Jinnah anniversary function raises issue of stranded Pakistanis

Noted writer and former Saudi diplomat, Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, paid glowing tributes to Jinnah while attending a function organized by the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) on Monday night in Jeddah to mark the 136th birth anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, popularly known as Quaide Azam of Pakistan.
Dr. Ghamdi said that Quaide Azam Jinnah was a distinguished leader who carved out a great Muslim country out of British India.
“What he achieved was an impossible mission, but he made it possible with his devoted followers that came from India’s minority provinces,” he said.
He recalled his relationship with Pakistan and Urdu, and said that he learned Urdu when he was in the Karachi University some 40 years ago where he had to pass the compulsory Urdu paper.
But, the Saudi scholar who specializes in South Asian affairs, took the Muslims of Pakistan to task for completely ignoring the cause of Jinnah. Al-Ghamdi took the case of the millions of Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh camps in wretched condition since 1971 to remind the deterioration of spirits and morale in Pakistan that once marked the strong attributes of Jinnah.
Dr. Al-Ghamdi said that these Muslims came from Bihar province and remained by far the most patriotic as they stood in the thick and thin of Pakistan for its integrity and its principle of two-nation theory a principle on which Pakistan came into existence.
He demanded their immediate repatriation to and settlement in Pakistan as per the 1988 Rabita Trust agreements.
Pakistan Peoples Community President Riaz Bukhari praised the PRC and its commitment to the causes which “Quaide Azam once stood for.”
“Their only fault is that are still Pakistanis.” Bukhari said of the stranded Pakistanis.
Businessman Mohammad Luqman stressed on the principle of unity, which he said was principle integral to Quaid’s message and which is in dire need to hold Pakistan in unison today.
While thanking audience for participating in the function, PRC Convener Ehsanul Haque said that Quaid was a leader of strong courage, commitment, vision and mission who was even admired by India's Hindu leaders such as BJP leader and ex-foreign minister Jaswant Singh who had praised Jinnah in his book, “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence,” for his exemplary character and commitment.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr. Irfan Hashmi, Hamid Khan, Engr. Azeez Ahmed, Syed Musarrat Khalil, Amanullah, Mohammad Ashfaque Badayouni, and Mohammad Amanatullah. They concluded that they “need to carry his mission to make Pakistan country of pride.”
Several poets Syed Mohsin Alavi, Abdul Qayyum Waseq, Zamurrad Khan Saifi presented poems in tribute to Quaide Azam. Amin Najmi presented a poem of noted poetess Mona Najmi.
The PRC at the end passed resolutions that urged President Zardari to reactivate the Rabita Trust (frozen in October 2001) and restart the process of repatriation and rehabilitation. It suggested to implement the PRC proposal of the “settlement of stranded Pakistanis on a self-finance basis,” to overcome paucity of funds.
It also urged Bangladesh to play its part in solving the issue and reaffirmed that the Pakistani High Commissioner at Dhaka should be assigned to take care of food, health, life and security of a quarter million Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh.
OIC should take up the issue of settlement of stranded Pakistanis, it demanded.
PRC condemned the act of arson and fire in Rangpur camp which burned 200 shanties and has uprooted 900 people and asked the Pakistani high commissioner lodge protest with the Bangladesh government for such incidents.