Role of Press in the Pakistan Movement

The importance of Press in an independent society cannot be underestimated.

The journalists and the Press play a significant role especially during the freedom movements and national struggle.

The Press is moreover A powerful agent influencing public opinion and mustering support for public or political movement.

In 1858, Queen Victoria declared India as a colony and the Police Act of 1861 was introduced for the people of India as the slaves of the colony.

This created a sense of inferiority among the people and they got the idea that they are under a constant suppression.

Consequently, the tone and style of Muslims journalism, after the War of 1857, remained soft, and the attitude compromising.

Most of the newspapers were busy in projecting the western arts and sciences and ways of life.

There were some newspapers, however, which continued criticising the policies of the government and expressed their own point of view about the affairs of the country.

Some newspapers movingly portrayed the picture of Muslim suffering under the British rule.
They also tried to arouse and develop political and national consciousness amongst the Muslims.

Credit goes to the great leaders Sir Syed Ahmad Khan for publishing the periodicals Scientific Society and Tahzibul-Akhlaq to educate the Muslims and to train them for the struggle for survival.

Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq was monthly magazine .

These magazines were the torch bearers of his movement and representative of his policies.
Through these, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wanted to apprise the government of the problems and difficulties of the Indian and the same time

He wished to create political consciousness amongst his countrymen and introduce to them the new system of government.

Besides, he also aimed at giving a new line of thought and action to the Muslim.

It is interesting to note that in the beginning, Sir Syed’s ideas could not attract to common Muslims.

But slowly and gradually their influence penetrated into a limited receptive circle.
The Tahzibul-Akhlaq exhorted the Muslims to accept that was good and attractive in European norms and way of life.

In the mean while Sir Syed Ahmed Khan started reformation and he assured the people that suppression could be ended by just getting modern education and Muslims were not in a position to afford any conflict with the rulers.

On the other hand, he assured Englishmen that Muslims were not only responsible for revolt but it was done by all the natives collectively so to target Muslims was not the best idea.

Sir Syed was not a professional journalist but he used print media to educate people.

Some contemporary newspapers also tried to follow in the footsteps of the Tahzibul-Akhlaq.

Agra Akhbar was the most dauntless amongst them which tried to kindle the fire of freedom in the garb of a newspaper.

The contemporary newspapers like Dabdaba-i-Sikandari and Manshur-i-Muhammadi were notable for countering propaganda of the Christian missionaries in the subcontinent.

Some newspapers were keeping a regular touch with the world of Islam and preached the of Muslims brotherhood.

Abdul Halim Sharar (Muhazzab in 1890)

After Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the outstanding person who used the press as a source of propagating his ideas was Abdul Halim Sharar.

He tried to awaken the Muslims out of Political lethargy through his journals.

His distinguished publication in this respect was Muhazzab Abdul Halim Sharar was a strong exponent of a separate political entity of the Indian Muslims and wanted to keep away from the Congress.

In an editorial of Muhazzab in 1890, he presented in idea of the division of the sub-continent which was, in his opinion, the only solution of Hindu-Muslim problem.

It was a novel idea and was presented in the Indian press for the first time.

The twentieth century press concentrated on the politics of the country.
The newspapers and journals represented the sentiments and thoughts of the people during the stormy period of political movements and disturbances in the country.

In the beginning of the 20th century. The Comrade of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Al-Hilal of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Zamindar of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan provided an outlet for the Muslim sentiments

During the stormy days of Khilafat Movement these journals and newspapers took the Indian Muslim by storm and stirred the Indian politics.

• Despite, the punishments Muslims continued to work for presented and adopted a bold stance in print media.

• Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar and Maulana Hasrat Mohani were the famous names of that era.

• These people never cared about the ferocious laws of British Government and they continued their work.

• Zimindar that was published by Maulana Zafar Khan faced several time bans but it continued to print and gained much popularity among people.

• This brave stance of Journalism in the history of Print Media of Sub-continent is knows as Militant Journalism.



Maulana Muhammad ali Jauhar published two newspapers, the Comrade in English and Hamdard in Urdu.

The Comrade was started on January 1, 1911, from Calcutta.

“Maulana Muhammad Ali had the pen of Macaulay, the tongue of a Burke and heart of Napolean”.

He had “marvellous command over the English language.

