 Pakistan
emerged on the world map on August 14,1947. It has its roots into the remote past. Its
establishment lwas the culmination of the struggle by Muslims of the South-Asian
subcontinent for a separate homeland of their own and its foundation was laid when
Mohammad bin Qasim subdued Sindh in 711 A.D. as a reprisal against sea pirates that had
taken refuge in Raja Dahir's kingdom.
The advent of Islam further strengthened the historical individuality in
the areas now constituting Pakistan and further beyond its boundaries. Stone Age Some of
the earliest relics of Stone Age man in the subcontinent are found in the Soan Valley of
the Potohar region near Rawalpindi, with a probable antiquity of about 500,000 years. No
human skeleton of such antiquity has yet been discovered in the area, but the crude stone
implements recovered from the terraces of the Soan carry the saga of human toil and labor
in this part of the world to the inter-glacial period. These Stone Age men fashioned their
implements in a sufficiently homogenous way to justify their grouping in terms of a
culture called the Soan Culture. About 3000 B.C, amidst the rugged wind-swept valleys and
foothills of Balochistan, small village communities developed and began to take the first
hesitant steps towards civilization. Here, one finds a more continuous story of human
activity, though still in the Stone Age.
These pre-historic men established their settlements, both as herdsmen
and as farmers, in the valleys or on the outskirts of the plains with their cattle and
cultivated barley and other crops. Red and buffer Cultures Careful excavations of the
pre-historic mounds in these areas and the classification of their contents, layer by
layer, have grouped them into two main categories of Red Ware Culture and Buff Ware
Culture. The former is popularly known as the Zhob Culture of North Balochistan, while the
latter comprises the Quetta, Amri Nal and Kulli Cultures of Sindh and South Balochistan.
Some Amri Nal villages or towns had stone walls and bastions for defence purposes and
their houses had stone foundations. At Nal, an extensive cemetery of this culture consists
of about 100 graves. An important feature of this composite culture is that at Amri and
certain other sites, it has been found below the very distinctive Indus Valley Culture. On
the other hand, the steatite seals of Nal and the copper implements and certain types of
pot decoration suggest a partial overlap between the two. It probably represents one of
the local societies which constituted the environment for the growth of the Indus Valley
Civilization.
The pre-historic site of Kot Diji in the Sindh province has provided
information of high significance for the reconstruction of a connected story which pushes
back the origin of this civilization by 300 to 500 years, from about 2500 B.C.. to at
least 2800 B.C. Evidence of a new cultural elements of pre-Harappan era has been traced
here. Pre-Harappan Civilization When the primitive village communities in the Balochistan
area were still struggling against a difficult highland environment, a highly cultured
people were trying to assert themselves at Kot Diji, one of the most developed urban
civilizations of the ancient world which flourished between the years 2500 and 1500 B.C.
in the Indus Valley sites of Moenjodaro and Harappa. These Indus Valley people possessed a
high standard of art and craftsmanship and a well developed system of quasi pictographic
writing, which despite continuing efforts still remains undeciphered. The imposing ruins
of the beautifully planned Moenjodaro and Harappa towns present clear evidence of the
unity of a people having the same mode of life and using the same kind of tools. Indeed,
the brick buildings of the common people, the public baths, the roads and covered drainage
system suggest the picture of a happy and contented people. Aryan Civilization In or about
1500 B.C., the Aryans descended upon the Punjab and settled in the Sapta Sindhu, which
signifies the Indus plain. They developed a pastoral society that grew into the Rigvedic
Civilization. The Rigveda is replete with hymns of praise for this region, which they
describe as "God fashioned". It is also clear that so long as the Sapta Sindhu
remained the core of the Aryan Civilization, it remained free from the caste system. The
caste institution and the ritual of complex sacrifices took shape in the Gangetic Valley.
