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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Congress predictably opposed all proposals for
partition and
advocated a united India with a strong center and a fully
responsible parliamentary government. To many, notably to
Jawaharlal Nehru, the idea of a sovereign state based on a
common
religion seemed a historical anachronism and a denial of
democracy. From 1940 on, reconciliation between Congress
and the
Muslim League became increasingly difficult, if not
impossible.
During World War II, the Muslim League and Congress
adopted
different attitudes toward British rule. British
priorities were
driven by the expediencies of defense, and war was
declared
abruptly without any prior consultation with Indian
politicians.
Congress ministers in the provinces resigned in protest.
As a
consequence, Congress, with most of its leaders in jail
for
opposition to the Raj, lost its political leverage over
the
British. The Muslim League, however, followed a course of
cooperation, gaining time to consolidate. The British
appreciated
the loyalty and valor of the British Indian Army, many of
whose
members were Punjabi Muslims. The Muslim League's success
could
be gauged from its sweep of 90 percent of the Muslim seats
in the
1946 election, compared with only 4.5 percent in the 1937
elections. The 1946 election was, in effect, a plebiscite
among
Muslims on Pakistan. In London it became clear that there
were
three parties in any discussion on the future of India:
the
British, Congress, and the Muslim League.
Spurred by the Japanese advance in Asia and forceful
persuasion from Washington, British prime minister Winston
Churchill's coalition war government in 1942 had
dispatched Sir
Stafford Cripps to India with a proposal for settlement.
The plan
provided for dominion status after the war for an Indian
union of
British Indian provinces and princely states wishing to
accede to
it, a separate dominion for those who did not, and firm
defense
links between Britain and an Indian union. Cripps himself
was
sympathetic to Indian nationalism. However, his mission
failed,
and Gandhi described it as "a post-dated check on a
crashing
bank."
In August 1942, Gandhi launched the "Quit India
Movement"
against the British. Jinnah condemned the movement. The
government retaliated by arresting about 60,000
individuals and
outlawing Congress. Communal riots increased. Talks
between
Jinnah and Gandhi in 1944 proved as futile as negotiations
between Gandhi and the viceroy.
In July 1945, the Labour Party came to power in Britain
with
a large majority. Its choices in India were limited by the
decline of British power and the necessity of retaining
Indian
links in imperial defense. General unrest in India spread,
and,
when a naval mutiny in Bombay broke out in 1945, British
officials came to the conclusion that independence was the
only
alternative to forcible retention of control over an
unwilling
dependency. The viceroy, Lord Wavell, met with Indian
leaders in
Simla in 1945 to decide what form of interim government
would be
acceptable. No agreement was reached.
New elections to the provincial and central
legislatures were
ordered, and a three-man team came from Britain to discuss
plans
for self-government. The Cabinet Mission Plan, proposed by
Cripps, represented Britain's last, desperate attempt to
transfer
the power it retained over India to a single union. The
mission
put forward a three-tier federal form of government in
which the
central government would be limited to power over defense,
foreign relations, currency, and communications;
significant
other power would be delegated to the provinces. The plan
also
prescribed the zones that would be created: northeastern
Bengal
and Assam would be joined to form a zone with a slight
Muslim
majority; in the northwest, Punjab, Sindh, North-West
Frontier
Province, and Balochistan would be joined for a clear
Muslim
majority; and the remainder of the country would be the
third
zone, with a clear Hindu majority. The approximation of
the
boundaries of a new Pakistan was clear from the
delineation of
the zones. The mission also suggested the right of veto on
legislation by communities that saw their interests
adversely
affected. Finally, the mission proposed that an interim
government be established immediately and that new
elections be
held.
Congress and the Muslim League emerged from the 1946
elections as the two dominant parties, although the Muslim
League
again was unable to capture a majority of the Muslim seats
in the
North-West Frontier Province. At first, both parties
seemed to
accept the Cabinet Mission Plan, despite many
reservations, but
the subsequent behavior of the leaders soon led to
bitterness and
mistrust. Nehru effectively quashed any prospect of the
plan's
success when he announced that Congress would not be
"fettered"
by agreements with the British, thereby making it clear
that
Congress would use its majority in the newly created
Constituent
Assembly to write a constitution that conformed to its
ideas. The
formation of an interim government was also controversial.
