Pakistan Resolution: From concept to reality

Pakistan Resolution: From concept to reality

By Khwaja Razi Haider

It is a historical fact that after the events of 1857 and the subsequent consolidation of the British Raj in India, the political thinkers and intellectuals of the Sub-continent started to think about the political, religious cultural and social future of India. As a result, many ideas, plans, proposals and schemes were put forward for the partition of India and the formation of a separate Muslim state. Apart from indigenous proposals, British parliamentarians, writers and others were also thinking in terms of the bifurcation of India.

The first such scheme for the partition or division of India was voiced by a British Parliamentarian John Bright in June 1858. Addressing the House of Commons he suggested "five or six large presidencies with complete autonomy, ultimately becoming independent States." After two decades, in December 1877, he again reiterated that "he is seeing several independent and sovereign states in India when British withdrawal had been affected."

After 1857, since the Muslims of India were grossly marginalised in the social, religious and political fields, they were not inclined to accept the demand for partition of India into two independent and autonomous states. Although the actual struggle for the establishment of a proposed Muslim state started in March 1940 from the platform of the All India Muslim League (AIML), it nonetheless has a long historical background. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the first Muslim thinker who stressed that Hindus and Muslims are two different nations, hence any attempt to fuse them into one nation would fail. Accordingly in 1867, before the Divisional Commissioner of Banaras, he very clearly said "I am convinced both these nations will not join whole heartedly in any thing. At present, there is no hostility between the two communities, but on account of the so-called educated it will increase immediately in future. He who lives will see." After the establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885, his conviction became firmer when he said "Indian National Congress is a Hindu organisation and it can not provide safeguard to the interests of Muslims."

Although Sir Syed Ahmad Khan did not present in principle, any plan or proposal for the partition of India, yet he provided a basis to the Indian Muslims for thinking about their future.

From to 1940, more than one hundred proposals and schemes for the partition of India were presented by different quarters. In these proposals, the principal of partition was presented mostly on administrative and communal grounds; however, these proposals not only popularised but also paved the way for the vivid description and elucidation of the Two Nation Theory.

It is amazing that the first scheme for the partition of India was presented by John Bright in 1858, a Britisher. On the 4th of June 1858, while participating in a discussion in the British Parliament concerning the Government of India, he was of the opinion, "A great country like India cannot be administered by Britain for a long time, one day we will have to let them rule. Hence it is necessary to abolish the Governorship and instead of keeping a colony, and for administrative purposes, India should be divided into five presidencies." It is however strange that in 1947, the last scheme after some 90 years, was also presented by Viceroy Lord Mountbatten- a British.

In 1887, Theodore Beck, educated at Cambridge and the Principal of M. A. O. College at Aligarh, after reviewing the political and social condition of India observed that "Muslims are a separate nation, rule of majority is impossible; Muslims will never agree to be ruled by the Hindu majority."

The second scheme for the partition of India was proposed by a renowned Muslim Scholar Jamaluddin Afghani who in 1879, proposed a broader Muslim state. He was of the opinion that there should be a Muslim State incorporating the north-west Muslim majority provinces of India, Afghanistan and Muslim Central Asia.

During the tenure of Viceroy Lord Ripon, in 1883 a British writer Wilfred Scawen Blunt, visited India and held negotiations with different leaders. He wrote in his book Ideas about India that "practically India is to be divided as such that all Northern provinces under the Muslim Government while the South provinces under a Hindu government".
A great Muslim journalist and novelist Maulana Abdul Haleem Sharar, after analysing the deteriorating conditions of the Indian Muslims and the chances of future Hindu-Muslim riots, felt that if the current problems were to be solved, the partition of India was a must.

In 1899, another British intellectual and the principal of MAO College Aligarh, Theodore Morison proposed that the only solution to the Indian political uncertainty was to centralise the Indian Muslims in one province or tract of the country, for instance, the north of India from Peshawar to Agra.

From 1899 to 1913, no clear proposal for the partition of India came out, although some political and communal incidents and events took place which strengthened the faith of the Muslims in the Two Nation Theory. Amidst all this, the Governor of United Provinces Sir Anthony MacDonald's order to replace Urdu as the official language was a main event which permitted the use of the Devnagri language in place of Persian and Urdu in government offices. This order was very perturbing for the Muslims of India. At this stage a companion of Sir Syed, Nawab Mohsinul Mulk founded the Urdu Defence Council and protested against the Governor's order. In 1901, another organisation was formed by Nawab Wiqarul Mulk named "Mohammadan Political Organisation"; the main objective of the organisation was to voice the Muslim grievances and demands before the Indian Government. In the same year Viceroy Lord Curzon after bifurcating Punjab established northern frontier area as a province.

But the most shocking event was revealed on October 16, 1905, when Lord Curzon decided to divide the province of Bengal into two. This was a blessing for the Muslims of India but was against the interests of the Hindus.

In 1906, the All India Muslim League (AIML) came into being. In 1908, the Muslims of India achieved more successes through the efforts of AIML; with the help of new reforms, the right for separate electorate for the Muslims was accepted.

The Minto-Morley Reforms in 1909 ensured that the Muslims would be free to choose their own candidates. According to the same reforms, the Administrative Council of Viceroy was expanded and changed into Imperial Legislative Council. Almost simultaneously, on December 12, 1911, at his coronation ceremony, King George V announced the cancellation of the division of Bengal. This was a painful moment for the Muslims, while the Hindus who were continuously raising voices against this decision, celebrated joyously. These events forced the Muslims of India to struggle for their rights as a separate community.

