Dear Quraishi, I read your this email entirely and decided to respond for two reasons, first, being a student of Political Science, I cannot remain silent on those events which took place and which are now the part of our history, good or bad, and secondly, I am interested more in highlighting the reality of the past in order to have a better approach for planning our programmes in the future.
According to you the book argues that Mohammad Ali Jinnah did not want Pakistan as a first choice. It is hundred percent correct. If we go back in the history we find that Muslim League was there but Mr. Jinnah joined Congress being a Muslim. He did not bother to think on the reasons of the establishment of Muslim League. He fully knew that Muslim League establishment was just for raising and conveying of the grievances of the Muslims to the British Government.
No doubt, Congress Party was there for the rights of the Indians, both Hindus and Muslims but the Muslims were not aware of the political strategy of the Hindu Leaders. They were under the illusion that that Congress is sincerely working for the rights of all the communities of India but the reality was quite different. Not only Mr. Jinnah but also many Indian Muslim leaders were swayed by the spirit of Indian Nationalism and joined Congress for seeking the remedy of their grievances. I think that those leaders who worked for the establishment of Muslim League had long before realized that Indian National Congress was not a correct forum for the resolution of the grievances of the Muslims.
Even they had no idea of having separate land or making of Pakistan. Their only headache was to convey the grievances of the Indian Muslims to the British Government in an effective manner. Mr. Jinnah then joined Muslim League but kept also his membership of the Indian National Congress which shows that he had no idea of a separate land for the Muslim. Historical events show us that he believed in the communal rights of different communities. He remained to a certain date the member of both the Indian National Congress and Muslim League but later on quit Congress and fully devoted his attention for the rights of the Muslims but even in united India.
It is mainly attributed to his farsightedness and reading deeply the Hindu mentality of the apparently secular leaders of Congress that he long before decided to have a separate course for the struggle otherwise many leaders of Muslims were still under the false impression that Congress leaders were instrumental in giving them their rights. Even Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Khudai Khidmatgar leader, from NWFP, very lately realized the betrayal of the Congress leaders in his own autobiography. We also find that Mr. Jinnah was not only a law expert of the highest calibre but also extremely shrewd to analyse the mentality of the Hindu Leaders of the Indian Congress and thus swiftly used both his legal and political knowledge for organising the Muslims and giving them an exact direction of goal to be achieved which is a highly commendable act of Mr. Jinnah and was rightly called long before Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader).
It is hundred percent true that his first choice was to liberate India from the British domination but when he realized that after independent, the system of western democracy would never enable the Muslims to get their rights from the Hindus. It is still unfortunate, that the creation of two Countries, India and Pakistan did not brought that financial and social happiness for which our ancestors gave so much sacrifices. Pakistani Muslims got independence from Hindu domination but they had no idea that they would fall prey to the Punjab Province domination. That is why people in Pakistan now cry for the sub-division of Punjab and equal rights to all the Provinces. A written Constitution is there since 1973 but the people have no access to the resources of their Provinces and injustice is at full swing.
Even separatist movements are there in both countries which are totally against the spirit of the creation of two Countries. That mistrust which existed once between the Hindus and Muslims now exists between the Muslims of different Provinces. Even Constitutional bodies like National Finance Commission and Council of Common Interests have so far failed to satisfy the demands of the Provinces which show that someone is acting in hegemony. The follies which were committed by the Hindu leaders in the pre-partition India and which led to the creation of Pakistan should not be repeated by the Muslim leaders of Pakistan.
It is hundred percent true that unfair Indian politics led to the creation of Pakistan. Almost all the political leaders both Hindu and Muslims were not clear to have a separate homelands but many events which proved eye-opening events only for the Muslims which rendered them justified in demanding for themselves at least in that part of India where Muslims were in majority. If we study the purposes of the establishment of both Indian National Congress and Muslim League, their aims were, neither independence from the British nor creation of two separate countries on two-nation theory. Their aims were to protect the rights of the different communities within the British dominion.
The establishment of Muslim League was on the right perception of the Muslim Leaders that Congress mostly dominated by hard core Hindu leaders having their own agenda for spreading Hinduism in the whole Sub-continent even through educational institutions by singing special kinds of Hindu songs having deep links to Hindu religion. If there had not been any contradiction in the sayings and deeds of the Hindu leaders, first Muslim League would have not been established and secondly, Mr. Jinnah and like him many leaders would not have quit Congress for striving an independent State in shape of Pakistan. Even leaders from North Western Province, lamented the behaviour of the Congress but at much latter stage of their lives when Pakistan had been created which suggest and testifies that Mr. Jinnah�s quitting of Congress at the beginning of the 20th Century was right.
I am very grateful to the Mr. Jaswant Singh for writing such a book and discussing the past events of the history and also confessing the follies of their leaders in the past and acknowledging the right decisions of our Nation’s Father Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah who can rightly be called a principled man and many have imitated him but failed and proved caricatures in their respective countries. The admission of L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh have provided us another opportunity to think over the relations of both countries and especially to those who still believe that Indian leaders have changed their stance on many issues. Issue of Jammu and Kashmir and also of the construction of disputed Dams are yet to be resolved by these two Countries for which no mediation of any third Country is needed. Indian Independence Act 1947 is yet to be implemented fully regarding the fate of the Kashmir. Mr. Jaswant Singh, please convince your compatriots to accept the reality.
I love Quaid-e-Azam not for the reason that he created for us Pakistan but for his farsightedness and blending the legal knowledge with his political knowledge which does really a quality wanting in most of the leaders of the World, including India and Pakistan.
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