Quaid’s Motto

By

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

On Quaid’s anniversary I feel duty bound to request the very few still alive and around like me, who have had the honour of seeing him, hearing him or meeting him, to come forward and restore the motto of the Quaid given to the nation in its original true form in letter and spirit.  The motto given by the Quaid  was “Unity, Faith and Discipline” and its official Urdu translation used to be Ittehad, Yaqeen and Nazm, which could still be found embedded at  certain buildings and hills, on  earlier postage stamps and the official government stationery. Yaqeen underwent a little change later into Yaqeen-e-Mohkam and used to be illustrated by Liaqat Ali Khan’s raised clenched fist warning Indians who had amassed troops along our borders for the first time in 1951.  Somehow  later on with the Islamisation of Pakistan not only the order of  the motto was altered by relegating Unity (Ittehad) to the second place after Faith ! but also the ‘Yaqeen’ or  ‘Yaqeen-e-Mohkam’ also given a religious connotation by changing it into  Eeman, probably to please and appease the Momins and Mullahs by the Islam Pasand leaders to gain cheap popularity. Answering a student delegation in 1946 who had asked Quaid as to what did Faith mean in his motto, the Quaid had replied, “Have Faith in yourself. Have Faith in your destiny – Pakistan. And have Faith in Allah”.  Where does Eeman come into it, is beyond me?  Let’s not forget that Quaid’s motto is for the entire nation which also comprises of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsees,  Zoroastrians, Kailash of Chitral, Bodhs, Jains and believe it or not even the Jews – though very few. Are we not confining the motto to the Muslims only by inserting Eeman into it? Or, is the motto not for the other communities living in Pakistan? If the Islam Pasand wish the moto to have Eeman in! stead of Faith and keep it before Unity, let them do so. But t! hen please …please let this corrupted moto be not attributed to the Quaid as given by him to the nation.  

It is, therefore, imperative and the national and moral duty of the few living elders and the various factions of the Muslim League, each one of which claims to be the true heirs of the Quaid’s Muslim League, to show their moral courage to restore the true motto of the Quaid. I request them all to come forward in the print and electronic media to do so, for, NONE has the right to change the Quaid’s motto.

Quaid-e-Azam  Zinda Bad

PakistanPainda Bad

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)