Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947. As the Creator willed it, the date corresponded with the empowering night of Ramadan 27 of the year 1366 after the Prophet’s Hijra. Its great destiny was thus set from the start.
It envisaged a magnanimous vision - a deliberate attempt to restore the primacy of the Islamic Ummah that had been eclipsed by colonial intervention. It was for this raison d’etre that Muslims of the Indian subcontinent sacrificed their lives and all, undergoing unparalleled sufferings in the annals of humankind, with over one million dead and millions of others displaced from their homes and properties.
The Great Leader’s Testimony
Pakistan’s Great Leader – Quaid-i-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, reminded the people at a rally on October 30, 1947, in no uncertain terms:
If we take our inspiration and guidance from the Holy Qur’an, the final victory, I once again say, will be ours… Do not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task… You only have to develop the spirit of the Mujahids. You are a nation whose history is replete with people of wonderful character and heroism. Live up to your traditions and add to another chapter of glory. All I require of you now is that everyone… must vow to himself and be prepared to sacrifice his all… in building up Pakistan as a bulwark of Islam and as one of the greatest nations whose ideal is peace within and peace without… Islam enjoins on every Mussulman to give protection to his neighbors and to minorities regardless of caste and creed.1
As the leader of the All India Muslim League, Jinnah told his counterpart, Mohandas K. Gandhi, in 1944, “We are a nation with our own distinctive culture, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitude and ambitions. In short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life.”2
The Muslim League adopted the Pakistan resolution on March 23, 1940, which called for the establishment of a sovereign, independent, and Islamic country, comprised of Muslim majority provinces in the Northwest and another in the Northeast. The following day, Lord Zetland, Secretary of State for the colonial India, wrote of his apprehensions regarding this proposition to Lord Linlithgow, the British viceroy in New Delhi, saying:
[T]he call of Islam is one which transcends the bounds of country. It may have lost some force as a result of the abolition of Caliphate by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, but it still has a very considerable appeal as witness for example Jinnah’s insistence on our giving undertaking that Indian troops should never be employed against any Muslim state, and the solicitude which he has constantly expressed for the Arabs of Palestine.3
Furthermore, he could not “help thinking if (a) separate Muslim state did indeed come into existence in India, as now contemplated by the All India Muslim League, the day would come when they might find the temptation to join an Islamic Commonwealth of nations well nigh irresistable.”4
This explains the British mindset and why they were so opposed to the creation of Pakistan. But God Almighty destined Pakistan for the Muslims, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah was unambiguous in his declarations in this regard. For example, when Lord Mountbatten, the last Indian Viceroy made reference to the example of the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, Jinnah replied:
The tolerance and goodwill that the great Emperor showed to all non-Muslims is not of recent origin. It dates back thirteen centuries ago when our Prophet (peace be upon him) not only by words but also by deeds treated Jews and Christians, after he had conquered them, with the utmost tolerance and regard and respect for their faith and beliefs. The whole history of Muslims, wherever they ruled, is replete with humane and great principles which should be followed and practised.5
And, specifically addressing the people of the United States, in a radio broadcast in February 1948, he said, “Pakistan is the premier Islamic state and the fifth largest in the world,” adding that despite “the terrible trials and tribulations” the country had endured, “Pakistan will never be found lacking in extending its material and moral support to the oppressed and suppressed peoples of the world in upholding the principles of the United Nations Charter.”6
In fulfillment of this promise, Pakistan provided material and moral support for the liberation struggles of Muslims from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya to Sudan, Somalia, and Indonesia.
Meddling by the Army
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was cognizant of the task that lay ahead for the newly-formed Pakistan’s defense forces. Just days ahead of independence, he addressed the senior officers of the British Indian armed forces who had opted for Pakistan, along with the three British service chiefs at Edwards College in Peshawar. His message was short and clear: “Now it is for you to build Pakistan as the greatest Muslim state of the world.”7
To this he added, “Pakistan would be a base where we will be able to train and bring up Muslim intellectuals, educationists, economists, scientists, doctors, engineers, technicians, etc. who will work to bring about Islamic renaissance.”8
The Quaid passed away a year after Pakistan became independent. Unfortunately, Liaquat Ali Khan, the prime minister chosen by him, was assassinated soon thereafter. After him, Ghulam Muhammad, who exercised his powers as the ceremonial governor general of the British Crown, dismissed the last legitimate political leader of Pakistan, Khawaja Nazimuddin. This was an indication that although the British had left, the soul and psyche of their obedient servants was still at work. From then on, the bureaucrats, opportunists, mercenaries, and agents had their heyday.
Soon after, the first coup attempt by the army in March 1951 was put down, but the incident revealed that the military had its eye on more than just its constitutional prerogatives, and after the ouster of Nazimuddin, effective control passed into the hands of the Commander-in-Chief, Ayub Khan. Thus an alliance developed between the civil and military bureaucracies and the Feudal class, a remnant of the colonial era.
While both Liaquat Ali Khan and Nazimuddin had refused to join the Western alliance, with the military’s ascension to power, Pakistan signed a Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement with the United States in May 1954, and later in the same year joined the Western-dominated eight-member South-East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). This was followed by Pakistan’s accession to the four-nation Baghdad Pact, comprising Britain, Turkey, Iran and Iraq (later renamed the Central Treaty Organization [CENTO] after the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy). A fourth security agreement, a bilateral Agreement of Cooperation was also signed with the US.
Ayub Khan thought that these agreements, especially the ones with the US, would oblige the US government “under certain circumstances, to assist Pakistan if she became the victim of aggression.” But Washington had at the same time given “specific assurance” to New Delhi that this agreement “could not be used against India.”
In his naiveté, Ayub Khan thought that CENTO would provide “an excellent and unique platform” for Muslim unity. But all these security pacts were designed for no other purpose than to further US interests, a fact Khan soon came to realize, as related in his autobiography “Friends not Masters.” But shortly thereafter, he had to pass on the reins of power to his army chief, Yahya Khan.
The Break-up of Pakistan
Yahya Khan was more involved with wine and women than with the affairs of the state, which inevitably devolved upon a small clique of civil and military bureaucrats. While most were involved in schemes to consolidate their power, M.M. Ahmed, the head of the Planning Commission and a Qadyani9, played a significant role in sowing the seeds of discord and disunity between East and West Pakistan through the deliberate formulation of policies that would create economic disparities between the two sides.