Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy: Hear, hear. We agree.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That struggle culminated in an agreement between the main political parties of the sub-continent: to partition the sub-continent so that the majority Muslim-areas of the North-East and the North-West would form the State of Pakistan. This is how Pakistan came into existence-and on its establishment, the object of the Pakistan movement was not completely fulfilled. If I might quote the Quaid-i-Azam:
"The establishment of Pakistan for which we had been striving for the last ten years is by the grace of God an accomplished fact today.” (This was in October, 1947). “For the creation of a State of our own was a means to an end and not an end in itself. The idea was that we should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own way of life and culture and wherein the principles of Islamic social justice could find free-play."
Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy: Quite right. I entirely agree.
The Honorable Mr. Mohammad Ali: That was the reason for the establishment of Pakistan. And the urge to develop our culture, to realize our potentialities to the utmost to find an atmosphere in which the spirit of Islam can flourish, that urge is there in the nation today. It has been the reason for its existence and it remains the driving force of the people of Pakistan. That freedom and that urge we must safeguard; we can ignore it only at our peril. No man of honor repudiates his parentage. Every tree springs from its seed; it grows an it flowers. It may stay as a small seed but, over a period of years, it shoots out branches, it bears fruit and people recognize its worth. We, Sir, shall be in that process for many years before the true spirit of Islamic culture finds fruition here. The freedom which the Muslims of Pakistan wanted for themselves, they do not want to deny to other communities living in Pakistan. It is an essential part of our faith that the nonMuslims living here should be equally free to develop their culture; to practice and propagate their religion; should be equal and honored citizens of Pakistan. It is on these basic concepts that the whole structure of Pakistan should be built.
And how did we, the people of North-West and the people of North-East come together even though separated by a distance of 1,500 miles, how did we overcome the handicaps of geography? It is partly a tribute to the spirit of Islam which rises above geography and partly recognition of the fact that we need each other: that it is only living and working together that we can survive. The remark which the Honorable Leader of the opposition made on that subject, I can endorse whole-heartedly. There can never be any question of secession. No such thought must ever be entertained. Mr. Suhrawardy excused the people who talked about it as indulging “in intellectual exercise". I do hope that these intellectual gymnasts will not go through their contortions in public but that they would devote their surplus intellectual energies to innocent pursuits such as solving cross-word puzzles, certainly not doing things which injure the very foundations of our State. And those of my friends who use phrases carelessly, who talk of “nationalities” in a loose way which can lead to misunderstandings, I would earnestly request them to desist. We are yet in a formative stage and even though the idea
