The
Pakistan Movement or
Tehrik-e-Pakistan (
Urdu:
تحریک پاکستان —
Taḥrīk-i Pākistān) was a historic
political movement that aimed to secede from the
British Empire to form the independent
nation state,
Pakistan, by the union of the
four provinces located in the far region of
Northwestern India.
[1]
The movement was led alongside with the
Indian independence movement
which had the similar views and motives, but the Pakistan Movement seek
towards establishing a nation-state to protect the religious identity
and political interests.
[2] The first organised political movements were in
Aligarh where another
literary movement was led by Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan that built the genesis of the Pakistan movement.
[3] An educational convention held in 1906 with joint efforts of
Syed Ahmad Khan and
Vikar-ul-Haq,
the Muslim reformers took the movement to the political stage in the
form of establishing the mainstream and then newly formed
All-India Muslim League (AIML), with prominent moderate leaders seeking to protect the basic rights of Indian Muslims in the
British India.
[4] During the initial stages of the movement, it adopted the
vision of philosopher
Iqbal after
addressing at the convention of the
AIML's annual session.
[5][6] Muhammad Ali Jinnah's
constitutional struggle further helped gaining public support for the movement in the
four provinces.
[7] Urdu poets such as
Iqbal and
Faiz used literature, poetry and speech as a powerful tool for political awareness.
[8][9][10] Feminists such as
Sheila Pant and
Fatima Jinnah championed the emancipation of
Pakistan's women and their participation in national politics.
[11]
The Pakistan Movement was led by a large and
diversified group of people and their struggle ultimately resulted in
British Empire professing to the
Indian Independence Act 1947, which created the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
[12][13] The Pakistan Movement was a result of a series of social, political, intellectual transformations in the
Pakistani society, government, and ways of thinking.
[14] Efforts and struggles of the
Founding Fathers resulted in the creation of the
democratic and
independent government.
[15] In the following years, another nationally–minded subset went on to established a
strong government, followed by the
military intervention in 1958.
[16] Grievousness and unbalanced economic distribution caused an upheaval which led the
East Pakistan declared independence as the
People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1971.
[17] After a strong concessions and consents reached in 1973, the new
Constitution established a relatively strong government, institutions,
national courts, a
legislature that represented both states in the Senate and population in the National Assembly.
[18][19] Pakistan's
phase shift to republicanism, and the gradually increasing
democracy, caused an
upheaval of traditional social hierarchy and gave birth to the ethic that has formed a core of political values in Pakistan.
[20]
History of the movement
Background
As the
Mughal Empire quickly decline from the
power, the
British Empire expanded quick to gain control of the
subcontinent in 1700s. The economic, social, public, and political influence of
East India Company and the strong military
projection further limited the rule of the last
Mughal emperor,
Bahadur Shah II. In all over the
subcontinent, the
British government took over the state machinery, bureaucracy, universities, schools, and institutions as well establishing its own.
[21] During this time,
Lord Macaulay radical and influential
educational reforms led to the numerous changes to the introduction and teaching of Western languages (e.g.
English and
Latin),
history, and
philosophy.
[22][23] Religious studies,
Arabic,
Turkish, and
Persian languages were completely barred from the state universities. In a short span of time, the
English language had became not only the medium of instruction but also the official language in 1835 in place of
Persian, disadvantaging those who had built their careers around the latter language.
[24]
Traditional
Islamic studies were no longer supported by the
British Crown, and almost all of the
Madrasahs lost their
waqf (lit.
financial endowment.
[25][26] Discontent by these reforms, the Muslim and Hindus initiated the first
rebellion in 1857 which was inverted by the
British forces, followed by final
abdication of last
Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, also the same year. Noting the sensitivity of this
issue,
Queen Victoria removed the
East India Company and consolidated the power by gaining the control of
subcontinent into
British Empire. Directives issues by
Queen Victoria
led to the quick removal Mughal symbols which spawned a negative
attitude amongst some Muslims towards everything modern and western, and
a disinclination to make use of the opportunities available under the
new regime.
[21] This tendency, had it continued for long, would have proven disastrous for the Muslim community.
[21]
In justifying these actions,
Macaulay's notably argument that Sanskrit and Arabic were wholly inadequate for students studying history,
science and technology.
He argued, "We have to educate a people who cannot at present be
educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some
foreign language." The solution was
to teach English.
