Pakistan Movement 1940 -1947

Lahore Resolution 1940

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.
He said that the problem of India was not of an inter-communal nature, but manifestly an
international one and must be treated as such. 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 inter-marry 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”.
He further said, “Mussalmans are a nation according to any definition of nation. We wish our
people to develop to the fullest spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that
we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people”.
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 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”.
further , “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, with their
consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in
a minority”.
The Resolution repudiated 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
seconded by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Sardar Aurangzeb from the N. W. F. P., Sir
Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and Qazi Esa from Baluchistan, along with many others.
The Resolution was passed on March 24. It laid down only the principles, with the
details left to be worked out at a future date. It was made a part of the All India Muslim League’s
constitution in 1941. It was on the basis of this resolution that in 1946 the Muslim League
decided to go for one state for the Muslims, instead of two.
Having passed the Pakistan Resolution, the Muslims of India changed their ultimate
goal. Instead of seeking alliance with the Hindu community, they set out on a path whose
destination was a separate homeland for the Muslims of India.

Cripps Mission 1942:

The British government wanted to get the cooperation of the Indian people in order
to deal with the war situation. The divergence between the two major representative parties of
the country harassed the British government. It found it difficult to make the war a success
without the cooperation of both the Hindus and the Muslims.

On March 22, 1942, Britain sent Sir Stafford Cripps with constitutional proposals.
The important points of the declaration were as follows:
a) General elections in the provinces would be arranged as soon as the war ended.
b) A new Indian dominion, associated with the United Kingdom would be created.
c) Those provinces not joining the dominion could form their own separate union.
d) Minorities were to be protected.
However, both the Congress and the Muslim League rejected these proposals. Jinnah opposed
the plan, as it did not concede Pakistan. Thus the plan came to nothing.

Gandhi Jinnah Talks 1944:

The Gandhi-Jinnah Talks have eminent significance with regard to the

political problems of India and the Pakistan Movement. The talks between the two great leaders
of the Sub-continent began in response to the general public’s desire for a settlement of Hindu-
Muslim differences.
On July 17, 1944, Gandhi wrote a letter to Quaid-i-Azam in which he expressed his desire
to meet him. Quaid-i-Azam asked the Muslim League for permission for this meeting. The
League readily acquiesced.
The Gandhi-Jinnah talks began in Bombay on September 19, 1944, and lasted till the 24th
of the month. The talks were held directly and via correspondence. Gandhi told Quaid-i-Azam
that he had come in his personal capacity and was representing neither the Hindus nor the
Congress.
Gandhi’s real purpose behind these talks was to extract from Jinnah an admission that the
whole proposition of Pakistan was absurd.
Quaid-i-Azam painstakingly explained the basis of the demand of Pakistan. “We
maintain”, he wrote to Gandhi, “that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any
definition or test of a nation. We are a nation of a 100 million. We have our distinctive outlook
on life and of life. By all the cannons of international law, we are a nation”. He added that he
was “convinced that the true welfare not only of the Muslims but of the rest of India lies in the
division of India as proposed in the Lahore Resolution”.
Gandhi on the other hand maintained that India was one nation and saw in the
Pakistan Resolution “Nothing but ruin for the whole of India”. “If, however, Pakistan had to be
conceded, the areas in which the Muslims are in an absolute majority should be demarcated by a
commission approved by both the Congress and the Muslim League. The wishes of the people of
these areas will be obtained through referendum. These areas shall form a separate state as soon
as possible after India is free from foreign domination. There shall be a treaty of separation
which should also provide for the efficient and satisfactory administration of foreign affairs,
defense, internal communication, custom and the like which must necessarily continue to be the
matters of common interest between the contracting countries”.
This meant, in effect, that power over the whole of India should first be transferred to
Congress, which thereafter would allow Muslim majority areas that voted for separation to be
constituted, not as independent sovereign state but as part of an Indian federation.
Gandhi contended that his offer gave the substance of the Lahore Resolution. Quaid-i-
Azam did not agree to the proposal and the talks ended.

