Pakistan Resolution: March 23 to March 24
We try to remove these misconceptions and exaggerations from the reality of history through our articles. For example, Pakistan's date of birth is 15th August instead of 14th or two pages of Fatima Jinnah's book 'My Brother' were missing.
Today our topic is the Pakistan Resolution of March 23, but several references point to the fact that this resolution was passed on March 24, 1940. The general impression about the Lahore Resolution is that the Muslims living in the subcontinent had passed a resolution demanding a separate region for themselves at the 1940 Annual Meeting of the All India Muslim League at Lahore Iqbal Park (Manto Park). The Lahore Resolution, later renamed the Pakistan Resolution, is considered the basis for the establishment of Pakistan.
For an ordinary Pakistani, the source of history is either the textbooks of the country or the writings of non-official authors who are considered to be a 'reflection' of the textbooks. Date of approval of Pakistan Resolution or Lahore Resolution.
However, an impartial analysis of this important historical event in the history of the subcontinent reveals the fact that the Pakistan Resolution was passed not on March 23 but on March 24 at the annual meeting of the All India Muslim League. Knowing this fact is even more interesting because this historic resolution was also passed on March 24, when there was only half an hour left to change the date of the Christian calendar, which means that this resolution was passed on the night of March 24, 1940. It was approved at 11:30.
Earlier, in 1938, a similar resolution was passed in Karachi. One obvious difference between the 1938 and 1940 resolutions is that the 1938 resolution spoke of a separate homeland, while the 1940s referred to more than one state.
It is beyond our comprehension why the 1938 resolution was not as important as the 1940 resolution. Two years before the Lahore resolution, a meeting of the Sindh Provincial Muslim League was held under the chairmanship of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Eid Gah Maidan in Karachi, which was attended by all the leading Muslim leaders of the subcontinent. According to Quaid-e-Azam Academy Karachi's 1989 Sindh Provincial League Conference 1938: Background and Significance, Sheikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi presented a lengthy resolution calling for a separate homeland for Muslims. The last part of was,
The Conference considers it imperative to suggest to the All India Muslim League that it pursue the interests of lasting peace and freedom of Hindus and Muslims in the continent (India) as well as cultural development, economic and social welfare and political self-determination. He should reconsider which constitution would be appropriate for India through which the two nations could gain their rightful place and come up with a constitutional plan under which the Muslim nation could achieve complete independence.
Here are some details of the resolution passed at Eid Gah Ground in Karachi, Sindh. Let us now turn again to our main topic, the Lahore Resolution or the Pakistan Resolution.
The Lahore Resolution was passed on March 24, which is confirmed by various historical references. In this regard, KK Aziz's book 'Murder of History' on the national history of the country before the establishment of Pakistan and after the establishment of Pakistan points out some such self-made historical errors. On page 142 of his book, KK Aziz mentions the passage of the Pakistan Resolution as follows:
The proceedings of the annual meeting of the All India Muslim League began on March 22, 1940. Nawab Mamdoot delivered the inaugural address as the Chairman of the Reception Committee. Jinnah spontaneously delivered a long speech and with that the proceedings of the day came to an end. The proceedings of the meeting commenced on March 23, 1940 at 3 p.m. The Prime Minister of Bengal AK Fazal Haq presented the Lahore Resolution and spoke in support of it. Chaudhry Khaliq-ul-Zaman endorsed the resolution and gave a short speech.
Zafar Ali Khan, Sardar Aurangzeb Khan and Abdullah Haroon then gave short speeches in support of the resolution, and the proceedings of the meeting were adjourned for the next day. The proceedings of the meeting on March 24 began at 11 a.m. except for noon. Nawab Muhammad Ismail Khan of the United Provinces, Qazi Muhammad Issa of Balochistan and Abdul Hameed Khan of Madras spoke in favor of the Lahore Resolution.
On this occasion, Jinnah Sahib appeared on the stage who was engaged in some other important activities in the morning. Jinnah reached the stage and took the chair and the speeches in favor of the resolution continued. Ismail Ibrahim Chandrigar of Bombay, Syed Abdul Rauf Shah of Central Provinces and Dr. Muhammad Aslam of Punjab delivered enthusiastic speeches in support of the resolution. On this occasion, Jinnah Sahib intervened and directed Abdul Rehman Siddiqui to present a resolution on Palestine. Syed Raza Ali and Abdul Hameed Badawi made speeches in support of the resolution and the resolution was passed immediately.
After which the proceedings of the meeting were adjourned till 9 pm. When the meeting started at night, Syed Zakir Ali and Begum Muhammad Ali spoke in favor of the resolution and then the resolution was presented to the meeting for a vote which was unanimously approved by the participants of the meeting. Immediately after this, 2 more resolutions were tabled regarding changes in the constitution of Khaksars and Jamaat and they were also passed immediately. Later, the selection of party officials for the next year was carried out and Jinnah gave a short speech. When the meeting ended, the hands of the clock were ticking at 11:30 pm.
If the resolution had been delayed by half an hour, it would have been passed on March 25 instead of March 24. "There is no doubt that the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 24, 1940," said KK Aziz, recording the proceedings of the meeting from time to time.
Ahmed Saleem Sheikh's book 'Encyclopedia Tehreek-e-Pakistan' published in 2011 also confirms the fact that the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 24 instead of March 23.
Ahmed Saleem Sheikh writes in his book, "The Lahore Resolution was passed on March 24, 1940." However, he also writes that since the resolution was introduced on March 23, this day is celebrated on March 23.
