The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
established in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the
Viceroy of British India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
,
Lord Minto
Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...
, with the goal of securing
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
interests on the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
.
The party arose out of the need for the political representation of Muslims in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, especially during the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
-sponsored
massive Hindu opposition to the
1905 partition of Bengal
The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western are ...
. During the 1906 annual meeting of the All India Muslim Education Conference held in
Israt Manzil Palace
Israt Manzil was one of the royal residences of the Nawabs of Dhaka. The mansion served as a retreat for members of the Dhaka Nawab Family.
Israt Manzil is best known for hosting the opening session of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conf ...
, Dhaka, the
Nawab of Dhaka
The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...
,
Khwaja Salimullah
Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (7 June 1871 – 16 January 1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British rule in India. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educationa ...
, forwarded a proposal to create a political party which would protect the interests of Muslims in British India.
Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, a prominent Muslim leader from
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
, suggested the political party be named the 'All-India Muslim League'. The motion was unanimously passed by the conference, leading to the official formation of the All-India Muslim League in Dhaka. It remained an elitist organization until 1937, when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses, which turned the league into a popular organization.
The Muslim League's paramilitary wing was the
Muslim National Guard.
In the 1930s, the
idea of a separate nation-state and influential philosopher
Sir Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
's
vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
of uniting the
four provinces in North-West British India further supported the rationale of the
two-nation theory
The two-nation theory is an ideology of religious nationalism that influenced the decolonisation of the British Raj in South Asia. According to this ideology, Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus are two separate nations, with their own customs, ...
. This aligned with the ideas proposed by
Syed Ahmad Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he ...
who, in 1888 at Meerut, said, "After this long preface I wish to explain what method my nation — nay, rather the whole people of this country — ought to pursue in political matters. I will treat in regular sequence of the political questions of India, in order that you may have full opportunity of giving your attention to them. The first of all is this — In whose hands shall the administration and the Empire of India rest? Now, suppose that all English, and the whole English army, were to leave India, taking with them all their cannon and their splendid weapons and everything, then who would be rulers of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances two nations — the Mahomedans and the Hindus — could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. To hope that both could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable." When the Congress party effectively protested against the United Kingdom unilaterally
involving India in World War II without consulting the Indian people, the Muslim League went on to support the
British war efforts. The Muslim League played a decisive role in the 1940s, becoming a driving force behind the division of India along religious lines and the creation of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
as a Muslim state in 1947.
After the
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
and the establishment of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, the All-India Muslim League was formally disbanded in India in December 1947. The League was officially succeeded by the
Pakistan Muslim League
The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country.
The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’s ...
, which eventually split into several
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
. Other groups diminished to a minor party, that too only in
Kerala, India
Kerala ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
. In
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, the Muslim League was revived in 1976, but it was reduced in size, rendering it insignificant in the political arena. In India, a separate independent entity called the
Indian Union Muslim League
The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India.
The first ...
was formed, which continues to have a presence in the
Indian parliament
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
to this day.
History
Foundation
![All India Muslim league conference 1906 attendees in Dhaka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/All_India_Muslim_league_conference_1906_attendees_in_Dhaka.jpg)
With the sincere efforts by the pioneers of the Congress to attract Muslims to their sessions the majority of the Islamic leadership, with exception of few scholars like
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Order of the Star of India, KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian people, Indian Muslim Islamic modernist, reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British ...
and
Syed Ameer Ali
Syed Ameer Ali Order of the Star of India (1849–1928) was an Indian/ British Indian jurist hailing from the state of Oudh from where his father moved and settled down at Bengal Presidency. He was a prominent political leader, and author of a n ...
, who focused more on Islamic education and scientific developments, rejected the notion that India's has two distinct communities to be represented separately Congress sessions.
In 1886, Sir Syed founded the
Muhammadan Educational Conference
The All India Muhammadan Educational Conference was an organisation promoting modern, liberal education for the Muslim community in India. It was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, also the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University. All India M ...
, but a self-imposed ban prevented it from discussing politics. Its original goal was to advocate for British education, especially science and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, among
India's Muslims. The conference, in addition to generating funds for
Sir Syed
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he ...