There can be no doubt that the Indus Civilization contributed much to the development of
the Aryan civilization. Gandhara Culture The discovery of the Gandhara grave culture in
Dir and Swat will go a long way in throwing light on the period of Pakistan's cultural
history between the end of the Indus Culture in 1500 B.C. and the beginning of the
historic period under the Achaemenians in the sixth century B.C. Hindu mythology and
Sanskrit literary traditions seem to attribute the destruction of the Indus civilization
to the Aryans, but what really happened, remains a mystery. The Gandhara grave culture has
opened up two periods in the cultural heritage of Pakistan: one of the Bronze Age and the
other of the Iron Age. It is so named because it presents a peculiar pattern of living in
hilly zones of the Gandhara region as evidenced in the graves. This culture is different
from the Indus Culture and has little relations with the village culture of Balochistan.
Stratigraphy as well as the artifacts discovered from this area suggest that the Aryans
moved into this part of the world between 1,500 and 600 B.C. In the sixth century B.C.,
Buddha began his teachings, which later on spread throughout the northern part of the
South-Asian subcontinent. It was towards the end of this century, too, that Darius I of
Iran organized Sindh and Punjab as the twentieth satrapy of his empire.
There are remarkable similarities between the organizations of that
great empire and the Mauryan empire of the third century B.C., while Kautilya's
Arthshastra also shows a strong Persian influence, Alexander of Macedonia after defeating
Darius III in 330 B.C. had also marched through the South-Asian subcontinent up to the
river Beas, but Greek influence on the region appears to have been limited to contributing
a little to the establishment of the Mauryan empire. The great empire that Asoka, the
grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, built in the subcontinent included only that part of the
Indus basin which is now known as the northern Punjab. The rest of the areas astride the
Indus were not subjugated by him. These areas, which now form a substantial part of
Pakistan, were virtually independent from the time of the Guptas in the fourth century
A.D. until the rise of the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth century. Gandhara Art
Gandhara Art, one of the most prized possessions of Pakistan, flourished for a period of
500 years (from the first to the fifth century A.D.) in the present valley of Peshawar and
the adjacent hilly regions of Swat, Buner and Bajaur. This art represents a separate phase
of the cultural renaissance of the region. It was the product of a blending of Indian,
Buddhist and Greco-Roman sculpture. Gandhara Art in its early stages received the
patronage of Kanishka, the great Kushan ruler, during whose reign the Silk Route ran
through Peshawar and the Indus Valley, bringing great prosperity to the whole area. Advent
of Islam The first followers of prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), to set foot on the
soil of the South-Asian subcontinent, were traders from the coast land of Arabia and the
Persian Gulf, soon after the dawn of Islam in the early seventh century A.D.
The first permanent Muslim
foothold in the subcontinent was achieved with Mohammad bin Qasim's conquest of
Sindh in 711 A.D. An autonomous Muslim state linked with the Umayyed, and later, the
Abbassid Caliphate was established with jurisdiction extending over southern and central
parts of present Pakistan. Quite a few new cities were established and Arabic was
introduced as the official language. At the time of Mahmud of Ghazna's invasion, Muslim
rule still existed, though in a weakened form, in Multan and some other regions. The
Ghaznavids (976-1148) and their successors, the Ghaurids (1148-1206), were Central Asian
by origin and they ruled their territories, which covered mostly the regions of present
Pakistan, from capitals outside India. It was in the early thirteenth century that the
foundations of the Muslim rule in India were laid with extended boundaries and Delhi as
the capital. From 1206 to 1526 A.D., five different dynasties held sway. Then followed the
period of Mughal ascendancy (1526-1707) and their rule continued, though nominally, till
1857.  From the time of the Ghaznavids,
Persian more or less replaced Arabic as the official language. The economic, political and
religious institutions developed by the Muslims bore their unique impression. The law of
the State was based on Shariah and in principle the rulers were bound to enforce it. Any
long period of laxity was generally followed by reinforcement of these laws under public
pressure. The impact of Islam on the South-Asian subcontinent was deep and far-reaching.
