Author lauded for cherishing Pakistanis’ resilience

A book by defence analyst and security expert Ikram Sehgal's daughter Haya Fatima Sehgal was launched at the Quaid-i-Azam Museum on Monday on the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.

Titled 'Resilient Pakistan', the book is a compilation of her articles and features. It also has a dedicated section on people who devoted their lives for serving the country. Its foreword has been written by Quaid’s grand nephew Liaquat H Merchant.

Two other books, 'Our Quaid' and its Urdu version, were also launched. 'Our Quaid' is a beautifully illustrated, thoughtful and easy to read book about the Quaid-i-Azam orginally written in English by Amina Azfar.

Addressing the book launch, Nadira Panjwani said the Quaid wanted Pakistan to rise as a modern democratic and pluralistic state with freedom, equality, justice and tolerance as its hallmarks but after him, all successive leaders failed to follow his guiding principles.

"We as people have also failed his vision and expectations and consequently, today's Pakistan has no resemblance whatsoever with the dream he had for us," she lamented. Nadira stressed the need for trying to understand the guiding principles the Quaid upheld, values he celebrated and cherished, traditions he honoured, work ethics he followed, and ideals he had for the future development of the country.

About the author, she said the gift of writing ran in her family as her father was an eminent defence analyst and prolific writer with several publications to his credit. "I find the title of her book very suitable for our times. Nowadays with so much depression and hopelessness everywhere, it is important to celebrate the stories of resilience and hope," she added.

"Over the past 75 years, we had so many tragedies, misfortunes and calamities but despite all of this, we are here and this is because we are a resilient nation and this is a quality we should celebrate."

Ameena Saiyid, who moderated a panel discussion on the book, said the book had a wide canvas covering a range of subjects and personalities. "It is intense piece of work written with a lot of passion by a talented young woman," she opined.

"The book has been written very frankly and I feel it is a cry from heart," Ameena said, adding that the author had looked at the country in all its aspects, writing about Covid, mountain climbing, prominent personalities and role models.

"I learned from the book that the famous phrase "Jinnah's Pakistan" was coined by Liaquat Merchant in 2009." About the title of the book, the author said, "I get asked this question about Pakistan being resilient a lot. I do feel that Pakistan is very resilient and survived onslaught of many things, not just socio-cultural but political upheavals. We have come to the point where we have developed the ability to bounce back."

She was of the view that Jinnah's Pakistan was an ideology that did not exist today. "The search, as a journalist, starts out in the first volume and the second and throughout that there is an underlying theme of finding Jinnah's Pakistan.

When Liaquat Merchant and I spoke and we have this banter and he said it's an ideology, it cannot exist, and by the third volume of the book is when I realise as a writer that it cannot," she went on.

"We should keep the ideals. Nobody is saying to lose them, but as much as we want to have this, Jinnah's Pakistan is something that is this ideology, but today, as a journalist, I came to this conclusion that it cannot exist with practicality. I would want it, of course anybody would want it because this is what we have grown up with," she said, recommending readers to go to the third volume if they wanted to explore the journey that led her to this conclusion.

Haya said some volumes of the book comprised articles on social and cultural impacts, adding that she had discussed women who did something that contributed towards Pakistan in a positive manner.

Journalist Khurshid Hyder said Haya's book was a labour of love as she had done a lot of research and fact-finding to make it an authentic book. She added that the author had written about Fatima Jinnah, who was nurtured, brought up and educated by the Quaid-i-Azam who wanted her to stand on her feet and be independent. She became a dentist in those times and opened a clinic.

In his concluding remarks, Ikram addressed his daughter's comment about Jinnah's ideology. "One thing I would like to correct. Ideaology was a means to an end," he said. "One day after he achieved Pakistan in the name of Islam, Quaid went on radio and said, your faith is your own and this has nothing to do with state's business. So he was pragmatic. Once you achieved your aim, then you have to be pragmatic."

Sehgal, who is also the vice-chairman of the museum board, terming himself a proud father said his daughter could write better than him. He said that if any other country had faced the crises Pakistan had faced, including econmic, political and security crises, it would have collapsed by now but Pakistan survived as its people were resilient.