[27]
Renaissance vision
Eventually, the Muslims barred their children to be educated at the
English universities which had proved to be disastrous for the Muslim
communities. On the other hand, the effects of
Bengali renaissance made
Hindus to be more educated and gained lucrative positions at the
Indian Civil Service; many would ascended to the
British government.
During this time, influential Muslim reformer and educationist,
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan began to argue for the importance of
British education.
[21] Sir Syed was a jurist and a scholar who was
Knighted by the
British Crown for his services to
British Empire. Witnessing this atmosphere of atmosphere of despair and despondency,
Sir Syed launched his attempts to revive the spirit of progress within the Muslim community of
British India.
[21]
At notable Muslim gatherings, he argued that the Muslims, in their
attempt to regenerate themselves, had failed to realize the fact that
mankind had entered a very important phase of its existence— an era of
science and learning.
[21] Despite harsh criticism from the
Islamic orthodoxy,
he helped convince many Muslim communities to realized that the very
fact was the source of progress and prosperity for the British.
[21]
Therefore, modern education became the pivot of his movement for
regeneration of the Indian Muslims. He tried to transform the Muslim
outlook from a medieval one to a modern one.
[21]
In attendance,
Sir Syed advised the Muslim communities to not to participate in politics unless and until they got modern education.
[28] He was of the view that Muslims could not succeed in the field of western politics without knowing the system.
[28] In 1900s, Sir Syed was invited to attend the first convention of
Indian National Congress, and many persuaded him to join the party but he reportedly refused to accept the offer.
[28] Instead, he went onto urged the Muslims to keep themselves away from the
Congress and predicted that this convention would prove to be a pure
Hindu party in the times to come.
[28] In response to this, Sir Syed called in and established the first
All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
where he provided Muslims with a platform on which he could discuss
their political problems. He also became an instrument of leading the
Aligarh Movement to provide Western education to Muslim communities.
[28] This led the establishment of the
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which became pivotal place of providing modern teachings on
science and technology, modern politics,
law and
justice,
literature,
history, and contemporary
arts.
Sir Syed's writings and scholar works played an important role in
popularizing the ideals for which the Aligarh stood whilst also helped
to create cordial relations between the
British Crown and the
Indian Muslims.
[28] One of his biggest achievement was the removal of misunderstandings about
Islam and Christianity.
[28]
It was from this platform that Syed Ahmad Khan strongly advised the
Muslims against joining the Hindu dominated Congress and also promoted
the idea that Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nations. His writings,
arguments, theory, and efforts later conjoined and his idea was now
popular as
"Two-nation theory".
[28] At the time of his death, Sir Syed was now known as father of
"Two-nation theory" and earned the title "Prophet of Education".
[28]
The
Aligarh movement and the
"Two-nation theory" provided the basis of the Pakistan Movement. With the help of
Sir Syed and
Nawab Vakar-ul-Mulk, the
All-India Muslim League (AIML) was founded in 1906, followed by the vision of Sir
Mohammad Iqbal of a homeland for the Muslims floated in 1930, on to the
Pakistan Resolution of 1940, and the League gaining strength to finally attaining a separate homeland for the Muslims of India.
[29]
The
Muslim League Governing Council at the
Lahore session. The woman wearing the black cloak is Muhatarma Amjadi Banu Begum, the wife of
Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, a prominent Muslim League leader. Begum was a leading representative of the
UP's Muslim women during the years of the Pakistan Movement.
[30][31]
Muslims minority
The 1882 Local Self-Government Act had already troubled Syed Ahmed
Khan. When, in 1906, the British announced their intention to establish
Legislative Councils, Muhsin al-Mulk, the secretary of both the
All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
and MAO College, hoped to win a separate Legislative Council for
Muslims by making correspondence to several prominent Muslims in
different regions of the South Asia and organising a delegation led by
Aga Khan III to meet with Viceroy Lord Minto,
[32][33][34][35] a deal to which Minto agreed because it appeared to assist the British
divide and rule strategy.
[citation needed] The delegation consisted of 35 members, who each represented their respective region proportionately, mentioned hereunder.
Nawab Mohsin ul Mulk,(left) who organised the Simla deputation, with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (Centre), Sir Syed's son
Justice Syed Mahmood (extreme right). Syed Mahmood was the first Muslim to serve as a High Court judge in the British Raj.
- Sir Aga Khan III. (Head of the delegation); (Bombay).
- Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk. (Aligarh).
- Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk. (Muradabad).
- Maulvi Hafiz Hakim Ajmal Khan. (Delhi).
- Maulvi Syed Karamat Husain. (Allahabad).
- Maulvi Sharifuddin (Patna).
- Nawab Syed Sardar Ali Khan (Bombay).
- Syed Abdul Rauf. (Allahabad).
- Maulvi Habiburrehman Khan. (Aligarh).
- Sahibzada Aftab Ahmed Khan. (Aligarh).
- Abdul Salam Khan. (Rampur).
- Raees Muhammed Ahtasham Ali. (Lucknow)
- Khan Bahadur Muhammad Muzammilullah Khan. (Aligarh).
- Haji Muhammed Ismail Khan. (Aligarh).
- Shehzada Bakhtiar Shah. (Calcutta).
- Malik Umar Hayat Khan Tiwana. (Shahpur).
- Khan Bahadur Muhammed Shah Deen. (Lahore).
- Khan Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chaudhary. (Memon Singh).
- Nawab Bahadur Mirza Shuja'at Ali Baig. (Murshidabad).
- Nawab Nasir Hussain Khan Bahadur. (Patna).
- Khan Bahadur Syed Ameer Hassan Khan. (Calcutta).
- Syed Muhammed Imam. (Patna).
- Nawab Sarfaraz Hussain Khan Bahadur. (Patna).
- Maulvi Rafeeuddin Ahmed. (Bombay).
- Khan Bahadur Ahmed Muhaeeuddin. (Madras).
- Ibraheem Bhai Adamjee Pirbhai. (Bombay).
- Maulvi Abdul Raheem. (Calcutta).
- Syed Allahdad Shah. (Khairpur).
- Maulana H. M. Malik. (Nagpur).
- Khan Bahadur Col. Abdul Majeed Khan. (Patiala).
- Khan Bahadur Khawaja Yousuf Shah. (Amritsar).
- Khan Bahadur Mian Muhammad Shafi. (Lahore).
- Khan Bahadur Shaikh Ghulam Sadiq. (Amritsar).
- Syed Nabiullah. (Allahabad).
- Khalifa Syed Muhammed Khan Bahadur. (Patna).[36]
For Jinnah, Islam laid a cultural base for an ideology of ethnic
nationalism whose objective was to gather the Muslim community to defend
the Muslim minorities. Jinnah's representation of minority Muslims was
quite apparent in 1928, when in the All-Party Muslim Conference, he was
ready to swap the advantages of separate electorates for a quota of 33%
of seats at the Centre. He maintained his views at the Round Table
Conferences, while the Muslims of Punjab and Bengal were vying for a
much more decentralised political setup. Many of their requests were met
in the 1935 Government of India Act. Jinnah and the Muslim League
played a peripheral role at the time and in 1937 could manage to gather
only 5% of the Muslim vote. Jinnah refused to back down and went ahead
with his plan. He presented the two-nation theory in the now famous
Lahore Resolution in March 1940, seeking a separate Muslim state,
[37][not specific enough to verify]
The idea of a separate state had first been introduced by Allama
Iqbal in his speech in December 1930 as the President of the Muslim
League.
[38]
The state that he visualised included only Punjab, Sindh, North West
Frontier Province (NWFP), and Balochistan. Three years later, the name
Pakistan was proposed in a declaration in 1933 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a
University of Cambridge graduate. Again, Bengal was left out of the
proposal.
[39]
In his book
Idea of Pakistan,
Stephen P. Cohen writes on the influence of
South Asian Muslim nationalism on the Pakistan movement:
[40]
"It begins with a glorious precolonial state empire when the
Muslims of South Asia were politically united and culturally,
civilizationally, and strategically dominant. In that era,
ethnolinguistic differences were subsumed under a common vision of an
Islamic-inspired social and political order. However, the divisions
among Muslims that did exist were exploited by the British, who
practiced divide and rule politics, displacing the Mughals and circumscribing other Islamic rulers. Moreover, the Hindus
were the allies of the British, who used them to strike a balance with
the Muslims; many Hindus, a fundamentally insecure people, hated Muslims
and would have oppressed them in a one-man, one-vote democratic India.
The Pakistan freedom movement united these disparate pieces of the
national puzzle, and Pakistan was the expression of the national will of
India's liberated Muslims."
Political campaigns and support
Punjab
Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Resolution with Jinnah and Liaquat presiding the session.
