Mr. President (Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah): Ladies and
Gentlemen, I cordially thank you, with the utmost sincerity, for the honour you
have conferred upon me — the greatest honour that it is possible for this
Sovereign Assembly to confer — by electing me as your first President. I also
thank those leaders who have spoken in appreciation of my services and their
personal references to me. I sincerely hope that with your support and your
co-operation we shall make this Constituent Assembly an example to the world.
The Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is
the very onerous and responsible task of framing our future constitution of
Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete Sovereign body as
the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. We have to do the best we can in adopting
a provisional constitution for the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. You know
really that not only we ourselves are wondering but, I think, the whole world
is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about
the plan of creating and establishing two independent Sovereign Dominions in
this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel
in the history of the world. This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of
inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown,
unparalleled. And what is very important with regards to it is that we have
achieved it peacefully and by means of a revolution of the greatest possible
character.
Dealing with our first function in this
Assembly, I cannot make any well-considered pronouncement at this moment, but I
shall say a few things as they occur to me. The first and the foremost thing
that I would like to emphasise is this — remember that you are now a Sovereign
legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you
the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first
observation that I would like to make is this. You will no doubt agree with me
that the first duty of a Government is to maintain law and order, so that the
life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the
State.
The second thing that occurs to me is this. One of the biggest
curses from which India is suffering — I do not say that other countries are
free from it, but, I think, our condition is much worse — is bribery and
corruption. (Hear, hear.) That really is a poison. We must put that down with
an iron hand and I hope that you will take adequate measures as soon as it is
possible for this Assembly to do so.
Black-marketing is another curse. Well, I know that
black-marketers are frequently caught and punished. According to our judicial
notions sentences are passed, and sometimes fines only are imposed. Now you
have to tackle this monster which today is a colossal crime against society, in
our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food and or the
essential commodities of life. A citizen who does black-marketing commits, I
think, a greater crime than the biggest and most grievous of crimes. These
black-marketers are really knowing, intelligent and ordinarily responsible people,
and when they indulge in black-marketing, I think they ought to be very
severely punished, because they undermine the entire system of control and
regulation of food-stuffs and essential commodities, and cause wholesale
starvation and want and even death.
The next thing that strikes me is this. Here again is a legacy
which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things good and bad, has
arrived this great evil -the evil of nepotism and jobbery. This evil must be
crushed relentlessly. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate
any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any influence directly or indirectly brought
to bear upon me. Wherever I find that such a practice is in vogue, or is
continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.
I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division
of Indian and the partition of the Punjab and Bengal. Much has been said
against it, but now that it has been accepted, it is the duty of every one of
us to loyally abide by it and honourably act according to the agreement which
is now final and binding on all. But you must remember, as I have said, that
this mighty revolution that has taken place is unprecedented. One can quite
understand the feeling that exists between the two communities wherever one
community is in majority and the other is in minority. But the question is
whether it was possible or practicable to act otherwise than has been done. A
division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are
sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my
judgment there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record
its verdict in favour of it. And what is more it will be proved by actual
experience as we go on that that was the only solution of India’s
constitutional problem. Any idea of a United India could never have worked and
in my judgment it would have led us to terrific disaster. May be that view is
correct; may be it is not; that remains to be seen. All the same, in this
division it was impossible to avoid the questions of minorities being in one
Dominion or the other. Now that was unavoidable. There is no other solution.
Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan
happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being
of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in
co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to
succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that every one
of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter to what community he
belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what
is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this
State with equal rights, privileges and obligations there will be no end to the
progress you will make.
I cannot emphasise it too much. We should
begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of
the majority and minority communities — the Hindu community and the Muslim
community — because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias,
Sunnis and so on and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris,
also Bengalese, Madrasis and so on — will vanish. Indeed if you ask me this has
been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain its freedom and
independence and but for this we would have been free peoples long long ago. No
power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 millions souls in
subjection; no body could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, no
body could have continued its hold on you for any length of time but for this.
(Applause.) Therefore we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free
to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other
places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or
caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State (Hear,
hear). As you know, history shows that in England conditions some time ago were
much worse than those prevailing in India to-day. The Roman Catholics and the
Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence
where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular
class. Thank God we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days
when there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and
another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are
starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal
citizens of one State. (Loud applause.) The people of England in course of time
had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the
responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their
country and they went through that fire step by step. Today you might say with
justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist: what exists now is
that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen, of Great Britain and they are
all members of the nation.
Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and
you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and
Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is
the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens
of the State.
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