Message to the First Olympic Games on 12th April 1948.
For sound minds we should have sound bodies and that is why nations the world over attach so much importance to boy-building and physical culture. The first Pakistan Olympic Games should act as an incentive to all Pakistan nationals to emulate the Olympic Motto “Citius, Althius, Fortiusn” i.e. “Faster, Higher and stronger” I wish the organizers of the games and all competitors the best of luck. Build up Pakistan higher, firmer and stronger.
Reply to the Address presented by the Students of Islamia College, Peshawar on 12th April, 1948.
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Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am indeed very happy to be present here today and to have the privilege of meeting and addressing the students of this great Dar-ul-Ulum, who are the future builders of Pakistan.
On this occasion the thought that is naturally uppermost in my mind is the support and help that the movement for the achievement of Pakistan received from the student community, particularly of this Province. I cannot help feeling that the unequivocal and unmistakable decision of the people of this Province to join Pakistan, which was given through the referendum held last year, was helped considerably by the contribution made by the students. I take particular pride in the fact that the people of this Province have never and in no way lagged behind in the struggle for freedom and achievement of Pakistan.
Now that we have achieved our national goal, you will expect me to give you a bit of advice regarding the manner in which we can put our shoulders behind the most difficult and important task of building up our new State into what we all wish it to be; namely one of the greatest States in the world. The first thing you should do is to learn to appreciate the difference in the approach to the problems with which we are faced now, in contrast with those which were facing us when we were struggling for our independence. During our struggle for the achievement of Pakistan we were critical of the Government which was a foreign Government and which we wanted to replace by a Government of our own. In doing so we had to sacrifice many things including the academic careers of our younger generation. May I say that you played your part magnificently. Now that you have achieved your goal that is, a Government of your own, and a country which belongs to you and in which you can live as free men, your responsibilities and your approach to the political, social and economic problems must also change. The duties required of you now are: develop a sound sense of discipline, character, initiative and a solid academic background. You must devote yourself whole-heartedly to your studies, for that is your first obligation to yourselves, your parents and to the State. You must learn to obey for only then you can learn to command. In your criticism of the Government you must learn to be constructive. Government welcomes constructive criticism. You can make a big contribution towards bringing about harmony and unity where for personal and other selfish considerations some people may adopt courses which are likely to lead to disruption and disunity. Remember that your Government is like your own garden. Your garden flourishes by the way you look after it and the efforts that you put towards its improvement. Similarly, your Government can only flourish by your patriotic, honest and constructive efforts to improve it.
I am not making any particular reference to you but now that I have had the opportunity of talking to you I must warn you not to allow your actions to be guided by ill-digested information or slogans and catch-words. Do not take them to heart or repeat them parrot-like. Take advantage of your period of training that this institution offers you, by equipping yourself to become leaders of the future generation. There is a common fault with the students against which I must warn you. The students believe that no one can tell them anything which they do not already know. That mentality is harmful and often leads to quite a lot of mischief.But if you want to learn by your own experience, and not by the experience of your elders, let me tell you that as you become older, you will be more ready to learn from your costly experiences and the knock that you shall have received during your lifetime, which will harm you more than anybody else.
I naturally welcome your statement that you do not believe in provincialism. You must learn to distinguish between your love for your province and your love and duty to the State as a whole our duty to the State takes us a stage beyond provincialism. It demands a broader sense of vision, and greater sense of patriotism. Our duty to the State often demands that we must be ready to submerge our individual or provincial interests into the common cause for common good. Our duty to the State comes first; our duty to our Province, to our district, to our town and to our village and ourselves comes next. Remember we are building up a State which is going to play its full part in the destinies of the whole Islamic World.We therefore, need a wider outlook, an outlook which transcends the boundaries of provinces, limited nationalism, and racialism. We must develop a sense of patriotism which should galvanise and weld us all into one united and strong nation. That is the only way in which we can achieve our goal, the goal of our struggle, the goal for which millions of Mussalmans have lost their all and laid down their lives.
You have referred to the question of Khyber University. Let me tell you that nothing is nearer to my heart than to have a great centre of culture and learning in a place like Peshawar, a place from where the rays of knowledge and culture can spread throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. I therefore, fully sympathise with your aspirations in this behalf and, provided you go the right way about it, perhaps you will get your University sooner than you can imagine.
Finally, I would earnestly advise you to think and act with sobriety and in all humility as selfless and true soldiers of the people, and with absolute loyalty to Pakistan.
Remember, you must have patience.Rome was not built in a day. Time factor, therefore, is essential. You must trust in your Government and I assure you that they are fully alive to the needs of the people, and particularly the masses who require special attention. Give them full chance and opportunity. The success of our achievements will depend upon our unity, discipline and faith not only in ourselves but in God who determines the destinies of peoples and nations.
I thank you once more for the honour that you have done me today. I wish you every happiness and success.
There is one thing which I am sorry to say I missed to refer in my written speech. My young friends you must now fully realise the vital change, the fundamental change that has taken place. You are not now merely to confine yourselves to becoming Government servants which was the avenue to which most of you aspired. You must now realise that fresh fields, new channels and avenues are now being thrown open to you where you have unlimited opportunities, namely, you must now direct your attention to science, commercial banking, insurance, industry and technical education.
You must be reading newspapers and knowing how Pakistan is moving fast in creating various institutions of the kind I have mentioned. Many of you do not know how fast it is going, but it is going very fast and as we go on, these institutions will multiply. Those are the avenues, those are the channels where you can do well to yourselves and also serve the nation better than as clerks. I want to impress upon those who are responsible for the education of our young boys that they must concentrate and direct all energies in this direction.
You do not know what is waiting for you. I give one instance to illustrate.I know one young man who took a Government job as usual after he had completed his university career. He was a B.Com. and had some training in the commercial system. He was very happy to get a job in a Government department on Rs. 150 p.m. He was quite happy because an average B.A. does not get more than a tongawala or a taxiwala. He was very happy. He would not have received more than a few hundreds even after 35 years’ service. But suddenly somebody picked him up and got him in his bank and straightaway he was given Rs. 500/- p.m. Now, today, that is four years after, let me tell you, that he is drawing Rs. 1,500 p.m.–Rs. 1,500 he would have never received till the time he died. Now, therefore, I once more impress upon you to direct your minds to these channels.
One thing more I would like to say that there is some impression that the public is kept away from me. This you may call the Government’s management or the State visit of mine. I want this impression to be removed. I want to make it clear that the public is absolutely free to do what they like, provided they maintain discipline; whereas the public get so excited that they break every rule and every arrangement in their enthusiasm and regard for me. But that does no good to anybody and it is dangerous. Therefore, I wish that everyone will impress upon the people especially my young friends to line up if they want to see me. You can by all means come and see me with full freedom, but line up properly, keep order and maintain discipline so that I can comfortably pass as the object is that I should see you and should see me.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you again for the honour you have done me today.
Reply to the Speech made by the First Ambassador of the Republic of France to Pakistan at the time of Presenting credentials to the Quaid-e-Azam on 21st January, 1948.
Your Excellency,
It has given me great pleasure to welcome you today in your capacity as the first Ambassador of the Republic of France to Pakistan. With your appointment the relationship between our two countries assumes a closer and more intimate form and I hope and trust that this will presage the most cordial and friendly co-operation between our two countries.
