Khurshid 's Jinnah and the Current Situation
I AM both delighted and dismayed. The late Mr. K. H. Khurshid was the one man who could have written an authoritative biography of the Quaid -i-Azam because he was his private secretary from 1944 to 1947, three of the most crucial years of the Pakistan Movement.
His book, Memories of Jinnah , which has now come out posthumously, is really rather an 85 page tract which could, had Mr. Khurshid had the time, formed the basis of a reference work of abiding value, which indeed was his intention.
This is not to say, though, that Memories should be dismissed as a collection of disjointed notes. The booklet comprises sections. The first is an account written in London by Mr. Khurshid between January 2 and April 22, 1952 . The second section includes a series of brief interviews the author had with the Quaid 's sister and his associates and other contemporaries.
Memories adds little to your knowledge of the political aspect of the Pakistan Movement. But there is a unity, which binds these few pages together and out of this unity of feeling emerges Jinnah , the man, as he really was-humane, urbane and caring-and not aloof and arrogant, as his detractors have painted him.
Khurshid Sahib was obviously in love with his leader; his respect for him bordering on reverence and his love for him turning into a magnificent obsession. And I think that Memories has come out at the right moment. There is need, as never before, to return to the politics of the Quaid , principled, precise and free of the pollution of the personality cult.
Let us take a look at the Quaid through Khurshid Sahib's eyes. First, his abhorrence of making false promises. Speaking in Urdu to Mir Waiz Yusuf Shah , Khurshid Sahib tells us, the Quaid said that if someone came up to him and said, "Sir you are our great Quaid, would you kindly build us a bridge on the Jhelum ?" He would have to say no because he couldn't do so. Politics today is based on extravagant promises.
Then the Quaid lamented that Muslims lacked strength of character. Example: when Sir Jamal Mohammad Khan Leghari joined the Khizer Hayat Cabinet in the Punjab after having pledged not to do so, the Quaid said that it was a manifestation of the lack of character he had spoken of. Sir Jamal had everything going for him. "If it were the case of a poor man falling for a few rupees, Mr. Jinnah went on, he would have appreciated his difficulties." (K. H.)
Today, our politicians will fall for much smaller baits than a Cabinet job.
When K. H. broke the news of Nawab Bahadur Yar Jung 's death to the Quaid , he wouldn't believe him till he had the story verified from other sources. Which is to say he was wary of rumours.
Today, politics prospers on hearsay.
Then the need for a leader to have presence. Comparing his leader with Liaquat Ali Khan, K. H. writes: "if for instance, I had not known that the man walking on the road was Liaquat Ali Khan, perhaps I would not have noticed him. But with Mr. Jinnah , it was a different matter. Here was a man who compelled you to take notice of him, to pause and to look again."
How many politicians (Mrs. Bhutto excepted) today have that sort of presence? Would you pause and look again at any of them?
As Private Secretary, Khurshid Sahib felt that the Quaid was overdoing his work. At first, he thought the Quaid did not trust anyone. But later he realised that Mr. Jinnah had an immense sense of responsibility.
How many of our leaders today behave with any degree of responsibility?
Once the Quaid told K. H. not to encourage the Pressmen too much. "Keep them at arm's length," was the advice.
The politician today rushes to the press at the slightest provocation. Press conferences, Press statements nineteen to the dozen and often without substance, nearly always without need.
How did Mr. Jinnah play his politics? "Politics with Mr. Jinnah was a scientific and principled operation involving no trickery. . . . He played an open hand and he played according to the rules." (K. H.)
Was it all work and no play? No, the Quaid could enjoy poetry . Shelley and Keats were his favourite poets. And Shakespeare ? Once he asked K. H. if he had heard of the Bard. "When I said I had read some of Shakespeare's plays, he replied, 'That was at school. Read them again and you will like them all the more'."
A literate politician is not the bird you find today in your elected aviaries, barring Mrs. Bhutto and few others. The species is on the verge of extinction.
Talking out of turn? "One thing that Mr. Jinnah could never tolerate was that anyone should speak on behalf of the League over and above his head to anyone." (K. H.) Apply this principle to the PPP today and you'll have to throw most of the Jialas out.
