O Level P1 History and Culture of Pakistan Topic 19 The Pakistan Resolution 1940 & Iqbal’s Allahabad Address 1930
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The Pakistan Resolution 1940
The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Lahore), commonly known as the Pakistan Resolution ( Qarardad-e-Pakistan), was a formal political statement adopted by the Muslim League at the occasion of its three-day general session on 22–24 March 1940 that called for greater Muslim autonomy in British India. This has been largely interpreted as a demand for a separate Muslim state, Pakistan. The resolution was presented by A. K. Fazlul Huq. Although the name "Pakistan" had been proposed by Ch. Rehmat Ali in his Pakistan Declaration in 1933, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders had kept firm their belief in Hindu-Muslim unity. However, the volatile political climate and religious hostilities gave the idea stronger backing.Proceedings
The session was held between 22 March and 24 March 1940, at Manto Park (now Iqbal Park), Lahore. The welcome address was made by Nawab Sir Shah Nawaz Mamdot. In his speech, Jinnah recounted the contemporary situation, stressing that the problem of India was no more of an inter-communal nature, but completely an international. He criticized the Congress and endorsed 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 HinduMuslim unity, totally transformed himself into Pakistan's great leader.The statement
From March 22 to March 24, 1940, the 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. 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 intermarry 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". On the basis of the above mentioned ideas of the Quaid, 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 ……….and 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 units shall be autonomous and sovereign". The Resolution rejected 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 passed on March 24.
Iqbal’s Allahabad Address 1930:
Several Muslim leaders and thinkers having insight into the Muslim-Hindu situation proposed the separation of Muslim India. However, Allama Muhammad Iqbal gave the most lucid explanation of the inner feelings of Muslim community in his presidential address to the All India Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930. Allama Muhammad Iqbal was a poet, philosopher and thinker who had gained countrywide fame and recognition by 1930. Political events had taken a complicated turn. There was a two-pronged attack on the Muslim interests. On one hand, the Hindus offered a tough opposition by proposing the Nehru Report as the ultimate constitution for India. On the other, the British government in India had totally ignored the Muslim demands in the Simon Commission report. At this critical juncture, Iqbal realized that the peculiar problems of the Muslims in North-West India could only be understood by people belonging to this region and that in order to survive they would have to chalk out their own line of action.
In his address, Allama Iqbal explained that Islam was the major formative factor in the life history of Indian Muslims. He defined the Muslims of India as a nation and suggested that there could be no possibility of peace in the country unless and until they were recognized as a nation. He claimed that the only way for the Muslims and Hindus to prosper in accordance with their respective cultural values was under a federal system where Muslim majority units were given the same privileges that were to be given to the Hindu majority units.
As a permanent solution to the Muslim-Hindu problem, Iqbal proposed that Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and Sindh should be converted into one province. He declared that the northwestern part of the country was destined to unite as a self-governed unit, within the British Empire or without it. This, he suggested, was the only way to do away with communal riots and bring peace in the Sub-continent.
The greatest historical significance of Allama Iqbal's Allahabad address was that it cleared all political confusion from the minds of the Muslims, thus enabling them to determine their new destination. The national spirit that Iqbal fused amongst the Muslims of India later on developed into the ideological basis of Pakistan. Which of the following contributed the most to the Pakistan National Movement?
- Allama iqbal’s address of 1930
- Ch. Rehmat Ali’s scheme
- Mohd. Ali Jinnah’s Lahore resolution of 1940?
Explain your answer with reference to all three of the above.
Allama Iqbal gave his presidential address at the annual meeting of Muslim league held at Allahbad on 30 December 1930. In his address he discussed the political problem of the country. He advocated the TWO NATION theory & said that Muslims in India must keep their identity. He said that the formation of a consolidated Muslim state in India was in the best interest of the Muslim of India. His address is important because it was the first occasion that the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims was given from the side of ML.
Ch. Rehmat Ali was a scholar at the Cambridge university .In 1933 he wrote a pamphlet entitled NOW OR NEVER in which he demanded that the Muslim majority provinces of NWFP, Baluchistan, Punjab, & Sindh should be grouped together to form a free Muslim state which should be named as ‘Pakistan’. But no effort was made to propagate & popularize his idea at that time. (Because it was given by a student)
The Lahore resolution of March 1940 came after a bitter experience of the congress rule of 1937-39. The Muslim realized that as a policy the congress wants to abolish Muslim religion, culture & civilization. The annual meeting of ML was held in Lahore on 23 March 1940, under the president ship of Quaid-e-Azam & the Lahore resolution was passed at this meeting. In this resolution it was clearly demanded that Muslim majority provinces in the North West & eastern part of India should be grouped together to form an independent Muslim state. It was said that this would be the only workable & acceptable solution for the political problem of India. The Lahore resolution therefore marks the real beginning of the struggle of independence of the Muslims of India. After 1940 the demand for Pakistan became the goal & ambition of the Muslims of India. Therefore we can easily say that the Lahore Resolution contributed the most to the Pakistan National Movement.
O-Level P1 History and Culture of Pakistan Topic 19 The Pakistan Resolution 1940 & Iqbal’s Allahabad Address 1930