The Partition and the Muslim Minorities of West Bengal, 1947-1967

[LaBong]

The All India Muslim League (the political party that proposed the creation of Pakistan) was formed in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh). Bangladeshis wanted to get away from India just as much as Pakistan did. If you dont believe me ask Bangladeshis in this forum.

And the two nation theory is still valid, since Bangladesh (which was also part of British India before 1947) decided to be its own country instead of joining India.

Ah I know the history, although Muslim League incepted in Dhaka it was hijacked to Lucknow just a year after by North Indian Muslims.

There was no Republic of India before 1947 but I guess you meant Hindus as India and Hindus are synonymous to you.

Anyways, FYI, there was proposal of United Bengal from Suhrawardi and Sarat Bose with consent from Jinnah and Fazlul Haq.

 

[monitor]

That is because those who coined the term Pakistan never thought East Bengal as part of Pakistan, it was never meant to be and undone at the course of time.

Not so sure about Urdu speakers.

The muslim minority of india thought about couple of muslim country from muslim dominated area ,so there might be east bengle too. There were a possibility of east bengle (current bangladesh)whole of west bengle and assam become a single country but due to the objection from hindu leaders it didn't materialized . most probably the then hindu leaders were fear that they will be squeeze between two muslim country as the proposed country would have a 60 % muslim population .

Udru speaker came to east a pakistan to join the new born muslim country may be

 

[LaBong]

The muslim minority of india thought about couple of muslim country from muslim dominated area ,so there might be east bengle too. There were a possibility of east bengle (current bangladesh)whole of west bengle and assam become a single country but due to the objection from hindu leaders it didn't materialized . most probably the then hindu leaders were fear that they will be squeeze between two muslim country as the proposed country would have a 60 % muslim population .

Udru speaker came to east a pakistan to join the new born muslim country may be

I think partition of Bengal could have averted by letting it to divide in two provinces in 1911. The grievances of Bengali Muslims was real and logical.

Also I think East Bengal should have opted for an independent country in 47, could have saved them needless bloodshed.

 

[Omar1984]

Can i ask a question? when pakistan was formed after partition, they gave the name pakistan so it could represent various ethnic groups. Since today's bangladesh was part of paksitan that time, they didnt have any representation in that name(pakistan), same thing goes to urdo speakers. may i ask why was that?

The name Pakistan was not created after partition. The name Pakistan was created in 1933. It started when Allama Iqbal (who Afghans and Persians call Iqbal-e-Lahori) made a speech on December 29, 1930.

"I would like to see Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Balochistan amalgamated into a single state. Self government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India." Sir Muammad Iqbal



In 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Punjabi Gujar Muslim and a political thinker and an idealist who wanted to save every Muslim from Hindu domination wrote his ideas in the famous pamphlet entitled "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever", also known as the Pakistan Declaration. The pamphlet started with this famous sentence:

“ 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 brethren who live in PAKSTAN - by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and BaluchisTAN." Choudhary Rahmat Ali

By the end of 1933, 'Pakistan' become common vocabulary where an i was added to ease pronunciation.

In a subsequent book Choudhary Rahmat Ali discussed the etymology in further detail.

'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan. It means the land of the Pure.' Choudhary Rahmat Ali

Choudhary Rahmat Ali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Muhammad Ali Jinnah later joined the All India Muslim League. As for Urdu speakers they came from Hindu majority areas, which is now part of India, and no one in the Muslim League were interested in those Hindu majority areas. Later close to partition, the Muslim League were to decide how to create Pakistan when Muslims make the majority in both the North-west and in a small eastern part of British India, so they decided on West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) because most Bengali Muslims also wanted to be part of Pakistan in 1947.

Bangladesh is the size of our Sindh Province but it has almost the same population as Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had a larger population than all of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) combined even though Bangladesh is the size of one of our smallest provinces, Sindh.

 

[nightcrawler]

Can anybody plz tell me answer to a question:

Can Lahore Resolution be called Pakistan resolution??

I mean as far as I know there was no mention of Pakistan by name in manuscript of Lahore resolution..

 

[Bang Galore]

Eh except MMS none of them can speak Hindi, Pranab Mukherjee does speak Hindi but in an accent which only bongs can decipher!

