Creating New Nations and New Histories
Today we will be watching the movie “Rabba Hun Ki Kariye/ Lord, What Shall we do?,” a
documentary directed by Ajay Bharadwaj in 2007.
The Idea of Pakistan
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The word Pakistan, and the demand for a separate state/province was first aired during a meeting of
Muslim students at Cambridge University in 1933 and 1935. They created the word from the letters of
the muslim-majority provinces of the northwest: Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sindh, and
Baluchistan. Note: no mention of the largest muslim-majority state, Bengal.
Becomes stronger after 1946 elections
Unlike the Congress, which opposed the Colonial government in WWII (after a lack of assurance about
post-war freedom), Jinnah agreed to show public support for the govt. in exchange for a greater voice in
post-war planning.
The Congress ministries resigned in protest of war measures in 1939, and most Congress leaders would
remain imprisoned until 1944, thus, during the crucial war years, Congress began to loose its leadership
position.
As WWII drew to a close, it became clear that the economic and military costs for keeping India by
force were no longer a possibility for the war-ravaged economy of the U.K.
Simla Talks of 1945 fail, which the Congress challenged by deputing Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, a
secular Muslim to lead its own delegation.
Different models for independent state/s and structures
On 16 August, 1946, Jinnah walked out of the talks, the Congress to form the interim govt. Jinnah now
began a “direct action” for Pakistan. Outside Simla political chaos soon materialized into communal
violence, particularly in heavily militarized areas such as Punjab, or in cities such as Calcutta that had
organized crime issues.
In Calcutta, three days of communal violence left over 4000 dead, while the chief minister refusing to
send in the police. Violence soon broke out all over north India, but was particularly heavy in the northwest and the north east, as Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs attacked each other. By 1948, over half a
million would be confirmed dead, 6 million Muslims and 4.5 million Hindus and Sikhs would become
homeless refugees.
“Independence”
 Jinnah’s “direct action” of 1946 left no doubt that Pakistan was inevitable, Congress leaders were slow
to plan for this. Gandhi dropped his opposition to the idea and instead devoted his energies to going
into violence-racked provinces to convince people to give up arms. He had to pressure the more rightwing Congressmen like Sardar Patel to give Pakistan their fare share of the treasury.
 In January 1948 Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a fanatical Hindu who believed that
Gandhi’s assertion for justice for Pakistan had sold India short.
 On August 14, 1947 Pakistan was declared Independent with Jinnah as PM, and later, at midnight,
August 15, 1947 India too became Independent with Jawaharlal Nehru as PM.
 The violence and bloodshed continued. Refugees poured across the borders of the north west and north
east. The soldiers promised by the British to help facilitate the transfer of power, never materialized,
and neither government had the manpower to deal with the law and order situation.
 Only in 1948 would the violence abate.
The Structure of Government in India and Pakistan after 1947
 Power of the President v. the Prime Minister—Jinnah’s declining health/Gandhi’s assasination
 Issues related to the constitutional assemblies
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o Issues related to the inclusion and organization of states and the absorption of princely
states
Linguistic divisions and ethnic minorities in the post-partition era (Punjab, Southern Provinces
in India, East Pakistan and non-urdu speaking groups in east and west Pakistan)
o Elites in both countries (Mohajirs in Pakistan, upper-caste Hindi-speaking groups in
India)
The unresolved issues of Sikh rights
Secularism and its variations in 1950s era India and Pakistan
Division of resources
 Industrial heartlands and agricultural hinterlands—Karachi and the cotton mills/Calcutta and
Jute
 Army, Police, and other forces
 Treasury and Civil Service—the clash with Patel and Nehru, Cash withheld till Dec. 1948
 Human resource issues—literacy, poverty, and refugee resettlement
The Kashmir Issue and its unresolved impact—
 Kashmir’s political structure prior to Independence—Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah’s agitation
against King Hari Singh and the “Quit Kashmir” movement of 1946
 Demographic profile—2/3rds Muslim, influential place of Kashmiri Brahmins—the Nehru
connection
 1947 events—Negotiations b/w Sheikh Abdullah and Nehru, Oct. invasion by Pathan tribesmen
forces accession to India, plebiscite promised
 UN establishes Line of Control in 1949, partitioning Kashmir
 Kashmir promised special status under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution
 Breakdown b/w Sheikh Abdullah and Nehru—continuing civil rights issues in Kashmir
 Compare/contrast with the Princely state of Hyderabad