SVT 2022

‘O’ Level’s Pakistan Studies, Paper 1: The History and Culture of Pakistan

The Independence Movement from 1930 – 1944

Assignment of: Areeba Suleman of C2
Despite the opposition it faced, the Simon Commision managed to come up with a two-
volume report in 1930. It was met with opposition and many political parties boycotted it. It
did not serve the Muslims much either, though it did support their right to a separate
electorate, it rejected Muslims having one-third of the seats in the Central Assembly and
the idea of Sindh being separated from Bomboy.
To resolve the matters a bit, the British called a round table conference to discuss the
Commision’s recommendations.

November 12, 1930

The First Round Table Conference

Held in London, it was attended by prominent Muslim figures such as M. A. Jinnah,
Maulana M. A. Jauhar, Sir Shafi, Agha Khan and Zafarullah Khan. The representatives of
the princely states were also present. Congress, on the other hand, refused to attend if they
were guaranteed that anything agreed upon in the RTC would be implemented. No
guarantee was given and because of Congress’ absence, India’s largest party, it was difficult
to make significant progress in the talks. Instead of attending, the Congress began its
programme of non-cooperation.

However, some advances were made:

The British agreed that representative government should be introduced at provincial level;
The princes declared that they would join a future federation of India as long as their rights
were recognized; The Muslims left the RTC feeling that they had gained some ground and
were optimistic.

December 1930

The Allahabad Address

Allama Iqbal, a famous philosopher and poet was called to carry out a meeting at Allahabad
where he presented a review of the political situation of India and solution to the problems
befalling over British India. He put forward the importance of Islam in the daily lives of
Muslims of British India. And explained that the British idea of religious duality did not and
could not apply in British India as Islam provides a complete code of life for the believers
and demands of them to follow it throughout their lives. Therefore, he made it clear that
the need for a separate homeland for the Muslims of British India was vital and could not
ignored.

It was crucial for the Muslims to be considered a separate nation as under the umbrella of
Islam scattered and disoriented people have been united as a single force.

The Muslims are not ready to submerge their religious individuality. They lack the trust,
and fear domination by Hindus. If the British desire internal harmony they have to settle
the communal question. It is a ground reality that India is inhabited by diverse people and
this reality must be accepted.

5 March, 1931

Gandhi-Irwin Pact
When the Indian representatives came back, they urged Gandhi to stop the non-
cooperation movement and to attend the next RTC. In February, Gandhi met with the
viceroy, Lord Irwin, in the first of a series of meetings to agree the future terms of progress.
Though they understood the importance of bringing Congress into the discussions, some
British politicians were not too keen about Irwin holding talks with someone who had just
been imprisoned for opposing British rule, especially Winston Churchill.

‘The Gandhi-Irwin Pact’ was signed on 5th of March in 1931. Irwin agreed to release most
of the political prisoners and to give back salvaged land too. Gandhi on the other hand,
agreed to call off the non-cooperation movement and attended the next talks as well. He
also put forward his thumbs up to give up his demand for independence in return for a
promise that in a federal India, Indians would genuinely have a say in how their country
was governed.

September – December, 1931

The Second Round Table Conference

Maulana M. A. Jauhar had passed away after the 1st RTC. Iqbal, Jinaah and others joined
the conference. Gandhi represented Congress and the main issues that were focused were
‘Minorities’ and ‘Federation’. It was held in London, again. The conference proved to be
failure and historians believe that the reasons behind that could be the following:
 • The Labour Party had lost power and the new coalition government was less keen
to reach a compromise in India;
• Gandhi took a hard line in the talks and refused to recognize the problems of the
minorities in the subcontinent

Expectedly, not much was taken in. Other than the agreement over NWFP and Sindh to be
provinces with their own governors.

January 1932
CONGRESS RE- STARTS THE NON - COOPERATION MOVEMENT .

GANDHI ARRESTED BY THE BRITISH.

August 16, 1932

The Communal Award

Ramsay MacDonalds, the British PM saw himself as a ‘friend of the Indians’ and after the
failure of the 2nd RTC, he announced the communal award in August to resolve the Indian
problem. The right to a separate electorate was given to all minority communities of the
country and the principle of weightage was also applied. The award also declared the
untouchables as a minority thus the Hindu depressed classes were given a number of
special seats, to be filled from special depressed class electorates in the area where their
voters were concentrated.