That actually reminds me of an incident in Hyderabad. Off topic but very funny! Chandrababu Naidu, the then CM of AP was trying his best to woo investment into AP. He was going great guns at one of those investment meetings promising the skies to any potential investors. His refreshing style was getting a lot of applause. Among them was a foreign businessman who was suitably impressed and asked the Indian sitting next to him whether it was possible to get an English translation of the CM's speech. He was told by the bemused Indian that the CM was speaking in English!

 

[Ahmad]

The name Pakistan was not created after partition. The name Pakistan was created in 1933. It started when Allama Iqbal (who Afghans and Persians call Iqbal-e-Lahori) made a speech on December 29, 1930.

"I would like to see Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Balochistan amalgamated into a single state. Self government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India." Sir Muammad Iqbal



In 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a Punjabi Gujar Muslim and a political thinker and an idealist who wanted to save every Muslim from Hindu domination wrote his ideas in the famous pamphlet entitled "Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever", also known as the Pakistan Declaration. The pamphlet started with this famous sentence:

“ 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 brethren who live in PAKSTAN - by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and BaluchisTAN." Choudhary Rahmat Ali

By the end of 1933, 'Pakistan' become common vocabulary where an i was added to ease pronunciation.

In a subsequent book Choudhary Rahmat Ali discussed the etymology in further detail.

'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan. It means the land of the Pure.' Choudhary Rahmat Ali

Choudhary Rahmat Ali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Muhammad Ali Jinnah later joined the All India Muslim League. As for Urdu speakers they came from Hindu majority areas, which is now part of India, and no one in the Muslim League were interested in those Hindu majority areas. Later close to partition, the Muslim League were to decide how to create Pakistan when Muslims make the majority in both the North-west and in a small eastern part of British India, so they decided on West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) because most Bengali Muslims also wanted to be part of Pakistan in 1947.

Bangladesh is the size of our Sindh Province but it has almost the same population as Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had a larger population than all of West Pakistan (now Pakistan) combined even though Bangladesh is the size of one of our smallest provinces, Sindh.

Thanks for the reply Omar, but it still doesnt give me the answer for question. When Iqbal gave that speech, did he have in his mind the muslims or ethnicities? or both of them? because Bengalis, who had huge numjber of population was out of equation.

 

[Omar1984]

Thanks for the reply Omar, but it still doesnt give me the answer for question. When Iqbal gave that speech, did he have in his mind the muslims or ethnicities? or both of them? because Bengalis, who had huge numjber of population was out of equation.

When Allama Iqbal made that speech in 1930, he had only Muslims in his mind, not ethnic groups. North-west British India (today's Pakistan) has a Muslim majority even before 1947, and all those provinces were attached to each other geographically, while Bengal was no where near these Muslim majority provinces of North-west British India. And Bengal like Punjab was partitioned in 1947, because there were Muslim majority areas in Bengal as well as non-muslim majority areas in Bengal (that is today part of India).

Also Allama Iqbal is ethnically Kashmiri, who was born and raised in Punjab. He was much more familar about North-west Muslim majority areas of British India than he was about Bengal, and he was the first to introduce the idea that North-west Muslim majority areas of British India were to be one.

It was when Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined the Muslim League, that Bengal was included in the Pakistan equation, and he joined the Muslim League after Choudhary Rahmat Ali came with the name, "Pakistan". Bengali Muslims also were involved in the Pakistan movement that is the reason why we had a West Pakistan and East Pakistan in 1947.

 

[LaBong]

Thanks for the reply Omar, but it still doesnt give me the answer for question. When Iqbal gave that speech, did he have in his mind the muslims or ethnicities? or both of them? because Bengalis, who had huge numjber of population was out of equation.

Pakistan movement was a political move for two group of people, religion was roped in to gain access en masse.

Aligarh educated North Indian Muslims who were afraid of losing their political clout in an independent Indian, inflexibility on the part of Congress fueled their fear. Bengali Muslims of East Bengal who were seriously under-represented in all layers of society.

Landlords of West Pakistan agreed because they were afraid of the land reform which was supposed to be carried out in independent India.

You should ask the upholders of Hindu/Muslim different nation theory, why not a single South Indian Muslim chose Pakistan as their country.

