Dr Awatar Singh Sekhon, Dr Gurcharan Singh Dhillon,
Dr Hariinder Singh Dileeer and Dr Harbakhash Singh Sandhar
CONTINUED: BACKGROUND OF PAKISTAN: During the proceedings of the annual session of the Muslim League in 1930, Dr. Mohammed Iqbal declared a new goal for the Muslims. He said that since all “the attempts to discover such a principle of internal harmony brave so far falled.it ‘would be better to recognize the Indian Muslims’ right to full and free development in their own homeland.” He favored amalgamation of Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Baluchistan into a single state. He believed that “the formation of a consolidated North West Muslim State spears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims at least in northwest India.” What Dr. Iqbal said (in 1930) was not due to his ill will against any so-called national, religious or ethnic group, He was sincerely reacting to the behavior of the Hindus vis-a-vis the problems of the minorities. While making the statement even Dr. Iqbal forgot the same fundamental point upon which he had relied. While the Muslims were victims of Hindu imperialism, the Sikhs were no less an aggrieved party. The Sikhs, being mostly concentrated in Khalistan (Punjab) were not only ignored but were also harmed by what Dr, Iqbal wished to achieve for his ‘community. (Had Dr. Iqbal, or later the Muslims in general, worked for a common formula for a solution to the problem ‘of the nations and the Sikhs could have been made to unite for a joint (not common) struggle, the results could have been far better for the Muslims and better still for the Sikhs. The joint struggle by the Sikhs and Muslims must also have strengthened various nations of the Indian subcontinent and the possibilities of multinational united ventures could have been there, which now, in 1995, are a possibility of the future). Dr. Iqbal, however, did not find many active supporters at that time.
Dr. Iqbal’s statements were immediately reacted to by the Sikh nation In a memorandum submitted to the second Round Table Conference in 1931, the Sikh representatives said that in case the Muslims refused to accept anything but a reserved majority on the basis of separate electorates, they (the Sikhs) would then press for ‘a “territorial rearrangement” of the province which would consolidate the Sikh population. They demanded, therefore, that Multan and Rawalpindi divisions (excluding Montgomery and Lyallpur districts), which were overwhelmingly Muslim and were racially akin to NWFP, should be taken away from Punjab. In the remaining Punjab, there will not be a majority of any nation and each section would be obliged to conciliate the others”. A counterproposal for reorganization of the Punjab boundaries was made by Sir Geoffrey Corbett The Scheme aimed at the separation of the Ambala Division from the Punjab and to exclude the Hindu areas to make the province more Muslim in character. None of the above proposals was accepted by the British. It was the starting point of the Communal Award by the British. In the election of 1937, almost all the Muslim seats were won by the Muslim League. The League demanded two seats in the cabinet of U.P. whereas their influence was greatest among all non-Muslim majority zones. Jawahar Lal Nehru rejected their demand but Inter agreed to ‘give one berth in the cabinet. The Hindu leaders also insisted that all League members join the Congress and disband their provincial Parliamentary Board. In Bombay province, the senior most leader, K.P. Nariman, was ignored for the Chief Minister ship of Bombay because he be tonged to the minority Parsi community. Maulana Azad’s appeal against this dis crimination was rejected by Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and P.D. Tandon. His situation baffled the hopes of the Muslims regarding en equal or honorable treatment at the hands of the Hindus. Maulana ‘Azad accused the Hindu Congress of having hurt the national interests grievously by not agreeing, on time, even to the trivial Muslim demands which ultimately Jed to partition.
To Be continued
Article extracted from this publication >> March 6, 1996
