Comprehension (A)
In addressing you I am not here speaking to you as Head of the State, but as a friend, and as one who has always held you in affection. Many of you have today got your diplomas and degrees and I congratulate you. Just as you have won the laurels in your University and qualified yourselves, so I wish you all success in the wider and larger world that you will enter. 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. What is now required of us all is constructive spirit and not the militant spirit of the days when we were fighting for our freedom. It is far more difficult to construct than to have a militant spirit for the attainment of freedom. It is easier to go to jail or fight for freedom than to run a Government. Let me tell you something of the difficulties that we have overcome and of the dangers that still lie ahead. Thwarted in their desire to prevent the establishment of Pakistan, our enemies turned their attention to finding ways and means to weaken. and destroy us. Thus, hardly had the new State come into being when came the Punjab and Delhi holocaust. Thousand of men, women and children were mercilessly butchered and millions were uprooted from their homes.
Questions:
i. What is the overall message of the passage, and can you provide a title for each paragraph?
ii. Interpret the expressions "shackles of slavery" and "militant spirit" as used in the passage.
iii. How does the passage emphasize the responsibility that comes with freedom, and what does the author suggest about the behavior of individuals in the newly independent state?
iv. What perspective on freedom and responsibility does the author present in the passage?
v. What is the main theme of the passage, and how does it relate to the historical context of the birth of Pakistan?
vi. In what ways does the author stress the importance of a constructive spirit and disciplined unity in the post-independence era?
