My only leader...My Jinnah on his 134th Birthday

Who else can be a leader like him?

I like to think that I am a history buff...and frankly I am someone who gets fascinated by a lot of people quite frequently. I adore a lot of people but there is a strange twist to this fact as well. When it comes to leadership then there are only two men from twentieth century whom I consider leader in true sense. And quite strangely, both exploded on their respective horizons at the same time. Churchill and Jinnah are those two names. 

Churchill becuase he was too ordinary a man to fascinate and inspire the imagination of his people and those of other allied nations in second world war. He seemed to have no charsima, no distinction, no honors. He seemed like a minnow among his allies and enemies...the likes of Roosevelt, Stalin, Kai Shek, Hitler, Missoulini etc. They were the names, inspiration, fascination of their respective nations while Churchill was seemingly  just a fat drunkard who knew nothing about how to fight a war. Yet, it was only this one fat drunkard, who designed the whole war. Who made all the schemes and arrangements. It was he who kept on traveling in broken planes, freezing, but determined to win the war in which he so much believed. He seemed like fighting a war which he could not even inspire his nation for. Yet he was determined, unafraid and brave enough to believe and finally made everyone else believe in him. He is still under rated yet he was the true architect in my opinion.

And there was Jinnah. A man so charismatic, so enlightened, so educated that he seemed totally lost to his nation. His nation could never relate to the manners and language Jinnah used. He talked but noone amongst his constituency understood. He behaved totally opposite to how his people behaved. He lived an alien life and followed alien traditions. He was no Gnadhi, Sabhash Chandar Bose, AbulKalama Azad etc. He never believed in political manoeuvrings that were norm of his times. He never violated law despite he being totally against it. He never went to jail to become popular. He despised favors and never tolerated any personal endorsements. A strict disciplinarian who was always mocked by his contemporaries for his principles. He also had a war in which there was no hope for him. But just like Churchill, he overcame all of this and won his war. The war that he fought was not for himself. He was diagnosed with last stage of cancer while he was in the middle of his fight yet noone knew it till his death. He was not fighting it for riches and claims. He was already amongst the richest and most affluent and most charming amongst Indian elite. He was also not fighting it just for those who call themselves Pakistanis today. He was fighting it for all of those who believed that oppressed have a right to speak and make their decisions. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in rule of law and its abidance. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in power of people. He was fighting this war for those who believed that all men and women have equal rights which need to be respected. He was a leader of all nations and all people of this world. The sad fact is that we Pakistanis have proved to be so inept inheritors of such legacy that instead of spreading his message properly, we have even made him an alien in our own society. A democratic nation based on principles of equality, respect and tolerance as visualized by him has been transformed into crowd ruled by mob and military, intolerant and ignorant, corrupted by greed and blinded by hate towards each other. It is sad fact of this day when I am trying to remember who my leader actually was.

Jinnah (or Qiaid-E-Azam), the great leader as we call him was great because he was not pretentious. He was great because he was honest and always spoke truth. He was leader because he stood with what was right. He was inspiration because he thought of himself as a human with weaknesses. He was never proud of his weaknesses but he never attempted to gloss over them. He never pretended to be demigod with all the solutions in his pocket. He was loved because he loved everyone...irrespective of his status, creed, race or religion. He was respected because he respected everyone...friends and enemies alike. Jinnah was a Muslim, a constitutionalist, a democrat, a pragmatist, a realist in the true sense of words. I remember him today, on his birthday as my only leader of twentieth century. May his teachings, his legacy and his traits spread amongst all the mankind and his soul rest in peace till eternity.

A few of his landmark pictures...an asset left with us to cherish and remember...