Debate
on Two Nations Theory
Dr
Shabir Choudhry 11 March 2016
Pakistan will be 69 years old in
August, but still people are not sure what the purpose of establishing this new
country was. Moreover, what is the future of this unfortunate country, which
suffered humiliating defeat in 1971 and a break up of its Eastern wing, now
known as Bangladesh?
Growing body of opinion now believe
that Pakistan was not created to serve Islam or for the benefit of Muslims of
united India, if anything, the partition of India divided Muslims of the Indian
Sub Continent. Also it resulted in death of more than half million innocent
people, rapes, destruction and unending hatred and extremism.
Some critics even say that creation of Pakistan was designed to
serve the British interests after their departure from South Asia. The British
Generals in India proposed a creation of a buffer state between India and
Afghanistan, stretching from Gilgit Baltistan to Balochistan. Idea was to protect
India from Soviet Russia. The British also wanted to reward the landed
aristocracy and the men in uniform who helped the British Raj to expand and
survive in the Indian Sub Continent.
Muslim League under the unyielding
command of Mohammed Ali Jinnah apparently championed the cause of Pakistan in
name of Islam. Before we analyse what Mr Jinnah wanted to do with his new
country, let us look at what were the aims and objectives of the Muslim League,
the party that spearheaded the campaign for Pakistan. The
Muslim League was set up on 28 December 1906 in Dhaka, with the following
objectives:
1.
To promote among Muslims a feeling of loyalty to the British government
and to remove misunderstandings;
2.
To protect and advance the political rights and interests of Muslims,
and to represent properly their needs and aspirations to the British
government; and
3.
To prevent the rise of hostility among Muslims toward other
communities. 1
The Muslim League and the rulers of
Pakistan, to date, have very sincerely served the British and the American
interests in Pakistan and in the region. To accomplish this task, the landed
aristocracy and the men in uniform also played their part brilliantly, and
benefited immensely.
The bitter fact is that the landed
aristocracy, the Generals and the security forces now control Pakistan and its
destiny; and sad thing is even they don’t know what is the destiny of this
unfortunate country and how to reach there. Another bitter fact is, service to
Islam and welfare of the Muslims is no longer priority of those who control and
run Pakistan. I have heard Muslims of other countries saying that they feel
sorry for the Pakistani Muslims, as they are not safe even in their own
country.
Was Two Nations Theory a political
stunt?
Of course millions of Pakistanis still believe that the Movement
for Pakistan was to advance the cause of Islam. In reality that is not true.
Some analysts believe there was a competition between two brilliant Gujrati
lawyers – Mr Jinnah and Mr Gandhi for supremacy in the Indian Congress and in
the Indian politics. Both had charisma and brilliance, and both had great
influence in the Congress. However, gradually Jinnah felt he was outmaneuvered by politics of Nehru and Gandhi; and in frustration he shifted to Britain.
Critics ask, if he was such a staunch Muslim and true and
dedicated soldier of Islam who wanted to advance the cause of Islam, then why
did he accept the Cabinet Mission Plan in 1946, which provided a unitary State
within India?
Jinnah was not a fool. Indeed he was a shrewd politician. He
knew he could not take all Muslims to his new country – Pakistan. He knew
millions of Muslims will stay behind in India. He also knew that nearly all
Islamic scholars opposed his idea of dividing India in name of religion. Then
question arises why he was bent upon to get India divided. Was it because of
his pride and ego; or was there some other agenda?
Mountbatten
had a meeting with Mohammed Ali Jinnah on 17th April 1947; and told
him that if he insisted on dividing India in name of religion, then the
provinces of Punjab and Bengal should also be divided on religious lines. This,
Mountbatten asserted, would mean you will have ‘Very moth-eaten Pakistan, the
eastern and north-west parts of which were unlikely to be economic
propositions, and which would still have to come to some centre for general
subjects for a long while after we had
left’.
To
this Mr Jinnah replied by saying: ‘I do not care how little you give me as
long as you give it to me completely’. 2
These words of Mr Jinnah ‘I do not care how little you give
me’, makes it clear that his project did not have service to Islam or
welfare of the Muslims of India as his top priority. However, he and his team
skilfully used the name of Islam as the slogan to motivate Muslims, millions of
whom were illiterate. Smaller and truncated Pakistan meant a weaker Pakistan,
separated by one thousand miles. This kind of Pakistan did not have a bright
future. Moreover, millions of Muslims would be left outside of this Pakistan.
Did he not think for a minute, what would be the fate of the Muslims left back
in India, especially when the Two Nations Theory unleashed a genie of hatred
and violence?
It leads people to only one conclusion: Mr Jinnah wanted the
division of India at any cost, and become a Governor General of the new country
that he could be at par with Mountbatten who would be the Governor General of
India after independence.
Furthermore, before the
creation of Pakistan Mr Jinnah forcefully asserted that Muslims and non Muslims
cannot live together. However soon after the creation of Pakistan he asserted:
‘You
are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your
mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may
belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the
business of the State........... Now, I think we should keep that in front of
us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to
be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense,
because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political
sense as citizens of the State’. 3
Question arises, if it was not possible for
Muslims and non Muslims to live together because of strong differences and
bitterness, then how could all this changed soon after Pakistan was established?
