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Creation of Pakistan


The Islamic Republic of Pakistan emerged as an independent state on 14 August 1947. It has its roots into the remote past. Its establishment was the culmination of the long struggle by Muslims of the South-Asian subcontinent for a separate homeland of their own. Its foundation was laid when Mohammad bin Qasim subdued Sindh in 711 AD as a reprisal against sea pirates that had taken refuge in Raja Dahir’s kingdom. The advent of Islam further strengthened the historical individuality in the areas now constituting and further beyond its boundaries.

The impact of Islam on the South-Asian subcontinent was deep and far-reaching. Islam introduced not only a new religion, but also a new civilization, a new way of life and new set of values. Islamic traditions of art and literature, of culture and refinement, of social and welfare institutions were established by Muslim rulers throughout the subcontinent. A new language URDU, derived mainly from Arabic and Persian vocabulary and adapting indigenous words and idioms, came into existence.

With the decline of Muslim power during 16th and 17th centuries the British (starting with the East India Company) began to emerge as the dominant force in South Asia. Their rise to power was gradual, extending over a period of 100 years. They replaced the Shariah by what they termed as Anglo-Muhammadan law whereas Urdu was replaced by English as the official language. These and many other developments had great social, economic, and political impact especially on the Muslims of subcontinent.





WAR OF INDEPENDENCE


The uprising of 1857, termed as the Indian Mutiny by the British and the War of Independence by the Muslims, was a desperate attempt to reverse the adverse course of events. The failure of the 1857 War of Independence had disastrous consequences for the Muslims as the British placed all the responsibility for this event on them. Determined to stop such a recurrence in future, the British followed a repressive policy against the Muslims. Properties and estates of those even remotely associated with the freedom fighters were confiscated and efforts were made to close all avenues of honest living for them. The Muslim response to these situations also aggravated their plight. While this repression was going on, the Muslims kept themselves aloof from modern education as well as government service. But, their compatriots, the Hindus, did not do so and accepted the new rulers without reservation. They acquired modern western education, imbibed new culture and captured position hitherto filled in by the Muslims.






TWO NATIONS THEORY (IMPACT OF WAR OF INDEPENDENCE)


Pakistan’s ideology is based on the Two-Nation Theory, and as the Quaid-e-Azam summed it, “..we have our distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of International Law we are a nation.”

The ideology of Pakistan stems from the instinct of the Muslim community of South Asia to maintain their individuality by resisting all attempts by the Hindu society to absorb it. Muslims of South Asia believe that Islam and Hinduism are not only two religions, but also two social orders that have given birth to two distinct cultures with no similarities. A deep study of the history of this land proves that the differences between Hindus and Muslims were not confined to the struggle for political supremacy, but were also manifested in the clash of two social orders. Despite living together for more than a thousand years, they continued to develop different cultures and traditions. Their eating habits, music, architecture and script, are all poles apart. Even the language they speak and the dresses they wear are entirely different.

The ideology of Pakistan took shape through an evolutionary process. 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.

The Muslims of South Asia believe that they are a nation in the modern sense of the word. The basis of their nationhood is neither territorial, racial, linguistic nor ethnic; rather they are a nation because they belong to the same faith, Islam. On this basis they consider it their fundamental right to be entitled to self-determination. They demanded that areas where they were in majority should be constituted into a sovereign state, wherein they would be enabled to order their lives in individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings of Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (S. A. W.). They further want their state to strengthen the bonds of unity among Muslim countries.

In his speech at Lahore, after criticizing the concept of a constituent assembly, Jinnah declared..

“It has always been taken for granted, mistakenly that the Muslims are a minority, and … these settled notions are very difficult to remove. The Musalmans are not a minority. The Musalmans are a nation by any definition… The problem in India is not of inter-communal but manifestly of an international character. The only course open to us all is to allow the major nations separate homelands by dividing India into autonomous national states.”






