Pakistan’s state-run broadcaster has asked All India Radio for a copy of the historic 1947 speech by the nation’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in which he said people would be free to practice any religion without interference by the state.
Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation director-general Murtaza Solangi has written to his AIR counterpart seeking a copy of Jinnah’s address to Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 — three days before Pakistan emerged as an independent nation.
Jinnah’s speech was suppressed and even removed from textbooks during the Zia-ul Haq military regime in the 1980s. No audio copy of the speech is currently available in Pakistan.
“This speech is very important for people who want to direct the country to the goal of a modern, pluralistic, democratic state,” Mr Solangi said. He initially contacted the BBC for a copy, but it could not locate it in its archives. He then turned to All India Radio.
Mr Solangi said: “When I visited New Delhi in November last year, I learnt a copy of the speech was available with AIR’s international division. I then wrote to AIR’s director-general seeking a copy.”
In the speech, Jinnah had famously remarked: “You are free; free to go to your temples, free to go to your mosques, or any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan... You may belong to any religion, caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”