 

[toxic_pus]

Can i ask a question? when pakistan was formed after partition, they gave the name pakistan so it could represent various ethnic groups. Since today's bangladesh was part of paksitan that time, they didnt have any representation in that name(pakistan), same thing goes to urdo speakers. may i ask why was that?

To the best of my understanding, 'Pakistan' means 'Land of the Pure'. The word 'Pak' means pure, while 'stan' means place, in Urdu. The beginning of the Pakistan movement had nothing to do with physical creation of a separate state for Muslims. It was a political movement aimed to secure concessions for the Muslims. Later, when the concept of 'Pakistan' began to emerge as a physical possibility, as opposed to mere political concept, the word 'Pakistan' was forced to form an acronym for the areas that could justifiably be culled together to form a nation.

That the letters of the word 'Pakistan' cover majority of the provinces of Pakistan, is a happy coincidence. Nothing more. And since originally the word 'Pakistan' was never meant to be an acronym, it left out Bengal, the birth place of the movement.

 

[LaBong]

^Welcome Back!

 

[justanobserver]

^Welcome Back!

PDF is getting awesome again ! Vinod and toxic_pus, oh yeah !

 

[KS]

PDF is getting awesome again ! Vinod and toxic_pus, oh yeah !

Thanks to this wonderful initiative from Webby

http://www.defence.pk/forums/suggestions-discussions/95282-suggest-old-senior-members-unbanned.html

It would be even gr8 if folks like Karan,Seiko come out of VRS.

 

[Md Akmal]

The All India Muslim League (the political party that proposed the creation of Pakistan) was formed in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh). Bangladeshis wanted to get away from India just as much as Pakistan did. If you dont believe me ask Bangladeshis in this forum.

And the two nation theory is still valid, since Bangladesh (which was also part of British India before 1947) decided to be its own country instead of joining India.

@ We the Muslim Bengalees of Eastern Wing had been indirectly under Hindu Babu's dominion for almost 190 years. But the fact is Pakistan(Western Wing) was hardly under Hindu dominion.Although other Mahajars were under Hindu Dominion. Let me tell some of the facts of 190 years.(1757 -1947) After the Battle of Pallassy and after the introduction of Parmanent Settlement by British East India Company almost 95 % Zamindars became a Hindu. Infact it started during the Morshad Kuli Khan. He was a convertee Muslim from Brahmon from Deccan. He got the Nawabi of Bengal, Orissa and Behar from Delhi. Now, he was very much afraid of Pathans and Turks of Bengals as in those days they were dominating in the society. So, in order to create a balance he removed many Muslims Jamindars from Bengal and gave it to Hindus. So we came under these Hindu Jamindars. These Jamindars were very cruel specially towards muslim tenents.Most of these Zamindars used to stay at Calcutta.

1. These Zamindars used to establish schools and colleges at Calcutta instead of their locality(East Bengal). Hardly any Muslim used to get admitted in these schools and colleges. Muslims were also not interested to study in these institutions as the whole Bengalee litrature was full of "Ramayan" and other Hindu related stories.Nothing was there about the Islamic history/culture.

2. Lately these Zamindars started establishing some schools in East Bengal specially for Hindu people. Soon some of the Muslim students started to admit in these schools. No Muslim student were allowed to at the front seat. They were always at the back seat.

3. Muslim students were forced to wear "Dhuti" instead of Pajama/ "Lungi" .

4. All muslim students were forced to keep "Sree" before his name.

5. Muslims were not allowed to call Bengalee rather "Muslim" . Even in the school for any competition, it was Bengalee verses Muslims.

6. No cow was allowed to slatered rather it was banned in many areas of East Bengal. Even during the "Kurbani Eid" it was not allowed.

7. Muslims Bengalee were not allowed to entered at the Hindu Sweet Shops. They used to take at the enterence of the hotel than after taking sweets water was thrown from the up at the hands.

8. No muslims were allowed to cross the Zamindars house with shoes and wearing cloth below knees.

There were many many restrictions upon Muslim Bengalee. So, once Muslim Leaque was formed and election was held in 1946 97 % muslims of Bengal voted for Pakistan. It hardly maters whether it was hijaked by the muslims of Aligar or some where elses.

 

[Al-zakir]

^^^
It's sicken when I see Awami munafiq Ghaddars busy protecting the culture of Hindu in Muslim Bangladesh.