Earlier, I promised that I would
write on creation of Pakistan. The purpose of this blog is not to introduce few
personalities who were responsible for creation of Pakistan but show the
similarities among them. If we ask a simple question to any Indian that who
created Pakistan, we get the simple answer Jinnah. But he was just a mask. I
will give some pointers and leave it to the readers to make their own inferences.
Huseyn Suhrawardy was 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan. He
was born in Calcutta in 1892 and was a son of Calcutta High Court Justice. He
was Oxford educated lawyer. He initially joined Swaraj Party of Chittaranjan
Das and became the deputy mayor of Calcutta. He along with Das opposed the
division of Bengal on the basis of religious. But then he joined Muslim League
(ML) and became Chief Minister of Bengal in 1946. In 1946 election, ML could
form only one coalition govt. in India in Bengal with the support of Schedule
Caste Federation (SCF). In 1946, govt. of Sindh province was also of ML but it
had a majority by only 1 member after assignation of CM of Congress. Therefore,
he was the key person for a demand of Pakistan as he passed the resolution of
Pakistan in Bengal assembly in 1946. His seat in Pakistan parliament was declared
as vacant through a resolution as he was unsuccessful in obtaining the
citizenship of Pakistan in 6 months! He had gone to Dhaka in June 1948, but was served with an expulsion notice
within 24 hours of his arrival. He was not only expelled from East Pakistan but
also prevented his re-entry for another six months. He was declared as “Traitor
of Pakistan” and thrown out of country. He was recalled from exile and made
fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1956. He was PM approximately for 1 year
and was forced to resign. He lived in Beirut in exile for rest of his life.
Bhutto threatened him not to return to Pakistan. He died after 3 days in Beirut
hotel in suspicious way in 1963.
Muhammad Zafarullah Khan an Ahmadi Muslim, son of a lawyer and a
lawyer himself. He studied in King’s College in London. He was elected to
Punjab Legislative Council in 1926. Participated in round table conference in
1930 and 32 and became the railway minister in 1935. In 1939, he represented
India in League of Nation. He was part of Executive Council of Viceroy of
India. The Viceroy Lord Linlithgow requested him to draft a resolution of partition of India. Since he was
Ahmadi, most of the Muslims would have reject his proposal, Viceroy handed over
that proposal to Jinnah. Jinnah ensure that it was passed in ML’s Conference in
Lahore in 1940. It is known as Pakistan
Resolution. He was made a judge of Federal Court of India. Post partition,
he was made the minister of Foreign Affairs. He held that position till 1957. Sunni
Muslims called for his expulsion as he was Ahmadi. He was forced to resign in
1957. Although, he enjoyed decorative positions after that but mostly stayed
out of Pakistan.
Today, Pakistan is the only country in the world where Ahmadis are non-Muslim
by law. Ahmadis can’t call themselves Muslim or "pose as Muslims"
which is punishable offence. Today, it is mandatory condition to say that one
is not a follower of Mirza Gulam Ahmed (founder of Ahmedi) to get Pakistani
passport.
Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah was Sunni Muslim and a lawyer from
Sindh studied law in Mumbai. In 1921,
he became a Member of Bombay Legislative Council. Sindh was then a part of
Bombay state. He was a member of the Executive council of the Governor of
Bombay from 1928 to 34. British govt. awarded him many titles. He represented
Sindh in round table conference and convinced British to separate Sindh from
Bombay state. They agreed to his demand and separated Sindh in 1937. He became the
first Chief Minister of Sindh. In 1943, Sindh became the first Provincial
Assembly to pass the resolution of Pakistan. Sufi person like G.M. Syed also supported this
resolution. Hidayatullah became the governor of Sindh After
partition. Syed was disappointed with formation of Pakistan after partition. He
was labeled as traitor of Pakistan and put into jail for 33 years. He was a founder
of separatist Sindudesh movement which is still strong in Sindh.
Prince Aga Khan III was a 48th Imam of Nizari Ismaili
(Shia) community across the world. It is important to know who they are. His
grandfather Prince Aga Khan I was born in Iran. He had mixed relationship with
Shah of Iran. To cut short the long story, their relationship worsened and he
arrived in Mumbai along with his family and followers with the help of British.
He was sufficiently honored by British as he helped them in wars in Afghanistan,
Sindh etc. Therefore, British gave him a title of Prince, pension and
protection. British also helped him to get the control over native Khoja Muslims which
Khojas resisted vehemently.
Prince Aga Khan III was awarded
with many titles by Queen of England and helped enrolling in Cambridge
University. He was a founding member and the first President of Muslim League.
He demanded a separate Muslim nation to British right from the beginning. Although,
he was originator of demand of Pakistan, he never became a part of it. Today,
majority Sunni Pakistanis consider Ismailis as Kafir. The recent attacked on a
bus of Ismailis in Karachi is an example of it.
