1940 Resolution created a nation (23rd March 1940)

Mohammad Jamil




On 23rd March 1940, leadership of All India Muslim League assembled in Manto Park Lahore and passed a resolution for creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Though considered by many as a wishful thinking yet within seven years Muslims of the undivided Indian waged relentless struggle under the charismatic leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Pakistan became a tangible entity. In early October 1938, the Sindh Provincial Muslim League had held a conference at Karachi, and it was on this occasion that discussion for demand for Pakistan took place, and the words ‘Muslims as separate nation’ were used. In Resolution No. 5, the Conference castigated the Congress policy of dividing and ruling the Muslims and characterized the Congress organization as fascist.

A clear concept of two-nation theory was, however, established for the first time when Muslim League passed the famous Lahore Resolution on 23rd March 1940. Some unscrupulous elements talk of four separate states but history is the witness that in 1941 through another resolution the contours and areas of two separate independent states India and Pakistan were defined and outlined. Today is, indeed, the day to rejoice as Pakistan Resolution was passed on 23rd March 1940, which was converted into reality or implemented on 14th August 1947.

On 14th August 1947, we got rid of the colonialism but due to inept policies of the government fell a prey to neo-colonialism, and had to depend on the West for our development and defence needs. The dependency syndrome was evident after 11th September 2001 events when Pakistan was coerced into altering its foreign policy. The internecine conflicts amongst political parties and lust of power of the politicians had resulted in three martial laws in 1958, 1968 and 1977, and another military dispensation in 1999. Unfortunately, the people were not treated any better during the tenures of democratic governments. The reason being, degeneration has crept in every stratum of society, but the redeeming feature is that people of Pakistan have not lost hope; their spirit is alive and kicking, and their dream lives on.

Pakistan has seen various shades of governments from democracy to Martial Law to quasi-democracy. On February 18 elections were held and on 24th March 2008 National Assembly elected the new prime minister of Pakistan. It was hoped that the ruling coalition and opposition parties would act in a manner that process of transition could be completed without ‘hiccups’. Smooth transition did take place but both the major parties reinvented their politics of 1990s. The PPP and the PML-N were at daggers drawn when COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani intervened to avert a major catastrophe. Pakistan today is at the crossroads and there is a consensus that there are threats to its internal as well external security.

Our leaders should emulate Quaid-e-Azam who had united the people who were earlier divided on the basis of sects and ideologies. The Muslims of the sub-continent had reposed full confidence in him and accepted his concept and perception of the new state – Pakistan. Today, the myriad political and religious parties, intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals have variegated views and perceptions. Despite having completed more than 61 years of its existence, we still have to listen to the debate as to the purpose for which Pakistan was created.

When the Quaid was asked about the type of constitution Pakistan would have, he replied that the people’s representative would frame the constitution. In order to avert the dangers of sectarian conflicts that could have endangered the stability and security of the country, he had categorically declared: “Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state”. He had also declared that beneficiaries of Jagirs, feudal lords and exploiters were to have no place of privilege in an independent Pakistan. “If any one of you thinks that Pakistan has been created for the feudals and capitalists, I will have none of it”, he had asseverated. The problem, however, is that his speeches are being torn out of context by the vested interest. Some hold the view that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam, therefore Shariah should be enforced; whereas others hold the view that it was created to rid the Muslims of the exploitation by the brute Hindu majority. What is wrong with accepting that Pakistan was created to meet the material and spiritual needs of the Muslims of the undivided India.

As envisioned by the Quaid and explained in his speech to the constituent assembly on 11th August 1947 Pakistan was to be a modern welfare state, where a free and independent people would enjoy equal rights without discrimination on the basis of religion, sect, ethnicity or gender. One could infer that he wished to consider minorities as Pakistani citizens with equal rights and not to be treated the way Hindus had treated the Muslims. By going through the full text of speeches of the Quaid delivered on 24th April 1943 and 11th August 1947, one could find the guidelines and the parameters within which constitution of Pakistan was to be framed by the representatives of the people.

Quaid-i-Azam was a great leader, brilliant statesman and a master strategist, who fought the case for Pakistan so well that he had not only frustrated the designs of the British that wished to see the sub-continent united in one form or another till the last moment, but also made the leaders of brute Hindu majority believe that the partition had saved them from some bigger catastrophe. Pakistan has all the ingredients to make it a modern progressive state. The nature has endowed Pakistan with vast areas of land, variegated seasons suitable for various crops and fruits, rivers, large coastline and abundant natural resources. The people of Pakistan are proud inheritors of traditions of great sufis, saints and poets who fostered the message of peace and brotherhood over the centuries. But where did we go wrong? Unfortunately, Pakistan lost its Quaid and other founding fathers too soon, and conglomerate of privileged few, feudals, bureaucracy and new-rich industrialists devoid of political acumen and vision took over the state.

