ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 1997, as these lines are being written, commemorative events are under way in the Indian subcontinent to mark the fiftieth anniversary of independence and partition. Celebrations have been marked with exuberance, enthusiasm and fervour even in remote parts of Pakistan and India and elaborate programmes have been drawn up in both the countries to celebrate the Golden Jubilee Year. The spotlight has turned on the story of South Asia’s destiny since 1947: on how the region has fared since the end of colonial rule, and what its people have done with the freedom which they achieved after bitter turmoil and sacrifice.1 Major international news publications have brought out special issues of great length and television stations across the globe have covered the celebrations in New Delhi and Islamabad in prime-time programmes.2 In countries outside the subcontinent, particularly in the UK, events of a wide-ranging nature have been planned at both official and unofficial levels to mark the anniversary of this historic turning-point as well as to reinforce and renew links.3 The Queen of the United Kingdom has visited India and Pakistan and the President of the USA has announced plans to visit the region during the Golden Jubilee Year
In Pakistan, the celebrations were heralded by a special midnight session of the National Assembly in which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif envisioned a ‘glorious future’ for the country. He recalled how Pakistan had to face aggression when it had just begun its journey and declared that the nation, having survived the trauma of its birth and the obstacles thereafter, had now become invincible.4 The following morning at a special ceremony outside parliament in Islamabad the national flag was hoisted with a thirty-one gun salute, and in the provincial capitals of Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar similar ceremonies took place with twentyone gun
salvos. Sirens alerted the people in all major cities to the ceremonies which included a minute’s nation-wide silence in the memory of those who had sacrificed their lives for the creation and preservation of Pakistan. The focal point of the events was the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi where an impressive and colourful change of guards ceremony took place. Wreaths were laid and fatehaprayers offered by dignitaries and common people alike who visited the mazar. In Lahore, Nawaz Sharif and other leaders visited the tomb of
poetphilosopher Allama Mohammad Iqbal, widely regarded as the spiritual inspiration behind the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent. The President and Prime Minister in separate messages urged the people to ‘help eliminate prejudice, ignorance and corruption’ and contribute to the effort ‘to build a modern progressive state with a sound scientific and economic basis and social justice’.