Is it because his agenda of dividing united India was accomplished with
disastrous outcome? Or Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s ego was satisfied and he had
become the Governor General of Pakistan.
Why Jogendra
Nath Mandal was appointed first Law Minister of Pakistan
Critics argue if the purpose of establishing
Pakistan was to serve Islam and have Islamic laws in Pakistan, then why he made
the above statement in the Constituent Assembly? His speech clearly shows he
wanted to have some kind of a secular Pakistan. Furthermore, if he wanted to
serve Islam and have an Islamic Pakistan then he should have appointed a Mufti
or a religious scholar as a Law Minister of Pakistan.
Instead of appointing a Muslim Scholar as a Law
Minister he appointed Jogendra
Nath Mandal, a Hindu, as the first Law Minister of Pakistan. Surely he did not
expect Jogendra Nath Mandal to enact and implement Islamic laws. People of
Pakistan have been fooled for too long in name of religion. Time has come to
call spade a spade, and understand what was done in name of Islam.
Many people might not know that Mr Jinnah
appointed Jogendra Nath Mandal the first
Chairman of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. He presided over the
historic session of the Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1947, where
Mohammed Ali Jinnah was sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan. Apart
from being the Law Minister,
Jogendra Nath Mandal was also the Minister
of Labour, and Second Minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs.
On the role of Jogendra Nath Mandal, Ahmed Saleem notes:
“The fact
that one of the minority members was elected to preside over the session hints
at the progressive attitude of the new state, and it augurs well for the
future. Pakistan itself was brought into existence by the unrelenting efforts
of a minority of the Indian Subcontinent. 4
After the death of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Jogendra
Nath Mandal was disgraced; and he was left with no choice but to resign. Chaudhry Mohammad
Ali sincerely served the British Raj before the emergence of Pakistan. After
becoming Secretary-General of the Pakistani Cabinet Secretariat, he thought Mr
Mandal was not a sincere Pakistani, and perhaps Mohammed Ali Jinnah made an
error of judgement in appointing Mr Mandal to this key Ministry. On
this topic, Pir Ali Mohammed Rashidi wrote:
‘Consequently,
he tried to keep many cabinet documents away from the Law Minister. It was too
much for Mandal. His pride was hurt. Hitherto, he had lived as a self reliant
man, who knew his self-worth. Before becoming a minister, he had offered huge
sacrifices and as a Hindu, swum against the tide to support our Quaid in the
Pakistan Movement. How
could he possibly pocket the insult from a cabinet secretary, who had taken it
upon himself to judge a Hindu minister for his political character and loyalty
to his country? Mandal quit as minister and went back to Calcutta to spend the
rest of his life being taunted by Hindus.’ 5
Frustrated
and humiliated Jogendra Nath Mandal, on 8th October 1950, wrote 18 pages long letter to Liaquat Ali Khan,
the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and narrated his services to Pakistan Movement
and Pakistan; and explained why he had to resign. In the last paragraph of his
long letter he wrote:
‘Leaving aside the
overall picture of Pakistan and the callous and cruel injustice done to others,
my own personal experience is no less sad, bitter and revealing’. 6
Plight of
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was the man who
first coined the word Pakistan. He arranged a reception in honour of Mohammed
Ali Jinnah in Waldorf Hotel, London; and explained to him his idea of Pakistan.
He presented him his booklet ‘Now or Never, We are to Live or Perish
for Ever’, which he wrote in 1933. Mohammed Ali Jinnah was not persuaded;
and retaliated by saying, ‘Pakistan was an impossible dream’.7
Later on in life, Mohammed Ali Jinnah
got convinced that he had to use his skills and ability to accomplish the task
of this ‘impossible dream’. After creation of Pakistan, in April
1948, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali also moved to Pakistan – a land of his dream.
However, he soon developed some differences with the Muslim League
government; and he was ordered by the government to leave Pakistan.
He left Pakistan in October 1948 and settled in England, where he died
on 3 February 1951. No one was there to even take
responsibility for his funeral. This duty was performed by a Professor of the
Cambridge University and he was buried on 20 February in a grave yard on New
Market Road, Cambridge.8
As always, I know some
emotional Pakistanis will use foul language against me to express their anger
and frustration; but I hope some sane people will appreciate the effort and the
valuable information this article provides.
Writer is a political analyst, TV anchor and author of many books and
booklets. Also he is Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs. Email:drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com
References:
1.
Quaaid-i- Millat Liaquat Ali
Khan', Page 27, by Ziuauddin Ahmed.
2. Marseger, Nicholas, Transfer of Power, Volume 12,
H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1982-83. Viceroy’s Personal Report No. 3: Point
19.
3. Speech of Mohammed Ali Jinnah to the first
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11 August 1947.
4. Ahmed
Saleem ‘Pakistan aur Aqliatien’ (Pakistan
and Minorities), page 104
5. Jogendra Nath
Mandal: Chosen by Jinnah, banished by bureaucracy, Akhtar Balouch,
Dawn 4 November 2015
7. Collins, Larry and Lapierre, Dominique, Freedom at
Midnight, London, 1976, page 120
8.
Dr Lal Khan, Abi Manzil ne ahi
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