By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: M.J. Akbar, eminent author, journalist and India Today and Headlines Today editorial director, said that if Salman Taseer had been an Indian Muslim, he would still have been alive. He was speaking at the launch of his book, Tinderbox: the Past and Future of Pakistan on Tuesday in New Delhi.
Taseer was the Governor of Punjab (Pakistan) who was assassinated by his own bodyguard because of his alleged backing for the proposed amendments to the blasphemy laws of Pakistan- under which a Christian woman faces death sentence.
Releasing the book “Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan”, Vice-President, Hamid Ansari (in the middle), from L to R, Aroon Purie, LK Advani, Pranab Mukherjee and the author of the book, MJ Akbar, [Photo- PIB]
Making an insightful observation, Mr. Akbar said the idea of Pakistan is regressive, while India is an idea that is progressive. He also said that the idea of India is much stronger than the Indian, whereas Pakistan is an idea which is weaker than the Pakistani. Mr. Akbar advised the civil society and liberal voices of Pakistan to relocate to Delhi because there won’t be space for them to live and think in their own country for long.
“Partition was the result of a political adjustment at the elite level, rather than of a mass desire to separate,” said Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari while launching Akbar’s book. Substantiating his argument, Mr. Ansari quoted M. A. Jinnah’s supporter and pre-independence Muslim League leader, Choudhry Khaliquzzaman, who became “wiser after the event (partition of India)”, as saying that the two nation theory ‘never paid any dividends to us and proved positively injurious to the Muslims of India, and on a longer term basis for Muslims everywhere’.
While it was one of the rare admissions by a constitutional figure on the watershed moment for India, Mr. Ansari also considered the stability of Pakistan in India’s interest: “We, as immediate neighbours, have a vested interest in the stability and well being of Pakistan and its people.”
While addressing a gathering which included who’s who of Indian politics, media and elite circle, Mr. Ansari expressed hope that Pakistan will come out of the period of crisis, “the Wisdom and practical common sense would necessitate course correctives in Pakistan and the people there would find their way of doing it.”