The Award was not popular with any Indian party. Muslims were not happy with the
Communal Award, as it has reduced their majority in Punjab and Bengal to a minority. For
example: Though the Muslims constituted almost 56 percent of the total population of
Punjab, they were given only 86 out of 175 seats in the Punjab Assembly. Yet they were
prepared to accept it. In its annual session held in November 1933, the All-India Muslim
League passed a resolution that reads; “Though the decision falls far short of the Muslim
demands, the Muslims have accepted it in the best interest of the country, reserving to
themselves the right to press for the acceptance of all their demands.”

Meanwhile;
the Hindus refused to accept the awards and decided to launch a campaign against it. For
them it was not possible to accept the Untouchables as a minority. They organized the
Allahabad Unity Conference in which they demanded for the replacement of separate
electorates by joint electorates. Many nationalist Muslims and Sikhs also participated in the
conference. The Congress also rejected the Award in Toto.
 24, September 1932

Poona Pact
The Congress expressed strong opposition to the right of a separate electorate for the
minorities, especially to low caste Hindus, the class of untouchables, whom Gandhi later
referred to as Harijan (The sons of God). Gandhi went on a hunger strike unto death in
prison on the right of separate electorate to them on the 20th of September. The Poona Pact
was an agreement between Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar on behalf of Dalits,
depressed classes, and upper caste Hindu leaders on the reservation of electoral seats for
the depressed classes in the legislature of British India in 1932. It was made on 24
September 1932 at Yerwada Central Jail in Poona, India. It was signed by Ambedkar on
behalf of the depressed classes and by Madan Mohan Malviya on behalf of Hindus, Faraz
Shah, Sana Ejaz and Gandhi as a means to end the fast that Gandhi was undertaking in jail
as a protest against the decision made by British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald to
give separate electorates to depressed classes for the election of members of provincial
legislative assemblies in British India.

Nov 17 – Dec 24, 1932

The Third Round Table Conference

It was clear to many that the 3rd RTC would not bring much putting the events of 1932 into
consideration. The viceroy had been replaced from Lord Irwin to Lord Willington who was
much less prepared to make concessions for the Indian people. The non-cooperation
movement had started in some areas of the country and as a result both Nehru and Gandhi
were arrested as well. In January, Congress had officially restarted it.

Congress boycotted the talks, including the princes. Jinnah, consumed by the disillusion of
how little had been achieved, exiled to London and was not even invited to the talks. The
Muslims were left to be represented by Agha Khan, but there were only 46 other delegates
and therefore the result was that nothing of value or substance came out of the conference.
 March, 1933

White Paper on Constitutional Proposals

In March 1933, the British Government published a White Paper. It indicated the lines on
which the new Act of 1935 was to be made. This paper was the result of the long labour of
the three sessions of RTC were collected, summarized and published by the Government as
the proposals for the Indian Constitution in a document named as White paper issued in
March 1933 and debated in Parliament directly after wards.

In the next stage a joint committee of both houses of parliament was appointed to consider
the White paper. it consisted of 16 members from each chamber. Twenty representative
Indians from British India and seven from the States were appointed as assessors to the
Committee. The Committee was at work from April 1933 to Report was debated in the
House of Common from 10-12 December 1934, and in the House of Lords on 18
December.

August, 1935

The Government of India Act

In 1934, a Bill was issued by the British Parliament and in 1935, the Government of India
Act became law. It was the last major legislation that the British passed before
independence.

The terms of the Act are given in the book.

The Act was opposed by all sides, the princes resented it due to the loss of power, Nehru
saw it as a ‘Charter of Slavery’ and to Jinnah, it was ‘thoroughly rotten, fundamentally bad
and totally unacceptable’. It seemed to not please anyone but it did lay the basis on which
independence was later achieved. Parliamentary systems were built where Indians could
negotiate and have more representation.

The act was not fully promulgated but the only provincial part was introduced in the
country. Muslim League and Congress criticized it but agreed to contest provincial
elections.
 Jan – Feb, 1937

The Elections
Nehru wanted to boycott the election to show his party's disapproval of the Act but many
other Congressmen believed that taking part in an election campaign had its advantages.
Congress could carry the message to millions. They could fuss over if they had to take up
office could be resolved later.

The Muslim League also saw the potential for getting its message across. Jannah had been
persuaded to return back to active politics and had sworn to be a part of the League. The
League now campaigned on the two basic principles for office:

• India should have self-government

• There should be greater provincial autonomy and safeguard for the minority
communities

Jinnah believed that it was possible for Congress and Muslim League to cooperate after the
election but Nehru did not share his thoughts. He was not keen to improve relations and
declared that there were only two parties in India, the British and Congress. This angered
Jinnah. Jinnah showed great determination but the Muslim League was met with great
disappointment at the end. The League performed poorly and got only about 21 percent of
the Muslim seats without majority anywhere, Bengal, Punjab, NWFP, and Sindh.