First Session of All India Jamhur Muslim League
The
Western Punjab had become a major center of activity of the
Muslim League's pushed for Pakistan Movement. On 29 December 1930, Sir
Muhammad Iqbal delivered his monumental presidential address to the All India Muslim League annual session held in Lahore. He said:
[41]
| “ |
I would like to see Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa),
Sindh and Balochistan amalgamated into a single state. Self government
within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation
of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the
final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India. |
” |
On 28 January 1933, Chaudhry
Rehmat Ali, founder of Pakistan National Movement voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled "Now or Never;
[42] Are We to Live or Perish Forever?" The word 'P In a subsequent book Rehmat Ali discussed the etymology in further detail.
[43]
"Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of
letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is,
Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan. It means the land of
the Pure".
In 1940
Muslim League conference in
Lahore
in 1940, Jinnah said: "Hindus and the Muslims belong to two different
religions, philosophies, social customs and literature.... It is quite
clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different
sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes and
different episodes.... To yoke together two such nations under a single
state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must
lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may
be so built up for the government of such a state.",
[44] At Lahore the
Muslim League
formally recommitted itself to creating an independent Muslim state,
including Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, the North West Frontier Province
and Bengal, that would be "wholly autonomous and sovereign". The
resolution guaranteed protection for non-Muslim religions. The
Lahore Resolution, moved by the sitting Chief Minister of Bengal
A. K. Fazlul Huq,
was adopted on 23 March 1940, and its principles formed the foundation
for Pakistan's first constitution. Talks between Jinnah and Gandhi in
1944 in Bombay failed to achieve agreement. This was the last attempt to
reach a single-state solution.
[45]
Partition of Punjab. Religious percentage by Tehsils (1947)
In the 1940s, Jinnah emerged as a leader of the Indian Muslims and was popularly known as
Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader). The
general elections held in 1945 for the
Constituent Assembly of
British Indian Empire, the
Muslim League
secured and won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (and about
89.2% of Muslim votes) on a policy of creating an independent state of
Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was not
granted. The
Congress which was led by
Gandhi and
Nehru remained adamantly opposed to dividing India. The partition seems to have been inevitable after all, one of the examples being
Lord Mountbatten's
statement on Jinnah: "There was no argument that could move him from
his consuming determination to realize the impossible dream of
Pakistan."
[46]
The
Western Punjab was home to a small minority population of Punjabi
Sikhs and
Hindus up to 1947 apart from the Muslim majority.
[47] In 1947, the
Punjab Assembly cast its vote in favor of Pakistan with
supermajority rule, which made many minority
Hindus and
Sikhs migrated to
India while
Muslim refugees from
India settled in the Western Punjab and across
Pakistan.
[48]
Sindh
Main article:
Sindh Assembly
The local leaders and
Sindhi nationalists never submitted to
British crown, and the
Hurs led by Sindhi nationalist,
Pir Pagara-I has fought against the
British forces in 1857.
[49] After
Western Punjab, Sindh had been an influential and ideological place of
Muslim League, since the
Jinnah family were hailed from
Karachi.
[50] When the support for Pakistan Movement reached to
Sindh, it became an important center of activities during the
Khilafat Movement.
[50] These activities led Sindh to be separated from the
Bombay Presidency when the
Muslim League passed a resolution in 1925 urging separation of Sindh.
[50] Furthermore, Sindh was also a birth place of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah who had spent his teenage years in
Karachi.
[49]
A convention held by
Muslim League in 1938, the
Muslim League devised a scheme of constitution under which Muslims may attain full independence.
[49] It was the province of Sindh which first adopted the resolution for an independent Muslim state.
[50] The
Muslim League had secured an exclusive mandate of Sindh during the
general elections held in 1945. The Muslim majority in Sindh was in support of the policy and the programme of the Muslim League as the
Muslim League had good equation with the
Sindhi nationalists.
[50]
Sindhi nationalist leader,
G. M. Syed, who reaffirmed his role as one of the leading figure in the movement.
[49] His role as founding father and key role in the
Muslim League,
G. M. Syed proposed the 1940 Pakistan Resolution in the
Sindh Assembly, which ultimately resulted in the creation of Pakistan.
[50] On 26 June 1947, the special session held in
Sindh Assembly decided to join the new Pakistan Constituent Assembly. Thus, Sindh became the first province to opt for Pakistan.
[50]
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Bacha Khan with Ghandi in 1946.