The magnificent history of your great country and its achievements are well known to the world. In common with other nations, we in Pakistan have admired the high principles of democracy that form the basis of your Great State. The cry of liberty, fraternity and equality which was raised during your Great Revolution and officially adopted by your great Republic had its repercussions throughout the world as is known to every student of history. These ideals and these principles are still buoying up the hopes of many downtrodden nations. As Your Excellency has yourself observed the traditions (and may I add the culture) of Pakistan, as the youngest of the free Muslim countries of the world, has been inherited from a long past; –a past which, in view of the manifold contacts of France with the Muslim world over several centuries, is well-known and familiar to the Government and people of France. Indeed in view of this long contact of France with the Muslim world, the people of France and Pakistan are not strangers to one another. I hope and trust that with this background of intimate contact between our two peoples and in particular with Your Excellency’s knowledge of our brother Muslim countries, your appointment will inaugurate a new era which I hope will lead to closer friendship between France and Pakistan. I assure Your Excellency that we in Pakistan will give you our support and co-operation which you may require in promoting relationship of goodwill and friendship between our two countries and I trust that in the result, Pakistan and France will unitedly play their part in re-establishing peace and prosperity in the precent distracted world
Once again, Your Excellency, I assure you of a warm and friendly welcome to Pakistan.
Speech on the occasion of the presentation of New Pakistan Coins and Notes by the Finance Minister of Pakistan, on 1st April, 1948.
I thank you Mr. Finance Minister for the honour you have done me by presenting the first Pakistan coins and notes to me today. I take this opportunity of publicly expressing the appreciation of the Government and people of Pakistan of the way in which you and your Ministry has handled the finances of our Young State and your untiring zeal to put them on a sound footing. When we first raised our demand for a sovereign and independent State of Pakistan there were not a few false prophets who tried to deflect us from our set purpose by saying that Pakistan was not economically feasible. They painted extremely dark pictures of the future of our State and its financial and economic soundness. The very first budget presented by you must have caused a shock to those false prophets. It has already demonstrated the soundness of Pakistan’s finances and the determination of its Government to make them more and more sound, and strong. Although it has meant the tightening of our belts, to a certain extent, but I am sure that the people of Pakistan will not mind making sacrifices in order to make our State in the near future really a strong and stable State. So that we can handle more effectively and with ease our programme, especially for the uplift of the masses. I have no doubt in my mind about the bright future that awaits Pakistan when its vast resources of men and material are fully mobilized. The road that we may have to travel may be somewhat uphill at present but with courage and determination we mean to achieve our objective, which is to build up and construct a strong and prosperous Pakistan.
Broadcast Speech from Radio Pakistan, Dhaka on 28th March, 1948.
During the past nine days that I have spent in your province, I have been studying your local conditions and some of the problems that confront east Bengal. Tonight, on the eve of my departure, I want to place before you some of my impressions. Before I do this, however, let me first cordially thank you for the great warmth and affection with which you have received me everywhere in your midst during my stay here.
From the administrative point of view, East Bengal perhaps more than any other province of Pakistan, has had to face the most difficult problems as a result of Partition. Before August 14, it existed merely as a hinterland to Calcutta, to whose prosperity it greatly contributed but which it did not share. On August 14, Dhaka was merely a mofussil town, having none of the complex facilities and amenities, which are essential for the capital of a modern Government. Further, owing to partition, the province’s transport system had been thrown completely out of gear and the administrative machinery seriously disorganised at a time when the country was threatened with a serious food shortage. The new province of East Bengal thus came into being in the most unfavourable circumstances, which might easily have proved fatal to a less determined and less tenacious people. That the administration not only survived but even emerged stronger from such setbacks as the Chittagong cyclone, is a striking tribute both to the sterling character of the people as well as to the unremitting zeal of the Government of the province. The position now is that the initial difficulties have to a great extent been overcome and, though there is no ground for complacency, there are at least reasons for quiet confidence in the future. Though now undeveloped, East Bengal possesses vast potentialities of raw materials and hydroelectric power. In Chittagong you have the making of a first-class port which in time should rank among the finest ports in the world. Given peaceful conditions and the fullest co-operation from all sections of the people, we shall make this province the most prosperous in Pakistan.
It is a matter for congratulation that despite the massacre and persecution of Muslims in the Indian Domination in the months immediately following Partition, peaceful conditions have throughout prevailed in this province, and I have seen the minority community going about its normal day-to-day vocations in perfect security. Some migration of Hindus to the Indian Dominion, there unfortunately has been, though the estimates mentioned in the Indian press are ridiculous. I am satisfied, at any rate, that whatever movement there has been, has not in any way been due to their treatment here, which under the circumstances has been exemplary, but rather to psychological reasons and external pressure. Indian leaders and a section of the Indian press have indulged freely in war-mongering talks against Pakistan. There has been persistently insidious propaganda by parties like the Hindu Mahasabha in favour of an exchange of population: and disturbances in the Indian Dominion, in which Muslims have been persecuted; have not unnaturally given rise to fears in the mind of the minority community lest unpleasant repercussions should occur in East Bengal, even though such apprehensions have no foundation for they have been belied by actual facts. Over and above all these factors, the recent declaration by the Indian Dominion on Pakistan as a foreign country for customs and other purposes has involved the Hindu business community in serious economic difficulties and brought pressure to bear on many Hindu businessmen to remove their business to the Indian Dominion. I find that the Provincial Government have repeatedly given assurances and have at all times taken whatever steps were possible for the protection and well being of the minority community and have done their best to dissuade them from leaving their ancestral homes in East Bengal for an unknown fate in the Indian Union.
I would like now to offer a word of advice to the people of this-province. I notice a regrettable tendency on the part of a certain section of the people to regard their newly won freedom, not as liberty with the great opportunities it opens up and the heavy responsibilities it imposes, but as licence. It is true that, with the removal of foreign domination, the people are now the final arbiters of their destiny. They have perfect liberty to have by constitutional means any Government that they may chose. This cannot, however, mean that any group may now attempt by any unlawful methods to impose its will on the popularly elected Government of the day. The Government and its policy may be changed by the votes of the elected representatives of the Provincial Legislative Assembly. Not only that, but no Government worthy of the name can for a moment tolerate such gangsterism and mob rule from reckless and irresponsible people, but must deal with it firmly by all the means at its disposal. I am thinking particularly of the language controversy, which has caused quite unnecessary excitement and trouble in certain quarters in this province; and if not checked, it might lead to serious consequences. What should be the official language of this province is for your representatives to decide.
But this language controversy is really only one aspect of a bigger problem–that of provincialism. I am sure you must realize that in a newly-formed State like Pakistan, consisting moreover as it does of two widely separated parts, cohesion and solidarity amongst all its citizens, from whatever part they may come, is essential for its progress, nay for its very survival. Pakistan is the embodiment of the unity of the Muslim nation and so it must remain. That unity we, as true Muslims, must jealously guard and preserve. If we begin to think of ourselves as Bengalis, Punjabis, Sindhis etc. first and Muslims and Pakistanis only incidentally, then Pakistan is bound to disintegrate. Do not think that this is some abstruse proposition: our enemies are fully alive to its possibilities, which I must warn you they are already busy exploiting. I would ask you plainly, when political agencies and organs of the Indian press, which fought tooth and nail to prevent the creation of Pakistan, are suddenly found with a tender conscience for what they call the ‘just claims’ of the Muslims of East Bengal, do you not consider this a most sinister phenomenon? Is it not perfectly obvious that, having failed to prevent the Muslims from achieving Pakistan, these agencies are now trying to disrupt Pakistan from within by insidious propaganda aimed at setting brother Muslim against brother Muslim? That is why I want you to be on your guard against this poison of provincialism that our enemies wish to inject into our State. There are great tasks to be accomplished and great dangers to be overcome: overcome them we certainly shall but we shall do so much quicker if our solidarity remains unimpaired and if our determination to march forward as a single, united nation remains unshaken. This is the only way in which we can raise Pakistan rapidly and surely to its proper, worthy place in the comity of nations.
