History of Pakistan

 

The Muslim League 

Long before the British invaded and seized control of the subcontinent, Muslim armies had conquered settlements onthe flat, undulating land that stretched from the foothills of the Hindu Kush to the city of Delhi and the Indo-Gangetic Plain and to the east. to Bengal. The last and most successful of the Muslim conquerors was the Mughal dynasty (1526-1857), which eventually extended its authority over virtually the entire subcontinent. British superiority coincided with the decline of the Mughal and, after a period of European successes and Mughal failures on the battlefield, the British ended Mughal power. The last Mughal emperor was exiled after the failed Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858.

Less than three decades after that revolt, the Indian National Congress was formed togive political representation to the indigenous people of British India. Although membership in Congress was open to all, Hindu participants overwhelmed Muslim members. The All India Muslim League, organized in 1906, aimed to give Muslims a voice to counter what was then perceived as the growing influence of Hindus under British rule. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, formerly a prominent Muslim member of Congress, assumed leadership of the league after his break with Congress leader Mohandas K. Gandhi. A strong believer in the Anglo-Saxon rule of law and a close associate of Iqbal, Jinnah questioned the security of the Muslim minority in an India dominated by an essentially Hindu authority. In declaring that Islam was in danger fromthe revival of Hindu assertiveness, Jinnah and the league posited a "two-nation theory" which argued that Indian Muslims had the right, and therefore required, an independent and autonomous state in a reconstituted subcontinent.

The founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, delivers a speech. 

                The British intention to grant self-government to India along the lines of British parliamentary democracy is evident in the Government of India Act 1935. Until then, the question of the participation of Hindus and Muslims in the government of India was generally acceptable, although it was also recognized that Hindus more than Muslims had accommodated themselves to British customs and the\colonial mode of administration. Furthermore, after the failed Indian Mutiny, Hindus were more eager to adopt British behaviors and ideas, while Indian Muslims bore the brunt of British anger.The Mughal Empire was formally dissolved in 1858 and its last ruler was banished from the subcontinent. The Muslim population of India, believing that they had been singled out for punishment, was reluctant to adopt British customs or take advantage of educational opportunities in English. As a consequence of these different positions, the Hindus advanced under British rule at the expense of their Muslim counterparts, and when Britain opened civil service to the native population, the Hindus practically monopolized the positions. Although influential Muslims such as Sayyid Ahmad Khan recognized the growing imbalance of power and encouraged Muslims to seek European education and enter the colonial civil service, they also realized that catching up with the more progressive and advanced Hindus was an impossible task.

It was this juxtaposition of an emerging feeling of Hindu superiority and a sustained sense of inferiority among Muslims that the All India Muslim League addressed in its claim to represent the Muslims of India. Unlike other Muslimmovements of the time, the Muslim League articulated the sentiments of attentive and at the same time more moderate elements among the Muslim population of India. The Muslim League, with Jinnah as its spokesperson, was also the preferred organization from the point of view of British authority. Unlike Gandhi's civildisobedience practices, lawyer Jinnah (who was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, London) was more inclined to promote the rule of law by seeking separation from the imperial government. Therefore, Jinnah was more open to a negotiated settlement and, in fact, his first instinct was to preserve the unity of India, albeit with due guarantees for the Muslim community.For Jinnah, the Lahore (later Pakistan) Resolution of 1940, which called for an independent Muslim state or states in India, did not initially imply the breaking of the Indian union.

World War II (1939-1945) turned out to be the catalyst for an unexpected shift in political power. Under pressure from a variety of popular national movements,particularly those organized by Congress and led by Gandhi, the war-weakened British were forced to consider leaving India. In response to the Congressionalcampaign for Great Britain to leave India, Londonsent a mission led by Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (the Cripps Mission) to New Delhi in early 1942 with the promise of the cooperation of Congress in the effort to War would b rewarded with greater self-government. and possibly even independence when the war ended. Gandhi and the other leaders of Congress, however,could not be appeased, and their insistence that Britain allow a transfer of power while the war raged led to a stalemate and failure of the mission.