Islam introduced not only a new religion, but a new civilization, a new way of life and
new set of values. Islamic traditions of art and literature, of culture and refinement, of
social and welfare institution, were established by Muslim rulers throughout the
subcontinent. A new language, Urdu, derived mainly from Arabic and Persian vocabulary and
adopting indigenous words and idioms, came to be spoken and written by the Muslims and it
gained currency among the rest of the Indian population.
Urdu is the National Language
of Pakistan. Apart from religion, Urdu also enabled the Muslim community during the
period of its ascendancy to preserve its separate identity in the subcontinent.
Urdu is also a Official
Language of Pakistan. Muslim Identity -- The question of Muslim identity, however assumed
seriousness during the decline of Muslim power in South Asia. The first person to realize
its acuteness was the scholar theologian, Shah Waliullah (1703-62). He laid the foundation
of Islamic renaissance in the subcontinent and became a source of inspiration for almost
all the subsequent social and religious reform movements of the nineteenth, and twentieth
centuries. His immediate successors, inspired by his teachings, tried to establish a
modest Islamic state in the north-west of India and they, under the leadership of Sayyed
Ahmad Shaheed Barelvi (1786-1831), persevered in this direction. British Expansionism and
Muslim Resistance Meanwhile, starting with the East India Company, the British had emerged
as the dominant force in South Asia. Their rise to power was gradual extending over a
period of nearly one hundred years. They replaced the Shariah by what they termed as the
Anglo-Muhammadan law whereas Urdu was replaced by English as the official language. These
and other developments had great social, economic and political impact especially on the
Muslims of South Asia. The uprising of 1857, termed as the Indian Mutiny by the British
and the War of Independence by the Muslims, was a desperate attempt to reverse the adverse
course of events. Religious Institutions The failure of the 1857 War of Independence had
disastrous consequences for the Muslims as the British placed all the responsibility for
this event on them. Determined to stop such a recurrence in future, the British followed
deliberately a repressive policy against the Muslims. Properties and estates of those even
remotely associated with the freedom fighters were confiscated and conscious efforts were
made to close all avenues of honest living for them. The Muslim response to this situation
also aggravated their plight. Their religious leaders, who had been quite active, withdrew
from the mainstream of the community life and devoted themselves exclusively to imparting
religious education. Although the religious academies especially those of Deoband, Farangi
Mahal and Rai Bareilly, established by the Ulema, did help the Muslims to preserve their
identity, the training provided in these institutions hardly equipped them for the new
challenges. Educational Reform The Muslims kept themselves aloof from western education as
well as government service. But, their compatriots, the Hindus, did not do so and accepted
the new rulers without reservation. They acquired western education, imbibed the new
culture and captured positions hitherto filled in by the Muslims. If this situation had
prolonged, it would have done the Muslims an irreparable damage. The man to realise the
impending peril was Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1889), a witness to the tragic events of
1857. He exerted his utmost to harmonize British Muslim relations. His assessment was that
the Muslims' safety lay in the acquisition of western education and knowledge. He took
several positive steps to achieve this objective. He founded a college at Aligarh to
impart education on western lines. Of equal importance was the Anglo-Muhammadan
Educational Conference, which he sponsored in 1886, to provide an intellectual forum to
the Muslims for the dissemination of views in support of western education and social
reform. Similar were the objectives of the Muhammadan Literary Society, founded by Nawab
Adbul Latif (1828-93), active in Bengal, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's efforts transformed into a
movement, known as the Aligarh Movement, and it left its imprint on the Muslims of every
part of the South-Asian subcontinent. Under its inspiration, societies were founded
throughout the subcontinent which established educational institutions for imparting
education to the Muslims.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was averse to the idea of participation by the
Muslims in any organized political activity which, he feared, might revive British
hostility towards them. He also disliked Hindu Muslim collaboration in any joint venture.
