Pakistan Movement

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Pakistan Movement or Tehrik-e-Pakistan (Urdu: تحریک پاکستان) was the struggle carried out by the Muslims of British India to create a separate homeland in fear of losing their liberty to a Hindu majority state. This struggle was led by the Muslim League and resulted in the partition of the British Empire in India. The movement was led by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, along with such leaders asAllama Iqbal, Liaqat Ali Khan, Fatima Jinnah, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, A.K. Fazlul Huq, and Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar among the many others.

History of the movement

The idea of a separate state was first introduced by Allama Iqbal in 1930. Subsequently, the name Pakistan was proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his Pakistan Declaration in 1933.. However, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders maintained their belief in religious unity. It was only after, the volatile political climate and emerging religious hostilities between Hindus and Muslims that gave the idea a stronger backing.

In 1940, at the occasion of its general session in Lahore, Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution (also known as Pakistan Resolution) that became the main objective of struggle for independence. Soon after World War II, the United Kingdom became convinced that keeping their colonies in South Asia was no longer a feasible option, as the empire itself was economically shattered by the war. By 1947, British India was divided into a Muslim majority Pakistan and a Hindu majority India.

Timeline

Statements and Sayings

Allama Iqbal

I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.|

Choudhary Rahmat Ali

At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in Pakistan - by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan - for your sympathy and support in our grim and fateful struggle against political crucifixion and complete annihilation.

Quaid-e-Azam

It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religious in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literatures. They neither intermarry nor interdine together and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans 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 for the government of such a state.”

References

Other Leaders

• Allama Mashriqi
• Chaudhry Naseer Ahmad Malhi
• Maulana Zafar Ali Khan
• Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk

See also

• A Short History of Pakistan an edited book by I H Qureshi
• History of Pakistan
• Pakistan Resolution
• National Monument, Islamabad

External links

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Last updated on Monday February 18, 2008 at 13:34:35 PST (GMT -0800)
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