Topic 16
The Pakistan Resolution 1940:
The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Lahore), commonly known as the Pakistan Resolution ( Qarardad-ePakistan), was a formal political statement adopted by the Muslim League at the occasion of its three-day
general session on 22–24 March 1940 that called for greater Muslim autonomy in British India. This has
been largely interpreted as a demand for a separate Muslim state, Pakistan. The resolution was presented
by A. K. Fazlul Huq.Although the name "Pakistan" had been proposed by Ch. Rehmat Ali in his Pakistan
Declaration in 1933, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders had kept firm their belief in Hindu-Muslim
unity. However, the unpredictable political climate and religious hostilities gave the idea stronger backing.
Proceedings
The session was held between 22 March and 24 March 1940, at Manto Park (now Iqbal Park), Lahore. The
welcome address was made by Nawab Sir Shah Nawaz Mamdot. In his speech, Jinnah narrated the
contemporary situation, stressing that the problem of India was no more of an inter-communal nature, but
completely an international one. He criticized Congress and endorsed the Two-Nation Theory and the
reasons for the demand for separate Muslim homelands. According to Stanley Wolpert, this was the
moment when Jinnah, the former ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, totally transformed himself into
Pakistan's great leader.
The statement
From March 22 to March 24, 1940, the All India Muslim League held its annual session at Minto Park, Lahore.
This session proved to be historical. On the first day of the session, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
narrated the events of the last few months. In an extempore speech, he presented his own solution to the
Muslim problem. To him, the differences between Hindus and Muslims were so great and so sharp that
their union under one central government was full of serious risks. They belonged to two separate and
distinct nations and therefore the only chance open was to allow them to have separate states.
In the words of Quaid-i-Azam: "Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social
customs and literature. They neither inter-marry nor inter-dine and, indeed, they belong to two different
civilizations that are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their concepts on life and of life
are different. It is quite clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of
history. They have different epics, different heroes and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a
foe of the other, and likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations
under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing
discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state".
On the basis of the above mentioned ideas of the Quaid, A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq, the then Chief Minister of Bengal,
moved the historical resolution which has since come to be known as Lahore Resolution or Pakistan
Resolution.
The Resolution declared: "No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless
geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions ……….and That the areas in which the
Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be
grouped to constitute independent states in which the units shall be autonomous and sovereign".
The Resolution rejected the concept of United India and recommended the creation of an independent
Muslim state consisting of Punjab, N. W. F. P., Sindh and Baluchistan in the northwest, and Bengal and
Assam in the northeast. The Resolution was passed on March 24.
Iqbal’s Allahabad Address 1930:
Several Muslim leaders and thinkers having insight into the Muslim-Hindu situation proposed the
separation of Muslim India. However, Allama Muhammad Iqbal gave the most lucid explanation of the inner
feelings of Muslim community in his presidential address to the All India Muslim League at Allahabad in
1930. Allama Muhammad Iqbal was a poet, philosopher and thinker who had gained countrywide fame and
recognition by 1930.
Political events had taken a complicated turn. There was a two-pronged attack on the Muslim interests. On
one hand, the Hindus offered tough opposition by proposing the Nehru Report as the ultimate constitution
for India. On the other, the British government in India had totally ignored the Muslim demands in the
Simon Commission report. At this critical juncture, Iqbal realized that the peculiar problems of the Muslims
in North-West India could only be understood by people belonging to this region and that in order to survive
they would have to chalk out their own line of action.
In his address, Allama Iqbal explained that Islam was the major formative factor in the life history of Indian
Muslims. He defined the Muslims of India as a nation and suggested that there could be no possibility of
peace in the country unless and until they were recognized as a nation. He claimed that the only way for the
Muslims and Hindus to prosper in accordance with their respective cultural values was under a federal
system where Muslim majority units were given the same privileges that were to be given to the Hindu
majority units.
As a permanent solution to the Muslim-Hindu problem, Iqbal proposed that Punjab, North West Frontier
Province, Baluchistan and Sindh should be converted into one province. He declared that the
northwestern part of the country was destined to unite as a self-governed unit, within the British Empire
or without it. This, he suggested, was the only way to do away with communal riots and bring peace in
the Sub-continent.
The greatest historical significance of Allama Iqbal's Allahabad address was that it cleared all political
confusion from the minds of the Muslims, thus enabling them to determine their new destination. The
national spirit that Iqbal fused amongst the Muslims of India later on developed into the ideological basis
of Pakistan.
