[History] To what extent did Muhammed Ali Jinnah intend Pakistan to be a means of safeguarding Muslim rights?

[Babur]

Author: Babur
Original Thread: To what extent did Muhammed Ali Jinnah intend Pakistan to be a means of safeguarding Muslim rights?

To what extent did Muhammed Ali Jinnah intend Pakistan to be a means of safeguarding Muslim rights?

To what extent did Jinnah intend Pakistan to be a means of safeguarding Muslim rights?

Muhammed Ali Jinnah’s role in the creation of Pakistan as a means to safeguard Muslim rights is well known. Winston Churchill supported Jinnah and his demand for Pakistan during the Second World War since he wasn’t keen on unity between Hindus and Muslims since it would encourage Independence and also Jinnah supported the British war effort. This is a contrast to Jinnah’s earlier role as the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity. However as the Second World War turned in the Allies‘ favour, the British were keen to promote unity due to a weakening of the British Raj. Both Jinnah’s supporters and his critics say that he was responsible for creating Pakistan to protect Muslim rights. In India, Jinnah has been portrayed as an arrogant man who only advocated Pakistan for his own self gain. Penderel Moon argues that Jinnah’s claim to speak for all Muslims of India was invalid, however Jinnah was able to portray himself as having this role with success. Indian historians have gone further to suggest that Jinnah was a collaborator with the British Raj, who sought to aid their divide and rule policy against Indian politicians. Jinnah’s supporters believe that Jinnah was a politician who cared about Muslim rights.

There is strong evidence to suggest that Jinnah was not an observant Muslim, Rafiq Zakaria, provides evidence for this by quoting Jinnah’s conversation with an ICS officer,Sikander Mirza where he stated that he wanted a secular state, not an Islamic state and Jinnah was even reluctant to apply Shariah law to Pakistan.This is evidence that Jinnah was not interested in safeguarding Muslim rights.


There have been arguments over whether Jinnah intended to create a theocratic or secular state. This became particularly acute under the rule of Zia-Ul-Haq where one state sanctioned historian, S.A. Mujahid argued that Pakistan was intended by Jinnah to be a theocratic state, an "Islamic Democracy”,this was argued because Zia-Ul-Haq was a theocratic dictator who wanted to fully implement Shariah law in Pakistan. However a counterargument could be that Jinnah used Islam as a means to gain immediate recognition for Pakistan from other Muslim countries and thus guarantee it legitimacy. There is a strong argument to suggest that Jinnah had a secular vision for Pakistan, Ian Bryant Wells (a Professor who specialises in India and Pakistan) used Jinnah’s first presidential speech as evidence for Jinnah’s secularism. In this speech Jinnah declared that people would have the right to worship without any interference from the state, However Jinnah might have felt the need to say this to satisfy the Sikhs and Hindus who had decided to stay in Pakistan. This secular interpretation of Jinnah's creation of Pakistan is supported by Stanley Wolpert (a Professor of History at the University of California who is one of America’s foremost experts on South Asia) who states that he was inspired by the prominent secularist Ataturk.Jinnah,from 1932 onwards, was open about his admiration of what Ataturk had done for Turkey.Jinnah said that Ataturk was the foremost figure in the Muslim East who was able to show the world that Muslim nations were coming into their own.Jinnah may have seen in Ataturk, a psychological redemption, due to his own frustrations in Indian politics.Ataturk was able to rebuild the national sovereignty of Turkey and by doing so forge a new secular nation, this would have proved inspirational to Jinnah.

There is another argument that Jinnah's demand for Pakistan was made more urgent by the fact he was suffering from terminal tuberculosis, this led him to being impatient and overtly critical of others as Robert Service once said of Lenin, “he was running against the clock of his biology“. This meant that time was a factor in Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan. This impatience led to Mountbatten’s antipathy towards Jinnah and his close relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru, since this showed that he wouldn’t be willing to co-operate with Congress or the British Raj.This shows that Jinnah’s personality meant that he was only interested in creating Pakistan for his own self fain.Jinnah was also frustrated with Mahatma Gandhi's aims which he felt would divide Hindus and Muslims, which is why he had left the Congress Party in 1920.It can be argued that personality played a role too, since Jinnah felt that he was overshadowed by the rise of Gandhi.

