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The speech, made in Karachi in 1947, set out Jinnah’s vision for a democratic, tolerant and well-governed democracy, but was largely ignored by his successors, especially its late dictator General Zia ul Haq, who “Islamicised” the country in the late 1970s.
Recordings of the speech were made and kept by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation but were later destroyed.
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation’s director has now appealed to his Indian counterpart at All-India Radio for a copy of one of the last surviving tape recordings.
Its director-general Murtaza Solangi wrote to AIR, explaining that Pakistan no longer has an audio recording of the speech, which the country’s liberals regard as a source of hope for the future.
“This speech is very important for people who want to direct the country to the goal of a modern, pluralistic, democratic state,” he told an Indian news group.
LD Mandloi, of All India Radio confirmed the approach from the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and said his colleagues were trying to locate the tapes. He told The Daily Telegraph he would need approval from the government before handing over a copy.
Mr Jinnah’s speech reassured Pakistan’s minorities that: “You are free to go to your temples; free to go to your mosques, or any other place of worship in this Pakistan you may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”
But after his death Pakistan was declared an Islamic republic in 1956 and later under General Zia ul Haq’s military dictatorship Sharia law was introduced and Christians, Hindus, Parsees, Sikhs, Shia and Ahmadiya Muslims all faced persecution and violence.
The late minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was assassinated last year for his campaign to overturn the country’s blasphemy law, which is used to intimidate non-Muslims in the country.