Lahore Resolution
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The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Lahore قرارداد لاھور), commonly known as the Pakistan Resolution (قرارداد پاکستان Qarardad-e-Pakistan),[1] was a formal political statement adopted by the Muslim League at the occasion of its three-day general session on March 22-24, 1940 that called for greater Muslim autonomy in British India. This has been largely interpreted as a demand for a separate Muslim state, Pakistan.[2] The resolution was presented by A. K. Fazlul Huq and Muhammad Zafrulla Khan.
Although the name "Pakistan" had been proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his Pakistan Declaration[3] in 1933, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders had kept firm their belief in Hindu-Muslim unity.[4] However, the volatile political climate and sidelining of Muslims by Indian National Congress showed the future of the Muslims in the subcontinent not so bright[5][6] and gave the idea stronger backing.[7]
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[edit] Background
With the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939, the Viceroy of India Lord Linlithgow declared India's entrance into the war without consulting the provincial governments. In this situation, Jinnah called a general session of the All India Muslim League in Lahore to discuss the circumstances and also analyze the reasons for the defeat of Muslim League in the Indian general election of 1937 in some Muslim majority provinces.
[edit] Proceedings
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The session was held between March 22 and March 24, 1940, at Minto Park (now Iqbal Park), Lahore. The welcome address was made by Nawab Sir Shah Nawaz Mamdot, president, All India Muslim League, Punjab. He was also chairman of the reception committee and personally bore all the expenses for the gathering. In his speech, Jinnah recounted the contemporary situation, stressing that the problem of India was no more of an inter-communal nature, but manifestly an international.[8] He criticised the Congress and the nationalist Muslims, and espoused the two-nation theory and the reasons for the demand for separate Muslim homelands. According to Stanley Wolpert, this was the moment when Jinnah, the former ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, totally transformed himself into Pakistan's great leader.[9]
According to some experts, Sikandar Hayat Khan, the chief minister of the Punjab, was the sole author of the original Lahore resolution, which was placed before the Subject Committee of the All India Muslim League for discussion and amendments. Sir Sikander Hyat's Unionist Party had swept the elections in Punjab and provided support to Jinnah at the urging of Sir Mohammad Allama Iqbal resulting in the Sikander-Jinnah pact. Sir Sikander convinced his classfellow Fazlul Haq, premier of Bengal, to support Jinnah as well. Sikander supported the British in second world war at the request of Sir Winston Churchill after all of India's political parties had refused. The British promised dominion status to India after the war. After his suspicious death other players moved in. Sikander did not envisage Partition of his beloved Punjab. When he learnt of the intended Partition of Punjab he rejected this outright. The strike by the Khaksaar Tahreek and subsequent killing of their workers was a spoiler and an attempt by their leader to hijack the freedom movement. The Tahreek had supported the Germans and Japanese during the war. Due to civil unrest it was decided that Sir Fazlul Haq would present the resolution. The resolution text unanimously rejected the concept of a united India on the grounds of growing inter-communal violence[10] and recommended the creation of an independent Muslim state.[11]
After the presentation of the annual report by Liaquat Ali Khan, the resolution was moved in the general session by A.K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of undivided Bengal and was seconded by Choudhury Khaliquzzaman who explained his views on the causes which led to the demand of a separate state. Subsequently, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Sardar Aurangzeb from the North-West Frontier Province, Sir Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and Qazi Esa from Baluchistan, and other leaders announced their support. In the same session, Jinnah also presented a resolution to condemn the Khaksar massacre of March 19, owing to a clash between the Khaksars and the police, that had resulted in the loss of lives.[12]
[edit] The statement
The Lahore resolution was actually adopted on March 24, but officially in Pakistan March 23 is considered the date of its adoption. In 1941, it became part of the Muslim League's constitution. In 1946, it formed the basis for the decision of Muslim League to struggle for one state for the Muslims.[13] The statement 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.[14]
Additionally, it stated:
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,
[edit] Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly
The Sindh assembly was the first British Indian legislature to pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan. G. M. Syed, an influential Sindhi activist, revolutionary and Sufi and one of the important leaders to the forefront of the provincial autonomy movement joined the Muslim League in 1938 and presented the Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly. This text was buried under the Minar-e-Pakistan during its building in the Ayub regime.
[edit] Commemoration
- To commemorate the event, Minar-e-Pakistan, a 60 meter tall monument in the shape of a minaret was built at the site in Iqbal Park where the resolution was passed.
- March 23 is a national holiday in Pakistan to commemorate both Lahore Resolution (1940) and the Republic Day (1956); the country became the first Islamic Republic in the world.[15]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Francis Robinson (1997), The Muslims and Partition, History Today, Vol. 47, September
- ^ Christoph Jaffrelot (Ed.) (2005), A History of Pakistan and Its Origins, Anthem Press, ISBN 978-1843311492
- ^ Choudhary Rahmat Ali, (1933), Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?, pamphlet, published January 28. (Rehmat Ali at the time was an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge)
- ^ Ian Talbot (1999), Pakistan: a modern history, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312216068
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8211038.stm
- ^ Jaswant Singh. Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence.
- ^ Reginald Coupland (1943), Indian Politics (1936-1942), Oxford university press, London
- ^ Lahore Resolution (1940), Story of Pakistan website, retrieved on April 23, 2006
- ^ Stanley Wolpert (1984), Jinnah of Pakistan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195034127
- ^ Muhammad Aslam Malik (2001), The Making of the Pakistan Resolution, Oxford University Press, Delhi. ISBN 0-19-579538-5
- ^ Syed Iftikhar Ahmed (1983), Essays on Pakistan, Alpha Bravo Publishers, Lahore, OCLC 12811079
- ^ Nasim Yousaf (2004), Pakistan's Freedom & Allama Mashriqi: Statements, Letters, Chronology of Khaksar Tehrik (Movement), Period Mashriqi's birth to 1947. page 123. AMZ Publications. ISBN 0976033305
- ^ I H Qureshi, (1965), Struggle for Pakistan, Karachi
- ^ I H Qureshi, (1992), A Short History of Pakistan. University of Karachi, Reprint of 1967 edition. ISBN 969-404-008-6
- ^ Stanford M. Mirkin (1966), What Happened when: A Noted Researcher's Almanac of Yesterdays, I. Washburn, New York. OCLC 390802 (First published in 1957 under title: When did it happen?)
[edit] External links
- The Pakistan Resolution, Government of Pakistan Official website. (Retrieved on 23 April 2006)
- Lahore Resolution (1940) at Story of Pakistan website. (Retrieved on 23 April 2006)
- Lahore Resolution at Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.(Retrieved on 23 April 2006)
- Pakistan Resolution or Muslim League's Search For Survival
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