Congress on the other hand won absolute majorities in five provinces and was the largest
single party in four others. It was invited to form ministries in the United Provinces, the
Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, Madras, Bombay and later Assam and NWFP.

The elections were not success for the Muslim League but it had brought benefits to them;
Written in the book.

July, 1937

Formation of Provincial Governments

In July 1937, Congress formed governments in 6 provinces. In NWFP, Khudai Khidmatgar
and Congress formed a coalition government. In the Muslim majority provinces, the
Muslim League could not form the governments. The Muslim League desired to be in
government in the U.P. but the Congress consented to a conditional support:
 • Dissolve AIML Parliamentary Board
• AIML members not to function as a separate group
• AIML members to express allegiance to the Congress

Definitely the above-mentioned terms were a device to subvert the existence of the Muslim
League. Therefore, no agreement was possible on this issue.

July 1937 – Nov 1939

The Rule of Congress

After receiving assurances from the viceroy at the time, Lord Linlithgow, that the Provincial
Governor Generals would not interfere with the provincial government. And despite the
reluctance of Nehru to take over office, the overwhelming support for Congress, he came to
the realization that it was now their duty to take over office. The Congress members took
over their seats and formed cabinets in eight provinces.

Congress made sure to put ML through hard times, where the ML was the largest single
part, Congress refused to cooperate. They only let those Muslims come into the
government work that were not involved with ML in the provinces where the Muslims
were in majority. However, the most damaging aspect of the Congress rule was its idea of
being a representative for all the people of India. With time, Jinnah’s warnings of the
dangers of Congress rule which he put forward when campaigning for the elections would
prove themselves to be true.

First all Congress governments in the provinces launched anti-Muslim drive basically to
exclude the ML and other Muslim organizations from the government making process. The
Congress leaders had come to know that the ML had got roots in the masses. They started
'Muslim Mass Contact' movement to defame the ML in their favour.

They were making cultural and educational policies that promoted the Hindu culture and
symbols in the name of Indian culture. They introduced Banda-Mataram anthem from
Annandmath in the institutions and offices etc. This anthem encouraged to expel Muslims
from ‘Hindustan’. The Hindi language was given top most importance in their policies.

Wardha Educational Scheme was to convert Muslims into Hindus through primary
educational literature. This was an education scheme based on Gandhi’s views and
introduced into all Congress ministries. Projection of Hindu heroes like Gandhi and
distortion of Muslim history became their moral creed. All students were expected to bow
to the picture of Gandhi, ironic to the curriculum being deemed secular. They followed the
policy of discrimination in services or new recruitment for jobs. The Congress ministries
adopted overall negative and cruel attitude, especially towards the Muslim activists. This
unjust treatment compelled the Muslims to be disciplined in every sphere of life.

Muslims were forbidden to eat beef and received harsh punishments if they slaughtered
cows. Azaan, the Muslim call to prayer, was forbidden and attacks on mosques were
carried out. Disturbances were made outside mosques at prayer times, noisy processions
were hurled around and sometimes pigs were even sent into the mosques. There were anti-
Muslim riots where Muslims were attacked and their property or even homes burnt. The
Muslims feared complaining to the authorities as they felt that the decisions were always
made against them.

The viceroy Linlithgow himself talked about ‘many instances of oppression in small ways’.
All these activities, including the policies mentioned above made the Muslims see the
period of Congress Rule as ‘The Congress Tyranny’.

1937 – 1939

Muslim League under Congress Rule

After the 1937 elections, Jinnah had suggested coalitions of Congress-League ministries in
several provinces but no agreement had been reached. Therefore, Jinnah resorted to
warning the Muslims that they must organize themselves if they were to resist the desire of
Congress to establish ‘Hindustan’.

Jinnah pointed out that the League needed to build up support from the root as victory had
come from where branches of the League had been established before 1937.

The Muslim leaders shed a sharp criticism on the Congress policies. They protested against
the reduction of status of Urdu and other Muslim related issues. They created realization,
amongst the Muslims, of what can happen under the Congress rule and urged for serious
thinking about the future political and constitutional arrangements. They unearthed the real
objectives of the Congress and urged the need of unity among the Muslims under the
banner of Muslim League.