On 10th May, 1913, a newspaper called Comrade published a comic column written by a journalist named Wilayat Ali Bambooq where he said, "to solve the Hindu-Muslim problem, Hindus and Muslims must be separated from each other. North India must be handed over to Muslims, while the rest may be handed over to Hindus".

From 1913 to June 1917 five proposals came out about India's constitutional and administrative future but in September 1917 the two Khairi Brothers, Abdul Jabbar and Abdul Sattar, played a prominent role in advancing the idea of a Muslim state in India.
During the period 1913 to 1917, a vital change occurred in the political scenario of the Sub-continent through the efforts of M A Jinnah, who was actively participating in politics from the platform of the Indian National Congress and the Legislative Council. He joined the AIML in 1913 and made efforts to create communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. He was gaining popularity on both sides but some ideologies were not in favour of Jinnah's efforts.

In 1918, Sir Aga Khan in his book "India in Transition" proposed a plan of a huge federation of South Asia with India as its nucleus and centre.

From 1919 to 1923, some other politicians and social scientists proposed schemes. Prof. Muhammad Sarwar in his book Afadat wa Malfuzat-i-Hazrat Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, wrote that in 1924 an anti-British personality Ubaidullah Sindhi in his manifesto issued from Istanbul in 1924, observed that each region of India was to be called "Swarajiya Republic" and the collection (India) was to be known as the Indian Federal Swarajiya Republican State". The Federal Capital was to be at Delhi.

Apart from Sindhi's observation, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a renowned poet and politician was the first Indian who moved a resolution demanding, "Complete independence" for India from the Congress platform during its 1920 annual session and again in his presidential address delivered before the ML's annual session at Ahmadabad in Dec 1921. Three years later, Maulana Hasrat presented a slightly amended proposal in his meeting with the Hindu leaders in 1924. Mohani proposed his scheme on two grounds: that no country could be really free under dominion status and that the Muslims would receive a better deal under the independent Federal structure. In the same year Lala Lajpat Rai a Congress leader, founder of the Hindu Mahasabha and a journalist, wrote several articles on the Hindu-Muslim problem and on Pan-Islamism.

In May 1925, Khilafat leader Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, while commenting on Sardar Gul Khan's proposal in his journal Comrade, said "Muslims have no desire to rule over Hindu areas". Maulana Muhammad Ali never gave any concrete suggestion about the partition of India but from his writings and speeches it is indicated that he had a very clear idea about the partition of India.

Apart from Patric Fagan's assumption that Muslims will fight for their domination in north India, few other opinion came forward in 1925 which are on record. In the same year some teachers and students of the Aligarh Muslim University prepared a scheme of partition in which they suggested that India should be rearranged on the basis of a new theory of nationality. The scheme was published in the form of a pamphlet and distributed on the occasion of jubilee celebration of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Journalist Murtaza Ahmad Khan Maikash, Syed Sardar Ali Khan and Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Sir Ross Masud also presented their proposals but all were superseded by the proposal made by Allama Iqbal in his presidential address. Allama Iqbal proposed that "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh, 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 appears to me to be he final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India." In the same address, Iqbal also said "the principal of European democracy can not be applied to India without recognising the fact of communal groups. The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is, therefore, perfectly justified" The proposal of Iqbal was not only welcomed by the Muslim circles but also gained popularity and importance even in non-Muslim circles.

In 1933, a very thought provoking declaration was made by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a student of Cambridge University. After passing the examination of Law, during the Round Table Conferences in January 1933, Rahmat Ali issued a declaration entitled "Now or Never: Are we to live or perish forever?" In his declaration, Rahmat Ali demanded a Muslim homeland. The homeland of the Muslims of the Sub-continent was named in the first sentence of the declaration as 'Pakistan', according to which "…we mean the five Northern units of India, viz., Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan." Choudhary Rahmat Ali's proposal embodied in his declaration, gained significance and importance due to two reasons: first, he issued this declaration at a time when the Round Table Conferences were in session in London; second, that Rahmat Ali was the only person who suggested a name "Pakistan" for his proposed Muslim homeland. After Rahmat Ali's declaration, a flood of opinions and suggestions burst forth in India and internationally. The word "Pakistan" became immensely popular.

In August 1933, the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee of British Empire discussed the said declaration with the visiting deputation of the Indian Muslims. From 1933 to 1936, no clear proposal came forward.

In April 1934, Jinnah was elected the president of the AIML again. He reorganised the League with the purpose to participate in the elections which were due to be held under the India Act of 1935.At this crucial stage Allama Muhammad Iqbal extended his full support to Jinnah. During 1936 and 1937 he was in touch with Jinnah and was continuously writing to him on the issues which the Muslim India was facing. In his letter on 28, May 1937, Iqbal commenting and elucidating the seriousness of the Muslim India's situation wrote that to solve these problems it is necessary to redistribute the country and to provide one or more Muslim states with absolute majorities. 1937 to early 1940 were the years when many a proposal, suggestion, scheme and observation came forward about the partition of India on Hindu Muslim basis from all the corners of the country.

1940 was the landmark of the demand for partition because in that year AIML in its annual session held in March 1940 at Lahore in the supreme leadership of the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah presented its separate Muslim homeland plan. The plan was embodied in a resolution, which was initially called Lahore Resolution, which later became famous as Pakistan Resolution. The entire struggle of All India Muslim League after March 1940 was concentrated around this Resolution till the creation of Pakistan in August 1947.

Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Professor Sharif al Mujahid and K K Aziz in their research work summarised these proposals and schemes with authentic sources and came to the conclusion that the historic Pakistan Resolution was not the end but the beginning which led to the creation of Pakistan.

--The author is Acting Director, Quaid-i-Azam Academy, Karachi