Discipline & Unity
Jinnah's Ideals
“Many of you have come to the end of your scholastic career and stand at the threshold of life. Unlike your predecessors, you, fortunately, leave this University to enter life under a sovereign, independent state of your own. It is necessary that you and your other fellow students fully understand the implications of the revolutionary change that took place on the birth of Pakistan. We have broken the shackles of slavery, we are now a free people. Our state is our own state. Our government is our own government of the people, responsible to the people of the state and working for the good of the state. Freedom, however, does not mean license. It does not mean that you can now behave just as you please and do what you like irrespective of the interests of other people or of the state. A great responsibility rests on you and, on the contrary, now more than ever, it is necessary for us to work as a united and disciplined nation. ”
- Mr. Jinnah / Quaid-e-Azam
- Speech: The Role of Students in Nation Building
- Context: Speech at the Dacca University Convocation
Deeper reflections
Self-governance enables Pakistanis to architect and define the culture, ethos and values of our society. Collective self-agency empowers the people to design and create solutions that improve our economic, political, social and educational conditions.
Students graduating from their scholastic career need to immerse themselves in technology and arts. Education in Pakistan aims to produce well-rounded individuals with an appreciation of the arts as well as precision of empirical sciences. Students can orient their education towards intellectual curiosity with a focus on internalizing concepts and really learning instead of the existing narrow emphasis on getting top grades.
We need to produce the feeling in every citizen of a sense of ownership over state machinery and decisions. People need to feel that their voices are heard in the corridors of power and also acted upon. Meaningful progress experienced by all people is the strongest way to promote social cohesion and a unifying national experience. We need to create an environment where the individual is provided constructive outlets to build, grow and strive for progress. We need to build a greater sense of self-agency in our people, and propagate the conviction that meaningful change can start with the smallest of efforts. All great things have small beginnings and we must constantly be devising and experimenting ways to improve things.
We need to build the spirit to exert ourselves for progress and never cease in our endeavors, especially in the face of obstacles. Freedom encourages self-empowerment, but it also entails responsibility towards our fellow citizens. A disciplined and united effort for continual human progress in Pakistan is the conviction we want to produce in our people. We must overcome raw impulses and unchecked religious sentiments and govern ourselves by restraint, willpower, and reason to completely overcome mob behavior. Let us remember that what we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are, and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.
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