CHAUDHRY REHMAT ALI:
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali (16 November 1895 – 3 February 1951) was a Pakistani Punjabi Muslim nationalist who was one
of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. He is credited with creating the name "Pakistan" for
a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the founder of the movement for its creation. He
is best known as the author of a famous 1933 pamphlet titled "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever", also
known as the Pakistan Declaration. The pamphlet started with a famous statement: "At this solemn hour in the history
of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we
address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim members who
live in PAKSTAN – by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan
Province), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan."
The August Offer (1940)
In order to win over the sympathies of the Indian masses and political parties during the war, His Majesty’s
Government issued a White Paper on August 8, 1940. The document, which later on is known as the August
Offer in history books, promised the establishment of an independent Indian Constituent Assembly with
complete indigenous representation and the power to frame the future constitution of the country. The
offer also provided the option for the extension of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Simultaneously, the
August Offer talked about the rights of minorities, especially Muslims as it declared that the majority
community would not be given the veto power and full weight would be given to the views of minorities in
making of the Constitution. However, the document made it clear that all the promises would be fulfilled
after the conclusion of the war and that too if all the communities and political parties would help the
British in their war efforts.
In order to discuss the August Offer, Quaid-i-Azam held meetings with the Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, on
August 12 and 14. This was followed by the meeting of the Muslim League Working Committee on
September 1 and 2. The Committee appreciated the clauses of the offer in which the British agreed to
accept that no future constitution would be recognized by the Government without the approval and
consent of the minority communities. However, the committee showed its reservations on issues like the
composition of the Executive Council. The working Committee also made it clear that no formula was
accepted to the party which was against the spirit of the Lahore Resolution which clearly declared that the
Muslims of India were a nation by themselves and they alone were the final judges and arbiters of their
own future destiny. The Indian National Congress also opposed the offer and their president, Abul Kalam
Azad, even refused to discuss the formula with the Viceroy.
REVIEW OF PAST PAPERS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Question no.1: which of the following contributed the most to the Pakistan National Movement?
(a) Allama Iqbal’s address of 1930
(b) Ch. Rehmat Ali’s scheme
(c) Mohd. Ali Jinnah’s Lahore resolution of 1940?
Explain your answer with reference to all three of the above.
June 2002 Q. 3 c 14
Question no.2: who was Dr. Allama Iqbal?
Oct2010 Q.4 a 4
Question no.3: was the work of Allan Iqbal more important to the Pakistan Movement than that of
Rehmat Ali? Explain your answer.
June 2011 Q. 4 c 14
Question no.4: who was C. Rehmat Ali?
June 2012 Q. 3 a 4
Question no.5: Why was Dr Allama Iqbal an important influence on the struggle for a separate homeland
for Pakistan?
Oct2014 Q. 3 b 7
Question no.6: Did Allama Iqbal contribute more to the Pakistan Movement than Rahmat Ali? Explain
your answer.
Oct 2016 Q.4 c 14
Question no.7: Why was Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal asked to chair the Muslim League at Allahabad in
1930?
Oct 2017 Q.1 c 7
Question No. 8: Assess the significance of the contributions of Allama Iqbal and Rahmat Ali to the
Pakistan Movement. Explain your answer.
May June 2020 Q. 4 C 14
Question No. 9:
Describe what happened at Allahabad in 1930.
Question No. 10:
Explain why Allama Iqbal was described as the ‘Architect of Pakistan’.
May June 2021 Q. 3 a 4
May June 2023 Q. 3 b 7
• Allama Iqbal was the first Muslim leader to advocate for the creation of a separate Muslim state
• as a result of his Allahabad address in 1930 when he put forward this view, many Muslims
seriously considered separatism during the 1930s
• he was also opposed to the British control of India
• he believed the Muslim League had to build an effective political party to challenge the
domination of the Congress Party
• his poetry awakened a sense of nationhood among Muslims
• he recognised the talent in Jinnah as the natural leader of the Muslim community in their
demands for a separate homeland
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MODEL ANSWERS:
QUESTION: which of the following contributed the most to the Pakistan National
Movement?
(a)Allama Iqbal’s address of 1930
(b)Ch. Rehmat Ali’s scheme
(c)Mohd. Ali Jinnah’s Lahore resolution of 1940?
Explain your answer with reference to all three of the above.
All three were of utmost importance for the Pakistan Movement. Iqbal was a philosopher—poet who later
became a politician. His Allahabad address of December 1930 carries immense importance in the shaping
of the Pakistan Movement. In this address, he proved Muslims as a distinct community of India in the light
of the Two Nation theory. He spoke against the imperialistic powers of the West and said it was unfair to
occupy the lands of the independent people.