Thus, Maulana Muhammad ali Jauhar, with the help of a talented band of youngmen, gave Muslim India the best weekly it ever had.
From the date of its first appearance, the Comrade was looked upon as the mouthpiece of the grievances of the Muslims and voice of their aspiration.

“Throughout its existence. The Comrade rendered yeoman service to the cause of socio-economic and political advancement of the Muslims of Indian in particular, and to the cause of India in general, by attacking the anti-Indian attitude both of the bureaucracy and of the British Government.

” The Comrade played an important role in formulating the political policy of Muslim India.

The Comrade did not start with any bitterness towards the British Government, but certain event had taken place, to wit, he annulment of the partition of Bengal and political tension generated by the Tripoli and Balkan Wars which affected it attitude.

Before long, there were a few other causes which fed the fires of hatred between the rulers and the Indian Muslims.

Controversy about the Muslim University was one; and before it died down.

There was a serious trouble at Cawnpur after the demolition of the portion of a mosque.

All these event went a long way to change the attitude of The Comrade towards the Government.

When the first world war started, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar in an editorial in The Comrade, under the caption, “Choice of the Turks”, supported the cause of Turkey in the Balkan war.

The editorial was indigestible to the British rulers and eventually the security of The Comrade and its Urdu counterpart Hamdard was declared forfeited to the Government and Ali Brothers were interned under the Defence of India ordinance.

The Hamdard also earned a great reputation in Urdu medium newspapers and had a respectable place in the Indian press, but it could not continue for a long time.

Al-Hilal by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Al-Hilal was founded, edited and published by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Its first issue appeared on 13 July 1912, and was well-timed in the contemporary political atmosphere.
The annulment of the partition of Bengal had compelled the Muslims to abandon the policy of political quietism and reliance on the government.

Al-Hilal generally published serious articles and religious literature.
A substantial portion of al-Hilal was devoted to photographs and article on Turkey.
The Muslim leaders differed with political vies of Azad.
He was not in favour of a separate platform for the Indian Muslims.
He as against the division of India and opposed to be creation of Pakistan. The period of Azad’s career as a journalist came to an end after three and half years.
In 1914, the First World War started, and on account of certain pro-German articles the security of al-Hilal was forfeited, and it was asked to deposit another sum of Rs. 10,000 which brought its publication to an end.
Although its political views were controversial yet its contribution in the field of religion was remarkable.
Maulana Azad started another weekly, Al-Bilagh.
This also came to an end in 1916 when the Maulana was externed from Bengal.


Zamindar

The most important Urdu newspaper published from Lahore was the Zamindar.
It was edited by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan.

He was an eminent scholar who command mastery on prose and poetry.
His writings filled the hearts of the Muslim community with religious enthusiasm and a devotion to an independent homeland.

Zamindar, in fact, was symbol of the idea of Pakistan and it waged a fierce battle against Hindu domination and British imperialism.

Zamindar strongly supported the League’s demand for Pakistan and its objectives.

It was considered to be a “naked sword” for the Hindu and the British.

Zamindar succeeded to bring about a revolution among the Muslim masses add motivated them to achieve their cherished goal-Pakistan.

Muslim Press in 1940s

Towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century the Hindu newspapers, novels and other writings were concentrating on Hindu revivalism and fanning the flames of Hindu-Muslim antagonism.

These activities of Hindu press provoked the Muslims.

With the advent of the Congress rule in various provinces under Government of India Act 1935, they had sustained atrocious Congress injustice, which was later catalogued in the Pirpur Report.

The comments of the Pirpur Report on the congress oppression, even in more lurid and gruesome details, were published in the Dawn and Manshoor under a series of articles captioned
‘It Shall Never Happen Again’.

“They described how the Muslims were forbidden from eating beef, their prayer meetings were disturbed and sometimes attacked and desecrated, and how Muslims suffered a much heavier toll of life and property in the riots that took place during the two and half years of Congress administration”.
There was a marked change from appeasement to resistance in the Muslim mood henceforth,

which could be seen in the Muslim newspapers, Confident defiance in the attitude of Bengali Muslims was growing into an open challenge.

Quaid-e-Azam after Pakistan Resolution paid special attention to print media and he published Dawn from Delhi that was later shifted to Karachi after communal violence.

• Similarly the Urdu daily ‘Manshoor’ and weekly ‘Aaj- Kal’ were printed in the same age.