Here I would like to address a word to the women of East Pakistan. In the great task of building the nation and maintaining its solidarity women have a most valuable part to play, as the prime architects of the character of the youth that constitute its backbone, not merely in their own homes but by helping their less fortunate sisters outside in that great task. I know that in the long struggle for the achievement of Pakistan, Muslim women have stood solidly behind their men. In the bigger struggle for the building up of Pakistan that now lies ahead, let it not be said that the women of Pakistan had lagged behind or failed in their duty.
Finally, I would address a special word to Government servants, both Central and Provincial –that great body of pioneers, many of whom have been working under very difficult conditions in this province. Yours is a great responsibility. You must ensure that this province is given, not merely the ordinary routine services that you are bound to perform, but rather the very last ounce of selfless endeavour that you are capable of producing for your State. In the great task of building up this State, you have a magnificent opportunity. You must continue to face the future, handle your jobs with the same courage, confidence and determination as you have so far displayed. Above all do not allow yourselves to be made the pawns of mischievious propagandists and self-seeking agitators who are out to exploit both you and the difficulties with which a new State is inevitably faced the Government of Pakistan and the Provincial Government have been anxiously devising ways and means whereby your housing and other difficulties, inescapable in a period of such rapid transition, may be relieved and I trust that these difficulties will soon disappear. You owe it to the great State to which you belong, to the people whom you serve and, indeed, to yourself not to be daunted by any difficulties, but to press on and go forward and maintain sustained efforts with single-minded devotion. Pakistan has a great future ahead of it. It is now for us to take the fullest advantage of what nature has so abundantly provided us with and builds up a glorious and mighty State.
Speech at the Public Reception at Chittagong on 26th March, 1948.
I am grateful to you all for the warm welcome which you have accorded me on this my first visit to a city destined to be one of the biggest in Pakistan as a whole. On my part I am glad to be in your midst and I need hardly assure you that not only are your problems being dealt with steadily and progressively but that unhindered by difficulties and obstacles we are determined to make good the neglect of centuries in course of the next few years when Chittagong will rank as one of the finest ports in the world.
You are only voicing my sentiments and the sentiments of millions of Mussalmans when you say that Pakistan should be based on sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism, which, emphasis’s equality and brotherhood of man. Similarly you are voicing my thoughts in asking and in aspiring for equal opportunities for all. These targets of progress are not controversial in Pakistan, for we demanded Pakistan, we struggled for it, and we achieved it so that physically as well as spiritually we are free to conduct our affairs according to our traditions and genius. Brotherhood, equality and fraternity of man -these are all the basic points of our religion, culture and civilization. And we fought for Pakistan because there was a danger of denial of these human rights in this sub-continent. We aspired for these great ideals because of centuries of dual domination by the foreign rulers and by a caste-ridden social system. This domination continued for over two hundred years until we realized that it would ultimately mean complete extinction of Mussalmans individually as human beings and collectively as a nation. After all, the story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement is the story of great human ideals struggling to survive in the face of odds and difficulties. This biggest Muslim State came into being on 14th August 1947. It was a great day in our history. But on this great day, it was not merely a Government, which came into existence; it meant the birth of a great State and a great nation one supplementing the other and both existing for each other. I can understand and appreciate the limitations of those amongst us whose minds have not moved fast enough to realize that 14th of August ushered in such a State and such a nation. It is natural for some to think only in terms of Government but the sooner we adjust ourselves to new forces, the sooner our mind’s eye is capable of piercing through the horizons to see the limitless possibilities of our State and of our nation, the better for Pakistan. Then an d then alone it would be possible for each one of us to realize the great ideals of human progress, of social justice, of equality and of fraternity which, on the one hand, constitute the basic causes of the birth of Pakistan and also the limitless possibilities of evolving an ideal social structure in our State. It reiterates most emphatically that Pakistan was made possible because of the danger of complete annihilation of human soul, in a society based on caste. Now that the soul is free to exist and to aspire it must assert itself galvanising not only the State but also the Nation.
Such mental and spiritual changes cannot be brought about over-night. Nor can these be inflicted by anybody without dislocating the structure of human relationships.
Today, your State is hardly eight months old; but if we look back and review this short span of our national life, we can clearly see the steady evolution of great social ideologies and balanced relations between man and man. Any impartial observer will admit that in fact it has already been admitted that the minorities in Pakistan have had a better deal than elsewhere. Here in our midst they have lived not only peacefully but have enjoyed complete liberty of asserting themselves. Some have even given a lead in controversies which, but for the realisation on the part of our people, might have struck at the very root of Pakistan in an hour of grave emergency.
This, –our single biggest achievement, –alone, reflects thedirection in which we are moving. There cannot be any better evidence to show that we are determined to evolve a State based on principles of equality and social justice. If we can be fair and just to others there can be no doubt about being fair and just among ourselves.
The address of welcome, which you have just presented refreshingly, embodies your urge for progress and development. It is indeed a pleasure to see that the people of Pakistan are conscious of the great possibilities of their State; –though, I must warn you that impatience will be as dangerous as lack of enthusiasm. Chittagong is destined to be great and you, as her citizens, are destined to share her greatness and prosperity. I can assure you that the Central and Provincial Governments are endeavouring hard to catch up on years of indifference and neglect. Notwithstanding the inevitable pre-occupation of your Central Government with grave and emergent problems which confronted them in Western Pakistan which was called upon to shelter, house and rehabilitate millions of your brethren uprooted from the Indian Union, blue prints for developing Chittagong have been got ready. This potentially great port has been neglected for centuries along with other similar areas in Pakistan regions and you know that such neglect and indifference has constituted the biggest single justification for our demand for Pakistan. Accordingly, now that we are free to shape our future, we are not going to be indifferent to it. We need not look back to the past of neglect with pessimism. All that is required is courage and faith in our future, and I am glad to say, that such faith has not been found lacking during the last eight months.
I need hardly remind you that due to the determination of the people of Pakistan and the efforts made by your Government, Chittagong as a port, is already coming into its own. During the last few months, ships of various nationalities, whose ensigns fly colourfully along your roads today, have harboured in your port. Some for the first time in history to take your raw products to their countries for manufacture into finished products. Chittagong is already handling a fair portion of your export and import trade. This has been possible mainly due to the efforts of us all to decrease our dependence on others.
This achievement in such a short time shows what human will can do. Funds are no doubt necessary for development but at the same time national growth and regeneration does not depend on funds alone. It is human toil that makes for the prosperity of a people and I have no doubt that we have in Pakistan a nation of industrious and determined people whose past traditions have already distinguished them in the field of human achievement.
I have frankly and clearly associated myself with your aspirations for developing your city of which you are justly proud. Your urge for progress and your Government’s efforts to reach the goal will soon get translated in the shape of large-scale projects, which I am satisfied are being actively pursued. The most important scheme which concerns you vitally, and which is at present under active examination, is the harnessing of Karnaphuly River to control floods and silt, to irrigate fields and to develop cheap hydroelectric power. The necessary preliminary work is being expedited and the project is on our top priority list. I might tell you that one of the reasons, which prompted me to visit. East Pakistan at this juncture, when Western Pakistan particularly is passing through a period of grave emergency, was to see for myself the progress made in respect of developing your city which can now look forward to a future of great maritime importance.
While at Chittagong, I have spent the major portion of my time in studying the possibilities of port development and I am confident that embarkation for Hajis from East Pakistan but also an export and import center for which we can spare for the world and for what we need from other countries. Chittagong is destined to be the Eastern mighty queen and Gateway to Pakistan, your will to progress, labour and work and your Government’s efforts to hit targets, of progress aimed at, will I am sure do it.
Nature has endowed you bountifully. Yours is a beautiful garden land with sea, rivers and hills and magnificent scenery all-round. It remains now for man in Chittagong to play his part fully and raise Chittagong to zenith for which it is destined
Message to the Pakistan Medical Association, Dhaka on the 26th March, 1948.