The chief ministers of Assam, Bengal and Punjab formally joined the party and by mid
1938, the membership had grown dramatically. Congress recognized the growth and talks
between Jinnah and Nehru were arranged though congress refused to see Muslim League
as the sole representative of the Muslims.
 Nov 15, 1938

The Pirpur Report

On March 28, 1938, the Council of ML appointed an eight-member committee under the
presidentship of Raja Syed Muhammad Mehdi of Pirpur that presented its report on,
November 15, 1938. It tried to dig out the cruelties of the Congress ministries in seven
provinces. Pirpur report was regarding the crimes and cruelties committed by Congress
ministers against the Muslim community during their rule.

March, 1938

The Sharif Report

Sharif Report was published on March 4, 1939 in which the crimes committed by the
congress government against the Muslims of Bihar, were verified. The report was prepared
by an investigating committee under leadership of S.M Sharif who was deputed by ML.

December, 1939

The Fazl-Ul-Haq Report

A. K. Fazl-Ul-Haq published a pamphlet entitled Muslim Sufferings Under the Rule of
Congress and made many alarming revelations e.g., forbidding of Azan, attacks in
mosques, noisy processions of the Hindu scoundrels, forbidding of the cow-slaughter etc.
This pamphlet responded the indictments by the Congress on the Muslims.

TIMELINE
September 3rd, Britain goes to war with Nazi Germany and WWII commence.

The viceroy declares that India is at war too. Congress objects and states that that could
only happen if India was granted a promise of full independence after the war.

Dominion status is promised only, congress resigns after passing a resolution setting out its
‘entire Disapproval’ of Nazism.

T HE ML HAD DEMANDS TOO BEFORE IT COULD SUPPORT THE BRITISH;

 • An end to anti-Muslim policies
• Unless two-thirds of Muslims accepted a law affecting Muslims, it could not be
passed
• Congress should agree to form coalitions in provincial administrations

Neither the British nor Congress agreed to these, therefore the position of ML throughout
the war was that where it did not give full support to the British, however disapproved of
Nazism and Fascism.

December 22nd, 1939

The Day of Deliverance

When Britain went to war with Nazi Germany, the viceroy declared that India was at war as
well the same day. Congress was not happy about this and stated that it had not been
consulted first and all the Congress provincial governments resigned. On the 2 nd of
December, Jinnah put out an appeal calling on all Indian Muslims to celebrate 22 nd of
December 1939 as a ‘Day of Deliverance’ from the Congress rule.

The Muslims were pleased to see the end of the Hindu government and gave great support
to Jinnah.

The proposed Day of Deliverance was criticized as being divisive. On 9 December 1939,
Gandhi appealed to Jinnah to end the observance in light of pending Congress/Muslim
league unity discussions, and in anticipation of third-party review of Muslim League
allegations made about Congress' treatment of Muslims.

Nehru exchanged several letters with Jinnah between 9–14 December 1939, offering to
deal with specific allegations of anti-Muslim actions, but the discussions fell through
because Nehru refused to disassociate Congress from Indian Muslims unaffiliated with the
Muslim League.

The Day of Deliverance was celebrated in many parts of India by Muslim League
supporters, as well some non-Muslim Congress opponents. The latter included the All-India
Depressed Classes Association, Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar and the Independent Labour
Party, E. V. Ramasami, as well as some Parsis, and Anglo-Indians.
 March 23, 1940

The Lahore/Pakistan Resolution

Both Allama Iqbal and Rahmat Ali agreed upon the earlier views of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
for the Muslims to have a separate homeland for themselves. Jinnah at first did not share
the same views, he believed that Muslims would be better off in a federation they have
political autonomy and their rights were safeguarded. However, the phase of Congress Rule
really shifted his views and now he too considered a separate, sovereign homeland for the
Muslims.

The experience of Congress Rule compelled the Muslims to launch the movement for
separate homeland. The Hindus made them realize that Hindu government would mean an
anti-Muslim rule in India. The Muslims' disappointment from the Congress leadership
decided to open a new phase of history. Quaid-i-Azam's article in Time and Tide concluded
that Muslims are a nation. No Constitution can be enforced by ignoring Muslims. His
comments on March 13, 1940 are remarkable: "If some satisfactory settlement cannot be
found for Muslims in united India, the Muslim will have to demand for division of the
country."

At the annual session of the Muslim League held in Lahore on the 22 nd of March 1940, the
premier of Bengal, Maulvi Fazal-Ul-Haq put forward a resolution demanding that ‘Regions
in which the Muslims are numerically a majority as in the north-western and eastern zone
of India, should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units
shall be autonomous and sovereign’. The resolution was passed on 23rd March, which is
now a holiday in Pakistan.