It was with this fear of the marginalisation of both Muslim rights and his career in Indian politics that drove him to draft his Fourteen points. There is strong evidence to suggest that Jinnah originally intended Pakistan as a Muslim state within a federal union of Indian with a weak central government; this is supported by Jinnah's fourteen points.this can be used to argue that Jinnah did wish to safeguard Muslim rights.

It would appear from these points that Jinnah first intended Pakistan as a means to fears among the Muslim community of a Hindu dominated central government. Additionally Jinnah wanted to win support from Muslims in minority provinces through ensuring that there would be no less than one-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature. This can be used to argue that Jinnah was genuinely interested in safeguarding Muslims rights by ensuring proper representation.

In his fourteen points Jinnah also intended that there would be separate representation for provinces such as Bengal and Punjab. Jinnah also wanted Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Provinces as separate provinces. These three provinces would be part of Pakistan in 1947.However initially these provinces were intended to undermine the dominance of Punjab and Bengal in Muslim politics. Jinnah hoped to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims through his fourteen points as Wells has argued.However it can be argued that their rejection placed Jinnah on the path to demanding a separate Muslim homeland. This was at odds with the secularism of Congress, who Jinnah had hoped to work with in the nineteen-thirties.

Jinnah was left isolated by his Muslim colleagues. However when Jinnah returned to the Muslim League after a short hiatus, he was seeking to regain his position in Muslim politics through elections and also seeking to work more closely with the Congress Party. However when this had failed he saw that Muslims and Hindus were separate nations, which couldn't co-exist. This is further supported by the adoption of the Pakistan resolution in 1940.

This has been used by Pakistani historians to justify Jinnah's role as "Quaid-i-Azam",Great Leader, by proposing Pakistan, Jinnah was safeguarding Muslim rights in order to prevent dominance by a Hindu government when Independence would come. In 1944 Jinnah was keen on gaining a sixth province as part of his demand for Pakistan since he believed that it would be better than a bundle of contiguous regions and would benefit India’s Muslims. Jinnah still wanted Pakistan and India as a secular and federal union.

For Jinnah the unalterable objective of India’s Muslims was the establishment of a completely sovereign Pakistan, this is evidence that Jinnah was only interested in self gain and his own prestige. However it should be noted that as late as 1944 Jinnah wished to have Pakistan within an Indian federation as opposed to a completely independent Pakistan.Jinnah believed that a weak federal government not dominated by Hindus would be able to protect essential Muslim rights and preserved the opportunity for Pakistan’s secession from the greater federal union of India.

This determination of Jinnah to safeguard Muslim rights is shown as late as the acceptance of the Mountbatten Plan where he supported voting in the regional legislatures of Muslim-majority provinces to endorse the division of the country which would not only safeguard Muslim rights but would also give Pakistan legitimacy.Tapan Raychaudhuri argues that the Indian National Congress could not claim to speak for all Muslims since the majority of Muslims did not support Congress. However political geography meant that many of its constituents could not be integrated into a specifically Muslim territory.

Jinnah was able to use this to portray himself as the “Sole Spokesman” as put forward by Ayesha Jalal. In 1946 Gandhi rejected an agreement which he believed would grant equal rights between Muslims and Hindus in grouping the legislatures which he deemed worse than the demand for Pakistan. This can be used as evidence that Gandhi was communal minded. It has been argued that Congress preferred a Partitioned India to a united India where it would have to share power with the Muslim League. This is evidence that Congress played a role in Jinnah’s demand for Pakistan since he did fear that Muslim rights would be marginalized.