He said, "European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognizing the fact of communal groups.
I would like to see the Punjab, KPK, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state". This way, Iqbal
predicted as well as expressed his desire for the possibility of the creation of a Muslim homeland in the
North Western Muslim majority provinces of India. As a result, the communal division of India was seriously
considered by many Muslims during the 1930's. His address is also important because it was the first
occasion that the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims was given from the side of ML. IQBAL
represented Muslims in the second and third round table conferences. He persuaded Jinnah to return to
India and lead the Muslim community. He was rightly called the Architect of Pakistan because from March
1940 onwards the ML under Jinnah struggled to materialize the dream of Iqbal.
Ch. Rehmat Ali was a student leader in Cambridge University in the 1930s. He attended the RTC’s as an
observer. During these years he developed the idea of a separate Muslim homeland comprising the
northwestern Muslim majority provinces of India for which he coined the name Pakistan in his famous
pamphlet "Now or never. The word Pakistan literally means "land of the pure" and each letter in the word
represents a Muslim majority area /province: P for Punjab, A for Afghania (KPK) K for Kashmir, ('I' was later
inserted to the word Pakistan), S for Sindh, TAN for Baluchistan. But no effort was made to propagate &
popularize his idea at that time. (Because it was given by a student)
He tried to persuade Muslim leaders to launch an active struggle for achieving Pakistan but most of them
were not impressed by his views. For Jinnah, it was too premature an idea to be adopted at that time.
However, he and the ML adopted the same name (Pakistan) coined by Ch. Rehmat Ali despite all his
differences with him. His views were distinct because neither Sir Syed nor Allama Iqbal had gone to the
extent of declaring Muslims as a nation.
Then in 1940, the Lahore Resolution of Mr. Jinnah was adopted. He was the prominent leader of the ML. At
first, Jinnah was not in favour of a separate Muslim homely and believed that Muslims might live
comfortably in a federation of India with maximum provincial autonomy. However, the INC rule of 1937 —
1939 greatly changed his views about the future of Indian Muslims. He presided over the historic session of
ML on 22nd March 1940 which Maulvi Fazal ul Haq presented a resolution demanding that "Regions in
which the Muslims are numerically a majority, as in the NW and Eastern zone of India, should grouped to
constitute independent states in which the constitutional units shall be autonomous and sovereign."
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The resolution was unanimously passed on 23ra March 1940. This marked the start of an active struggle for
Pakistan that was achieved after only seven years_ a remarkable feature of the Lahore Resolution is that it
demanded both NW and N Muslim majority provinces whereas Iqbal and Ch. Rehmat Ali had focused on
NW provinces only.
To conclude, the Lahore Resolution seems to be the most important because it was the ultimate result of
the views and efforts of leaders like Sir Syed, Iqbal and Ch. Rehmat Ali. It gave Muslims a visible goal for
which they started their struggle under the leadership of Jinnah.
QUESTION:
Why was Dr Allama Muhammad lqbal asked to chair the Muslim League at Allahabad in
1930?
[7]
Allama lqbal had become a reputed politician, thinker and poet by 1930. His poetry had an inspiring effect
on the Indian Muslims by inculcating among them a sense of their distinct nationalism. His poetry awakened
Muslims to start struggling for making progress in various walks of life. The essence of his poetry was the
philosophy of being self-dependent and vibrant. This enhanced his image as a sincere and mature thinker
who was worried about the future of Indian Muslims. With time, his political importance grew significantly
in the late 1920s.
By that time Jinnah was not in favour of the Two Nation theory as he believed in some kind of joint struggle
against the British colonial rule. He, therefore, proposed four amendments in the Nehru report, and
promised to drop the demand of separate electorates of Muslims if the amendments were accepted by
the Congress Iqbal, on the other hand, was opposed to any such unity between Hindus and Muslims as he
could foresee the consequences of a united India ruled by the Hindu majority. He was also opposed to the
British imperialism as it went against fundamental Islamic beliefs. He sharply criticized the colonial rule in
his 1930 address. Thus lqbal's views gradually evolved into the demand for a separate Muslim homeland.
He, therefore, began to persuade many ML leaders to build an effective political force against the British
rule as well as the Congress plans of a Hindu-dominated India. He had closely observed the Western colonial
mind-set during his stay in Europe in the start of 20th century. Thus his views made him a well-respected
and authoritative leader to represent the Indian Muslims. Finally, he made a formal demand for an
independent state for Muslims while presiding over the annual ML session in December his demand by
strong reasoning in his historic Allahabad address.
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