His disillusionment in this regard stemmed basically from the Urdu Hindi controversy of
the late 1860s when the Hindu enthusiasts vehemently championed the cause of Hindi to
replace Urdu. He, therefore, opposed the Indian National Congress when it was founded in
1885 and advised the Muslims to abstain from its activities. His contemporary and a great
scholar of Islam, Syed Ameer Ali (1849-1928), shared his views about the Congress, but, he
was not opposed to Muslims organizing themselves politically. In fact, he organised the
first significant political body of the Muslims, the Central National Muhammadan
Association. Although, its membership was limited, it had more than 50 branches in
different parts of the subcontinent and it accomplished some solid work for the
educational and political advancement of the Muslims. But, its activities waned towards
the end of the nineteenth century. The Muslim League At the dawn of the twentieth century,
a number of factors convinced the Muslims of the need to have an effective political
organization. Therefore, in October 1906, a deputation comprising 35 Muslim leaders met
the Viceroy of the British at Simla and demanded separate electorates. Three months later,
the All-India Muslim League was founded by Nawab Salimullah Khan at Dhaka, mainly with the
objective of safeguarding the political rights and interests of the Muslims. The British
conceded separate electorates in the Government of India Act of 1909 which confirmed the
Muslim League's position as an All-India party. Attempt for Hindu Muslim Unity The visible
trend of the two major communities progressing in opposite directions caused deep concern
to leaders of All-India stature. They struggled to bring the Congress and the Muslim
League on one platform. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) was the leading
figure among them. After the annulment of the partition of Bengal and the European Powers'
aggressive designs against the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, the Muslims were receptive
to the idea of collaboration with the Hindus against the British rulers.
The Congress Muslim League rapprochement was achieved at the Lucknow
sessions of the two parties in 1916 and a joint scheme of reforms was adopted. In the
Lucknow Pact. as the scheme was commonly referred to, the Congress accepted the principle
of separate electorates, and the Muslims, in return for `weightage' to the Muslims of the
Muslim minority provinces, agreed to surrender their thin majorities in the Punjab and
Bengal. The post Lucknow Pact period witnessed Hindu Muslim amity and the two parties came
to hold their annual sessions in the same city and passed resolutions of identical
contents.
Khilafat Movement. The Hindu Muslim unity reached its climax during the Khilafat and the
Non-cooperation Movements. The Muslims of soothsayer, under the leadership of the Ali
Brothers, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, launched the historic Khilafat
Movement after the First World War to protect the Ottoman Empire from dismemberment.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) linked the issue of Swaraj (self-government) with
the Khilafat issue to associate the Hindus with the Movement. the ensuing Movement was the
first countrywide popular movement.
Although the Movement failed in its objectives, it had a far-reaching
impact on the Muslims of South Asia. After a long time, they took united action on a
purely Islamic issue which momentarily forged solidarity among them. It also produced a
class of Muslim leaders experienced in organizing and mobilizing the public. This
experience was of immense value to the Muslims later during the Pakistan Movement The
collapse of the Khilafat Movement was followed by a period of bitter Hindu Muslim
antagonism. The Hindus organized two highly anti Muslim movements, the Shudhi and the
Sangathan. The former movement was designed to convert Muslims to Hindusim and the latter
was meant to create solidarity among the Hindus in the event of communal conflict. In
retaliation, the Muslims sponsored the Tabligh and Tanzim organizations to counter the
impact of the Shudhi and the Sangathan. In the 1920s, the frequency of communal riots was
unprecedented. Several Hindu-Muslim unity conferences were held to remove the causes of
conflict, but, it seemed nothing could mitigate the intensity of communalism. Muslim
Demand Safeguards In the light of this situation, the Muslims revised their constitutional
demands. They now wanted preservation of their numerical majorities in the Punjab and
Bengal, separation of Sindh from Bombay, constitution of Balochistan as a separate
province and introduction of constitutional reforms in the North-West Frontier Province.