Political parties did not practice democracy in their parties and failed to establish democratic traditions and promote the culture of tolerance. When in power, they did not discharge their obligations to improve the lives of the teeming millions living below the poverty line. This is the reason for quite some time people had shown insouciance towards the affairs of the state, and a great majority of them stopped casting votes in the general elections. Unless this vast majority of disgruntled and disappointed citizens are inspired to take interest in national affairs and help reform the society, no change can be brought about in either state of society or in the contours of the national uplift.

Not through mechanics of coercion, nor through incentives but by instilling fresh and matter of fact feelings of the obvious in their thoughts and psyche they can be roused to march onwards. Mere existence of contradictions, discrepancies, inequities do not cause a stir in the society unless these are fed into the feelings and consciousness of the people. All flaws and hurdles in the development of a nation that exist in objectivity must enter subjectivity in order to cause movement among the people. Those at the helm should ponder over the causes of our decline, and if dispassionate appraisal is made it will not be difficult to reach the conclusion that absence of socio-economic justice, and depriving the people of their rights were the causes for Muslim countries’ decline and ignominy including Pakistan. Leaderships in Muslim countries should, therefore, use collective wisdom to extricate the Muslim Ummah from the morass it is in. So far as Pakistan is concerned, the government and the opposition parties should focus on solving the problems the people of Pakistan are confronted with, ensure socio-economic justice in the society and allow people’s participation in the affairs of the state.

Special Thx. pakobserver.net/200903/23/Articles01.asp

The Lahore Resolution (March 23,1940)

"The people of Pakistan celebrate the 23rd of March, every year, with great zeal and enthusiasm, to commemorate the most outstanding achievement of the Muslims of South Asia who passed the historic Pakistan Resolution on this day at Lahore in 1940."

FROM March 22 to March 24, 1940, the Quaid-i-Azam is presiding over the session while Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman is seconding the Resolution.All India Muslim League held its annual session at Minto Park, Lahore. This session proved to be historical.

On the first day of the session, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah narrated the events of the last few months. In an extempore speech he presented his own solution of the Muslim problem. He said that the problem of India was not of an inter-communal nature, but manifestly an international one and must be treated as such.

To him the differences between Hindus and the Muslims were so great and so sharp that their union under one central government was full of serious risks. They belonged to two separate and distinct nations and therefore the only chance open was to allow them to have separate states.

In the words of Quaid-i-Azam: "Hindus and the Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social customs and literature. They neither inter-marry nor inter-dine and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations that are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their concepts on life and of life are different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of the other, and likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state".

He further said, "Mussalmans are a nation according to any definition of nation. We wish our people to develop to the fullest spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people".

On the basis of the above mentioned ideas of the QuaAt the All India Muslim League session, March 1940, Nawab Sir Shah Nawaz Mamdot presenting address of welcomeid, A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq, the then Chief Minister of Bengal, moved the historical resolution which has since come to be known as Lahore Resolution or Pakistan Resolution.

The Resolution declared: "No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign".

It further reads, "That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities, with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in a minority".

The Resolution repudiated the concept of United India and recommended the creation of an independent Muslim state consisting of Punjab, N. W. F. P., Sindh and Baluchistan in the northwest, and Bengal and Assam in the northeast.

The Resolution was seconded by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Sardar Aurangzeb from the N. W. F. P., Sir Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and Qazi Esa from Baluchistan, along with many others.

The Resolution was passed on March 24. It laid down only the principles, with the details left to be worked out at a future date. It was made a part of the All India Muslim League's constitution in 1941. It was on the basis of this resolution that in 1946 the Muslim League decided to go for one state for the Muslims, instead of two.

Having passed the Pakistan Resolution, the Muslims of India changed their ultimate goal. Instead of seeking alliance with the Hindu community, they set out on a path whose destination was a separate homeland for the Muslims of India--with a great name of Pakistan.

Perspective

The background of Pakistan Resolution is that in 1937, provQuaid-i-Azam, Liaquat Ali Khan and Nawab Muhammad Iftikhar Hussain Khan of Mamdot at the Lahore Session, March 1940incial autonomy was introduced in the Sub-continent under the Government of India Act, 1935. The elections of 1937 provided the Congress with a majority in six provinces, where Congress governments were formed. This led to the political, social, economic and cultural suppression of the Muslims in the Congress ruled provinces.