As late as 1947 Jinnah even begged Mountbatten that Bengal not be partitioned and instead be independent if Calcutta could not be part of Pakistan. This can be seen as seen as evidence of Jinnah’s determination to safeguard Muslim rights since Calcutta was the cultural centre of Bengal. However Jinnah believed that the miseries of Partition was not in vain since it saved Muslims from Hindu domination.

There is a strong counterargument that this division was a means by which the British could “divide and quit” India once they had given Independence. In 1939, Jinnah had stated to the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow that the only political solution for India was its partition. This is evidence that that Jinnah was becoming impatient in his demand for Pakistan.

There is additional to show that Jinnah was only interested in self gain and glory.

Some Indian Muslims knew this and in 1940 they believed that the Pakistan resolution would spell the ruin of Indian Muslims unless it had an organic relationship with the rest of India. Mahatma Gandhi argued that the majority of Muslims were converts or descendants of converts. There was very little difference between Hindus and Muslims and this is exemplified by the close relationship between the main languages of both communities. Jinnah’s arrogance of this fact showed that he was only interested in his own self gain.There is evidence that Jinnah stated in 1943 that it was better to have Pakistan or almost nothing.

These points provide evidence for the assertion that Jinnah only wanted Pakistan for self gain not to safeguard Muslim rights. Mountbatten even considered Jinnah to be psychopathic, hell bent on creating Pakistan and he warned that its creation would reduce India to a third-rate power. In 1945 Jinnah tried to discourage this view by stating that all Muslims wanted Pakistan and that it would not only protect their rights but increase their strength and glory, he also affirmed that he would be not be willing to compromise with those who opposed the demand for Pakistan. However this can be taken as evidence that Jinnah was only interested in his own self gain and prestige by creating a new nation within a relatively short period of time since Pakistan had only been proposed as a concept in 1933.

There is evidence that Jinnah’s continued refusal to compromise in his demand for Pakistan and his impatience was driven by his desire for self gain and prestige in 1947.This impatience drove Jinnah to call for Direct Action to force the British authorities to grant his demand for Pakistan and which encouraged communal riots where more than 5,000 people lost their lives, Jinnah has been scorned by Indian historians for this action. Rafiq Zakaria argues that by this time Jinnah had absolute control over the Muslim League and as long as he was alive there would be no compromise with Nehru, Gandhi or Mountbatten. The advantage of a federal India put forward by the Cabinet Mission was that Pakistan would have equal status with India and that the Muslim majority provinces would have substantial powers in running their own affairs. Pakistan would also have the right to secede from the union if it felt that to be in its rights. Jinnah did not accept this plan because he felt that Congress was not interested in Muslim rights and that the only solution to this problem would be the creation of an independent Pakistan to safeguard Muslim rights, however this can be taken as evidence of Jinnah’s own ego and his strong personality.

This is supported by the fact that Jinnah avoiding discussions in the 1940s relating to the fundamental rights of citizens and of the problem of the Partition of Punjab and Bengal, which suggests that Jinnah was only interested in self gain. Jinnah believed that a partition of Bengal and Punjab was meant to deter him from demanding Pakistan since it would weaken Pakistan. In response to this Jinnah demanded the partition of Assam in North-East India, Mountbatten assured Jinnah that Assam would be considered on the same merits as Bengal and Punjab.

A strong argument against the partition of Punjab and Bengal was put forward by Mountbatten to try to sway Jinnah, whereby he stated that if Pakistan was created, then East Bengal would be reduced to a rural slum. West Punjab presented a military problem since it would require four divisions and a separate army headquarters to enforce order. Also the North-West Frontier Province was a problematic region due to the Afghan tribes there. Mountbatten had an interest in preserving India unity since he did not want Balkanisation of the subcontinent which could lead to a civil war. In a federal union all its citizens would have fundamental rights that would protect the rights of their respective communities. An example of this being that Muslim areas would be not able to place restrictions on the activities of Hindu businessmen and moneylenders. The fact that Jinnah ignore these benefits, shows that his personality was a major factor in his demand for Pakistan.