Unlike
Punjab,
Balochistan, and
Sindh, the
Muslim League had little support in
Khyber–Pakhtunkhwa where
Congress and the
Pashtun nationalist Abdul Ghaffar Khan had considerable support for the cause of the
Independent India.
[51][52] Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also known as
Bacha Khan) initiated a
Khudai Khidmatgar movement and dubbed himself as "Frontier Gandhi" due to his efforts in following in the foot steps of
Gandhi.
[52]
Alongside, another movement, known as
Red Shirts and the people of the
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa interpreted their program in their own way. For
Pashtun intelligentsia, the
Red Shirts political program was based on the promotion of
Pashtun culture and elimination of non-
Pashtun influence in the
their province.
[53] For
Islamic hardliners and
Ulemas, their program was mainly
Anti-British and their
religious stand became a cause of attraction for the poor peasants which meant to check economic oppression of the British appointed
Political Agents.
[53] Furthermore, the strong emphasis on
Pashtun identity created by
Bacha Khan made it extremely difficult for
Muslim League's support for the Pakistan Movement. The
Red Shirts and the
Congress were able to contain the
Muslim League to non-Pashtun regions, such as
Hazara Division and
Attock District.
[53]
The
Red Shirts membership rose to the ~200,000 activists, which shows its fame and popularity.
[53] The
Khudai Khidmatgar,
Red Shirts, and
Bacha Khan himself joined hands with the
Congress against the Pakistan Movement.
[53] During the
1945 general elections, the
Muslim League could only managed to win 17 seats against
Congress who secured 30 seats. The
Muslim League was highly benefited with its activists who played crucial role in gathering support for the Pakistan Movement, specifically
Jalal-u-din Baba, an ethinc Hazara. His strong activism with the
Muslim League captured a strong mandate of
Hazara Division and
Attock District.
[53] Many activists, such as
Roedad Khan,
Ghulam Ishaq,
Sartaj Aziz, and
Abdul Qayyum Khan, helped up lifted the cause and image of the
Muslim League in the province.
[53] Finally, a referendum held in 1947, the people of
FATA and
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cast their vote in favor of Pakistan, despite
Bacha Khan wanting to accede with
India.
[53]
It is well documented when the
Congress accepted the referendum without consulting the
Khudai Khidmatgar, Bacha Khan told the Congress "you have thrown us to the wolves."
[54] The spirit of the
Khudai Khidmatgar movement took its last breath when it was proclaimed as a political party after the creation of Pakistan.
[53] The aims and objectives were changed and gradually people lost their interest in the movement.
[53]
Balochistan
Jinnah meeting with Balochistan's leaders.
The province of
Balochistan had mainly consisted of Nawabs and local princely states, under the
British Indian Empire.
[55] Three of these states willingly joined with Pakistan when the referendum was held in 1947 at the
Balochistan Assembly.
[55] However, the
Khan of Kalat
chose independence as this was one of the options given to all of the
535 princely states (out of which 534 accede with Pakistan) by
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
[56]
However, "Nehru persuaded Mountbatten to force the leaders of the princely states to decide whether to join India or Pakistan",
[56] and hence independence "was not an option".
[56] Nehru later went on to annex other princely states like Hyderabad with military force.
[56] The
Muslim League's Pakistan Movement programme was generally supported by the people of Baluchistan.
[57] One of its leader and founding father of Pakistan,
Jafar Khan Jamali (whose
nephew later became the
Prime Minister of
Pakistan in 2002) was an important and key figure of the
Muslim League.
[57] Jafar Khan Jamali's heavily lobbying for Balochistan to accede with Pakistan highly benefited the
Muslim League.
[57] Another influential Baloch figure was
Akbar Bugti who well received Jinnah who came to visit Balochistan.
[58]
Bugti was a staunch supporter and loaylist of Jinnah who played crucial role in supporting the idea of Pakistan in Baluchistan.
[58] Another young activist,
Mir Hazar, helped initiate student rallies and public support for Pakistan Movement in Balochistan.
[59][60] In 2013,
Mir Hazar Khoso, who noted and described
Jinnah as his inspiration, also became
Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2013.
[59][60] In 1947, the
Balochistan Assembly passed the resolution and cast its vote in favor of Pakistan, with a majority approving the accession with Pakistan.
[55]
Other regions
Although,
Jinnah,
Iqbal and other
Founding Fathers of Pakistan were initially struggling for the independence of
Four Provinces to create a
nation-state,
Pakistan.
