Ideology of Pakistan
Introduction
The ideology of Pakistan took shape through an evolutionary process. Hazrat Mujadid Alif Sani introduced Hindus and Muslim two nation challenging Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi and Bhakti movement. After that, historical experience provided the base; with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan began the period of Muslim self-awakening; Allama Iqbal provided the philosophical explanation; Quaid-i-Azam translated it into a political reality; and the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, by passing Objectives Resolution in March 1949, gave it legal sanction. It was due to the realization of Muslims of South Asia that they are different from the Hindus that they demanded separate electorates. When they realized that their future in a ‘Democratic India’ dominated by Hindu majority was not safe; they put forward their demand for a separate state.
Quaid-e-Azam and Two Nation Theory
Quaid-e-Azam was a firm advocate of Two Nation Theory which became the ideological basis Pakistan. He considered the Muslims as a separate nation. He said
Pakistan was created the day the first Indian national entered the field of Islam.
He defined the two nation theory as
The Muslims are a nation by every right to establish their separate homeland. They can adopt any means to promote and protect their economic social, political and cultural interests.
In his address on 23rd March, 1940 - Pakistan Resolution and the historic session of the Muslim League at Lahore , he said
The Musalmans are not a minority. They are a nation by any definition. By all canons of International law we are a nation.
In his presidential address at the annual session of Muslim League at Lahore in 1940, he said
India is not a nation, nor a country. It is a Sub-Continent of Nationalities, Hindus and Muslims being the two major nations. The Hindus and Muslims belongs to two different religions, philosophies, social customs and literature. They neither intermarry nor interline and they belong to two different civilization which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspects on life and of are different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of history.
While addressing the students of Muslim University on March 08, 1944, he said
Hindus and Muslims through living in the same town and villages, had never been blended into one nation. They were always two separate entities.
Ideology of Pakistan in the light of Statements of Allama Iqbal
Allama Iqbal, the poet, philosopher and a great thinker with the help of his poetry tried to awaken the Muslims of the sub-continent. He believed in the separate identity of Muslims as a nation.
In 1930, Allama Iqbal presented his mature political opinion on the political fate of Indian Muslims in his presidential address at Allahabad at the annual session of Muslim League. He said
I am fully convinced that the Muslims of India will ultimately have to establish a separate homeland as they could not live with the Hindus in the United States.
He as of the view that with religious differences Hind-Muslim unity is impossible, as he depicted this view in his poetry saying
“Qaum Hy Mazhab Se Mazhab Jo Nahi Tum Bhi Nahi
Jazb-e-Baham Jo Nahi, Mehfil-e-Anjum Bhi Nahi!!!!”
He also said
India is a continent of human beings belonging to different races, speaking different languages and professing different religions....., I, therefore demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim state in the best interest of India and Islam.
He has followed this statement and explored the relation of Deen and Politics in these words in his poetry
“Jalal-e-Padshahi Ho Keh Jamhoori Tamasha Ho
Juda Ho Deen Siyassat Se To Reh Jati Hy Changezi”
He stressed on the formation of a separate State by saying
I would like to see the Punjab, North West Frontier Province, 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 India Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims at least of North West India.
Conclusion
Some Indian historians has criticized the Two Nation Theory as depicted by Allama Iqbal, Quaid-e-Azam and other Muslim reformers and leaders but its still alive.
Had there been no Two Nation Theory today, the issues like Kargil, nuclear arms race, and tension on the borders would have never risen. The basic conflict between India and Pakistani nation is still the same. Indians believe in nationality based on territory and therefore want to merge Pakistan back into India. While Pakistanis have been fighting for the last 52 years, to safeguard the Land which they got in the name of Islam. The Kashmir issue, if alive even after 52 years, in spite of India utmost effort to crush the lovers of freedom, is crystal clear proof of the reality of the Two Nation Theory.
It should be understood that the creation of Pakistan was not the result of an accident but it had a meaning. The meaning of Pakistan wasto have a separate homeland for the Muslims of Indo-Pakistan to have a better living according to Quran and Sunnah as in 1946, Quaid-e-Azam declared it also
'We do not demand Pakistan simply to have a piece of land but we want a laboratory where we could experiment on Islamic principles.
(Address on 18th June 1945)