I have learnt with great interest that the Pakistan Medical Association has been formed and is going to be inaugurated on Saturday the 27th March, 1948 in Dhaka. This Association, I hope, will serve earnestly to organize the medical profession in Pakistan on a high level befitting our State. It can render many services if it is well organized and efficient. For example, it can help to speed up medical relief of which we stand in very great need indeed at present. It will also keep medical and social contact with similar interests in other parts of the world for exchange of views and ideas from time to time, and thereby establish better understanding in solving medical problems peculiar to various countries and Pakistan.
Address to the Gazetted Officers of Chittagong on 25th March, 1948
I thank you for giving me this opportunity to see you collectively. My time is very limited and so it was not possible for me to see you individually. I have told you two things: I have already said what I had to say to the Gazette Officers at Dhaka. I hope you should read an account of what I said there in the newspapers. If you have not I would request you to take the trouble of reading what I said there. One cannot say something new everyday. I have been making so many speeches and I expect each one of you to know my views by now.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to realize fully the deep implications of the revolutionary change that has taken place. Whatever community, caste or creed you belong to you are now the servants of Pakistan. Servants can only do their duties and discharge their responsibilities by serving. Those days have gone when the country was ruled by the bureaucracy. It is people’s Government, responsible to the people more or less on democratic lines and parliamentary practices. Under these fundamental changes I would put before you two or three points for your consideration:
You have to do your duty as servants; you are not concerned with this political or that political party; that is not your business. It is a business of politicians to fight out their case under the present constitution or the future constitution that may be ultimately framed. You, therefore, have nothing to do with this party or that party. You are civil servants. Whichever gets the majority will form the Government and your duty is to serve that Government for the time being as servants not as politicians. How will you do that? The Government in power for the time being must also realize and understand their responsibilities that you are not to be used for this party or that. I know we are saddled with old legacy, old mentality, old psychology and it haunts our footsteps, but it is up to you now to act as true servants of the people even at the risk of any Minister or Ministry trying to interfere with you in the discharge of your duties as civil servants. I hope it will not be so but even if some of you have to suffer as a victim. I hope it will not happen –I expect you to do so readily. We shall of course see that there is security for you and safeguards to you. If we find that is in anyway prejudicial to your interest we shall find ways and means of giving you that security. Of course you must be loyal to the Government that is in power.
The second point is that of your conduct and dealings with the people in various Departments, in which you may be: wipe off that past reputation; you are not rulers. You do not belong to the ruling class; you belong to the servants. Make the people feel that you are their servants and friends, maintain the highest standard of honor, integrity, justice and fair-play. If you do that, people will have confidence and trust in you and will look upon you as friends and well wishers. I do not want to condemn everything of the past, there were men who did their duties according to their lights in the service in which they were placed. As administrator they did do justice in many cases but they did not feel that justice was done to them because there was an order of superiority and they were held at a distance and they did not feel the warmth but they felt a freezing atmosphere when they had to do anything with the officials. Now that freezing atmosphere must go and you must do your best with all courtesy and kindness and try to understand the people. May be sometimes you will find that it is trying and provoking when a man goes on talking and repeating a thing over and over again, but have patience and show patience and make them feel that justice has been done to them.
Next thing that I would like to impress upon you is this: I keep or getting representations and memorials containing grievances of the people of all sorts of things. May be there is no justification, may be there is no foundation for that, may be that they are under wrong impression and may be they are misled but in all such cases I have followed one practice for many years which is this: Whether I agree with anyone or not, whether I think that he has any imaginary grievances whether I think that he does not understand but I always show patience. If you will also do the same in your dealings with an individual or any association or any organization you will ultimately stand to gain. Let not people leave you with this bearing that you hate, that you are offensive, that you have insulted or that you are rude to them. Not one per cent who comes in contact with you should be left in that state of mind. You may not be able to agree with him but do not let him go with this feeling that you are offensive or that you are discourteous. If you will follow that rule believe me you will win the respect of the people.
With these observations I conclude what I had to say. I thank you very much indeed that you have given me this opportunity to say these few words to you and if you find anything good in it follow, if you do not find anything good in it do not follow.
Speech at the Dhaka University Convocation on 24th March, 1948 (Recorded by Radio Pakistan, Dhaka)
Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
When I was approached by the vice-chancellor with a request to deliver the Convocation Address, I made it clear to him that there were so many calls on me that I could not possible prepare a formal convocation address on an academic level with regard to the great subjects with which University deals, such as arts, history, philosophy, science, law and so on. I did, however, promise to say a few words to the students on this occasion, and it is in fulfillment of that promise that I will address you now.
First of all, let me thank the vice-chancellor for the flattering terms in which he referred to me. Mr. vice-chancellor, whatever I am, and whatever I have been able to do, I have done it merely as a measure of duty which is incumbent upon every Mussalman to serve his people honestly and selflessly.
In addressing you I am not here speaking to you as Head of the State, but as a friend, and as one who has always held you in affection. Many of you have today got your diplomas and degrees and I congratulate you. Just as you have won the laurels in your University and qualified yourselves, so I wish you all success in the wider and larger world that you will enter. Many of you have come to the end of your scholastic career and stand at the threshold of life. Unlike your predecessors, you fortunately leave this University to enter life under a sovereign, Independent State of your own. It is necessary that you and your other fellow students fully understand the implications of the revolutionary change that took place on the birth of Pakistan. We have broken the shackles of slavery; we are now a free people. Our State is our own State. Our Government is our own Government, of the people, responsible to the people of the State and working for the good of the State. Freedom, however, does not mean license. It does not mean that you can now behave just as you please and do what you like, irrespective of the interests of other people or of the State. A great responsibility rests on you and, on the contrary, now more than ever, it is necessary for us to work as a united and disciplined nation. What are now required of us all is constructive spirit and not the militant spirit of the days when we were fighting for our freedom. It is far more difficult to construct than to have a militant spirit for the attainment of freedom. It is easier to go to jail or fight for freedom than to run a Government. Let me tell you something of the difficulties that we have overcome and of the dangers that still lie ahead. Thwarted in their desire to prevent the establishment of Pakistan, our enemies turned their attention to finding ways and means to weaken and destroy us. Thus, hardly had the new State come into being when came the Punjab and Delhi holocaust. Thousand of men, women and children were mercilessly butchered and millions were uprooted from their homes. Over fifty lakhs of these arrived in the Punjab within a matter of weeks. The care and rehabilitation of these unfortunate refugees, stricken in body and in soul, presented problems, which might well have destroyed many a well-established State. But those of our enemies who had hoped to kill Pakistan at its very inception by these means were disappointed. Not only has Pakistan survived the shock of that upheaval, but also it has emerged stronger, more chastened and better equipped than ever.
