On Thursday 23 Aug 2007 3:53 pm, ashok _ wrote: > I wonder if you have seen the Jinnah biopic movie (with christoper "count > dracula" lee as Jinnah.....) ? > While the Gandhi film essentially focuses on Gandhi vs the British, the > Jinnah film is about a freedom movement where the struggle is on two > fronts.... one against the british, and one for fighting for a new islamic > homeland.....
I must make it a point to see this pic if I can. One favorite "mine is bigger" question asked by some Indians of Pakistanis is "Why did Jinnah not go to jail?" The Pakistani answer is "He was not a criminal" The Indian answer is that he never fought for the freedom of India. There is probably an element of truth in both these versions. jinnah probably felt quite insulted by Nehru and Gandhi, and his aim was to dominate Muslim-space in India. He wanted huge islands of Pakistan within India and if he had his way he would have got a long bridge of Pakistan between West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Because both "India" and "Pakistan" were only represented by British controlled areas, and there were 600 odd princely states in Islands within both these countries, nobody on 15th August 1947 knew exactly how far his country extended, and how many princely states would opt for independence or accede to one or the other state. Worse, even the exact dividing line through the Punjab was not revealed till after 15th August 1947. Nehru on the one hand, and jinnah on the other didn't have a clue about what they were getting. It was only after independence that Jinnah apparently got upset about the "moth eaten" state he got. The anger that Pakistanis have felt against Britain stems from this, and not from any pre-independence animosity making him "fight the British". He did not have to fight the British. shiv