The resolution became known as the ‘Lahore Resolution’ but the Hindu press began to
refer to it as the ‘Pakistan Resolution’ and later that name was adopted. The Muslims of the
subcontinent now finally had a way out of the oppression from the British and the Hindus.
Now was the time to work behind ML’s footsteps.

‘The Pakistan Movement’ had started.

 August 14, 1941

The Atlantic Charter

The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration issued during World War II (1939-45) by the
United States and Great Britain that set out a vision for the postwar world. First announced
on August 14, 1941.

Among its major points were a nation’s right to choose its own government, the easing of
trade restrictions and a plea for postwar disarmament.

When the Indians got to know of the charter and its terms, they found it inevitable that the
British were about to leave the subcontinent. ML realized that they had to partition India
before the British left as achieving Pakistan was much more difficult if Congress came into
power.

March, 1942

The Cripps Mission

The Muslim League had made it pretty clear as to what their demands were. The Congress
on the other hand objected to any partition of India and the British were not ready to leave
their control over India. So, to resolve the issues between the Indian leaders, the British
sent Sir Stafford Cripps who was a member of the Cabinet to see if a compromise could be
made. They wanted to work this out so that the support for the war could be reached.
Cripps proposed that:

• After war, Indian Union for dominion status

• Indian constitutional body to frame constitution
• Princely states would be represented

The Muslim League rejected the proposals as they did not include any reference to
Pakistan, though Jinnah was delighted to see the proposal of a future Union, as this showed
the British were now considering minorities.

Congress, too, rejected the proposals because it now opt for immediate control of India’s
affairs. Plus, it did not trust the British enough to wait until the war was over.
 August 8, 1942

The Quit India Resolution

Gandhi put forward his idea that if the British left India, there would be no threat of the
Japanese invasion, in the May 1942’s meeting of Congress in Allahabad. On the 8th of
August, the All-India Congress Committee passed its ‘Quit India Resolution’ calling for the
immediate withdrawal of the British from the subcontinent. This was supposed to be a non-
violent protest.

Just after two days, Gandhi, Nehru and some other prominent leaders of Congress were
arrested. And Congress banned. The ML stayed aloof and responded by saying that divide
and quit India. It did not approve of it and saw it as a way to gain control over India and to
exercise anti-Muslim policies.

September, 1944

Gandhi-Jinnah Talks
After Gandhi’s release from prison by Lord Wavell on medical grounds in May, Gandhi
called for talks with Jinnah over the future of India after the departure of the British. People
expected these talks to work out, that went over the whole of September but they broke
down.

Gandhi wanted the League to support Congress with driving the British out after which he
stated that the issue of partition could be resolved. Jinnah was a smart boy and knew that
Congress was not dumb enough to give up a huge sum of India fairly when it gained power.
So, Jinnah backed Gandhi out in a No-No fashion.

Gandhi saw himself as speaking for the whole of India but Jinnah pointed out that he was
just a spokesman of Congress. Gandhi did not believe in the ‘Two Nations Theory’ but
this was not a policy of ML. Gandhi also disagreed with Jinnah over who should have the
control over key areas such as defense and foreign policy. Gandhi thought the Central
Government should have it whereas Jinnah thought the provinces.

Jinnah was optimistic about Congress now viewing ML as a significant political party with
which negotiations were to be made but other than that nothing more of agreement came
out of the talks.
 Rahmat Ali’s Contribution
One of the main contributions of Rahmat Ali was devising the name of the future Muslim
homeland. He was one of the Indian Muslims studying in England who realized that the
position of the Muslim representatives in the conferences he attended was wrong. He
believed that Muslims needed to establish independence through a partition of India and
not a federation. This view was at objection with Jinnah’s at the time.

His thinking was too advanced for his time; however, he was not put off by lack of support
for his ideas. In 1933, he wrote a four-page pamphlet called ‘Now or Never’.

In his writing, he proposed the name of Muslim state, PAKISTAN.

P PUNJAB

A AFGHANIA NWFP

K KASHMIR

S S INDH

TAN BALOCHISTAN

Allama Iqbal’s Contribution

Aside from the beauty of his poetry that gave inspiration of nationhood and motivation to
millions of Muslims around the subcontinent, Allama Mohammad Iqbal was also a figure of
inspiration for other Muslim leaders as well which in return turned out to be a great asset in
the Pakistan Movement. He was also the first Muslim leader to suggest partition of the
subcontinent in keeping with the Two-Nation theory. So, he has been called the Father of
the ideology of Pakistan.

He further expressed these ideas in LETTERS TO JINNAH from May 1936 to November
1937. He talked of a separate federation of Muslim provinces.