Coming in the midst of the heartening process of earnest efforts for peaceful co-existence between Pakistan and India, the anniversary of adoption of the historic Lahore Resolution, being celebrated today, should serve as a befitting occasion for an objective comprehension of the real aims and aspirations behind it. It was, primarily, aimed at resolving the internal political conflicts obstructing British India's progress towards independence. That was way back in 1940, that is, in the very thick of the last phase of a century-old struggle for liberation from the British yoke, when the transfer of power appeared to be imminent.
This, of course, has reference to the sharp differences between the Hindus and Muslims, on the scheme of things that was being worked out by the British government and the major political parties in the subcontinent. Under the banner of Congress, the Hindus, with an overwhelming numerical majority, were insisting on a dispensation based on Westminster parliamentary model, which would guarantee indisputable supremacy to them.
For quite a long period, Muslim politicians had also concurred with their idea of unqualified majority rule.
However, it was the bitter experience of ground realities after the formation of democratically elected governments in the provinces under the Government of India Act 1935, that awakened the Muslim masses, already economically and socially depressed, to the imminent ruin in a similar democratic dispensation for the whole of India.
The fruits of democracy had been largely denied to the Muslim minority in the Hindu dominated provinces. The entire population of undivided India needed uplift in a well-planned manner. The Muslims could not be excluded from it on principle. In fact, they deserved special attention, as they had suffered the most since the end of the Moghul rule and its replacement by the British. Their predicament extended to the whole spectrum of life, thereby reducing them, more or less, to the status of second class citizens.
Temperamentally, reluctant to adapt themselves to the changing situation, they were left reeling in backwardness, engulfed in poverty and ignorance. It will also be noted that Hindu revivalism, as projected by the ignominious contempt of low caste compatriots, had also a great deal to do with Muslim fears and frustration.
That their fears were not baseless was tragically evident in the communal riots, at times causing heavy loss of life and property in most of the Hindu-majority provinces.
The mutual distrust between the Hindus and Muslims naturally acquired political dimensions as the struggle for independence gained momentum in the 1940s. This is not to say that Hindus alone were responsible for the plight of the Muslim community. For, some of the degradation, which the Muslims as a group had to suffer, could be traced to the apathy of Muslim elite too.
Their indifference to the need of making fellow Muslims realise the challenges of the day and try to overcome them, was also to blame for the backwardness of the community. The same can be said about the apathy of religious scholars. All, this combined to create among Muslim masses a sense of utter deprivation and despair.
Translating in political terms, it inspired them to rally round the banner of Pakistan movement, under the leadership of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Let us resolve anew this day to work untiringly for moulding Pakistan into a truly enlightened modern state reflecting the dream and aspirations of its founding fathers.
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