URDU-HINDI CONTROVERSY


The Urdu-Hindi Controversy arose when Hindus demanded implementation of the Devanagari script in government offices, law courts and schools. Muslims coming to India, spoke their own language and also learned the language spoken by the natives. Out of this intermingling of languages, there arose a lingua franca, which came to be spoken by both Muslims and Hindus. The official language continued to be Persian; Turkish was the mother tongue of Muslims from Turkey, and Arabic was the language of the religion, Islam. The mixture of these languages with that spoken in India came to be known as Urdu. It soon became the language of society and of sublime poetry. It gradually supplanted Persian and became a language spoken and understood in most parts of India. It is a language which has risen as a result of the mixture of foreign and native languages. Urdu had powerful appeal as its literature grew rapidly. During the eighteenth century Urdu spread to all corners of India, and Urdu literary circles were established in every part of India.

Contrary to this, Hindi was written in Devanagri script, had a similarly high percentage of Sanskrit words, and was loosing its importance. When it came to poetry, differences went much deeper. In Urdu, the forms, the thought and the imagery were borrowed from Iran and Central Asia, whereas in Hindi they were indigenous. Seeing the ever increasing significance of the Urdu language, it was introduced as a official language in 1825. Its popularity was a source of annoyance to Hindus. They were out to destroy the cultural heritage and religion of Muslims, and this they could do by causing harm to the Urdu language, as a good deal of Muslim cultural heritage was preserved in Urdu. Also the literary, religious and intellectual works of Muslim scholars and poets were preserved in Urdu. Moreover, the exegesis of the Holy Quran, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence and all religious books had been produced in Urdu. Thus, to eliminate Urdu was to deprive Muslims of their great cultural and religious heritage.

As part of a deliberate scheme to destroy Muslim culture in India, Hindus started an anti-Urdu movement in Benares in 1867, which gradually spread to Bihar, U.P. and other parts of India. The Hindus opposed the use of Urdu in courts, public offices and schools and demanded its replacement by Hindi. This unjustified opposition to Urdu convinced Sir Syed Ahmed Khan that Muslims and Hindus were two different nations. The entire Muslim community in India also criticized this policy. Initially, the controversy caused no serious harm, but in later years it developed into a formal movement. But when Sir Anthony McDonnel, Lt. Governor of United Provinces, issued a resolution on 19 April 1900 which decreed the use of Hindi in Devanagari script, and the seventy-five year history of Urdu as an official language came to on end, Muslims were deeply agitated. Considered from the point of view of their educational needs, legal and social business, literature and also from the point of view of Hindu-Muslim amity, this resolution was very harmful.

Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, successor of Sir Syed in political and educational affairs of the Muslims, requested the governor to allow the Muslims to clarify their viewpoint in regard to Urdu, but no heed was paid. As a result a public meeting was held at Aligarh on May 13, 1900 to protest against the language decree. In the meantime, the Urdu Defence Association was formed on August 8, 1900 which unanimously adopted a resolution demnding withdrawl of the recognition accorded to Hindu. The Nawab declared that Muslims who did not weild the pen, had ‘the strength to wield the sword’ and expressed his amazement that hte community was foresaken and ignored by the government. This was the first public demonstration of a political nature staged by Muslims. The lieutenant governor disliked demonstrations, which became routine throughout the country, collected the trustees of Aligarh College, expressed his disapproval, and alleged that Aligarh students had been made propagandists of this movement. He also threatened to stop the government grant for the college if it continued. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk resigned as secretary of Aligarh College in order to be free to carry on his campaign in defence of Urdu so that his personal prestige should not stand in the way of progress and future of the college. However, he took up the pen in defence of Urdu and also took up the task which Sir Syed had left. The Urdu Defence Association did great services to the Urdu language.

In 1902, Sir James La Touche replaced Lt. Governor McDonnel in U.P. He made it clear that the government did not restrict anyone’s freedom, and Urdu was restored to its former position in offices and law courts. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk secured a significant victory from the point of view of the political interests of the Muslim nation, thus paving the way for its eventual organization as a political force which could not be ignored.