• In the same era Jang from Delhi started to publish and Nawa-i-Waqat and ‘Inqalab’ from Lahore.


• In 1937, Progressive Papers Ltd started Pakistan Times in Lahore by Mian Iftikhar.


• All these above newspapers played a vital role in awakening people for the struggle of Pakistan as a homeland where Muslims can save themselves from cultural eclipse of the dominating Hindu majority.

Nawa-i-Waqt by Hameed Nizami

It is the name of a powerful and prestigious daily newspaper in Urdu which played a dynamic role in the Pakistan Movement.

The Nawa-i-Waqt had a character of its own.

The first issue was dated 29 March 1940.

The Muslim press in the Punjab, with the exception of the daily Ehsan, was under the firm control of the Unionist Party.

The British and Hindu Press had launched a campaign of malicious propaganda against the Muslims community and its leadership.

The Nawa-i-Waqt very successfully defused all these baseless fabrications, and Hameed Nizami had to work immensely hard on this front.
Hameed Nizami, the young and daring journalist, with his powerful pen and style tackled the situation valiantly.

He wrote very argumentative and lucid prose which instantly convinced the readers and cast a great impact on their views.
It was the mouthpiece of the younger generations which had been inspired by Iqbal:

for all practical purpose it was the organ of the Muslim League.

It published poems and article in support of the demand for Pakistan and became a powerful factor in forming public opinion in the Punjab”.

The role of Nawa-i-Waqt and its editor Hameed Nzami was no doubt without parallel as it gave voice to the Muslim community which was formerly fighting for rights, guarantees and safeguards in united India.

Dawn

The daily Dawn was published from Delhi.

It was founded by the Quaid-i-Azam to meet the dire need of an English daily which could act as a powerful organ of the League as

“the Hindu press had not left any gun in its armoury unfired at the Muslims”.

It was edited by Altaf Hussain who was a prolific writer.

Dawn, which had captured, substantial Muslim readership throughout the north and the adjoining Muslim areas,

began to grow stronger and stronger with he passage of each month.

There was no looking back until partition compelled a shift from Daryaganj, old Delhi, to Karachi.

But as we all know, before the machinery and records could be brought over, the office and printing press of Dawn were burnt and destroyed by Hindu and Sikh hooligans.

So what was actually brought over were the name Dawn, the editor, Altaf Hussain, a cheque book of an Indian bank at Delhi where the funds of Dawn lay frozen”.

The other centres of Muslim journalism included Sindh, the N.W.F.P. and Baluchistan, al-Wahid was published in Sindh.

In the N.W.F.P., a good number of journalists made an excellent contribution to strengthen the Pakistan Movement.

The weekly al-Islam was published from Queetta. It was founded by Qazi Muhammad Isa and edited by Maulana Abdul Karim who was a well known religious scholar.

The objective of al-Islam was to apprise the Muslim of Baluchistan of the message of Muslim League.

Another weekly newspapers Tanzim was also published from Queeta under the patronage of Sardar Mir Ja’far Khan Jmali.


Conclusion
The Muslim Press and newspapers were, no doubt, quite alert and active on their respective fronts.

They were engaged in a continuous fierce battle against the League’s opponents and successfully refuted their subtle and malicious propaganda against her leadership.

They took the message of the League to every nook and corner of the subcontinent; explained the rationale of Pakistan to the Muslim masses and mustered their support for Pakistan.

Thus, through their untiring efforts they made the task of the Quaid-i-Azam easier and the creation of Pakistan inevitable.Thus, the Muslim press assumed a new tone and mood.

It helped the Muslim masses to form their own opinion on national and international issues. Although the British Government tried her best to repress and strangulate the Muslim press but it succeeded to establish its prestige and associated itself with the desire and aspiration of the Muslim community.

The Muslim press projected and protected the Muslim community.

The Muslim press projected and protected the Muslim cause very effectively.


“The Muslim League had built up a very strong press, particularly in Urdu.
Delhi had Anjam, Jang and Manshoor in Urdu, and Dawn in English, Lahore produced Inqilab, Nawa-i-Waqt,, and Zamindar in Urdu. Earlier,


Lucknow had its Hamdam.
Calcutta produced Asr-i-Jadid in Urdu, Azad Bengali and Star of India in English.

There were many besides these prominent newspapers.”