[12] The concept and
phenomenon of Pakistan Movement was highly popular in the
East Bengal, which was also the birthplace of the
Muslim League, in 1940s.
[12] The
Muslim League's notable statesman and activists were hailed from the
East Bengal, including
Husyen Suhrawardy,
Nazimuddin, and
Nurul Amin, who later became Prime ministers of Pakistan in the successive periods of Pakistan.
[61] Following the
partition of
Bengal, the violence erupted in the region, which mainly maintained to
Kolkata and
Noakhali.
[62] It is documented by the historians of Pakistan that
Huseyn Suhrawardy wanted
Bengal to be an independent state that would neither join
Pakistan or
India but to be remained unpartitioned.
[63] Despite the heavy criticism from the
Muslim League,
Jinnah realized the validity of
Suhrawardy's argument gave his tacit support to the Bengal's plan for independence.
[64][65][66] However, the plan failed after a successful involvement of
Congress in
Western Bengali; therefore the
Muslim-majority Eastern Bengal was left no choice but to became a part of
Pakistan.
[67]
During the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s,
Rohingya Muslims in western
Burma had an ambition to
annexe and merge their region into
East-Pakistan.
[68] Before the
independence of Burma in January 1948, Muslim leaders from Arakan addressed themselves to
Jinnah, the
founder of Pakistan, and asked his assistance in annexing of the Mayu region to
Pakistan which was about to be formed.
[68] Two months later, North Arakan Muslim League was founded in
Akyab (modern:
Sittwe, capital of Arakan State), it, too demanding annexation to
Pakistan.
[68] However, it is noted that the proposal was never materialised after it was reportedly turned down by
Jinnah.
[68]
In 1947, another armed revolution took place in
Jammu and Kashmir over the issue of referendum to either join India or Pakistan.
[69] Kashmir's
Sikh maharaja,
Hari Singh, fearing the lost of control requested the Indian intervention in Kashmir.
[70] The
conflict remained stalemate as the "
Line of Control" became the permanent border of both countries.
[71] The
Western Kashmir acceded with
Pakistan while the
Eastern Kashmir acceded with
India in 1947–48.
[72]
Conclusion
Muslim nationalism became evident in the provinces where the Muslim
minorities resided as they faced social and political marginalization.
The desire of the significant Muslim minorities to for self-government
and self-determination, became obvious when a clause in the Lahore
Resolution which stated that "constituent units (of the states to come)
shall be autonomous and sovereign" was not respected. The
Two-Nation Theory
became more and more obvious during the congress rule. In 1946, the
Muslim majorities agreed to the idea of Pakistan, as a response to
Congress's one sided policies,
[73][74] which were also the result of leaders like Jinnah leaving the party in favour of
Muslim League,
[75]
winning in seven of the 11 provinces. Prior to 1938, Bengal with 33
million Muslims had only ten representatives, less than the United
Provinces of Agra and Oudh, which were home to only seven million
Muslims. Thus the creation of Pakistan became inevitable and the British
had no choice but to
create two separate nations,
Pakistan and
India, in 1947.
[76][77][78][79]
According to
Pakistan Studies curriculum,
Muhammad bin Qasim is often referred to as the first Pakistani.
[80] Muhammad Ali Jinnah also acclaimed the
Pakistan movement to have started when the first Muslim put a foot in the
Gateway of Islam.
[81]
After the independence, the violence and upheavals continued to be faced by
Pakistan, as
Liaquat Ali Khan becoming the
Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1947.
[82] The
issue involving the equal status of
Urdu and
Bengali languages created divergence in the country's political ideology.
[17] Need for good governance led to the
military take over in 1958 which was followed by rapid
industrialization in 1960s.
[82] Economic grievances and unbalanced financial payments led to a bloody and an
armed struggle of
East Pakistan in 1970s, in which eventually resulted with
East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh in 1971.
[17]
Realizing
the problems and causes of the East Pakistan's separation led another
nationalist subset to work on the more reform constitution that
guaranteed equals rights in the country.
[20] Much of
Islamic texture and
basic rights defined by
Holy Quran were inserted in the
Constitution of Pakistan in 1973; the year when the
Constitution of Pakistan was promulgated.
[20] In the successive periods of
tragedy
of East-Pakistan, the country continued to rebuild and reconstruct
itself in terms constitutionally and its path to transformed into
republicanism.
