By Ibne Rehmat
The writer is expert on defence and political analysis. He is free lance journalist based in Islamabad.

According to a newspaperƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s report Indian former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh is visiting Pakistan in the last week of September, 2009 to participate in the series of meetings with the media men and selected gathering, he expects as mark of respect for picking up courage to speak the facts about Mr. Jinnah and axing the myth about Nehru and PatelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s being articles of their faith by translating the dream of Indian freedom into reality. By and large greater chunk of the Pakistani see it as a bold and courageous initiative on the part of Singh for his sanctity being up-righteous and realistic to set the domestic record straight.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To say that Congress, RAW or the BJP did not know what all Jaswant was going to unfurl is criminal ignorance. But, if it was a known fact, how come BJP or RSS did not intervene, as it was the right time to nip the issue in the bud. In fact, the Muslims did not learn a lesson from their past, how the label of terrorism was tagged by their adversaries by first playing themselves as more ardent Muslims, being Hindus or Jews moles to earn more credit and then suddenly switching over their side to bring a bad name for the Muslim Ummah during the pre-partition days.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is a fact that venom that divided the subcontinent still rules their destiny as both India and Pakistan has not commuted the cost of consequences during the last 62 years of independence. Both the countries could not materialize their dream of peace and prosperity as animosity continues to circulate in their veins of imagination. There is need to heal their behavior, eccentric outlook and course of actions. By firing sentimental missiles every day, not realizing what price their generation will pay for is tragic history of this Sub-Continent. Now Mumbai issue is still festering wound that India wants to keep bleeding to brow beat and tarnish Pakistan image. Her terrorism hoax, whom it has assigned mythological hyperlink, will keep hovering as potential threat for times to come.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ At this mindless `do more, invite more troubles rally, Jaswant SinghƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s statement that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Jinnah was demonized by IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and called Mohammad Ali Jinnah ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-a great Indian leaderƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ helped to earn him not only to great respect from the Muslims on both side of the divide but all the liberal and enlightened intelligentsia of the world. Once the bitter pill of secularism is swallowed, hunting the religious fervor soaring high would become an easy prey. It is sort of new virus to target and hit the two nation theory or PakistanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ideology.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is perhaps the second such episode after Advani praised Jinnah during a visit to Pakistan in2005 but tried to get out of the controversy unscathed after his duo with Sudarshan Bhagwat that forced Advani to quit BJPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ presidency and weakening his clout in the party. According to some analysts his remarks were complex and went down well with certain reservations ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” perhaps these were not fully comprehended by majority of the BJP workers. In SinghƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s case, RSS continued to crack its whips and demonstrated violent reaction. At the same time, Bal Thackeray, leader of Shiv Sena quipped about Jaswant Singh as having some JinnahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s DNA.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ According to TehelkaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s cover story, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the Congress jumped gleefully into the controversy by dubbing BJP as Bhartiya Jinnah PartyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ Some circles of the society contend that his book is BJPƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s brilliant stroke to sell the secularism idea to Pakistan in a most logical way to run religious steam out from the minds of Pakistan by grafting the idea of secularism. But such a major shift or radical departure of faith is not possible to go down well with showering praise on their most beloved leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It was the bottom line that tempted the party to offer such bait so that Pakistanis should swallow this bitter pill. By praising Jinnah, depreciating Patel and disparaging Nehru, he has attempted to land into the heads and hearts of Pakistanis. In future Jinnah would be presented in more rational colors.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Singh book have created ripples in Pakistan but a holocaust in India. RSS demonstrated its reaction by painting Jinnah as symbol of hate; BJP portrayed its expulsion gestures exemplary to save its image. While some of the media leading newspapers painted partyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s graph as dwindling due to the publication of his book Jinnah, India Partition, Freedom. Yet most of the accounts simply dwelled on showing Mr. Singh under the shadow of public wrath.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some people interpret gestures like expulsion of Jaswant Singh from BJP, burning of effigies by angry mobs, his media trial, political backlash and other unfriendly gestures are nothing but to create more and more curiosity in the minds of Pakistanis to go through SinghƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sugar coated secularism recipe to heal the wounds of past, as part of grafting friendly feelings into the minds of the Pakistanis.