The Congress contemptuously rejected the Muslim League's offer of forming coalition ministries. The Muslims were subjected not only to physical attacks but injustice and discriminatory treatment as regards civil liberties, economic measures and employment and educational opportunities. The Congress Ministries introduced the Wardha scheme of education, the object of which was to de- Muslimise the Muslim youth and children.

According to British historian Reginald Coupland. "It was not only the Working Committee's control of the Congress Ministries that showed that a'Congress Raj' had been established. It was betrayed by the conduct and bearing of Congressmen. ..Many of them behaved as if they were a ruling caste, as if they owned the country ."

Mr. Ian Stephens, former editor of the newspaper' Statesman ' and an eyewitness to the working of the Congress Ministries, says: "The effect of this simultaneously on many Muslim minds was of a lightning flash. What had before been but guessed at now leapt forth in horridly clear outline. The Congress, a Hindi-dominated body, was bent on the eventual absorption; Westem-style majority rult?, in an undivided sub- continent, could only mean the smaller community being swallowed by the larger."

The animosity shown by the Hindus to the Muslim and their own experience of two-and-a-half year Congress rule strengthened the Muslims belief in their separate Nationality .The discriminatory attitude coupled with attempts by the Hindu dominated Congress to suppress the Muslims impelled the Muslims to finally demand a separate sovereign state for the Muslims.

However, the Muslim demand was violently opposed both by the British and the Hindus; and the Congress attitude towards the Muslims led to the hardening of the Muslims belief that only a separate homeland -Pakistan -can guarantee their freedom. This demand was put in black and white on 23rd March, 1940.

After adoption of the Pakistan Resolution, Quaid-e-Azam had a clear objective before him and he struggled hard to achieve it. In one of the meetings, he said: "We are a Nation of a hundred million and what is more, we are a Nation with our distinct culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions. In short, as Muslims we have our own distinctive outlook on life". He further said that by all cannons of international laws, we are a nation.

In 1945, Quaid-e-Azam proclaimed that only Muslim League represented the Muslims, and proved it to the hilt during 1946 polls, winning 100 per cent seats at the Centre, and 80 per cent in the provinces. Nothing could have been more conclusive to shatter the Congress claim of being a national body. If the British had read the writing on the wall in this verdict, Pakistan could have come into existence two years earlier without bloodshed.

With his charismatic personal Quaid-e-Azam turned the drAt the All India Muslim League Working Committee, Lahore session, March 1940eam of a separate homeland into reality on 14th of August 1947. Ins of severe opposition, establishment of Pakistan, in such a short span of seven year surely an extra-ordinary achievement, which has no m in history.

On the eve of his departure Karachi from Delhi on August, 1947, Quaid-e-Azam a message to Hindustan, implored "The past must be buried and let us start afresh as two independent sovereign States of Hindustan and Pakistan. I wish Hindustan prosperity and peace."

Even in his post-partition statements, the Quaid-e-Azam envisaged a relationship of peaceful co-existence with India. But, the eruption of war in Kashmir in 1947 created acrimony between India and Pakistan, which became more acute with the passage of time. While Pakistan has throughout been supporting a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, the Indian obstinacy led to three wars and scores of clashes, peace initiative took him to Agra. Kashmir problem is resolved to bedeviling the relations between Even after the failure of Agra the satisfaction of the parties to both the neighbouring countries.

Pakistan's present leadership continues to subscribe to the policy of peaceful resolution of all disputes with India. Enumerating Pakistan' s foreign policy parameters on 23rd June, 2000, General Pervez Musharraf stated: The war should be avoided through a potent deterrence and diplomacy, engaging India on the issue of Kashmir for bringing permanent peace in the region without compromising on sovereignty.

President Pervez Musharraf's peace initiative took him to Agra. Even after the failure of Agra talks, he continued to persistently pursue his policy of peaceful resolution of all disputes with India. Reciprocating Pakistan President's gesture, the ex-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during his visit to Srinagar in April last year, extended his hand of friendship towards Pakistan. A meeting between the two leaders, on the sidelines of SAARC Summit in Islamabad early this year, led to a barrage of confidence-building measures and Secretary-level talks.

Now there is need to ensure a quick forward movement to resolve the long simmering Kashmir dispute, which has been the main irritant and the bone of contention between

India and Pakistan. All contentious issues between the two countries would be automatically settled if the Kashmir problem is resolved to the satisfaction of the parties to the dispute.

In short, the commemoration of 23rd March is an expression of the whole nation's resolute determination to preserve her independence and the Day's celebrations are a reflection of this.●

Special Thanks pakistantimes.net