Jinnah
demanded equality between the Muslim League and Congress,
a
proposal rejected by the viceroy. The Muslim League
boycotted the
interim government, and each party disputed the right of
the
other to appoint Muslim ministers, a prerogative Jinnah
claimed
belonged solely to the Muslim League.
When the viceroy proceeded to form an interim
government
without the Muslim League, Jinnah called for
demonstrations, or
"Direct Action," on August 16, 1946. Communal rioting
broke out
on an unprecedented scale, especially in Bengal and Bihar.
The
massacre of Muslims in Calcutta brought Gandhi to the
scene,
where he worked with the Muslim League provincial chief
minister,
Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy. Gandhi's and Suhrawardy's
efforts
calmed fears in Bengal, but rioting quickly spread
elsewhere and
continued well into 1947. Jinnah permitted the Muslim
League to
enter the interim government in an effort to stem further
communal violence. Disagreements among the ministers
paralyzed
the government, already haunted by the specter of civil
war.
In February 1947, Lord Mountbatten was appointed
viceroy with
specific instructions to arrange for a transfer of power
by June
1948. Mountbatten assessed the situation and became
convinced
that Congress was willing to accept partition as the price
for
independence, that Jinnah would accept a smaller Pakistan
than
the one he demanded (that is, all of Punjab and Bengal),
and that
Sikhs would learn to accept a division of Punjab.
Mountbatten was
convinced by the rising temperature of communal emotions
that the
June 1948 date for partition was too distant and persuaded
most
Indian leaders that immediate acceptance of his plan was
imperative.
On June 3, 1947, British prime minister Clement Attlee
introduced a bill in the House of Commons calling for the
independence and partition of India. On July 14, the House
of
Commons passed the India Independence Act, by which two
independent dominions were created on the subcontinent;
the
princely states were left to accede to either. The
partition plan
stated that contiguous Muslim-majority districts in Punjab
and
Bengal would go to Pakistan, provided that the
legislatures of
the two provinces agreed that the provinces should be
partitioned--they did. Sindh's legislature and
Balochistan's
jirga (council of tribal leaders) agreed to join
Pakistan.
A plebiscite was held in the Sylhet District of Assam,
and, as a
result, part of the district was transferred to Pakistan.
A
plebiscite was also held in the North-West Frontier
Province.
Despite a boycott by Congress, the province was deemed to
have
chosen Pakistan. The princely states, however, presented a
more
difficult problem. All but three of the more than 500
states
quickly acceded to Pakistan or India under guidelines
established
with the aid of Mountbatten. The states made their
decisions
after giving consideration to the geographic location of
their
respective areas and to their religious majority.
Hyderabad, the
most populated of the princely states, was ruled by a
Muslim but
had a Hindu majority and was surrounded by territory that
would
go to India, and Junagadh (a small state with a Muslim
prince but
a Hindu majority) presented a problem. Both hesitated but
were
quickly absorbed into India. The accession of the third
state,
Jammu and Kashmir, could not be resolved peacefully, and
its
indeterminate status has poisoned relations between India
and
Pakistan ever since
(see Survival in a Harsh Environment
, ch. 5).
Throughout the summer of 1947, as communal violence
mounted,
preparations for partition proceeded in Delhi. Assets were
divided, boundary commissions were set up to demarcate
frontiers,
and British troops were evacuated. The military was
restructured
into two forces. Law and order broke down in different
parts of
the country. Civil servants were given the choice of
joining
either country; British officers could retire with
compensation
if not invited to stay on. Jinnah and Nehru tried
unsuccessfully
to quell the passions of communal fury that neither fully
understood. On August 14, 1947, Pakistan and India
achieved
independence. Jinnah the first governor general of the
Dominion
of Pakistan.
Data as of April 1994
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