's
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
, motivated the Muslim upper class to propose an expansion of educational uplift elsewhere, known as the
Aligarh Movement
The Aligarh Movement was the push
to establish a modern system of Western–style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century. The movement's name derives from the fact that it ...
. In turn, this new awareness of Muslim needs helped stimulate a political consciousness among Muslim elites, For a few of them, many years after the death of
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he ...
the All-India Muslim League was formed in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
The formation of a Muslim political party on the national level was seen as essential by 1901. The first stage of its formation was the meeting held at
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
in September 1906, with the participation of representatives from all over India. The decision for the re-consideration to form the all-Indian Muslim political party was taken and further proceedings were adjourned until the next meeting of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference. The
Simla Deputation
The Simla Deputation was a gathering of 35 prominent Indian Muslim leaders led by the Aga Khan III at the Viceregal Lodge in Simla in October 1906. The deputation aimed to convince Lord Minto, then Viceroy of india, to grant Muslims greater r ...
reconsidered the issue in October 1906 and decided to frame the objectives of the party on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Educational Conference, which was scheduled to be held in Dhaka. Meanwhile, Nawab Salimullah Khan published a detailed scheme through which he suggested the party to be named All-India Muslim Confederacy.
Pursuant to the decisions taken earlier at the Lucknow meeting and later in Simla, the annual meeting of the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference was held in Dhaka from 27 December until 30 December 1906.
[Pakistan movement. Commencement and evolution, p. 167, 168, by Dr. Sikandar Hayat Khan and Shandana Zahid, published by Urdu Science Board, Lahore. ] Three thousand delegates attended,
headed by both
Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh
Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk (born Mushtaq Hussain Zuberi; 24 March 1841 – 27 January 1917) was an Indian Muslim politician and one of the founders of All India Muslim League. Nawab Mushtaq Hussain or Nawab Viqar Ul Mulk was also the maternal unc ...
and Nawab
Mohsin-ul-Mulk
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Munir Nawaz Jang, also known as Syed Mehdi Ali ( ur, ﻧﻭﺍﺏ ﻣﺤﺴن الملک, منير نواز جنگ, ﺳﻴﺩ ﻣﻫﺩﻯ ﻋﻠﻰ) (born 9 December 1837 — 16 October 1907), was an Indian Musli ...
(the Secretary of the Muhammaden Educational Conference), in which they explained its objectives and stressed the unity of Muslims under the banner of an association.
It was formally proposed by
Nawab Salimullah Khan
Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (7 June 1871 – 16 January 1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British rule in India. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educationa ...
and supported by
Hakim Ajmal Khan
Mohammad Ajmal Khan (11 February 1868 – 29 December 1927), better known as Hakim Ajmal Khan, was a physician in Delhi, India, and one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia University. He also founded another institution, Ayurved ...
,
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar
Muhammad Ali Jauhar (10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931), was an Indian Muslim activist, prominent member of the All-India Muslim League, journalist and a poet, a leading figure of the Khilafat Movement and one of the founders of Jamia Millia I ...
,
Zafar Ali Khan
Zafar Ali Khan (1874– 27 November 1956) ( pnb, – ), also known as Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, was a Pakistani writer, poet, translator and a journalist who played an important role in the Pakistan Movement against the British Raj. He is genera ...
,
Syed Nabiullah, a barrister from Lucknow, and Syed Zahur Ahmad, an eminent lawyer, as well as several others.
Separate electorates
The Muslim League's insistence on separate electorates and reserved seats in the Imperial Council were granted in the Indian Councils Act after the League held protests in India and lobbied London.
The draft proposals for the reforms communicated on 1 October 1908 provided Muslims with reserved seats in all councils, with nominations only being maintained in Punjab. The communication displayed how much the Government had accommodated Muslim demands and showed an increase in Muslim representation in the Imperial and provincial legislatures. But the Muslim League's demands were only fully met in UP and Madras. However, the Government did accept the idea of separate electorates. The idea had not been accepted by the Secretary of State, who proposed mixed electoral colleges, causing the Muslim League to agitate and the Muslim press to protest what they perceived to be a betrayal of the Viceroy's assurance to the Simla deputation.