Wavell plan and Simla Conference 1945:

In May 1945, Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, went to London and discussed his ideas about
the future of India with the British administration. The talks resulted in the formulation of a plan
of action that was made public in June 1945. The plan is known as Wavell Plan.
The Plan suggested reconstitution of the Viceroy’s Executive Council in which the Viceroy
was to select persons nominated by the political parties. Different communities were also to get
their due share in the Council and parity was reserved for Cast-Hindus and Muslims. While
declaring the plan, the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs made it clear that the British
Government wanted to listen to the ideas of all major Indian communities. Yet he said that it was
only possible if the leadership of the leading Indian political parties agreed with the suggestions
of the British Government.
To discuss these proposals with the leadership of major Indian parties, Wavell called for a
conference at Simla on June 25, 1945. Leaders of both the Congress and the Muslim League
attended the conference, which is known as the Simla Conference. However, differences arose
between the leadership of the two parties on the issue of representation of the Muslim
community. The Muslim League claimed that it was the only representative party of the Muslims
in India and thus all the Muslim representatives in the Viceroy’s Executive Council should be the
nominees of the party. Congress, which had sent Maulana Azad as the leader of their delegation,
tried to prove that their party represented all the communities living in India and thus should be
allowed to nominate Muslim representative as well. Congress also opposed the idea of parity
between the Cast-Hindus and the Muslims. All this resulted in a deadlock. Finally, Wavell
announced the failure of his efforts on July 14. Thus the Simla Conference couldn’t provide any
hope of proceeding further.
Provincial and General Elections 1945-46:
With the failure of the Simla Conference, Lord Wavell announced that the Central and
Provincial Legislature elections would be held in the winter of 1945, after which a constitution-making
body would be set up. He also announced that after the elections, the Viceroy would set an Executive
Council that would have the support of the main Indian political parties. Both the Muslim League and the
Congress opposed the proposal.
Quaid-i-Azam declared that Muslims were not ready to accept any settlement less than a separate
homeland for them and the All India Congress Committee characterized the proposal as vague,
inadequate and unsatisfactory because it had not addressed the issue of independence. Despite this, the
two parties launched huge election campaigns. They knew that the elections would be crucial for the
future of India, as the results were to play an important role in determining their standing. The League
wanted to sweep the Muslim constituencies so as to prove that they were the sole representatives of the
Muslims of Sub-continent, while Congress wanted to prove that, irrespective of religion, they represent
all the Indians.
The Congress on the other hand stood for United India. To counter the Muslim League, the Congress
press abused the Quaid and termed his demand for Pakistan as the “vivisection of Mother India”,
“reactionary primitivism” and “religious barbarism”. Congress tried to brand Muslim League as an ultra-
conservative clique of knights, Khan Bahadurs, toadies and government pensioners. The Congress also
tried to get the support of all the provincial and central Muslim parties who had some differences with the
League, and backed them in the elections. Both the Muslim League and the Congress promulgated
opposite slogans during their campaigns. The Muslim League presented a one-point manifesto “if you
want Pakistan, vote for the Muslim League”. Quaid-i-Azam himself toured the length and breadth of
India and tried to unite the Muslim community under the banner of the Muslim League.
Elections for the Central Legislature were held in December 1945. Though the franchise was limited,
the turnover was extraordinary.
The Congress was able to sweep the polls for the non-Muslim seats. They managed to win more than 80
percent of the general seats and about 91.3 percent of the total general votes. The Leagues performance,
however, was even more impressive: it managed to win all the 30 seats reserved for the Muslims. The
results of the provincial election held in early 1946 were not different. Congress won most of the non-
Muslim seats while Muslim League captured approximately 95 percent of the Muslim seats.
In a bulletin issued on January 6, 1946, the Central Election Board of the Congress claimed that the
election results had vindicated the party as the biggest, strongest and the most representative organization
in the country. On the other hand, the League celebrated January 11, 1946, as the Day of Victory and
declared that the election results were enough to prove that Muslim League, under the leadership of
Quaid-i-Azam, was the sole representative of the Muslims of the region.

