Everyone has goals and dreams for the future, which we chase. However, very few of us achieve our dreams. Pakistan is a dream that came true, of a determined, hard-working and self-confident young person who believed in himself and the strength of his aspirations.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born in a rented apartment at Wazir Mansion in Karachi. He belonged to a prosperous family of merchants. Jinnah was the second child; he had three brothers and three sisters, including his youngest and dearest sister Fatima Jinnah, who supported him, stood by his side in the struggle for Pakistan, and believed in his aspirations.

Young Jinnah was well-groomed, diligent and had a unique personality. Jinnah never engaged in activities that might compromise his morals. Jinnah moved to London to study business when he was 16, but soon decided to switch to law. He received his legal education at London’s Lincoln’s Inn. After his return from London, Jinnah experienced the pain of losing loved ones, including his mother and wife. His family relocated to Bombay, now Mumbai, where the police court hired him when he was 23.

Jinnah became his era’s most prestigious and well-paid lawyer through diligence and dedication to his duty. He enrolled at the Bombay High Court and simultaneously developed an interest in politics, ultimately replacing his legal career. In the first two decades of the 20th century, Jinnah gained power within the Indian National Congress.

Jinnah promoted Hindu-Muslim unity in the early stage of his political career, aiding in the creation of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, an organisation in which Jinnah had also gained prominence. To protect the political rights of Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent, Jinnah emerged as a critical figure in the All-India Home Rule League and put forth a 14-point constitutional reform plan. However, Jinnah left Congress in 1920 and by 1940, Jinnah had concluded that the Subcontinent’s Muslims needed their state to prevent any potential marginalisation they might experience in a separate Hindu-Muslim state.

The Muslim League conducted its annual meeting at the Great Iqbal Park, formerly Minto Park, on March 23rd, 1940, in protest of the unfair and unlawful treatment of the Muslims of the Subcontinent. In this session, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other Muslim leaders, described the subsequent events of the Hindu-Muslim conflicts and presented the historic resolution, which, despite not naming Pakistan at all, solidified the formation of the Muslim nation known as Pakistan in South Asia.

The political party Muslim League officially endorsed the concept of a distinct Muslim homeland with the passage of the Pakistan Resolution, the first official statement backing the two-nation theory and requesting a specific and independent country for the Muslims of British India under Jinnah’s leadership. This proposal for a separate homeland for the Muslims encountered severe criticism and opposition from many Muslims and non-Muslims of the Subcontinent, but he never gave up. Jinnah stuck to his vision, the hope of freedom, and struggled for it.

The Muslim League strengthened during the Second World War and in the provincial elections which were held soon after the war, it won the majority of seats designated for Muslims. Ultimately, the Congress and the Muslim League could not agree on a power-sharing plan that allowed British India to unite as a single state after independence. As a result, a separate homeland for the Muslims in the Muslim-majority area was the only solution acceptable to the Muslim League. Thus, the independent Muslim nation of Pakistan came into being on it, but only after a lot of sacrifices and struggles. The resolution ultimately helped Pakistan become an independent state in 1947.

Minar-i-Pakistan is regarded as Pakistan’s national symbol and reflects its post-colonial identity. It was built between 1960 and 1968 on the site where the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution on March 23, 1940.

As a cornerstone of the Muslim leaders’ dream that later came true, March 23rd is a day of national significance for Pakistanis, and is celebrated with zeal.

This day also honours the enactment of Pakistan’s first constitution on March 23rd, 1956, when the Dominion of Pakistan became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, making Pakistan the first Islamic republic in history.

The heroic story of Quaid-i-Azam is a living proof of how one man can change the world. No matter how many difficulties, criticism and opposition come your way, do not give up on your dreams.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 25th, 2023