 
Pakistan appeared on the map of the World on August 14, 1947. It is
mind-boggling to note, that even after sixty-two years of its coming
into being, certain unscrupulous elements amongst us, at the behest of
their local or foreign masters, are busy attributing wrong motives to
the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in regard to
his efforts at carving out of the Indian sub-continent a separate
Muslim State.The present generation of Pakistanis who were mostly born
after partition (1947), have not, unfortunately been adequately
acquainted with the genesis of Pakistan. This lapse has provided an
opportunity to the fifth-columnists, to poison the minds of the younger
generation by exposing them to their biased and misleading propaganda
against Pakistan Movement and its founder.
Their allegations have been grouped together in a book named, "Facts Are Facts",
authored by Wali Khan. An effort is being made to examine the gross
distortions of facts made in the said book, in the light of authentic
historical data. For brevity sake only the minimum possible extracts
from the relevant records, have been taken as under:-
First Charge:
The first charge leveled against the Quaid-e-Azam is that initially,
he was a staunch nationalist, why did he abdicate his said position and
became a protagonist of the Two-Nation Theory.
It is true that in the beginning, Quaid-e-Azam was a strong advocate
of the Hindu-Muslim unity and even earned the coveted title of
"Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity” in recognition of his meritorious
services to this effect. Quaid-e-Azam’s differences with Gandhi arose in
1914, when the latter became the President of the Home Rule League and
started behaving in an autocratic manner. He named the said league, as
Swaraj Sabha, throwing out all amendments moved by Mr. Jinnah .
Quaid-e-Azam’s efforts were again frustrated by Hindus, who vigorously started the "Shuddhi” (reconversion of Muslims into Hinduism) and "Sangathan”
(Hindu militancy) movements against the Muslims. To top this, was the
publication of the "Nehru Report”, which completely over-threw all
Muslim demands, including the separate electorate. Quaid-e-Azam had
suggested certain amendments to make it acceptable to the Muslims in the
National Convention held at Calcutta in December 1928, but all his
pleadings fell on deaf ears. He was now completely disenchanted with the
Congress. Its malafide intentions towards Muslims were fully exposed.
This was the Quaid-e-Azam’s "parting of the ways” with the Congress. He
was now convinced as to the validity of the Two-Nation Theory and its
necessity for safe-guarding the rights of Indian Muslims.
Second Charge:
A grievous and even more despicable charge leveled against the
Quaid-e-Azam and the Muslim League is that they acted as agents of the
British Government, that the idea of Pakistan was floated by the British
and that Jinnah’s aim simply was to sabotage the Indian freedom
movement. In this respect, extracts from Mr. Gandhi’s report make an
interesting reading,
"Gandhi informed
C.R., how much he was flabbergasted by Jinnah’s reasoning, strategy and
tactics for achieving the independence of India. Jinnah told him that if
he (Gandhi) conceded Pakistan, he (Jinnah) stood ready to go to jail or
even face bullets. He wants Pakistan now, not after independence. We
will have independence for Pakistan and India. He said we should come to
an agreement and then go to the Government and ask them to accept our
solution”.
(Salahuddin Khan in his book, "Had There Been No Jinnah-p 703).
An excerpt from "A Prime Minister Remembers” by Attlee, p-211:-
"Division of India was not our wish at all. We
had argued on every possible safe-guard for Muslims, but they would not
do it. By this time they had become absolutely fixed on a separate
Muslim state–Pakistan”.(3)
Third Charge:
Another charge is, that by accepting the Cabinet Mission’s Plan on
June 6, 1946, the Muslim League had withdrawn its demand for Pakistan.
In reply, it is stated that on the contrary, while accepting the
Mission’s proposals, the resolution reads:
"The Council of All India
Muslim League, reiterates that the attainment of the goal of complete
sovereign Pakistan, still remains the unalterable objective of the
Muslim India, but prompted by its earnest desire, for a peaceful
solution of the constitutional problem and, in as much as, the basis and
foundation of Pakistan, are inherent in the Mission’s Plan, ……(it) is
willing to cooperate with the constitution making machinery, proposed in
the scheme, outlined by the Mission, in the hope that, it will
ultimately result in the establishment of Pakistan”.
It is thus clear, that demand for Pakistan was not abandoned. The
Quaid-e-Azam on the eve of partition, had closely watched the biased and
partisan attitude of Mountbatten in favour of Nehru and India.
"He seems to have reached the firm conclusion, that
Mountbatten’s continued presence as Governor General, is operating
against Pakistan’s interests” ( Mountbatten by Ziegar -p-374).
Mountbatten was eager and insistent to be appointed the common Governor
General of both India and Pakistan.
Why Quaid-e-Azam did not yield to Mountbatten’s cajolery and threats,
has been aptly described by Ch. Mohammad Ali, in his book,”Emergence of
Pakistan”, an extract of which is reproduced here:
Jinnah by temperament and life-long training, had a
constitutional bent of mind. He could not see how a common
constitutional Governor General, faced with conflicting advices from two
Dominion Cabinets, could discharge his responsibility properly. A
common Governor General for two independent Governments,was to his mind a
constitutional absurdity: strong as the constitutional argument against
a common Governor General was, there was an even stronger political
aspect.
Justice has not been done to the Quaid-e-Azam by his critics. It was a
near impossible task for him to achieve, what he did in the short time
available to him due to his fatal illness. He therefore, had no place
for kid-glove diplomacy, being pitted against a number of opponents
sworn to keep Pakistan from coming into existence– these were, the
British, the Hindus ,the Nationalist Ulemas and their kindred groups
like, Jamat-e-Islami, the Ahrars, the Khaksars etc. Countering all of
them was a lean, frail and lonely figure of a man fighting an almost
single-handed battle against tremendous odds. Whatever his critics might
say, he achieved miraculously for his people-the then World’s largest
Muslim State, through a constitutional battle, in a short time–an event
unparalled in the annals of history.
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