Christian and Hindu heroes of Tehreek e Pakistan

 Christian and Hindu heroes of Tehreek-e-Pakistan!

The historic meeting of the All India Muslim League was held at Manto Park, Lahore on March 23 , 1940, in which the Lahore resolution was presented, and the same resolution is considered to be the beginning of the struggle for a separate homeland.

The demand for a separate state for Muslims was raised for the first time at this meeting, but it is noteworthy that not only Muslim leaders but also non-Muslim leaders were present at the meeting who supported the demand for a separate homeland.

These leaders included Dewan Bahadur Satya Prakash Sangha, RA Gomsand, FE Chaudhry, Raj Kumari Amrit, Chandu Lal, CE Gabon, Alfred Prasad and SS Albert.

 

Cecil Edward Gibbon

Cecil Edward Gibbon belonged to an Anglo-Indian Christian family and was born in 1906 in Allahabad. He received his early education at St. Joseph's College, Nantal, and later at St. Edmund's College, Shillong.

In 1938, he was elected President of the All India Anglo-Indian Association in Hyderabad Deccan and at the same time he decided to join the Indian National Congress, even though he disagreed with the political ideology of the Congress.

He joined the Food Department of the Indian Government in 1941 and was posted to Punjab. In the 1946 elections, he was elected a member of the Anglo-Indians Legislative Assembly. 

He also served as the Parliamentary Secretary to Punjab Chief Minister Sir Khidr Hayat Towana.

Shortly before the formation of Pakistan, in May 1947, Cecil Edward Gibbon openly supported the establishment of Pakistan, at which point he was expelled from the Congress and the Anglo-Indian Association. In August of the same year, he founded the Anglo-Pakistan Association and set up its office on Jail Road in Lahore.

The role of Cecil Edward Gibbon in Tehreek-e-Pakistan has been unforgettable. He is one of the three MLAs who voted for Pakistan in the Punjab Legislative Assembly on June 23, 1947. The other two MLAs were SP Sangha and Joshua Fazal Elahi.

After the formation of Pakistan, CEO Gibbon was a member of the first and second assembly of Punjab. In June 1955, he also won the only non-Muslim seat in the National Assembly. In August of the same year, he was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and served as Deputy Speaker until October 1958.

Pictures of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly in 2013 did not include his portrait, but his portrait was also installed in the National Assembly Secretariat Gallery after Christian MP Asiya Nasir drew attention to it.

Joginder Nath Mandal

Joginder Nath Mandal hails from Bengal. He was born in 1904 in the Brosal district of Bengal to a Shudra family. He was elected as an independent candidate in the 1937 elections from Bikharganj constituency to the Bengal Legislative Assembly.

Joginder Nath Mandal was influenced by both Subhash Chandra Bose and Sarat Chandra Bose at that time. When Subhash Chandra Bose was expelled from the Congress in 1940, the tendency of the Mandal also shifted towards the Muslim League. 

He also co-founded the Scheduled Caste Federation in Bengal with BR Ambedkar. When the riots broke out in Bengal in 1946, he traveled to East Bengal and urged the Dalits not to take part in the violence against Muslims.

He believed that the Hindu leaders of the Congress were using the Dalits as a weapon against the Muslim League.

When the Muslim League joined the interim government in October 1946, Joginder Nath Mandal was one of the five delegates nominated by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

After the formation of Pakistan, Joginder Nath Mandal became a member of the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan and in his new homeland he was appointed as the first Minister of Law and Labor. He lived in Karachi from 1947 to 1950.

In 1950, he resigned from the then Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and moved back to India. In his resignation, he mentioned discrimination against non-Muslims.

Justice Elon Robert Cornelius

Justice Connellys was born on May 8, 1903, in Agra to an influential Anglo-Indian Christian family.

He studied law at Allahabad University. He did LLB in Civil Law and in 1924 wrote an excellent dissertation in the history of the laws of religions.

He then joined the same institute as a research associate and later went to the UK on a scholarship for higher education, where he studied law at Sloan College, Cambridge University. After doing LLM in Law and Justice in 1926, he also passed the Indian Civil Service Examination on his return to India and got a job in the Punjab Law Department.

Until 1943, he served as Assistant Commissioner and Sessions Judge. In 1946, he was included in the bench of Lahore High Court.

Justice Cornelius is an important name among the Christian leaders of the Tehreek-e-Pakistan and was one of the close associates of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He is also remembered as an outspoken speaker. He had always openly supported the establishment of Pakistan. Some Muslim leaders opposed the partition of India, including Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, but Justice Cornelius believed that the only solution to the mistreatment of Muslims under the British Raj and the Congress government was to establish a separate Muslim state. Is.

He also provided legal guidance to Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the preparation of the Pakistan Resolution. Due to his legal position in the Punjab government, he was an important part of the movement, so at the time of the formation of Pakistan, he accepted Pakistani citizenship and in the new country, he also carried out legal responsibilities in the federation along with the first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. In 1960, he was appointed Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Dewan Bahadur SP Sangha

SP Sangha is one of the most important Christian leaders of Tehreek-e-Pakistan. He was born in 1893 in Pasrur, Sialkot district 

He moved to Lahore for higher education and started his professional career from here. He was also the Registrar of Punjab University. In return for his outstanding services in the field of education, he was given the title of 'Dewan Bahadur'.

He was disgusted with the plight of Christians and Dalits in India and thought he could live a better life in a Muslim society free from caste and caste discrimination.

On November 21 , 1942, as the Registrar of the Punjab University, he held a function in honor of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and assured him of his support for the establishment of Pakistan.

Students and teachers of Foreman Christian College Lahore also assured unity. He later issued a statement representing the entire Christian community in which he strongly supported the establishment of Pakistan.

In the 1946 elections, the All India Christian Association and the All India Christian League chanted the slogan 'Long live Pakistan' for the first time and SP Sangha was elected a member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. With the support of the Unionist Party, he was elected Speaker of the United Punjab Assembly. In the elections held on 23 June 1947, he had voted in favor of Pakistan, thus deciding in favor of Pakistan by 91 votes to 88.

However, after the formation of Pakistan, a no-confidence motion was moved against him in the Punjab Assembly on the basis of religion and he resigned from his post. He died on October 22, 1948. His wife and daughter left the country in 1958 and moved to India.

A few years ago, in May 2016, a commemorative stamp was issued by the Government of Pakistan to pay tribute to the services of Dewan Bahadur SP Sangha in the Tehreek-e-Pakistan.