There is a strong argument put forward by Indian historians that blames Mountbatten for not doing enough to stop Jinnah from creating Pakistan despite his warnings that it would be a great calamity for India. Further evidence for Jinnah’s selfishness is the fact that once Pakistan was created if left embitterment for Punjabis and Bengalis who lost the economically important regions of Ludhiana,Jalandhar and Ambala in Punjab and the cultural and economic center of Calcutta in Bengal, this is evidence that Jinnah had ignored the economic benefits of a united India. This was particularly true when Partition occurred and there was a shift of wealthy Hindu and Sikh landlords and capitalists to East Punjab while the Muslims in East Punjab were mainly peasants, artisans and labourers.

It has been argued that this left West Punjab at an economic disadvantage and is clear evidence of Jinnah’s ignorance of the economic benefits of a united India and again shows that Jinnah’s impatience and arrogance guided his demand for Pakistan and that Muslim rights were not important at all. This problem was apparent in 1946 when the Cabinet Mission to finalize and discuss the plans for Indian independence pointed out that the majority of Punjabis and Bengalis opposed the partitioning of their provinces. Jinnah hoped that with the creation of Pakistan, there would be a substantial population of Hindus and Sikhs in its territories that a Congress dominated India would not want to fall out with Pakistan over the treatment of its Muslim minorities, this could be seen as enhancing Jinnah’s own prestige.

Archibald Wavell had commented in 1945 that Pakistan was actually more popular in the Muslim minority provinces as opposed to the Muslim majority provinces, which would gain little or nothing from the creation of Pakistan. It is also surprising that many staunch Muslims who had shared Jinnah’s distrust of Hindus and were also concerned about Muslim rights were not convinced that these aims could be achieved through the establishment of two sovereign states in the Indian subcontinent. They had believed that an independent Pakistan would be unnecessary due to a weak federal government within a larger Indian Union, that would be adequate in protecting Muslim rights.

In conclusion, there is overwhelming evidence that shows Jinnah was only interested in his own self gain and he never intended Pakistan to safeguard Muslim Rights. There is evidence for this in the fact that by demanding a secular state it seemed that he wanted to marginalise Muslims since it can be argued that Islam and secularism are incompatible. Jinnah wished to have a state modelled on Turkey which would have alarmed more devout Muslims in Pakistan. This frustrated Muslims after the creation of Pakistan, since they questioned whether it had been worth all the effort.

Jinnah’s own personality and the fact that Mountbatten went as far as describing Jinnah as psychopathic, supports the view of Jinnah being an arrogant man who only wanted Pakistan to enhance his own prestige. This demand was exacerbated by the fact that Jinnah was racing against time since during the Cabinet mission talks he was suffering from terminal tuberculosis. Jinnah would confuse his opponents by keeping the demand for Pakistan vague by fluctuating between Pakistan within a federal union and an independent Pakistan; this can be seen as enhancing his own ego and protecting his own position in Indian politics. Jinnah even contradicted himself in 1947 by stating that Hindus and Muslims in Punjab and Bengal share a common cultural and history and that they were inseparable, Mountbatten used this as an unanswerable argument for Indian unity. This also made it difficult for the Cabinet Mission to ascertain at the time, whether Jinnah intended Pakistan to safeguard Muslim rights at all, thanks to Jinnah’s own personality. Thus the main motivation for Jinnah demanding Pakistan was not safeguarding Muslim rights, but in reality it was for his own self gain.

Bibliography

Ayesha Jalal,The Sole Spokesman:Jinnah,The Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan
Ian Bryant Wells,Jinnah: Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity
Penderel Moon,Divide and Quit
Rafiq Zakaria,The Man Who Divided India
Stanley Wolpert,Jinnah of Pakistan
http://www.atam.gov.tr/index.php?Pag...k&IcerikNo=719
http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/politician7.htm