THIS is apropos of Ardeshir Cowasjee’s article ‘Winding down’ (Dec 25).

Mr Cowasjee’s writings take the reader back in time to discover the persona of the founder of Pakistan, Mr Jinnah, in particular and revisit the era in general when Pakistan was getting ready for a journey full of hope and full of optimistic and anticipated prosperity.

His thoughts, his arguments, his rhetoric and all of his views clearly and most precisely reflected Jinnah and his team of leaders we miss in today’s Pakistan.

Mr Jinnah’s famous words: ‘Religion has nothing to do with the business of the state’ were an integral part of Cowasjee’s articles and I have been reading these words, repeated in most of his articles. However, the present ground reality certainly does not even come close to what Jinnah wished about Pakistan and its governance, thanks to our rulers, uniformed and un-uniformed alike.

Cowasjee shared his knowledge with his readers through his articles in Dawn and like me many readers have benefited with the knowledge he imparted in these articles using historic references.

‘Pakistanis do not learn from history’ published this year reflected his growing frustration with our leaders and there was little to disagree as to what he had to say.

I am hopeful we will still be able see his contributions off and on in Dawn as someone who writes driven by passion can stop for a while but cannot stop forever.

ANAS A. KHAN Canada