Jinnah was a Khoja Shia Mohammaden by faith. Fatima Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan filed a joint affidavit to this effect. The Khoja Jamaat in Bombay confirmed on several occasions that Jinnah remained a member of that Jamaat, paying his dues regularly and fully. His main lieutenant, Zafrullah Khan, was an Ahmedi. Jogindranath Mandal, who represented the Muslims in the interim government on behalf of the Muslim League, and then became Pakistan’s first law minister, was a scheduled caste Hindu. The idea that the state that Jinnah founded would, in 2014, be subject to callous, bigoted interpretations of two committees of mullahs of one sect no less is preposterous. Under the Taliban’s version of shariat, a Shia Khoja Mohammaden like Jinnah is a kafir (infidel), punishable by death. An Ahmedi to them is a blaspheming apostate and a Hindu is a polytheist, both categories deserving of capital punishment.
One of the mullahs on the Taliban committee is Samiul Haq, disparagingly known as ‘Maulana Sandwich’. He has the audacity to claim that the Taliban are fighting for the supremacy of the constitution. Nothing can be farthest from the truth. Pakistan may have enacted a number of Islamic provisions in its constitution, but the constitution of Pakistan envisages a democratic state run by the representatives of the people. The constitution of Pakistan does not give the Council of Islamic Ideology the power to rule or make the law. That is the preserve of the members of the legislatures elected by the people. The constitution envisages no decision-making role to the mullahs.
Say no to dialogue: Selling Jinnah’s Soul to Deobandi Militants
The only negotiation that can happen between the state and the Taliban is on the time and mode of surrender — nothing else. Anything beyond that is specifically barred by the constitution
In February 1948, Mr Jinnah said, “In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims — Hindus, Christians and Parsis — but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.”