There followed in rapid succession other difficulties, such as withholding by India of our cash balances, of our share of military equipment and lately, the institution of an almost complete economic blockade of your Province. I have no doubt that all right-thinking men in the Indian Dominion deplore these happenings and I am sure the attitude of the mind that has been responsible for them will change, but it is essential that you should take note of these developments. They stress the importance of continued vigilance on our part. Of late, they attack on your province, particularly, has taken a subtler form. Our enemies, among whom I regret to say, there are some Muslims, have set about actively encouraging provincialism in the hope of weakening Pakistan and thereby facilitating the re-absorption of this province into the Indian Dominion. Those who are playing this game are living in a Fool’s Paradise, but this does not prevent them from trying. A flood of a false propaganda is being daily put forth with the object of undermining the solidarity of the Musslamans of this State and inciting the people to commit acts of lawlessness. The recent language controversy, in which I am sorry to make note, some of you allowed yourselves to get involved even after your Prime Minister had clarified the position, is only one of the many subtle ways whereby the poison of provincialism is being sedulously injected into this province. Does it not strike you rather odd that certain sections of the Indian press to whom the very name of Pakistan is anathema, should in the matter of language controversy set themselves up as the champion of what they call your just rights? Is it not significant that the very persons who in the past have betrayed the Mussalmans or fought against Pakistan, which is after all merely the embodiment of your fundamental right of self-determination, should now suddenly pose as the saviors of your just right and incite you to defy the Government on the question of language? I must warn you to beware of these fifth columnists. Let me restate my views on the question of a State language for Pakistan. For official use in this province, the people of the province can choose any language they wish. This question will be decided solely in accordance with the wishes of the people of this province alone, as freely expressed through their accredited representatives at the appropriate time and after full and dispassionate consideration. There can, however, be only one lingua franca, that is, the language for intercommunication between the various provinces of the State, and that language, should be Urdu and cannot be any other. The State language therefore, must obviously be Urdu, a language that has been nurtured by a hundred million Muslims of this sub-continent, a language understood throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan and above all a language which, more than any other provincial language, embodies the best that is in Islamic culture and Muslim tradition and is nearest to the language used in other Islamic countries. It is not without significance that Urdu has been driven out of the Indian Union and that even the official use of the Urdu script has been disallowed. These facts are fully known to the people who are trying to exploit the language controversy in order to stir up trouble. There was no justification for agitation but it did not suit their purpose to admit this. Their sole object in exploiting this controversy is to create a split among the Muslims of this State, as indeed they have made no secret of their efforts to incite hatred against non-Bengali Mussalmans. Realizing, however, that the statement that your Prime Minister made on the language controversy, on return from Karachi, left no room for agitation, in so far as it conceded the right of the people of this province to choose Bengali as their official language if they so wished, these persons changed their tactics. They started demanding that Bengali should be the State language of the Pakistan Center and since they could not overlook the obvious claims of Urdu as the official language of a Muslim State, they proceeded to demand that both Bengali and Urdu should be State languages of Pakistan. Make no mistake about it. There can be only one State language, if the component parts of this State are to march forward in unison, and that language in my opinion can only be Urdu. I have spoken at some length on this subject so as to warn you of the kind of tactics adopted by the enemies of Pakistan and certain opportunist politicians to try to disrupt this State or to discredit the Government. Those of you, who are about to enter life, be on your guard against these people. Those of you who have still to continue your studies for sometime, do not allow yourselves to be exploited by any political party or self-seeking politician. As I said the other day, your main occupation should be in fairness to yourselves, in fairness to your parents and indeed in fairness to the State, to devote your attention solely to your studies. It is only thus that you can equip yourselves for the battle of life that lies ahead of you. Only thus will you be an asset and a source of strength and of pride to your State. Only thus, can you assist it in solving the great social and economic problems that confront it and enable it to reach its destined goal among the most progressive and strongest nations of the world.
My young friends, I would, therefore, like to tell you a few points about which you should be vigilant and beware. Firstly, beware of the fifth columnists among ourselves. Secondly, guard against and weed out selfish people who only wish to exploit you so that they may swim. Thirdly, learn to judge who are really true and really honest and UN-selfish servants of the State who wish to serve the people with heart and soul and support them. Fourthly, consolidate the Muslim League Party, which will serve and build up a really and truly great and glorious Pakistan. Fifthly, the Muslim League has won and established Pakistan and it is the Muslim League whose duty it is now, as custodian of the sacred trust, to construct Pakistan. Sixthly, there may be many who did not lift their fingers to help us in our struggle, nay even opposed us and put obstacle in our great struggle openly and not a few worked in our enemy’s camp against us, who may now come forward and put their own attractive slogans, catch-words, ideals and programs before you. But they have yet to prove their bonafides or that there has really been an honest change of heart in them, by supporting and joining the League and working and pressing their views within the League Party organization and not by starting mushroom parties, at this juncture of very great and grave emergency when you know that we are facing external dangers and are called upon to deal with internal complex problems of a far-reaching character affecting the future of seventy millions of people. All this demands complete solidarity, unity and discipline. I assure you, “Divided you fall. United you stand”.
There is another matter that I would like to refer to. My young friends, hitherto, you have been following the rut. You get your degrees and when you are thrown out of this University in thousands, all that you think and hanker for is Government service. As your vice-chancellor has rightly stated the main object of the old system of education and the system of Government existing, hitherto, was really to have well-trained, well-equipped clerks. Of course, some of them went higher and found their level, but the whole idea was to get well-qualified clerks. Civil Service was mainly staffed by the Britons and the Indian element was introduced later on and it went up progressively. Well, the whole principle was to create a mentality, a psychology, and a state of mind that an average man, when he passed his B.A. or M.A. was to look for some job in Government. If he had it he thought he had reached his height. I know and you all know what has been really the result of this. Our experience has shown that an M.A. earns less than a taxi driver, and most of the so-called Government servants are living in a more miserable manner than many menial servants who are employed by well to do people. Now I want you to get out of that rut and that mentality and specially now that we are in free Pakistan. Government cannot absorb thousand impossible. But in the competition to get Government service most of you demoralized. Government can take only a certain number and the rest cannot settle down to anything else and being disgruntled are always ready to be exploited by persons who have their own axes to grind. Now I want that you must divert your mind, your attention, your aims and ambition to other channels and other avenues and fields that are open to you and will increasingly become so. There is no shame in doing manual work and labor. There is an immense scope in technical education for we want technically qualified people very badly. You can learn banking, commerce, trade, law, etc., which provide so many opportunities now. Already you find that new industries are being started, new banks, new insurance companies, new commercial firms are opening and they will grow as you go on. Now these are avenues and fields open to you. Think of them and divert your attention to them, and believe me, you will there benefit yourselves more than by merely going in for Government service and remaining there, in what I should say, a circle of clerkship, working there from morning till evening, in most dingy and uncomfortable conditions. You will be far more happy and far more prosperous with far more opportunities to rise if you take to commerce and industry and will thus be helping not only yourselves but also your State. I can give you one instance. I know a young man who was in Government service. Four years ago he went into a banking corporation on two hundred rupees, because he had studied the subject of banking and today he is Manager in one of their firms and drawing fifteen hundred rupees a month –in just four years. These are the opportunities to have and I do impress upon you now to think in these terms.
Finally, I thank you again Mr. Chancellor and particularly you Mr. vice-chancellor for the warm welcome you have given me and the very flattering personal references made by you. I hope, nay I am confident that the East Bengal youth will not fail us.
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the voice of one hundred million Muslims, fought for their religious, social and economic freedom. Throughout history no single man yielded as much power as the Quaid-e-Azam, and yet remained uncorrupted by that power. Not many men in history can boast of creating a nation single handedly and altering the map of the world but Jinnah did so and thus became a legend.
"Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.", Stanley Wolpert
In the words of John Biggs-Davison, " Although without Ghandi, Hindustan would still have gained independence and without Lenin and Mao, Russia and China would still have endured Communist revolution, without Jinnah there would have been no Pakistan in 1947."
Lord Mountbatten had enormous confidence in his persuasive powers. But as far as Jinnah was concerned, he felt that though he tried every trick, he could not shake Jinnah’s resolve to have partition. Mountbatten said that Jinnah had a " consuming determination to realize the dream of Pakistan." And he remained focused on that till his death.
Lord Lothian had said that though Jinnah’s scheme of partition was good, it would take at least 25 years to take shape. But great wars and great men shorten history, and Jinnah was such a man who could alter the history of a nation.
The lessons he taught his countrymen were worth remembering for the life time, especially the lesson of equality. Always a worker for Hindu Muslim unity, he served a political apprenticeship in the Congress. He said: "Whatever you may be, and whatever you are, you are a Muslim , you have carved out a territory, a vast territory . It is all yours. It does not belong to a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Pathan. There is white too in the lovely flag of Pakistan. The white signifies the non- Muslim minorities."