Cabinet Mission Plan 1946:

All of the British Government’s attempts to establish peace between the Congress and the Muslim
League had failed. The results of the general elections held in 1945-46 served to underline the urgency to
find a solution to the political deadlock, which was the result of non-cooperation between the two major
parties. To end this, the British government sent a special mission of cabinet ministers to India.
The mission consisted of Lord Pethic Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps,
President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
The purpose of the mission was:

1. Preparatory discussions with elected representatives of British India and the Indian states in order to
secure agreement as to the method of framing the constitution.
2. Setting up of a constitution body.
3. Setting up an Executive Council with the support of the main Indian parties.

The mission arrived on March 24, 1946. After extensive discussions with Congress and the Muslim
League, the Cabinet Mission put forward its own proposals on May 16, 1946.
The main points of the plan were:
1. There would be a union of India comprising both British India and the Indian States that would deal
with foreign affairs, defense and communications. The union would have an Executive and a Legislature.
2. All residuary powers would belong to the provinces.
3. All provinces would be divided into three sections. Provinces could opt out of any group after the first
general elections.
4. There would also be an interim government having the support of the major political parties.
The Muslim League accepted the plan on June 6 1946. Earlier, the Congress had accepted the plan on
May 24, 1946, though it rejected the interim setup.
The Viceroy should now have invited the Muslim League to form Government as it had accepted the
interim setup; but he did not do so.
Meanwhile Jawaharlal Nehru, addressing a press conference on July 10, said that the Congress had
agreed to join the constituent assembly, but saying it would be free to make changes in the Cabinet
Mission Plan.
Under these circumstances, the Muslim League disassociated itself from the Cabinet Plan and resorted to
“Direct Action” to achieve Pakistan. As a result, Viceroy Wavell invited the Congress to join the interim
government, although it had practically rejected the plan.
However, the Viceroy soon realized the futility of the scheme without the participation of the League.
Therefore, on October 14, 1946, he extended an invitation to them as well.
Jinnah nominated Liaquat Ali Khan, I. I. Chundrigar, Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Ghazanfar Ali Khan
and Jogandra Nath Mandal to the cabinet.
Congress allocated the Finance Ministry to the League. This in effect placed the whole governmental
setup under the Muslim League. As Minister of Finance, the budget Liaquat Ali Khan presented was
called a “poor man’s budget” as it adversely affected the Hindu capitalists.

The deadlock between the Congress and the League further worsened in this setup.
On March 22, 1947, Lord Mountbatten arrived as the last Viceroy. It was announced that power would
be transferred from British to Indian hands by June 1948.
Lord Mountbatten entered into a series of talks with the Congress and the Muslim League leaders.
Quaid-i-Azam made it clear that the demand for Pakistan had the support of all the Muslims of India and
that he could not withdraw from it. With staunch extremists as Patel agreeing to the Muslim demand for a
separate homeland, Mountbatten now prepared for the partition of the Sub-continent and announced it on
June 3, 1947.

3rd June Plan 1947:

When all of Mountbatten’s efforts to keep India united failed, he asked Ismay to chalk out a
plan for the transfer of power and the division of the country. It was decided that none of the
Indian parties would view it before the plan was finalized.
The plan was finalized in the Governor’s Conference in April 1947, and was then sent to
Britain in May where the British Government approved it.
However, before the announcement of the plan, Nehru who was staying with Mountbatten as
a guest in his residence at Simla, had a look at the plan and rejected it. Mountbatten then asked
V. P. Menon, the only Indian in his personal staff, to present a new plan for the transfer of
power. Nehru edited Menon’s formula and then Mountbatten himself took the new plan to
London, where he got it approved without any alteration. Attlee and his cabinet gave the
approval in a meeting that lasted not more than five minutes. In this way, the plan that was to
decide the future of the Indo-Pak Sub-continent was actually authored by a Congress-minded
Hindu and was approved by Nehru himself.
 Mountbatten came back from London on May 31, and on June 2 met seven Indian leaders.
These were Nehru, Patel, Kriplalani, Quaid-i-Azam, Liaquat, Nishtar and Baldev Singh. After
these leaders approved the plan, Mountbatten discussed it with Gandhi and convinced him that it
was the best plan under the circumstances. The plan was made public on June 3, and is thus
known as the June 3rd Plan.
The following were the main clauses of this Plan:
1. The Provincial Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal were to meet in two groups, i.e.,
Muslim majority districts and non-Muslim majority districts. If any of the two decided in favor
of the division of the province, then the Governor General would appoint a boundary
commission to demarcate the boundaries of the province on the basis of ascertaining the
contiguous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims.
2. The Legislative Assembly of Sindh (excluding its European Members) was to decide either to
join the existing Constituent Assembly or the New Constituent Assembly.
3. In order to decide the future of the North West Frontier Province, a referendum was proposed.
The Electoral College for the referendum was to be the same as the Electoral College for the
provincial legislative assembly in 1946.
4. Baluchistan was also to be given the option to express its opinion on the issue.
5. If Bengal decided in favor of partition, a referendum was to be held in the Sylhet District of
Assam to decide whether it would continue as a part of Assam, or be merged with the new
province of East Bengal.

