What a brilliant day! What a transformational day! What a vision and what a farsightedness! Imagine the adrenaline. Image the excitement. Imagine the brilliance everyone has in his eyes on the occasion of the Pakistan Day. Our founding fathers had charted a course and set out to achieve it – to realize a dream that everyone thought was impossible. The universe clearly saw the resolve and decided to conspire for our Quaid to succeed and succeed he did.

The journey was arduous. It was soaked in blood and sweat but in the end it was well worth it. Freedom – a brand new country – a newly coined nation and Quaid-e-Azam’s great gift – our Pakistan was born. We were free to write a new chapter in history. We were free to ascend to greatness on a course drafted by our Quaid. We were free to become the envy of the planet.

It’s a great story – many millions lost their lives for many more millions to live in dignity – to live in hope and above all to live in peaceful bliss and happiness. This miracle happened because many diverse groups had the resolve to become a nation.

Unfortunately Quaid-e-Azam did not live long enough to take us to the next level. He wanted us to be a peaceful, tolerant and progressive nation. He wanted us to build a welfare state where we ensured dignified survival of the weakest. He wanted us to be strong from within, united under one flag, and confident in our destiny.

Sadly none of this unfolded the way the great Quaid had dreamt. We corroded our systems and tinkered with our democracy. We became the poster child of ‘lost opportunities’. We warped our parliament, our legal system and our laws. We created an extractive society that forgot all about being ‘inclusive’. Our culture, our Sufis, our heritage was lost on the anvil of militancy, corruption and misrule.

Today our nation is under a grave threat. I daresay, that if not dealt with carefully and forcefully, the nation that the Quaid-e-Azam so united faces the potent challenges to its survival. The most alarming of the threats we today face is a threat to our very identity, and our values of pluralism, inclusiveness and peace. It is a threat to our national cohesion. Sadly we had to lose precious lives in thousands, perhaps tens of thousands to get our wake-up call – priceless lives of our policemen, our soldiers and our civilians were sacrificed and the sacrifice continues.

I salute the brave men and women of Pakistan along with our law enforcers and the military for fighting the fight for Pakistan’s true identity, fighting for the Quaid-e-Azam’s vision and ensuring that no one is allowed to tinker with it. This fight and this struggle must continue till we completely weed out terror from our soil and till exploitation of the weak, of the dispossessed and of the voiceless is stopped forever. That is what Jinnah’s vision is all about and that is what defines the ‘soul of Pakistan’.

But I’m upbeat. I’m full of hope and I’m very sure of what needs to be done. It all begins here and now - with a new resolve, with a fresh start, for that’s what March 23rd is all about. It is about making a resolution that is audacious and bold, lofty and difficult. And then it is about proving the cynics wrong. It is all about making the impossible possible. It is about having a laser beam like focus and it is about being tenacious till victory comes our way.

Let us resolve – you and I – that there is no point crying over what’s in the past. Let us do what is best for our society and for our Pakistan.

I cannot do it alone – so from today on it’ll always be ‘you and I’. You keep me on track and I’ll keep reminding you to help me. It is our partnership to build our land.

Let us do what needs to be done. Let us raise the level of our schools. Let us get the hospitals and the public health system streamlined to offer better service to the people. Let us get clean drinking water available on war footing. Let us get the farm-to-market roads built ASAP.

Let us ensure that Metro Buses and Metro trains run well to serve our masses. Let us get the energy crisis resolved. Let us get our computerized land record management system working across the province. Let us transform our police services. They should be there to protect and to serve. Let us revamp our irrigation system and find new ways for our farmers to switch to profitable crops.

Let us collect taxes with greater efficiency and spend the same with greater transparency. Let us make our systems more accountable. Let us learn to conserve water and other precious natural national resources. Let us seriously worry about our exploding population. Let us do something about our youth bulge by harnessing their energy and training them for gainful employment. Let us clean up our rivers and canals and work towards a cleaner, safer environment for our generations to follow. Let us work towards gender empowerment and respect and safety of our minorities.

The good news is that most of what I have written above is already being pursued. Most of the projects are already underway. Most of the reforms are either being implemented or shall soon see the light of day. But this is just the beginning. It is the mere tip of the iceberg – the list of reforms, the list of development required, the list of items, processes and files that need an overhaul is long – very long. We need to collaborate to identify them, prioritize them and then strategically carry out the rebuilding work. ‘You and I’ – remember that – it’ll never be ME alone – for I’m not alone – I have YOU and we all have Allah’s support, for our will is noble and the struggle ahead is worth waging.

On the Pakistan Day, our resolve – mine and yours – is very simple. We are going to think positive, talk positive and act positive. We are going to build our land, brick by brick and we are going to reclaim Quaid-e-Azam’s peaceful, tolerant, progressive, Islamic welfare Pakistan where ‘dignity for all’ will not remain a pipedream.

Naturally it is easier said than done. To realize our dream, we shall all need to work harder and pursue excellence. We shall not settle for less. We shall remain cognizant of the reality that nothing gets done overnight. Nation building is a painstaking process that takes time.

There will be hiccups, impediments and disappointments. When we fall, we shall rise quickly and carry on with Jinnah’s mission. When we feel low, we shall think about Jinnah’s resolve and draw energy from it and when we feel that the finish is still way too far, we shall remember Jinnah’s grand vision and let it guide us along the way.

We must remember that when we talk of realizing our Quaid’s dream, it is a dream for entire Pakistan – about each and every inch of our land – about each and every person who lives here. Every Pakistani is precious and must remain integral to our thought. The world is watching, history is watching and our future generations are watching. There are great expectations of us and we cannot fail. There is no margin for error here.

You and I shall ensure through our hard work that the night of the cynic gives way to the dreamer’s dawn. Darkness is overcome by shining hope and terror is defeated by peace and prosperity – Inshallah.