Re: Did Only the Ulema Oppose the Creation of Pakistan
Actually it reconfirms much of whats been written..Gohar Ayub Khans rally that is mentioned in that article consisted of people from Haripur and the surrounding areas. Contrary to what one assumed, it was the same Pashtun nationalists who went t karachi at that time to prevent the violence turning ethnic much the same way they did in the 1980’s with their agreement with the MQM and again this year when despite the may killings it did not degenerate into a tit for tat shoot out. Similarly the Baloch nationalists were mostly karachi educated, and in the 1970’s and 1980’s were very mcuh part of the mainstream despite the frequent army operations.
GM Syed is also not mentioned, he was a die hard Pakistan activist till 1947, and the first person to table a resolution in support of Pakistan in the Sind assembly.
Despite his falling out with Jinnah, Jinnah never ordered his arrest..similarly with Ghaffar Khan Jinnah wanted a compromise with his KK movement..unfortunately it was disrupted by some of the sudden “converts” to the pakistan movement. Wali Khan also served as fatima Jinnahs election agent in the presidential elections.
Other big names who were ambivalent about pakistan were the major Bengali eladers who felt the issues of provincial rights were not defined properly..Hussain Shaheed and Fazlul Haq are other examples. Sheikh Mujib was a student activist who after seeing what happened to his mentor and his mysterious death became increasingly radical..but even as late as 1969 he was still saying how he could not dream of a separate state.
The Ulemas role is more confusing while major groups like the JUH and Maudoodi did oppose Pakistan..Maudoodis comments were particularly nasty..the Muslim League was heavily involved in using Pirs and influential religious figures in their cause, and it was not averse to the occassional smear against people like Ghaffar Khan and Kalam Azad’s Muslim credentials.
If you want to really find out who opposed pakistans development after its creation you should read up on who sidelined people like Hussain Shaheed, who rigged the election against Fatima Jinnah and who kept people like Nishtar out of the cabinet and it wasn’t the ulema or GM syed