Creation of Pakistan 1947:

The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on July 18,
1947. The Act created two dominions, Indian Union and Pakistan. It also provided for the
complete end of British control over Indian affairs from August 15, 1947. The Muslims of the
Sub-continent had finally achieved their goal to have an independent state for themselves, but
only after a long and relentless struggle under the single-minded guidance of the Quaid.
The Muslims faced a gamut of problems immediately after independence. However,
keeping true to their traditions, they overcame them after a while. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah was appointed the first Governor General of Pakistan and Liaquat Ali Khan became its
first Prime Minister. Pakistan became a dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations.
The boundaries of Pakistan emerged on the map of the world in 1947. This was accomplished on
the basis of the Two-Nation Theory. This theory held that there were two nations, Hindus and
Muslims living in the territory of the Sub-continent. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the first
exponent of the Two-Nation Theory in the modern era. He believed that India was a continent
and not a country, and that among the vast population of different races and different creeds,
Hindus and Muslims were the two major nations on the basis of nationality, religion, way-of-life,
customs, traditions, culture and historical conditions.
The politicization of the Muslim community came about as a consequence of three
developments:
1. Various efforts towards Islamic reform and revival during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
2. The impact of Hindu-based nationalism.
3. The democratization of the government of British India.
While the antecedents of Muslim nationalism in India go back to the early Islamic
conquests of the Sub-continent, organizationally it stems from the demands presented by the
Simla Deputation to Lord Minto, the Governor General of India, in October 1906, proposing
separate electorates for the Indian Muslims. The principal reason behind this demand was the
maintenance of a separate identity of the Muslim nationhood. In the same year, the founding of
the All India Muslim League, a separate political organization for Muslims, elucidated the fact
that the Muslims of India had lost trust in the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress.
Besides being a Hindu-dominated body, the Congress leaders in order to win grass-root support
for their political movements, used Hindu religious symbols and slogans, thereby arousing
Muslim suspicions regarding the secular character of the Congress.
Events like the Urdu-Hindi controversy (1867), the partition of Bengal (1905), and Hindu
revivalism, set the two nations, the Hindus and the Muslims, further apart. Re-annulment of the
partition of Bengal in 1911 by the British government brought the Congress and the Muslim
League on one platform. Starting with the constitutional cooperation in the Lucknow Pact
(1916), they launched the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements to press upon the British
government the demand for constitutional reforms in India in the post-World War I era.
But after the collapse of the Khilafat Movement, Hindu-Muslim antagonism was
revived once again. The Muslim League rejected the proposals forwarded by the Nehru Report
and they chose a separate path for themselves. The idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims
of Northern India as proposed by Allama Iqbal in his famous Allahabad Address showed that the
creation of two separate states for the Muslims and Hindus was the only solution. The idea was
reiterated during the Sindh provincial meeting of the League, and finally adopted as the official
League position in the Lahore Declaration of March 23, 1940.
Thus these historical, cultural, religious and social differences between the two nations
accelerated the pace of political developments, finally leading to the division of British India into
two separate, independent states, Pakistan and India, on August 14 & 15, 1947, respectively.