It was partly to press these demands that one section of the All-India Muslim League
cooperated with the Statutory commission sent by the British Government under the
chairmanship of Sir John Simon in 1927.
The other section of the League, which boycotted the Simon Commission for its all-White
character, cooperated with the Nehru Committee, appointed by the All-Parties Confernece,
to draft a constitution for India. The Nehru Report had an extremely anti-Muslim bias and
the Congress leadership's refusal to amend it disillusioned even the moderate Muslims.
Allama Muhammad Iqbal Several leaders and thinkers, having insight into the Hindu-Muslim
question proposed separation of Muslim India. However, the most lucid exposition of the
inner feeling of the Muslim community was given by Allama Muhammad Iqbal(1877-1938) in his
Presidential Address at the All-India Muslim League Session at Allahabad in 1930. He
suggested that for the healhy development of Islam in South-Asia, it was essential to have
a separate Muslim state at least in the Muslim majority regions of the north-west. Later
on, in his correspondence with Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, he included the Muslim
majority areas in the north-east also in his proposed Muslim state. Three years after his
Allahabad Address, a group of Muslim students at Cambridge, headed by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali,
issued a pamphlet, Now or Never, in which drawing letters from the names of the Muslim
majority regions, they gave the nomenclature of "Pakistan" to the proposed
State. Very few even among the Muslim welcomed the idea at the time. It was to take a
decade for the Muslims to embrace the demand for a separate Muslim state. Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah Meanwhile, three Round Table Conferences were convened in London
during 1930-32, to resolve the Indian constitutional problem. The Hindu and Muslim
leaders, who were invited to these conferences, could not draw up an agreed formula and
the British Government had to announce a `Communal Award' which was incorporated in the
Government of India Act of 1935. Before the elections under this Act, the All-India Muslim
League, which had remained dormant for some time, was reorganized by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad
Ali Jinnah, who had returned to India in 1934,after an absence of nearly five years in
England. The Muslim League could not win a majority of Muslim seats since it had not yet
been effectively reorganized. However, it had the satisfaction that the performance of the
Indian National Congress in the Muslim constituencies was bad. After the elections, the
attitude of the Congress leadership was arrogant and domineering. The classic example was
its refusal to form a coalition government with the Muslim League in the United Provinces.
Instead, it asked the League leaders to dissolve their parliamentary arty in the
Provincial Assembly and join the Congress. Another important Congress move after the 1937
elections was its Muslim mass contact movement to persuade the Muslims to join the congres
and not the Muslim League. One of its leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru, even declared that there
were only two forces in India, the British and the Congress. All this did not go
unchallenged.
Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah countered that there was a third force
in South-Asia constituting the Muslims. The All-India Muslim League, under his gifted
leadership, gradully and skilfully started organising the Muslims on one platform. Towards
a Separate Muslim Homeland The 1930s witnessed awareness among the Muslims of their
separate identity and their anxiety to preserve it within separate territorial boundaries.