An upright man who always kept his word, he thought well before he spoke. If he made a promise he made sure he kept his word. In his last days when he was suffering from extreme illness, he went to the meetings and dinners he was invited to and made it to the inauguration of the State Bank of Pakistan because he had promised he would be there. He advised, " if ever you make a promise, think a hundred times, but once you make a promise, honor your promise."
Quttabuddin Aziz remarks that Muslim India was beset by socio-economic frustration. At such a time Jinnah guided a virtually rudderless Muslim League. Aziz refers to Jinnah as the greatest Muslim leader of the 20th century who was able to turn a dream state of Pakistan into a reality.
Saleem Qureshi refers to him as a messiah in the restricted sense, that he revived the spirit of nationhood among the Muslims of India and secured a homeland for them. He wanted partition to be a peaceful one because he believed in non-violence and practiced and preached it.
Director, Center of South Asian Studies, Gordon Johnson said rightly of Jinnah: "He set a great example to other statesmen to follow by his skill in negotiation, his integrity and his honesty."
In March 1940 after laborious attempts at Hindu-Muslim unity failed, Jinnah proposed the idea of an independent nation for the Muslims of India in areas where Muslims were numerically in majority. He was then given the title of Quaid-e-Azam (supreme leader) by the Muslims of India. Yet Jinnah was more than Quaid-e-Azam for the people who followed him and more than the architect of the Islamic nation he called into being. He commanded their imagination and their confidence. He was not bogged down by the daunting task of creating a home for Muslims in which they would be able to live in the glory of Islam. Few statesmen have shaped events to their policy more surely than Jinnah. He was a legend even in his lifetime.
Pakistan became constitutionally independent at midnight between the 14th and 15th August 1947. The Quaid assumed charge as the Governor General of Pakistan on August 15, 1947.
Soon after that Jinnah riveted himself to work. The colossal task of building Pakistan from scratch needed his immediate attention. Since the Lahore Resolution of 1940, he never rested even for a moment. But he surpassed himself after becoming the first head of the biggest Muslim State. From the day he arrived in Karachi on August 7, till he breathed his last, is a tale of self abnegation, exemplary devotion to duty and intense activity.
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Liaquat Ali Khan
Even at the hour of triumph, Jinnah was sick and in pain. He had little or no appetite; he had lost his gift of being able to sleep at will and he passed many sleepless nights; also, his cough increased and with it his temperature. The harrowing tales of the sufferings of the refugees affected him deeply.
Of the numerous disputes with India and domestic worries,evidently the unsolved problem of Kashmir, his inability to complete the Constitution of the new state of Pakistan, and the plight of the millions of refugees who had arrived in their new homeland utterly destitute affected him the most.
The scale of the refugee problem and the depth of the tragedy were indeed heart rendering. For Pakistan the problem of coping with the refugees was proportionately far more serious than it was for India. Her territory and resources were much smaller and her administration was still in its infancy.
It was not only the plight of the Muslim refugees who had arrived from India that grieved the Quaid-i-Azam deeply. The sad condition of the Hindus in Pakistan hurt him no less.
Apart from Kashmir, there were two Princely states Junagarh and Hyderabad that formed the subject of disputes between India and Pakistan. All the states in the subcontinent except these three had acceded either to India or Pakistan by 14th August 1947. It so happened that all these three were ruled by princes whose own religion was different from that of the majority of their subjects.
Quaid-i-Azam and Fatima Jinnah drove on the morning of August 14th, from the government house to the Legislative Assembly hall along a carefully guarded route, lined with soldiers as well as police alerted to watch for possible assassins, since reports of a Sikh plan to assassinate Jinnah, had reached Mountbatten and Jinnah several days earlier. But only shouts of “Pakistan Zindabad” and “Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad” were hurled at his carriage. The Mountbattens followed in the crowded semicircular chamber of Pakistan’s parliament, which had been Sind’s Legislative Assembly.
Lord Mountbatten graciously felicitated Jinnah and read the message from his cousin, King George, welcoming Pakistan into the Commonwealth. Jinnah replied:
“Your Excellency, I thank His Majesty on behalf of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and myself. I once more thank you and Lady Mountbatten for your kindness and good wishes. Yes, we are parting as friends…and I assure you that we shall not be wanting in friendly spirit with our neighbors and with all nations of the world.”
A witness reported:
“If Jinnah’s personality is cold and remote, it also has a magnetic quality -- the sense of leadership is almost overpowering…here indeed is Pakistan’s King Emperor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Speaker and Prime Minister concentrated into one formidable Quaid-i-Azam.”
The Muslim League's refusal to take part in the Constituent Assembly meant that the plan of the Cabinet Mission for the transfer of power in accordance with a Constitution framed cooperatively by the Indian political parties themselves had come to a deadlock. Accordingly, Prime Minister Attlee made the following statement on Indian policy in the House of Commons on February 20, 1947:
His Majesty's Government desire to hand over their responsibility to authorities established by a Constitution approved by all parties in India in accordance with the Cabinet Mission's plan, but unfortunately there is at present no clear prospect that such a Constitution and such authorities will emerge. The present state of uncertainty is fraught with danger and cannot be indefinitely prolonged. His Majesty's Government wish to make it clear that it is their definite intention to take the necessary steps to effect the transference of power into responsible Indian hands by a date not later than June 1948…if it should appear that such a Constitution will not have been worked out by a fully representative Assembly before the time mentioned, His Majesty's Government will have to consider to whom the powers of the Central Government in British India should be handed over, on the due date, whether as a whole to some form of Central Government for British India or in some areas to the existing Provincial Governments, or in such other way seem most reasonable and in the best interests of the Indian people.
In regard to the Indian States, as was explicitly stated by the Cabinet Mission, His Majesty's Government do not intend to hand over their powers and obligation under paramountcy to any government of British India. It is not intended to bring paramountcy, as a system, to a conclusion earlier than the date of the final transfer of power, but it is contemplated that for the intervening period the relations of the Crown with individual States may be adjusted by agreement.
It was announced at the same time that Rear-Admiral the Visount Mountbatten would succeed Lord Wavell as the Viceroy in March. Lord and Lady Mountbatten landed at Delhi on March 22, 1947 and he took over as the Viceroy two days later. He could very well have represented to the British Government that both the Congress and the Muslim League had already asked for the partition of India into Muslim-majority and non-Muslim majority areas and sought their permission to embark upon the process of partition straightaway. But he chose to follow the policy that first the attempt to transfer power in accordance with the Cabinet Mission plan must continue. It is to that end, therefore, that he first directed his endeavors.
Mountbatten's relations with the Congress party had a flying start. The foundation of Nehru's friendship with Lord and Lady Mountbatten had been laid in March 1946 when the Indian leader visited Singapore. The political conditions in India too had changed in favor of the Congress. In post-independence India the Congress party was expected to rule the country. Consequently, it was the Congress's friendship that had now to be cultivated. The fact that Mountbatten personally was bitterly opposed to partition, made it much easier for him to court the Congress leaders.
All these factors greatly increased the already formidable odds facing the Quaid-i-Azam in his fight for Pakistan. In his meetings with Mountbatten, he refused to budge from the position that Pakistan was the only solution acceptable to the Muslim League.
Wavell wrote identical letters to Nehru and Jinnah on July 22, 1946 asking them whether the Congress and the Muslim League would be prepared to enter an interim government on the basis that six members(including one Scheduled Caste representative) would be nominated by the Congress and five by the Muslim League. Three representatives of the minorities would be nominated by the Viceroy. Jinnah replied that the proposal was not acceptable to the Muslim League because it destroyed the principal of parity. At Nehru's invitation, he and Jinnah conferred together on August 15 but could not come to an agreement on the question of the Congress joining the interim government.