[14] After 1971 catastrophic episode, Pakistan's
phase shift to parliamentary republicanism and the gradually increasing in
democracy caused an
upheaval of traditional social hierarchy and gave birth to the ethic that has formed a core of political values in Pakistan.
[20] The
XIII amendment (1997) and
XVIII amendment (2010) transformed the country into becoming a
parliamentary republic as well as also becoming a
nuclear power in the
subcontinent.
[19]
Non-Muslims contribution and efforts
Jinnah's vision was supported by few of the Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis,
Jews and Christians that lived in the Muslim dominated regions of
undivided India.
[83][84] Most notable and extremely influential Hindu figure in Pakistan Movement was
Jogendra Nath Mandal from Bengal, and Jagannath Azad from the
Urdu-speaking belt.
[85]
Mandal represented the Hindu representation calling for independent
state of Pakistan, and was one of the Founding-fathers of Pakistan.
[83] After the independence, Mandal was given ministries of
Law,
Justice, and
Work-Force by Jinnah in Liaquat Ali Khan's government.
[83]
He, however, realised his folly in 1950 when thousands of lower caste
Hindus were massacred in East Bengal generating a wave of refugees to
India. He himself fled to India and submitted his resignation to Liaquat
Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The
Christian composition also stood behind Jinnah's vision, playing a pivotal role in the movement.
[86] The notable Christians included
Sir Victor Turner and
Alvin Robert Cornelius.
[87] Turner was responsible for carrying the economic, financial planning of the country, after gaining the independence.
[87] Turner was among one of the founding fathers
[87] of Pakistan, and guided Jinnah and Ali Khan on economic affairs, taxation and to handle the administrative units.
[87] Alvin Robert Cornelius
was elevated as Chief Justice of Lahore High Court bench by Jinnah and
served as Law secretary in Liaquat Ali Khan's government.
[87]
The Hindu, Christian, and Parsi communities had also played their due
role for the development of Pakistan soon after its creation.
[86]
As an example or inspiration
The cause of Pakistan Movement became an inspiration in different
countries of the world. Protection of one's beliefs, equal rights, and
liberty were incorporated in the state's constitution. Arguments
presented by
Ali Mazrui pointed out that the South Sudan's
movement
led to the partition of the Sudan into Sudan proper, which is primarily
Muslim, and South Sudan, which is primarily Christian and animistic.
[88]
Memory and legacy
The Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, Pakistan glances at night.
The Pakistan Movement has a central place in Pakistan's memory.
[89] The founding story of Pakistan Movement is not only covered in the school and universities
textbooks but also in innumerable monuments.
[90] Almost all key events are covered in Pakistan's textbooks, literature, and novels as well.
[90] Thus,
Fourteenth of August is one of major and most celebrated national day in Pakistan.
[91] To many authors and historians, Jinnah's legacy is Pakistan.
[92]
The
Minar-e-Pakistan is a historical place which attracted ten thousand visitors.
[93] The
Minar-e-Pakistan still continues to to project the memory to the people to remember the birth of Pakistan.
[93] Jinnah's estates in Karachi and Ziarat has attracted thousands visitors.
[94]
Historian of Pakistan,
Vali Nasr, argues that the Islamic
universalism had became a main source of Pakistan Movement that shaped patriotism, meaning, and nation's birth.
[95] To many Pakistanis, Jinnah's role is viewed as a modern
Moses-like leader;
[96]
whilst many other founding fathers of the nation-state also occupies
extremely respected place in the hearts of the people of Pakistan.
[97]
Timeline
Notable quotations
- Allama Iqbal
I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind
and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within
the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a
consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the
final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.[100]
- Choudhary Rahmat Ali
At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian
statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that
land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage,
on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in Pakistan –
by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab,
North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and
Baluchistan – for your sympathy and support in our grim and fateful
struggle against political crucifixion and complete annihilation.[39]
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah
It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to
understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not
religious in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different
and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and
Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of
one Indian nation has troubles and will lead India to destruction if we
fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two
different religious philosophies, social customs, literatures. They
neither intermarry nor interdine together and, indeed, they belong to
two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas
and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different. It is
quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans derive their inspiration from
different sources of history. They have different epics, different
heroes, and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of
the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke
together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical
minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent
and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built for the
government of such a state."[101][102]
Leaders and Founding fathers
Salaries in PKR