An important element that brought this simmering Muslim nationalism in the open was the
character of the Congress rule in the Muslim minority rpovinces during 1937-39. The
Congress policies in these provinces hurt Muslim susceptibilities. There were calculated
aims to obliterate the Muslims as a separate cultural unit. The Muslims now stopped
thinking in terms of seeking safeguards and began to consider seriously the demand for a
separate Muslim state. During 1937-39, several Muslim leaders and thinkers, inspired by
Allama Iqbal's ideas, presented elaborate schemes for partitioning the subcontinent
according to two-nation theory. Pakistan Resoluation The All-India Muslim League soon took
these schemes into consideration and finally, on March 23, 1940, the All-India Muslim
League, in a resolution, at its historic Lahore Session, demanded a separate homeland for
the Muslims in the Muslim majority regions of the subcontinent. The resolution was
commonly referred to as the Pakistan Resolution. The Pakistan demand had a great appeal
for the Muslims of every persuasion. It revived memories of their past greatness and
promised future glory. They, therefore, responded to this demand immediately. Cripps
Mission The British Government recognized the genuineness of the Pakistan demand
indirectly in the proposals for the transfer of power after the Second World War which Sir
Stafford Cripps brought to India in 1942. Both the Congress and the All-India Muslim
League rejected these proposals for different reasons. The principles of secession of
Muslim India as a separate Dominion was however, conceded in these proposals. After this
failure, a prominent Congress leader, C. Rajgopalacharia, suggested a formula for a
separate Muslim state in the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress, which was
rejected at the time, but later on, in 1944, formed the basis of the Jinnah-Gandhi
talks. Demand for Pakistan
The Pakistan demand became
popular during the Second World War Every section of the Muslim community-men ,
women,students,Ulema and businessmen-were organized under the banner of the All-India
Muslim League. Branches of the party were opened even in the remote corners of the
subcontinent. Literature in the form of pamphlets, books, magazines and newspapers was
produced to expalin the Pakistan demand and distributed widely. The support gained by the
All-India Muslim League and its demand for Pakistan was tested after the failure of the
Simla Conference, convened by the Viceroy, Lord Wavell, in 1945. Elections were called to
determine the respective strength of the political parties. The All-India Muslim League
election campaign was based on the Pakistan demand. The Muslim community responded to this
call in an unprecedented way. Numerous Muslim parties were formed making united
parliamentary board at the behest of the Congress to oppose the Muslim League. But the
All-India Muslim League swept all the thirty seats in the Central Legislature and in the
provincial elections also, its victory was outstanding. After the elections, on April
8-9,1946, the All-India Muslim League called a convention of the newly-elected League
members in the Central and Provincial Legislatures at Delhi. This convention, which
constituted virtually a representative assembly of the Muslims of South Asia, on a motion
by the Chief Minister of Bengal, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, reiterated the Pakistan
demand in clearer terms. Cabinet Plan In early 1946, the British Government sent a Cabinet
Mission to the subcontinent to resolve the constitutional deadlock. The Mission conducted
negotiations with various political parties, but fialed to evolve an agreed formula.
Finally, the Cabinet Mission announced its own Plan, which among other provisions,
envisaged three federal groupings,two of them comprising the Muslim majority provinces,
linked at the Centre in a loose federation with three subjects. The Muslim League accepted
the plan, as a strategic move, expecting to achieve its objective in not-too-distant a
future. The All-India Congress also agreed to the Plan, but, soon realising its
implications, the Congress leaders began to interpret it in a way not visualized by the
authoris of the Plan. This provided the All-India Muslim League an excuse to withdraw its
acceptance of the Plan and the party observed August 16, as a `Direct Action Day' to show
Muslim solidarity in support of the Pakistan demand. Partition Scheme In October 1946, an
Interim Government was formed. The Muslim League sent its representative under the
leadership of its General Secretary, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, with the aim to fight for the
party objective from within the Interim Government. After a short time, the situation
inside the Interim Government and outside convinced the Congress leadership to accept
Pakistan as the only solution of the communal problem. The British Government, after its
last attempt to save the Cabinet Mission Plan in December 1946, also moved towards a
scheme for the partition of India. The last British Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, came
with a clear mandate to draft a plan for the transfer of power.
After holding talks with political leaders and parties, he prepared a
Partition Plan for the transfer of power, which, after approval of the British Government,
was announced on June 3,1947. Emergence of Pakistan Both the Congress and the Muslim
League accepted the Plan. Two largest Muslim majority provinces, Bengal and Punjab, were
partitioned. The Assemblies of West Punjab, East Bengal and Sindh and in Balochistan, the
Quetta Municipality, and the Shahi Jirga voted for Pakistan. Referenda were held in the
North-West Frontier Province and the District of Sylhet in Assam, which resulted in an
overwhelming vote for Pakistan. As a result, on August 14,1947, the new state of Pakistan
came into existence.
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