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World desk3 min

Finding the Mahatma in a Divided Pakistan

Gandhi’s legacy in Pakistan spans local memory, literature and political disagreement. Hasan Mujtaba’s essay explores why he remains both remembered and contested.

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Gandhi’s place in Pakistani memory is neither simple veneration nor outright rejection. Hasan Mujtaba’s October 2, 2026 Hindustan Times opinion essay describes a layered legacy: his name and nonviolence endure in local memory and literature, even as his opposition to Partition and Pakistan’s nation-building narratives can leave him less visible in mainstream accounts.

Why Gandhi’s place in Pakistan is complicated

Mujtaba begins with a personal observation: he says he had not heard Pakistanis speak disparagingly of Gandhi, while acknowledging that critical views exist. That is anecdotal framing, not a measure of public opinion. His broader argument is that Gandhi remains a complicated presence in Pakistan’s historical, political and literary memory.

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The tension is political as well as cultural. Mujtaba says Gandhi opposed the creation of Pakistan, and connects that position to his limited prominence in mainstream Pakistani textbooks. He argues that a national identity shaped in opposition to India helps explain the omission. The essay does not establish how often Gandhi appears in textbooks across Pakistan; that would require checking specific national and provincial curricula and editions.

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Local names and memories keep Gandhi present

The essay’s examples suggest how local memory can preserve a name or honorific even when official narratives give it less emphasis. They are reported perspectives, not evidence of how widely these names are used.

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  • Karachi’s “Gandhi Garden”: Mujtaba reports that the former name for the city’s zoo persists in popular memory despite an official name change. He attributes the observation to poet Aijaz Mangi.
  • “Frontier Gandhi”: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan, is referred to as “Frontier Gandhi” or “Sarhadi Gandhi” in the essay.
  • “The Gandhi of the Thar”: Mujtaba uses this honorific for social worker Miskeen Jahan Khan Khoso, attributing the example to Neel Kanth.

The essay does not independently document the prevalence of the Karachi name or the biographical details behind the Khoso example, so these are best understood as Mujtaba’s reported local perspectives.

Admiration and criticism coexist

Mujtaba describes reverence for Gandhi among followers of G.M. Syed and Bacha Khan, while also recounting criticism of Gandhi’s Hindu religious language. The essay contrasts that language with the stance it attributes to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and notes the high regard it says Gandhi received from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. It also cites leftist scholar Rasool Bakhsh Palijo’s argument that Gandhi’s religious idiom provoked Jinnah. These are interpretations presented in an opinion essay, rather than a settled account demonstrated there.

Literature offers another register of remembrance. The essay mentions Sindhi poet Shaikh Ayaz’s collection Raaj Ghat Tay Chand, rendered in the article as Moon over Raj Ghat. In this cultural frame, Gandhi can be a spiritual or poetic figure as well as a contested political symbol.

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What Gandhi said about visiting Lahore in 1947

At a September 23, 1947 prayer meeting, Gandhi spoke of wanting to go to Punjab and Lahore without a police or military escort. Gandhi Bhavan Bengaluru’s transcript records him saying: “I want to go with faith and trust in the Muslims there.” A fuller version in the Collected Works text reads:

“I want to go to the Punjab. I want to go to Lahore. I do not want to go with any police or military escort. I want to go alone, depending only on God. I want to go with faith and trust in the Muslims there. Let them kill me if they want. I would die smiling, and silently pray that God should be kind to them.”

The passage conveys Gandhi’s stated trust and his opposition to communal killing in that moment; it does not by itself describe how Pakistanis broadly viewed him.

The asset-transfer claim needs careful attribution

Mujtaba’s essay says Gandhi pressed for Pakistan to receive 550 million rupees in assets. The figure is the essay’s report; the sources cited here do not independently verify the payment or its official record. It is therefore more accurate to attribute the claim to Mujtaba than to present the amount as independently established.

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What the essay’s examples show—and what they do not

Together, the reported place name, honorifics, literary references and Lahore speech illustrate why Gandhi’s legacy cannot be reduced to a single national verdict. His opposition to Pakistan’s creation sits alongside his words on trust across religious lines and the continuing local and cultural uses of his name. Mujtaba’s account offers a way to understand that tension, not a survey of Pakistani opinion or a comprehensive measure of textbook coverage.

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