Hawzah News Agency – Today, we pay tribute to the struggle and sacrifices of our founding fathers, and pledge to live up to their ideals. Unity, faith and discipline form the bed rock of our polity, and plurality and respect for human rights are ingrained in our ethos.
March 23 marks the historic day, 82 years ago, when Muslims of the South Asian subcontinent decided to unite in their democratic demand for a separate homeland, where they could establish and practice their lives in accordance with their values and traditions. Their dreams came true seven years later through the birth of Pakistan.
While diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the Republic of Korea were only established in November 1983, contacts between the two peoples date back more than 18 centuries. Buddhism was brought to the ancient Baekje Kingdom by Monk Maranantha from the Gandhara Civilization in 384.
Pakistan-Korea relations have grown from strength to strength in all fields; political, defense, trade and investment, education, science, climate change and the list goes on.
Historically, Pakistan has extended support to newly independent South Korea at the United Nations, then for its first democratic elections, and later during the Korean War. More recently, Pakistan assisted Korea in evacuating eligible Afghan nationals from Afghanistan, through the aptly named "Operation Miracle."
Korean companies have actively engaged in investment in automotive, power and energy, chemicals and consumer goods sectors in Pakistan. New bilateral initiatives are being taken to further enhance collaboration in tourism, small and medium enterprises and human development. Leadership of the two countries remains actively engaged in promoting mutually beneficial cooperation.
As the newly arrived Ambassador, I look forward to further expanding and deepening the relations between Korea and Pakistan, both at the level of the governments, as well as between people.
March 23: Red-Letter Day in history of Pakistan
March 23 is a special day in more ways than one in the history of Pakistan. On this historic day, under the leadership of their founding fathers, ably led by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muslims of South Asia embarked upon a path to create a homeland of their own ― a home where they could live their lives according to the golden egalitarian principles of Islam, fulfill their desires and aspirations and develop their culture and precepts.
The Resolution adopted in Lahore that day symbolized the firm resolve of the Muslims of the subcontinent to form an independent state of their own. It was nothing short of a miracle that it became a reality within seven years (after its passage in the Annual Session of the All-India Muslim League in Lahore on March 23, 1940).
Pakistan is now the fifth-largest country in the world (population of 220 million), with a vibrant political system, a robust economy, a vocal media and an independent judiciary.
How the Muslims of the subcontinent arrived at this historic decision is a long story of peaceful political struggle to safeguard the political and constitutional rights of the Muslim community of South Asia. It is also a lesson on struggles that people face in their quest for self-determination.
Jinnah, initially, was a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity, and tried his best to reconcile the differences between the two communities. His efforts, however, failed to produce the desired results, and a formal "parting of ways" between Jinnah and the Indian Congress came after the Congress Ministries came to power as a result of elections held under the Government of India Act 1935. The Congress had won in six out of eight provinces. With total disregard for the other communities, the Congress Ministries pursued an agenda of supremacy of the Hindu culture, religion and traditions during their stint in power from 1937-39.
The Quaid, in his two-hour presidential address on the eve of the adoption of the Resolution on March 23, 1940, stated "Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs and literature. To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state."
Expounding upon his Two-Nation Theory, he said, that "Mussalmans are a nation according to any definition of nationhood. We wish our people to develop the fullest spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best, in consonance with our own ideals, and according to the genius of our people."
The ensuing seven years were a model of constitutional agitation, peaceful protest and finding negotiated solutions, leading to the creation of Pakistan on Aug. 14, 1947.