Tragedy of 20th Century

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 5^th 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 48^th 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 20^th century and we are still receiving the brunt of it.