Muhammad Ilyas writes in his book 'The Struggle of Pakistan' that
Initially, it was decided that the resolution would be moved by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, but later the Quaid-e-Azam decided that the resolution should be moved by the Prime Minister of Bengal, AK Fazal Haq. The resolution was introduced on March 23, 1940. Speeches were made in support of the resolution that the time for prayers had come and the meeting was adjourned till the next day. The meeting was held again on March 24. Syed Zakir Ali, Dr. Muhammad Alam, Abdul Hameed Khan, Syed Abdul Rauf Shah, Ismail Ibrahim Chandrigar, Nawab Muhammad Ismail, Begum Muhammad Ali, Maulana Abdul Hameed Badawi and Qazi Muhammad Issa spoke in support of the resolution. Later, the authors leave the story unfinished and move on to what happened to the approval of the resolution.
It will also be of interest to readers that the leaders active in the Tehreek-e-Pakistan later, when they penned the Lahore Resolution, were also under the delusion that the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 23 instead of March 24. Take the example of Ji Alana's book 'Quaid-e-Azam: The History of a Nation'. Ji Alana was a well-known scholar and important Muslim League leader who wrote the biography of Quaid-e-Azam.
With the passage of this resolution in Lahore on March 23, 1940, Hindus and the Congress were shocked. He could see the graffiti on the wall and he was convinced that the Muslim League was advocating for the division of India into 'sovereign states'. The anger of Hindus and the Congress did not go unnoticed. Institutions write.
When we spoke to IA Rehman, a well-known intellectual and former Secretary General of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, he also confirmed that the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 24 instead of March 23. He said that the first constitution of Pakistan was passed by the Constituent Assembly in February 1956 and came into force on March 23, 1956. After the enactment of this constitution on March 23, the adoption of the Lahore Resolution in Pakistan also began to be celebrated as March 23.
Dr. Abdul Jabbar Abid Leghari writes in 'Sindh's Role in the Struggle for Independence' that while the Lahore Resolution is a document of historical significance in support of the establishment of a separate country for Muslims, it is also noteworthy that such an opportunity in the Pakistan Movement There was also when the British asked the Quaid-e-Azam to prove his majority in any Muslim-majority province. This was a critical stage where the Quaid-e-Azam faced a lot of trouble.
He writes on pages 362 and 363 of The Role of Sindh in the Struggle for Independence:
The Quaid-e-Azam contacted the Chief Minister of Bengal, Sir Fazlullah, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Sir Sikandar Hayat, and also the Chief Minister of NWFP, Khan Sahib, but from nowhere, the resolution in favor of Pakistan. The Quaid-e-Azam now kept an eye on his hopes for Sindh province and contacted the Sindh Muslim League leaders.
Jabbar Abid Leghari further writes, “It was March 3, 1943 when GM Syed introduced the Pakistan Resolution in the Sindh Assembly. According to this resolution:
"Muslims in India are a separate nation, with separate religions, philosophies, social customs, literature and traditions, and political and economic ideologies. They are very different from Hindus. Muslims should have their own independent national state where they have a majority in the areas of India.
We only see the mention of this resolution of GM Syed except that its text is hanging on the wall as soon as it enters the Sindh Assembly. It is believed that hardly any member of the Assembly has ever read it.
The original text of the Lahore Resolution and the subsequent changes to its text in history textbooks and non-textbooks is also a topic that has always been a point of contention between impartial analysts and those with official views. Is.
From school-to-university-level history books, government documents and the language of government leaders in Pakistan, one reads and hears the words that the Lahore Declaration, later known as the Pakistan Resolution, includes Muslims. A separate state was demanded for the subcontinent. According to KK Aziz's book 'Assassination of History', the text of the regular Lahore resolution published by the All India Muslim League was as follows:
This meeting of the All India Muslim League, after much deliberation, declares in this country only a constitution that is workable and acceptable to Muslims, which is bounded by geographically contiguous territories and, when necessary. They can be transformed in such a way that wherever there is a Muslim majority, such as the north-western and eastern regions of India, they can be merged into independent states and the units that join them can be autonomous and sovereign. Be pregnant. '
Now the question arises as to what was the reason that made March 24 to March 23. This knot opened when we talked to a well-known columnist and former WAPDA chairman Zafar Mahmood.
According to him, the constitution-drafting process in Pakistan was completed in 1956. Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali asked the Governor General for a date for formal approval of the constitution. The Governor-General chose March 23, 1940 to 1947 and independence. Even after that, March 23 or 24 was not officially celebrated, nor was it a holiday in educational institutions and government offices.
March 23 was unanimously chosen by the Governor-General, and on the election of that day, the Federal Cabinet met and decided to celebrate it as Republic Day or Republic Day. There was no mention of the Lahore Resolution or the Pakistan Resolution.
After 1956, 1957 and 1958 were also celebrated as Republic Day on March 23, when after Martial Law of October 1958, March 23 of the following year was approaching, the Cabinet decided to make this day instead of Republic Day. To be celebrated as Pakistan Day, this urgent need arose because the 1956 constitution had been repealed after the imposition of martial law and work on a new draft constitution was underway.
In those days, August 14 was celebrated as Pakistan Day, it was decided to name March 23 as Pakistan Day and August 14 as Independence Day, although martial law was abolished a few years later, in 1962 and later in 1973. Under the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan remained a republic, but March 23 was celebrated as Pakistan Day instead of Republic Day.
Much has been written on this subject and is still being written, but unfortunately those who use it give arguments based on their own ideas in their own way. This requires extensive study and research. The contents of the Lahore Resolution are not our subject but our discussion as to the date on which the resolution was passed.
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