Who was responsible for introducing religion into politics? Gandhi, says K. H., and rightly. People for the Mahatma were more Hindu and Muslim than they were Indian . Gandhi killed the nationalist in Jinnah with his bhajans , his prayer meetings, his Hindu dress, his support to the Khilafat Movement. Gandhi was the first to use religion as a weapon, and not Jinnah.
Jinnah could go to the movies when he had the time. K. H. remembers one, Random Harvest, which the Quaid saw in 1943. Or he could go to the races at Bombay 's Mahalaxmi Course.
Discipline? Mr. Liaquat Ali 's meeting with Bholabhai Desai and the resultant "Liaquat-Desai Formula" annoyed the Quaid a great deal. When Qazi Isa tried to mollify him by saying that Liaquat Ali had met him in his personal capacity, the Quaid shot back: "Personal capacity? There are hundreds of Nawabs and Nawabzadas in this country and no one bothers about them. It is only as Secretary of the All India Muslim League that he can talk."
Try telling that to our Tariq Rahims of today.
Did the Quaid have any favourites? Well, as Qazi Isa told K. H., none whatever.
Did Mr. Jinnah ever make remarks about his colleagues and followers? He wasn't in the habit.
Could he stand personal questions? Well, he could, and give you answers for you to interpret yourself. Once Qazi asked him if he had kissed any woman other than Mrs. Jinnah . An opportunity arose for him in England while playing a game of forfeits. Says Qazi Isa : When it was Mr. Jinnah's turn to "kneel to the prettiest and kiss the once you love best," he had told his friends, "I refuse to kiss a woman unless I am in love with her."
Later when Qazi Isa told this to Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, she laughed and laughed and laughed.
Mr. Mumtaz Hassan told Khurshid Sahib what he thought of the men around Mr. Jinnah -"just sycophants and nothing more."
During a crucial vote in the Central Legislature in 1940, the government faced defeat if the Muslim League went against it or remained neutral. The part decided on neutrality. But a member went up to the Quaid to ask if a few members could vote for the government.
Writes Khurshid Sahib: Mr. Jinnah asked the member, "Was the decision to remain neutral taken by the party?"
"Yes Sir."
"Was the decision unanimous?"
"Yes Sir."
"Did you vote for the decision arrived at?"
"Yes Sir."
"Well, I know who has sent you. But if I give you the freedom to vote with the government I should like to give the same freedom to others and then I shall go myself go across to vote with the Congress ."
Needless to say, the party stuck together and the government lost by two votes.
Look at the situation today, especially at what is happening in Balochistan . The IJI is a pack of unspeakable baddies in Sindh , the NWFP , and the Punjab so far as the PDA is concerned. In Balochistan, the PDA joins the IJI coalition government . The provincial PDA's decision to do so had Mrs. Bhutto 's concurrence? If so, she needs to have a refresher course on Jinnah and the way he played politics.
The Chief Election Commissioner, the Prime Minister , even the President , says the elections were fair and impartial and represented the will of the people. Up comes Jamali and decapitates almost all district administrations in Balochistan on charges of electoral malpractices!
Who is right and who is wrong and what sort of game is this?
Fair and lovely, as the TV ad. tells you every night.
Are we heirs to the Quaid ? Unworthy and undeserving, and all of us.
Published by the Oxford University Press, 5, Bangalore Town, Shara-e-Faisasl, Karachi -75350, and edited by Mr. Khalid Hassan (price not quoted), Memories, the outline of what could have been a magnificent biography of the Quaid , is value for money.
I may be allowed to end on a personal note. The following lines from the New Testament were found in K. H.'s diary.
I have fought the good fight
I have finished the race
I have kept the faith
Yes, indeed. Khurshid Sahib fought the good fight, and he kept faith. He was among the few politicians who played it straight and strictly according to the rules and yet there never was a politician who was treated more shabbily than K. H., but his name shall live while his tormentors shall be consigned to the dustbin of non-history.
As I ended the book, I remembered a long forgotten evening with Mr. Khalid Hassan . Those were pre-prohibition days, mind you. He gave me a cup of the stuff that used to cheer on a lot of crushed ice but no sooner was it over than he said it was time to return to the Lahore Station of PTV . The thirst remained. As I put Memories down, there was thirst for more from the same pen on the same man. Keeping people thirsty, I suppose, runs in the K. H. family.
Friday, November 23, 1990
