NEW DELHI: In a stunning criticism of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Mutahida Quami Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that the two-nation theory propounded by him to form Pakistan has been "proved to be wrong" as seen from the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
He dubbed the two-nation theory as a "farce" and said "it was the biggest fraud played with the Muslims of India," Pakistani daily The Nation reported quoting a press release issued by MQM in London. A PTI report from London, however, quoted him saying that the two-nation theory was raised by Jinnah to deceive one hundred million Muslims of the sub-continent.
"Events after the creation of Pakistan have proved that it was a wrong theory," he said, adding that if the theory was correct, he would be convinced only when the government agreed to open borders and allow Indian Muslims to settle in Pakistan and repatriated stranded Pakistanis living in Bangladeshi camps.
Talking to a delegation of intellectuals and professors from the Sub-continent, which visited the MQM International Secretariat, Hussain claimed that history had proved that the two-nation Theory was wrong.
No name of the delegation members, or from which city they had come, was mentioned in a press release issued on Wednesday from the MQM International Secretariat.
Saying that there was no future of Pakistan, which was disintegrated in 1971 and whose remaining part is "on the verge of catastrophe," the MQM chief said that East Bengal was the first to support the creation of Pakistan based on the Two-Nation Theory. But the same part rectified its mistake by separating itself in 1971 thus "proving that the theory was a farce".
He said the supporters of the theory were now asking the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh to opt for Bangladeshi citizenship or settle in any Muslim country instead of inviting them back to Pakistan.
"On what ideological basis are you offering such an advice to the stranded Pakistanis? Does this advice relate to the concept of the Two-Nation Theory or does it negate the very concept," he asked.
He said, "If we analyse the history of the Pakistan Movement, it emerged that virtually all Muslim majority provinces of the present-day Pakistan had opposed the creation of Pakistan." He said only the Sindh Assembly had supported the creation of Pakistan and that too with a majority of only one vote.
Hussain said that all those who had supported the concept of the Two-Nation Theory and Pakistan, including GM Syed, had been labelled as "traitors" in Pakistan.
"Mr Fazl-i-Haq, the Lion of Bengal, who had presented the Pakistan Resolution, was labelled as a "traitor," the Sindhis were labelled as "traitors", the Balochs were labelled as "traitors"; and now the Mohajirs have also been labelled as "traitors," he said.
The MQM chief said that the Pakistan army had forced the people of East Pakistan to separate by carrying out their massacre in 1970 and raping their women. Similarly, he said, the army had marched against Balochs and Sindhis and now it had been targeting Mohajirs for last eight years.
"The army operation against Mohajirs, which commenced on June 19, 1992, was also a negation of the Two-Nation Theory," he said.
Hussain also said that the formation of a nation on the basis of religion was fundamentally wrong because if the religion was the basis for nationhood then more than 45 independent and sovereign Muslim states would not have been the members of the United Nations as separate and independent states.
He said though it was claimed that Pakistan was being created for 100 million Muslims of India, it became the homeland of Muslims of the Muslim majority provinces only.
"Today, if we compare the population of Muslims living in Pakistan with that of the Muslims living in India then we see that the population of Muslims in India is much more than the total Muslim population of Pakistan.
It means that the Two-Nation Theory has failed to provide protection and security to the majority of Muslims of the Sub-continent because the number of Muslims living in India is greater than the total Muslims of Pakistan," he said. "If the Muslims of India were to remain under the Hindu majority then why were they taught the doctrine of the Pakistan Movement and the Two-Nation Theory," he asked. END.
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