Khawaja Nazimuddin was part of Dhaka’s Nawab family. He received his education from Trinity Hall Cambridge and Bar at Law from Middle Temple. He was Chief Minister of Bengal from 1943 to 45. British showered multiple
honors on him. He became the second Governor General of Pakistan after death of
Jinnah in 1948 and became second Prime Minister of Pakistan after Liaquat
khan’s assassination in 1951.
Liaquat Ali Khan was part of Nawab family of Karnal a large estate spanning
from Punjab to UP. He was a Sunni Muslim. His family helped British in 1857 independence
war resulted in strong ties with British. His family made fortunes with the
help of British. British arranged grants and scholarships for him. He completed
his law degree from Oxford University. He returned to India in 1923. He joined
ML and started his parliamentary career from 1926. He generally contested from UP
and elected with heavy margins. He was finance minister of India in 1946-47. He
became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan after partition. He was PM till
1951. But it was very challenging period for him as he was outsider to
geography of Pakistan. His princely state had become the part of India. The most of
Pakistani top leadership were from newly created India or Bengal. As Liaquat
knew that he will not be able to win election in newly Pakistan, he ensured
that he would remain in power without election. After Jinnah’s death, he passed
Objective Resolution in 1949 and it was beginning of Pakistan becoming an
Islamic state. It was necessary for people like him, the politically insecure Muslim elite, those had
migrated from the Muslim minority provinces of India. Although, he was trusted right
hand of Jinnah and Jinnah made him PM of Pakistan, their relationship
deteriorated at the end. When Liaquat visited Jinnah in Ziarat in his last
days. Jinnah told his sister Fatima, that Liaquat is here to see how long he
would be alive. He was murdered in Rawalpindi rally in 1951 allegedly by
US.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Shia Muslim and born to trader family in
1876. His father’s partner sent him to England for studies where he became
barrister from Lincoln’s college. He returned to India in 1897 and started
legal practice. He was youngest, highly paid and most western mannered
barrister in Mumbai. After joining Congress, he was part of moderate group of
Namdar Gokhale. During his days in Congress, he was strong promoter of Hindu
Muslim unity. He was against separate electorates for Muslim. He was away in
London from 1930 to 34 as felt isolated in Indian politics. During his stay in
London, it is believed that Muhammad
Iqbal (poet of सारे जहाँ से अच्छा) convinced him to return to India and
lead the Muslim community. He also convinced him that Muslim needs separate
state. He often quoted Iqbal in his speeches and called him as his mentor. Nawabs
of UP also requested him to return to India and lead Muslims. The front runner
was Liaquat Ali. He convinced other Muslim leaders for leadership of Jinnah.
Jinnah saw an opportunity of ruling Muslim state. He agreed and returned to
India. He demanded sovereign Pakistan with dominion status in 1946. He was very
selfish in my opinion. He dumped western dressing and adopted Muslim attire
when he saw his dream is coming true. He sold his mansion in Delhi for hefty
sum before partition. After partition, he demanded prime locations on beach of
Karachi in lieu of properties he left in Mumbai. After partition, he became the
Governor General. As indicated earlier, his relations with Liaquat deteriorated.
When Jinnah arrived in Karachi from Ziarat on the last day of his life, an ambulance sent to him without fuel, which
hastened his death and he died on the roads of Karachi on 11-Sept-1948!
They belonged to all faiths of
Islam. They were England educated lawyers. They had taken favors from British. They
were power hungry and knew that they can’t get it in united India. Mutual
suspicion was a common factor. Almost everyone met with horrific death. One can
ask one question. What did they get at the end!
If you think that only Muslim
were responsible for partition, then it would be half-truth. Jogendra Nath
Mandal, a Hindu leader (Lawyer!), of Schedule Caste Federation supported the resolution
of Pakistan in Bengal’s assembly and became the first law minister of Pakistan
after partition. He realized his mistake after 2 years. He returned to Calcutta
and died in wilderness.
We believe that Jinnah was
responsible for partition of India. Even Mountbatten said so. But the truth is
far from this. Only Bengal assembly passed the resolution of Pakistan with the
help of SCF. In fact, if Mandal would have not helped Suhrawardy in passing the
resolution, the demand of Pakistan would have been untenable. Sind could not
dare to pass it in 1946 as they had majority by only 1. Frontier Gandhi always
supported Congress for united India. His party was in power in Frontier region
in 1946. Baluchistan was in favor of joining India. One can make a conclusion
that majority of Muslims in pre-partition India were not in favor of Pakistan. But,
British never wanted to leave united India. They used their cronies like Nawab
of UP and Bengal. These Nawabs always had a dream of ruling complete India and
they wanted a state to realize their dream. Pakistan’s next 4 wars with India is
testimony of this belief. British along with these Nawabs used Jinnah as mask
and written the biggest tragedy of 20th century and we are still
receiving the brunt of it.
