From 1940 Resolution to 1971 Tragedy
The famous 1940 resolution, presented by Prime Minister of Bengal, Sher-e-Bengal A.K. Fazlul Huq — clearly states:
That geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the North Western and Eastern Zones of (British) India should be grouped to constitute ‘independent states’ in which the constituent units should be autonomous and sovereign.
The original Lahore Resolution envisaged more than one Muslim State in the North Western and Eastern India (Book: A.K. Fazlul Haq — Biography). In 1940, when AK Fazlul Huq entered the Resolution Venue public welcomed him with loud cheers of Sher-e-Bangla, thus Mr Jinnah (Pakistan’s first Governor-General and Father of the Nation) said, “When the Tiger had come, the Lamb should definitely give way!”
When Mr. Jinnah was asked by the press about Lahore Resolution that if this resolution meant one or more than one Pakistan, he immediately answered, ‘One!’. There is good reason to believe, however, that Sher-i-Bengal Fazlul Haq had meant two independent states with all of Bengal including all of India’s West Bengal and Calcutta, as well as what was to become East Pakistan. Mr. Jinnah was brilliantly realistic, however and he knew that asking for two independent Muslim nation-states might make the creation of Pakistan impossible.
Jinnah-Sikandar Pact was a master-stroke by Mr Jinnah. According to Professor Stanley Wolpert, ‘…it made Pakistan possible’. Punjab politicians joined Muslim League with eyes on Pakistan as NWFP, Sind & Balochistan populations were small in number — never imagining that east Bengal would be larger than whole of west Pakistan. West Pakistan struggled to forge a working relationship with east Pakistan throughout next 24 years after 47.
Dr Ambedkar (popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar in India) and author of Indian Constitution wrote first book on Pakistan in 1941 — Thoughts on Pakistan. Whereby Ambedkar strongly advocated-for a Weaker Pakistan:
I am not staggered by PAK. I believe that it would be neither wise nor possible to reject summarily a scheme if it has behind the sentiment if not the passionate support of the 90% Muslims of India.
The whole of Punjab and Bengal will not go to PAK meaning app 50 % of revenues from these two provinces would go to India. Creation of PAK will not leave Hindustan in a weakened condition.
Indian army where most of the population are Muslims from the Pakistani area. Now the bulk of this Rs 52 crs is contributed by Hindu provinces and is spent on an army from which the Hindus are excluded. How can the Hindus avoid this tragedy and whether they will allow this to continue? If they have to put an end to it the surest way is to allow the scheme of PAK to take effect. A safe army is better than a safe border.
Jawaharlal Nehru (who once served under Sher-i-Bengal) conspired Ambedkar’s teachings to perfection with Louis Mountbatten — the last Viceroy of British India. Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy then Premier of Bengal realized this and held negotiations with Muslim League in 1946 — resulting a clarification of 1940 Resolution that the use of word ‘independent states’ was a typo and was replaced with word ‘state’. Though partition stripped Pakistan of the eastern half of Punjab and the western half of Bengal, including Calcutta, Mr. Jinnah therefore, accepted the “moth-eaten” pieces that Mountbatten offered him.
In 1954 East Pakistan legislative assembly elections A. K. Fazlul Huq became chief minister, with Mujeeb ur Rahman in his Cabinet, and his Govt called for complete autonomy in East Pakistan, except in defence and foreign policy — but was dismissed within 2 months.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy became 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1956 and was forced to resign in 1957. Suhrawardy is my favourite politician and he is the founder of leftist politics in Pakistan and ZAB emulated Suhrawardy in his political career. If the general elections were held in 1958, Suhrawardy would have won a landslide victory. What was denied in 1958 happened with multi-fold magnitude in 1971 — and probably it was too late.
Politicians and Military form the vital organs of the state — and it’s very dangerous to draw a line between the two — as both are part of same body. Pakistan has sustained multiple vital organ failures in 70 years of her existence — fueled by those who never accepted the independence of Pakistan. We need a complete coherence between political and military strategies to achieve a progressive & modern nation vision of Mr Jinnah.
Long live Pakistan!
About the Author:
Imran Jattala is Building Innovation Ecosystems in Fifth Largest Nation 🇵🇰. He is Co-Founder of Center for Global Innovators. He Co-Founded meraPaisa an Islamabad based Impact FinTech Startup and UrbanBazaar a Dubai based e-Commerce Startup. He can be reached at: @ImJattala
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