, south of Nablus, the ministry said Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in front of the town’s mosque during the Maghreb call to prayer, causing difficulty in breathing for some worshippers inside the mosque.

The ministry urged international organizations to halt Israeli violations in order to preserve religious, heritage, and historical sites in Palestine, according to a statement.