By Mian Saifur Rehman :
The first ever, concrete victory against Islamophobia came the Muslims’ way, in 1940 when the Lahore Resolution was adopted, on March 23, to pave the way for the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent who did not enjoy the social recognition at par with the Hindu majority of pre-partition India. Even in the preceding years, the Muslim masses and their visionary leaders including, inter alia, Quaid -e- AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah, Poet of the East, Allama Muhammad Iqbal andA.K. FazlulHuq had been carrying out socio-political struggle for protecting the basic rights of Muslims in the undivided India and for securing a dignified place in the society for Muslims where they were in a minority. This struggle of self-esteem, as such, dates back to 1935 and the following years, especially after the promulgation of Government of India Act, 1935, the basic theme of which was contested by Muslim leaders as evidenced from the Muslims’ truly representative party, AllIndia Muslim League in its resolutions dated August 27, September 17 and 18, October 22, 1939 and February 3, 1940 that were adopted on the constitutional issues. In these resolutions, All-India Muslim League had emphatically declared that the scheme of Federation envisaged in the Government of India Act, 1935 was altogether unsuited to the peculiar conditions prevailing in the country and were, not at all, acceptable to the Muslims of India. This struggle just can’t be underestimated for one main reason that it ultimately led to the unique creation of a separate country for the Muslims named Pakistan. Pakistan’s independence certainly owes to the exceptional abilities of subcontinent’s Muslim leaders and their brethren in faith. It should, therefore, not be taken as some kind of a sequel to British colonialists’ departure in the wake of World War II. The credit for galvanizing and mobilizing the masses goes to Muslim leaders of those times in general and Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in particular whose incessant struggle, determination and powerful negotiations with difficult contenders from amongst the Hindu leaders and British rulers, culminated in the marvelous success of Pakistan Movement. In fact, both the Hindu leaders and the British colonialists who were very much in league with one another, had tried to create many an obstacle to forestall the success of Pakistan Movement that had started showing signs of the creation of a Muslim homeland, specifically after the All Indian Muslim League succeeded in building up Muslims’ freedom-struggle momentum by instilling mass unity and cohesiveness among majority of the segments of Muslims belonging to different categories of the society. The Muslims also defeated the Hindu-Britishers’ combined strategy, rather conspiracy, to raise a few Muslim representative parties against the onslaught of All India Muslim League. The sole objective behind this conspiracy was to create divisions and schisms among the Muslims’ representatives who were spearheading the cause of an independent homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent. The farsightedness of Muslim League leadership as well as the resilience of majority of Indian Muslims subverted all these sinister plans. This collective resilience and collective will of any fraternity, that manifested in its highest form with the adoption of Lahore Resolution of March 23 (lately known as Pakistan Resolution) finds almost no parallel in the contemporary history of nation states. By all political and historical standards, Pakistan Movement and its fruit, Pakistan’s creation, can be described as a marvel in human history. And, the realization of poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal’s dream of a separate Muslim homeland can also be termed as the first climb on the ladder of a socially, culturally, economically, politically and a religiously independent state. In this context, focus of attention is the underlying, two-nation theory. Many detractors have tried to find flaws in this theory but despite their criticism, it has been proved over the passage of time that Muslims would have been at the receiving end had they opted to remain a part of the Hindudominated, undivided India in the backdrop of strong desire of influential Hindu rulers, especially the extremists within this lot, to subjugate the Muslims (a blatant example of Islamophobia that is nowadays being vigorously crusaded against by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan. In the beginning, this desire was a bit dormant but, as the time passed by, the Hindu extremists’ scornful attitude towards Muslims got fully exposed before the international fraternity in the shape of recurring acts of violence perpetrated by extremist Hindu groups like RSS and Bajrang Dal with the overt support of the ruling lot, especially Narendra Modi-led government of New Delhi.
The Writer has served in government sector for a while, also has vast experience in journalism as investigative reporter and editor with Jang and The News.