SIMLA DEPUTATION


The Simla Deputation occupies a very important place in the history of modern Muslim India. For the first time, Hindu-Muslim conflict was lifted to the constitutional plane. The rift in society was now to be translated into legal and political institutions. The Muslims had made it clear that they had no confidence in the Hindu majority, that they were not prepared to put their future in the hands of assemblies elected on the assumption of a homogeneous Indian nation. By implication they rejected the idea of a single Indian nation on the ground that the minority could not trust the majority. From this it was but a short step to demanding a separate state for the Muslims of India It is in this sense that in the beginnings of separate electorates may be seen the glimmerings of the two-nation theory. The significance of the Simla demand lay in the reservations which the Muslims had about their Indian nationality.

Soon after the War of Independence of 1857, the British government realised that it was not safe to legislate for millions of people with few means of knowing–except by a rebellion–whether the laws suit them or not. Undoubtedly, Syed Ahmad Khan’s pamphlet Causes of the Indian Revolt contributed to this realisation on part of the British. It asserted that the absence of Indians from the councils of the country was mainly responsible for the troubles of 1857.

In 1861, the governor general’s council was enlarged to include 50% non-officials nominated by the governor general. Their appointment indicated a desire on the part of the government to obtain unofficial cooperation and advice in making laws. On January 15, 1883, when the bill for local self-government was moved, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a member of the Lord Ripon’s legislative council, argued that in India, a homeland of different peoples believing in different modes of life, western democracy would not work, because the Hindu majority would dominate the minorities. As a result of his constant efforts for the nomination system, the Indian Councils Act of 1892 indirectly introduced the principle of election. The use of the word “election” was avoided; some unofficial members were still nominated, and others were appointed on the recommendation of important communities and interests represented by such bodies as landlord associations, municipal and district boards, universities, or chambers of commerce. The government of India issued directions to provincial government that representation should be provided for certain classes and interests, including Muslims. Thus, the new act introduced a semi-electorate system and the principles of representation and election in India. But this system proved totally futile, as from 1892 to 1906, not even a single Muslim representative could secure a seat in the legislative councils as the local bodies were also dominated by Hindus, who always voted on religious grounds.

The turning point in the early phase of the Muslim political movement came in the summer of 1906. The elections in England in 1905 changed the whole sphere of politics. The new Liberal government in England announced that it intended to introduce constitutional changes in India. The viceroy, Lord Minto, had already appointed a committee of his executive council to inquire into the working of the Indian Councils Act of 1892 and to examine the question of further constitutional reforms. The committee expressed the opinion that the Muslims had not been sufficiently represented on the existing councils, that the few elected members had not been really represented and that nomination had failed to secure the appointment of Muslims of the class desired by the community.

Therefore, to safeguard their interests, Muslim leaders drew up a plan for separate electorates for their community and presented it to Lord Minto in Simla on 1 October, 1906. The lead was taken by Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, secretary of the Board of Trustees of Aligarh College. He had written and addressed leading Muslims about such a deputation. Consisting of representatives of all shades of Muslim opinion, the Simla Deputation, led by Sir Agha Khan, demanded two points of policy. First in all local and provincial elections Muslims must be separately elected by purely Muslim electors. Second, Muslims must be given weightage in all elected bodies, i.e., they should have more seats than warranted by their their ratio in the population.

The first demand was made on two grounds: that in the prevailing state of communal tension no Muslim elected through a joint electorate would genuinely reflect the will of the community, and that in the absence of separate electorates every contested election would lead to communal riots. The demand of weightage was supported by two arguments: Muslims still owned much of the landed property in India, and they formed a very large proportion of the Indian army. The address presented by the deputation was a model of mature thinking and sober expression. The viceroy accepted both demands.

Though the demand for separate representation of Muslims had been acceded to by the Viceroy, sustained efforts had to be made over the next three years in order to secure the separate electorate in the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.





ALL INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE 1906


Up to the end of nineteenth century, the Muslims had stayed away from organized polities. However, Hindu agitation against the partition of Bengal, and Hindu religious revivalism and hostility to the Muslims injected into the Congress by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a fundamentalist Hindu leader changed the situation. By 1906, Muslim leaders were convinced that they should form their own party to protect Muslim interests and speak for the community on all important occasions. The Simla Deputation strengthened this belief by demonstrating the potency of united action.