The Working Committee of the Muslim League had decided in the meantime that Friday 16 August, 1946 would be marked as the 'Direct Action Day".There was serious trouble in Calcutta and some rioting in Sylhet on that day. The casualty figures in Calcutta during the period of 16-19 August were 4,000 dead and 10,000 injured. In his letter to Pethick-Lawrence, Wavell had reported that appreciably more Muslims than Hindus had been killed. The "Great Calcutta Killing" marked the start of the bloodiest phase of the "war of succession" between the Hindus and the Muslims and it became increasingly difficult for the British to retain control. Now, they had to cope with the Congress civil disobedience movement as well as furious Muslims that had also come out in the streets in thousands.
The negotiations with the League reached a deadlock and the Viceroy decided to form an interim government with the Congress alone, leaving the door open for the League to come in later. A communiqué was issued on August 24 which announced that the existing members of the Governor General's Executive Council had resigned and that on their places new persons had been appointed. It was stated that the interim government would be installed on September 2.
Jinnah declared two days later that the Viceroy had struck a severe blow to Indian Muslims and had added insult to injury by nominating three Muslims who did not command the confidence of Muslims of India. He reiterated that the only solution to Indian problem was the division of India into Pakistan and Hindustan. The formation of an interim government consisting only of the Congress nominees added further fuel to the communal fire. The Muslims regarded the formation of the interim government as an unconditional surrender of power to the Hindus, and feared that the Governor General would be unable to prevent the Hindus from using their newly acquired power of suppressing Muslims all over India.
After the Congress had taken the reins at the Center on September 2, Jinnah faced a desperate situation. The armed forces were predominantly Hindu and Sikh and the Indian members of the other services were also predominantly Hindu. The British were preparing to concede independence to India if they withdrew the Congress was to be in undisputed control, the Congress was to be free to deal with the Muslims as it wished. Wavell too, felt unhappy at the purely Congress interim government. He genuinely desired a Hindu-Muslim settlement and united India, and had worked hard for that end.
Wavell pleaded with Nehru and Gandhi, in separate interviews, that it would help him to persuade Jinnah to cooperate if they could give him an assurance that the Congress would not insist on nominating a Nationalist Muslim. Both of them refused to give way on that issue.Wavell informed Jinnah two days later that he had not succeeded in persuading the Congress leaders to make a gesture by not appointing a Nationalist Muslim. Jinnah realized that the Congress would not give up the right to nominate a Nationalist Muslim and that he would have to accept the position if he did not wish to leave the interim government solely in the hands of the Congress. On October 13, he wrote to Wavell that, though the Muslim League did not agree with much that had happened, "in the interests of the Muslims and other communities it will be fatal to leave the entire field of administration of the Central Government in the hands of the Congress". The League had therefore decided to nominate five members for the interim government. On October 15, he gave the Viceroy the following five names:
Liaquat Ali Khan, I.I Chundrigar, Abdur Rab Nishtar, Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Jogindar Nath Mandal. The last name was a Scheduled Caste Hindu and was obviously a tit-for-tat for the Congress insistence upon including a Nationalist Muslim in its own quota.
External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations: Jawaharlal Nehru
Defence: Baldev Singh
Home (including Information and Broadcasting): Vallahbhai Patel
Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Secretary of State for India on February 19, 1946, announced in Parliament that a special mission consisting of three Cabinet ministers, in association with the Viceroy, would proceed to India, in order to hold discussions with the Indian leaders. The three Cabinet ministers would be Pethick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander.
Cripps told the press conference on landing at Karachi on March 23 that the purpose of the mission was "to get machinery set up for framing the constitutional structure in which the Indians will have full control of their destiny and the formation of a new interim government." The Mission arrived in Delhi on March 24 and left on June 29.
Jinnah faced extreme difficulties in the three-month-long grueling negotiations with the Cabinet Mission. The first of these was the continued delicate state of his health. At a critical stage of the negotiations, he went down with bronchitis and ran temperature for ten days. But he never gave up the fight and battled till the end of the negotiations.
Secondly, the Congress was still much stronger than the Muslim League as a party. "They have the best organized -- in fact the only well organized -- political machine; and they command almost unlimited financial support…they can always raise mob passion and mob support…and could undoubtedly bring about a very serious revolt against British rule."-- Mountbatten's "Report on the Last Viceroyalty".
Thirdly, The Congress had several powerful spokesmen, while for the League Jinnah had to carry the entire burden of advocacy single-handedly.
Fourthly, the Mission was biased heavily in favor of the Congress. Secretary of State Pethick-Lawrence and Cripps, the sharpest brains among them, made no secret of their personal friendship for the Congress leaders.
Wavell was much perturbed by Pethick-Lawrence's and Cripps's private contacts with the Congress leaders and the deference they showed to Gandhi.
Finally, Jinnah suffered from the disadvantage that it was the Muslim League, a minority party, which alone demanded Pakistan. The Congress, the smaller minorities and the British Government including the comparatively fair-minded Wavell with whom the final decision lay, were all strongly opposed to the partition of British India.
Quaid-i-Azam the constitutionalist took appropriate steps to strengthen his hand as the spokesman of the Muslim League. He convened a meeting of the Muslim League Working Committee at Delhi (4-6 April 1946) which passed a resolution that "the President alone should meet the Cabinet Delegation and the Viceroy. This was immediately followed by an All India Muslim Legislator's Convention. Nearly 500 members of the Provincial and Central Legislatures who had recently been elected on the Muslim League ticket from all parts of India attended it. It was the first gathering of its kind in the history of Indian politics and was called by some "the Muslim Constituent Assembly". In his presidential address, Jinnah said that the Convention would lay down "once and for all in equivocal terms what we stand for".
A resolution passed unanimously by the Convention (the "Delhi Resolution") stated that no formula devised by the British Government for transferring power to the peoples of India would be acceptable to the Muslim nations unless it conformed to the following principles:
That the zones comprising Bengal and Assam in the North-East and the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan in the North-West of India, namely Pakistan, zones where the Muslims are in a dominant majority, be constituted into a sovereign independent State and that an unequivocal undertaking be given to implement the establishment of Pakistan without delay.
The two separate constitution-making bodies be set up by the people of Pakistan and Hindustan for the purpose of framing their respective Constitutions.
That the acceptance of the Muslim League demand of Pakistan and its implementation without delay are the sine qua non for Muslim League cooperation and participation in the formation of an Interim Government at the Center.
That any attempt to impose a Constitution on a united-India basis or to force any interim arrangement at the Center contrary to the Muslim League demand will leave the Muslims no alternative but to resist any such imposition by all possible means for their survival and national existence.
This impressive show of strength, staged in the very city where the members of the Cabinet Mission were quartered, demonstrated to the Mission and to all the others that the 100 million Muslims of India were solidly behind the demand for Pakistan and further that the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was their undisputed supreme leader.
The Mission began their talks by first informing themselves of the views of the different leaders and parties. When they found the view-points of the League and the Congress irreconcilable, they gave a chance to the parties to come to an agreement between themselves. This included a Conference at Simla (5-12 May), popularly known as the Second Simla Conference, to which the Congress and the League were each asked to nominate four delegates for discussions with one another as well as with the Mission. When it became clear that the parties would not be able to reach a concord, the Mission on May 16, 1946, put forward their own proposals in the form of a Statement.
Azad, the president of the Congress, conferred with the Mission on April 3 and stated that the picture that the Congress had of the form of government in future was that of a Federal Government with fully autonomous provinces with residuary powers vested in the units. Gandhi met the Mission later on the same day. He called Jinnah's Pakistan "a sin" which he, Gandhi, would not commit.
