Why should anyone care - what is the significance of this date?
Not just for Pakistanis, but perhaps for everyone, it is important to appreciate the historical niche that this date occupies. Sixty four years ago, on 22 March, delegates from the All-India Muslim League and several other individuals (numbering roughly around 60,000 in total) gathered in then-Minto Park (today referred to as Allama Iqbal Park), for a three day conference. On 23 March, an official Resolution was released by the Muslim League that called for a separate homeland for Muslims. The vision of an independent homeland was officially brought to fruition seven years later in 1947.
Although the Lahore Resolution did not specifically mention the word "Pakistan", several of the next day's Indian newspapers dubbed it the "Pakistan Resolution".
Some little-known facts regarding this Resolution relate to occurrences within the city of Lahore three days prior to the start of the conference, on 19 March 1940. As quoted in Stanley Wolpert's book, "Jinnah of Pakistan",
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....like a bolt from the blue, Lahore had the impact of a bloody drama in which scores of Khaksars, including their lion-hearted Salar, Agha Zaigham...were mercilessly butchered by the Punjab Police under the command of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr. D. Gainsford....Paramilitary Muslim Khaksars were as hostile toward the Muslim League as they were anti-Hindu and anti-Sikh. As Khaksar unrest continued to plague Lahore toward the eve of the scheduled meeting, Sir Sikandar phoned Jinnah in New Delhi to ask if the session would not best be "postponed to another suitable date?" Quaid-i-Azam's answer was an emphatic no, but he did instruct the premier of the Punjab to "abandon" all "arrangements for taking me out in a procession...out of respect to the memory of the Khaksar martyrs." On the morning of March 22, 1940, Jinnah quietly arrived in Lahore by the frontier mail train and motored straight from the railway station to the Mayo Hospital, where he "visited in a general ward each one of the wounded Khaksars," Shafi recalled, insisting that "This had a soothing effect on the lacerated hearts of the people of Lahore." As a whole, however, the Khaksars never were reconciled to Jinnah's leadership and tried more than once in the next few years to assassinate him.
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For an informative discussion, it is impossible to discuss 23 March 1940 without mentioning Muhammad Ali Jinnah, respectfully referred to as Quaid-e-Azam ("great leader"). He gave his life, in a literal sense, towards the creation of a separate Muslim homeland for India's millions of Muslims. His sister, Fatima Ali Jinnah, described a train trip they took together in March 1940, travelling from Bombay to New Delhi in preparation for the Lahore meeting.
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[Jinnah] had a slight temperature. After dinner, as he lay on his berth, suddenly he gasped with pain and moaned loud enough for me to hear above the noise of the rattling train. I sat up and went to his side. He was in such pain that he could not speak. He pointed with his finger to a spot in the middle of his back, to the right of the spinal cord. His face was contorted with pain, and since we were in a compartmental train I could not rush out for medical aid. I first massaged the spot which he had indicated, but my ministration seemed to do him little good...The train steamed into Delhi station in the early hours of the morning and soon we were at 10 Aurangzeb Road...I phoned his doctor whose diagnosis was that my brother had pleurisy and that he must stay in bed for about a fortnight. As soon as the doctor left, my brother said, "What bad luck. It is an important session. My participation is essential. And here I am, confined to bed." Two restless days later was up and at work.
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From the personal perspective of Jinnah, his health was secondary to his struggle for a separate homeland for the millions of Muslims of India. Despite the precarious nature of his health, he delivered a resounding and powerful speech in Lahore. On 22 March 1940, at 2.25pm, Jinnah entered the packed pandal inside the tent of A. Iqbal Park in Lahore, which was heavily decorated with green flags flying the crescent and the star. According to the Times of India, Jinnah spoke for almost two hours. It is no mere coincidence that Lahore was chosen as the venue to give this speech, for as the capital of the Punjab, the city of Lahore occupied (and continues to occupy) an extremely significant political, cultural and historical niche.
Jinnah's speech was delivered by him in English, despite the fact (as many contemporary commentators noted) that the majority of his audience probably did not understand him.
Whether he was speaking in Urdu or in English, his words always resounded with a flavour of eloquence and supreme articulation that Quaid-e-Azam was famously known for:
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"....one thing is quite clear. It has always been taken for granted mistakenly that the Mussulmans are a minority and of course we have got used to it for such long time that these setlled notions sometimes are very difficult to remove. The Mussulmans are not a minority. The Mussulmans are a nation by any definition.
...] If the British Government are really in earnest and sincere peace and happiness of the people of this sub-continent, the only course open to us all is to allow the major nations separate homelands by dividing India into "autonomous national states."
...] Muslims of India cannot accept any Constitution which must necessarily result in a Hindu Majority Government. Hindus and Muslims brought together under a democratic System forced upon the minorities can only mean Hindu Raj. Democracy of the kind with which the Congress High Command is enamoured would mean the complete destruction of what is most precious in Islam.
...] Mussulmans are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State. We wish to live in peace and harmony with our neighbours as a free and independent people. We wish our people to develop to the fullest our spiritiual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people. Honesty demands and the vital interests of millions of our people impose a sacred duty upon us to find an honourable and peaceful solution, which would be just and fair to all. But at the same time we cannot be moved or diverted from our purpose and objective by threats or intimidations. We must be prepared to face all difficulties and consequences, make all the sacrifices that may be required of us to achieve the goal we have set in front of us."
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On 23 March 1940, the All-India Muslim League passed a Resolution that officially called for “independent States” that should be “autonomous and sovereign”. The most famous third paragraph of the particular Resolution stated:
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Caption: March 1940, Lahore. A view of the mammoth crowd demanding Pakistan and wherein the title of Quaid-i-Azam was conferred on M.A. Jinah. (source).
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Caption: Choudhry Khaliquzzaman speaking at the historic Lahore Session of the Muslim League in March 1940 where a separate homeland for the Mslims of South Asia was demanded (source).
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Caption: Molvi A.K.Fazul Haq moving the historic Pakistan Resolution passed by the 100,000 members of All India Muslim League at Lahore on March 23, 1940 (source).
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Caption: Quaid-i-Azam at All-India Muslim League Lahore Session (March,1940) (source).
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Caption: Photograph during the All-India Muslim League Session at Lahore (source).
23 March 1940 should not be considered just another abstract date in the corridors of Pakistan’s tumultuous history. The selfless struggles undertaken by our country’s forefathers deserve to be learned, understood, and appreciated especially by the younger generations. The lack of such an understanding would be an insult to the jihad (struggle) that Pakistan’s creators undertook on behalf of future generations of Pakistanis.
For further information regarding 23 March 1940 and some of the general events leading towards Pakistan’s creation, these links may be useful. Some of the following websites contain audio clips from some of the several speeches of Quaid-e-Azam.
A few other Forums on Gupshup, for example, the Pakistan Affairs Forum, have also dedicated a thread towards this issue which is worth reading in collaboration with this one for a more informative discussion.
such a gr8 work, samarra you deserve a applause, it's a real shame that the new generation doesn't know much about it's past/history, i think i will compile a big resource on pak history myself !
mention other people's efforts too....
iqbal, for one, deserves a lot of credit in shaping the pakistan resolution....
he was unlucky no to have lived to see it come to reality, but the vision was definitely his....
what a wonderful thread…thanQ for your hard work in researching all this, posting the articles, uploading the pictures, compiling it all…