In 1901, a meeting of Muslim leaders was held at Lucknow under the presidentship of Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk for this purpose. This meeting decided to establish an organisation to look after the social and political needs of the Muslims. But this organisation remained confined to one province of northern India.

Five years later, on December 30, 1906, at a conference of Muslim leaders (the Muhammadan Educational Conference) in Dhaka, the efforts of this deputation succeeded, and the All India Muslim League was formed.

It was Sir Salimullah who initially sketched a plan for an all India Muslim organisation, which was seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan. Other prominent Muslim leaders such as Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk, Syed Nawab Ali Chaudary, Justice Shah Din, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar participated in the effort.

The League was intended to promote loyalty among Indian Muslims to the British government and to remove any misconceptions about the intentions of the government. Second, it aimed to protect and advance the political rights and interests of Indian Muslims and represent their needs and aspirations to the government. Finally, it hoped to prevent the rise of Muslim hostility towards other communities.

It was provided that the membership of the All-India Muslim League would not exceed four hundred, which would be distributed among the different provinces according to fixed proportions. Every candidate was to be a Muslim, not less than 25 years of age, capable of reading and writing in one of the languages and possessing an annual income of not less than Rs. 500. The League was to have a president, six vice-presidents, a secretary and two joint secretaries, all elected for a term of three years.

In another resolution, a provisional committee consisting of sixty members including members of the Simla Deputation was appointed to draft the constitution. The League constitution was written in English, by a graduate of Cambridge University, Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar. The book was named The Green Book.

As the Indo-Pak history unfolds, the struggle of the Muslim League to safeguard the interests of the Indian Muslims become more and more evident ultimately leading to the creation of Pakistan in 1947.






MORLEY MINTO REFORMS (1909)


Officially known as the Government of India Act, 1909, the Minto-Morley Reforms take their name after their official sponsor, Minto, then Governor-General and John Morley (1838-1923), Secretary of State for India. When Lord Minto came as viceroy to India, the whole country was in a state of political unrest. In collaboration with Lord Morley, secretary of state for India, Minto appointed a committee to go into details and prepare a despatch regarding constitutional reforms. This despatch was ready in 1907 and was sent to London on March 19. It served as the basis of the reforms which were enacted into law by the Indian Councils Act of 1909.

The important constitutional changes introduced by these reforms were several. Provincial legislative councils were enlarged up to a maximum of 50 members in the larger provinces and 30 in the smaller ones. The number of the unofficial members was raised equal to that of the official members. The method of election was partly indirect and partly direct. Second, Muslims were given separate representation in most provinces. In addition, the power of legislative councils was increased. The Imperial Legislative Council was also enlarged, but the officials would remain in majority. Finally, an Indian member was taken into the executive council of the viceroy and in each of the provincial executive councils.

Despite many defects in this scheme, the Morley-Minto reforms were important in several aspects. For Muslims, the most important change brought about by the reforms was the establishment of separate electorates. The Simla deputation demand was met, and a system of separate Muslim representation was introduced.

All Hindu and several British observers of the Indian scene criticised the creation of communal electorates as a breach of democratic principle. But Morley saw the force of the Muslim argument that to make Muslim seats dependent on Hindu votes would embitter communal relations. Mere reservation of seats would not have gone to a Muslim candidate who identified himself wholeheartedly with the interests of his own community. Another argument in support of this was that it was the unanimous demand of a large community. But Hindu politicians and the Congress immediately began a campaign of criticism and opposition. At the

1910 Congress session, it condemned the provision of separate representation for Muslims and demanded withdrawal of the resolution. From then on up to the passing of the 1935 Act, the Congress made a habit of it to condemn separate electorates and to advocate their removal.

The sober, well-reasoned and constitutional advocacy of the Muslim League thus did not fail to achieve its objective. Within two years of its inception, the Muslim League scored a major political victory against a more powerful political organisation. The day the demand for separate electorate was conceded, the course for the Muslim freedom movement changed. It laid down the foundation for the growth of the Muslim national consciousness which, after a forty year struggle, was to achieve for the Muslims the culmination of their aspirations as a distinct nation.




to be continued
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