At the outset of his interview with the Mission on April 4 the Quaid was asked to give his reason why he thought Pakistan a must for the future of India.He replied that never in long history these was "any Government of India in the sense of a single government". He went on to explain the irreconcilable social and cultural differences between the Hindus and the Muslims and argued, "You cannot make a nation unless there are essential uniting forces. How are you to put 100 million Muslims together with 250 million people whose way of life is so different? No government can ever work on such a basis and if this is forced upon India it must lead us on to disaster."
The Second Simla Conference having failed to produce an agreed solution, on May 16, the Mission issued it's own statement.
The Cabinet Mission broadcast its plan worldwide from New Delhi on Thursday night, May 16, 1946. It was a last hope for a single Indian union to emerge peacefully in the wake of the British raj. The statement reviewed the "fully independent sovereign state of Pakistan" option, rejecting it for various reasons, among which were that it "would not solve the communal minority problem" but only raise more such problems. The basic form of the constitution recommended was a three-tier scheme with a minimal central union at the top for only foreign affairs, defense and communication, and Provinces at the bottom, which "should be free to form Groups with executive and legislatures," with each group being empowered to "determine the Provincial subjects to be taken in common". After ten years any Province could, by simple majority vote, "call for a reconsideration of the terms of the constitution". Details of the new constitution were to be worked out by an assembly representing "as broad based and accurate" a cross section of the population of India as possible. An elaborate method of assuring representation of all the communities in power structure was outlined with due consideration given to the representation of states as well as provinces.
The Quaid replied on the 19th , asking the Viceroy if the proposals were final or whether they were subject to change or modification, and he also sought some other clarification. The Viceroy promptly furnished the necessary explanations. It seemed as if the Quaid would accept the Viceroy's proposals. The Congress Working Committee met in Delhi on June 25 and by a resolution rejected the proposals, as "Congressmen can never give up the national character of the Congress or accept an artificial and unjust party, or agree to the veto of a communal group." Azad sent a copy of the resolution to the Viceroy and in his covering letter protested against the non-inclusion of a Muslim-Congressman from the Congress quota.
After the Congress stand had become known, the Working Committee of the Muslim League resolved to join the Interim Government, in accordance with the statement of the Viceroy dated 16th June. The interpretation of the Quaid-i-Azam was that if the Congress rejected the proposals, the League accepted them, or vice versa,the Viceroy would go ahead and form the interim Government without including the representatives of the party that decided to stand out. But the interpretation of the Viceroy and the Cabinet Mission was different from that of the Quaid-i-Azam.
It became clear that the protracted negotiations carried out for about three months by the Cabinet Mission did not materialize in a League-Congress understanding, or in the formation of an interim Government. Towards the end of June, the Cabinet Mission left for England, their task unfulfilled.
It had, however not been a complete failure. It was clear to the Indians that the acceptance of the demand for Pakistan would be an integral part of any future settlement of the Indian problem. In the meantime the League and the Congress were getting ready for elections to the Constituent Assembly.
As the conditions of war began to turn in favor of the Allies, the Viceroy Wavell felt that the time had come to make proposals for a resolution of the political deadlock in India. His objective, as stated in a letter to Churchill, was to form "a provisional government, of the type suggested in the Cripps Declaration, within the present Constitution, coupled with an earnest but not necessarily simultaneous attempt to devise a means to reach a constitutional settlement."
Wavell had a one-and-a-quarter hour meeting with Churchill on 29 March 1945. The Prime Minister thought that the problem of India, 'could be kept on ice", but Wavell told him quite firmly that the question of India was very urgent and very important. It was on 31 May that Wavell at last got a go-ahead from the Cabinet largely on the lines he had desired. He left London on June 1, and landed at Karachi on June 4.
The British Government's new proposals were publicly disclosed on 14 June 1945, on which date the Viceroy made a broadcast at New Delhi and the Secretary of State made a statement in the House of Commons. In this broadcast, Wavell said the proposals he was making were not an attempt to impose a constitutional settlement, but the hope that the Indian parties would agree on a settlement of the communal issue which had not been fulfilled, and in the meantime great problems had to be solved. He therefore invited the great leaders to a conference in Simla on 25 June to consult with him the formation of the new Executive Council. The Viceroy concluded the broadcast with the announcement that orders had been given for the immediate release of the members of the Congress Working Committee who were in detention.
Wavell separately interviewed Azad, Gandhi and Jinnah on 24 June. Azad appeared to accept the main principles underlying the proposals, including wholehearted support for the war effort. He said that the Congress would accept equality of Caste Hindus and the Muslims but would not compromise on the method of selection. The Congress must have a voice in the selection of non-Hindus and the Muslims in particular must not be selected by an exclusive communal body.
Gandhi said that he would attend the conference if the Viceroy insisted but would "sit in a corner". In the end he did not attend the meeting but remained available at Simla for the duration.
Jinnah expressed the anxiety that the Muslims would be in a minority in the new Executive Council and he claimed that the Muslim League had the right to nominate all the Muslim members to the Council. Wavell said he could not accept this. Jinnah argued that the League had won all the by-elections in the preceding two years and therefore represented all the Muslims of India.
On the very first day of the conference on June 25, it became clear that the real issue was the composition of the Executive Council; all parties would accept the proposal if they could reach an agreement on the method of selection. By June 29 it became clear that the parties would not be able to come up with an agreed list of Executive Councillors and the conference was adjourned till July 14 to enable them to file separate lists.
In a meeting with the Viceroy on June 27, Jinnah had said that he wanted a council of fourteen, including the Viceroy and commander-in-chief with five Hindus, five Muslims, one Sikh and one Scheduled Caste. He said that this was the only council in which the Muslims would stand a chance of not being out-voted on every issue. It was after seeing Jinnah on July 11 that the Viceroy accepted that the conference had failed because he had been unable to accede to Jinnah's demands. After the failure of the conference Jinnah explained:
"…if we accept this arrangement, the Pakistan issue will be shelved and out into cold storage indefinitely, whereas the Congress will have secured under this arrangement what they want, namely, a clear road for their advance towards securing Hindu national independence of India, because the future Executive will work as unitary Government of India, and we know that this interim or provisional arrangement will have a way of settling down for an unlimited period, and all the forces in the proposed Executive, plus the known policy of the British Government and Lord Wavell's strong inclination for a united India, would completely jeopardize us."
When the conference met on July 15, Wavell formally announced his failure and sportingly blamed himself for the result. In fact, the Viceroy deserved the greatest praise. With resolution and persistence he had succeeded in winning the consent of Churchill and of others to open the Indian question and give the Indian leaders another chance to install a national government.
It was the two principal political parties, the Congress and the Muslim League, that were really responsible for the failure. They had taken up positions that admitted no compromise.
Congress leaders blamed Jinnah for the lost opportunity and said that the Viceroy should have gone ahead without the League. But in fact the entire plan had been based on the idea that the Executive Council would be an all-party body.
Some days after the conference, at a public meeting the Quaid-i-Azam, referred to Gandhi's presence at Simla during the Simla Conference in scathing terms:
"The first question is why did Mr. Gandhi as one of the leaders of the recognized parties go to Simla? Having gone there, why did Mr. Gandhi not attend the conference? The reason is simple. It was to play the role of wire puller."
Mountbatten's relations with the Congress party had a flying start. The foundation of Nehru's friendship with Lord and Lady Mountbatten had been laid in March 1946 when the Indian leader visited Singapore. The political conditions in India too had changed in favor of the Congress. In post-independence India the Congress party was expected to rule the country. Consequently, it was the Congress's friendship that had now to be cultivated. The fact that Mountbatten personally was bitterly opposed to partition, made it much easier for him to court the Congress leaders.