On 23 February Morley told the House of Lords that Muslims demanded separate representation and accepted them. This was the League's first victory. But the Indian Councils Bill did not fully satisfy the demands of the Muslim League. It was based on the October 1908 communique in which Muslims were only given a few reserved seats. The Muslim League's London branch opposed the bill and in a debate obtained the support of several parliamentarians. In 1909 the members of the Muslim League organised a Muslim protest. The Reforms Committee of Minto's council believed that Muslims had a point and advised Minto to discuss with some Muslim leaders. The Government offered a few more seats to Muslims in compromise but would not agree to fully satisfy the League's demand.
Minto believed that the Muslims had been given enough while Morley was still not certain because of the pressure Muslims could apply on the government. The Muslim League's central committee once again demanded separate electorates and more representation on 12 September 1909. While Minto was opposed, Morley feared that the Bill would not pass parliament without the League's support and he once again discussed Muslim representation with the League leadership. This was successful. The Aga Khan compromised so that Muslims would have two more reserved seats in the Imperial Council. The Muslim League hesitantly accepted the compromise.
Early years
Sultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III) was appointed the first honorary president of the Muslim League, though he did not attend the Dhaka inaugural session. There were also six vice-presidents, a secretary, and two joint secretaries initially appointed for a three-year term, proportionately from different provinces. The League's constitution was framed in 1907, espoused in the "Green Book," written by
Mohammad Ali Jauhar
Muhammad Ali Jauhar (10 December 1878 – 4 January 1931), was an British Raj, Indian Muslim activist, prominent member of the All-India Muslim League, journalist and a poet, a leading figure of the Khilafat Movement and one of the founders of J ...
.
Aga Khan III shared Ahmad Khan's belief that Muslims should first build up their social capital through advanced education before engaging in politics, but would later boldly tell the British Raj that Muslims must be considered a separate nation within India. Even after he resigned as president of the AIML in 1912, he still exerted a major influence on its policies and agendas. In 1913,
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
joined the Muslim league.
Intellectual support and a cadre of young activists emerged from
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
. Historian
Mushirul Hasan
Mushirul Hasan (15 August 1949 – 10 December 2018) was a historian of modern India. He wrote on the partition of India, communalism, and on the history of Islam in South Asia.
Education
Hasan was the second son of historian Mohibbul Hasan ...
writes that in the early 20th century, this Muslim institution, designed to prepare students for service to the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, exploded into political activity. Until 1939, the faculty and students supported an all-India nationalist movement. After 1939, however, sentiment shifted dramatically toward a Muslim separatist movement, as students and faculty mobilised behind Jinnah and the Muslim League.
Communalism grows
Politically, there was a degree of unity between Muslim and Hindu leaders after World War I, as typified by the
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...
. Relationships cooled sharply after that campaign ended in 1922. Communalism grew rapidly, forcing the two groups apart. Major riots broke out in numerous cities, including 91 between 1923 and 1927 in Uttar Pradesh alone. At the leadership level, the proportion of Muslims among delegates to the Congress party fell sharply, from 11% in 1921 to under 4% in 1923.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...
became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt to form a Hindu-Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in Britain. The leadership of the League was taken over by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a separate Muslim state in India. The "
Two-Nation Theory
The two-nation theory is an ideology of religious nationalism that influenced the decolonisation of the British Raj in South Asia. According to this ideology, Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus are two separate nations, with their own customs, ...
", the belief that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations who could not live in one country, gained popularity among Muslims. The two-state solution was rejected by the Congress leaders, who favoured a united India based on composite national identity. Congress at all times rejected "communalism" — that is, basing politics on religious identity. Iqbal's policy of uniting the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh into a new Muslim majority state became part of the League's political platform.
The League rejected the Committee report (the
Nehru Report
The Nehru Report of 1928 was a memorandum All Parties Conference in British India to appeal for a new dominion status and a federal set-up of government for the constitution of India. It also proposed for the Joint Electorates with reservation of s ...
), arguing that it gave too little representation (only one quarter) to Muslims, established Devanagari as the official writing system of the colony, and demanded that India turn into a ''de facto'' unitary state, with residuary powers resting at the centre – the League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature and sizeable autonomy for the Muslim provinces. Jinnah reported a "parting of the ways" after his requests for minor amendments to the proposal were denied outright, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.
Conception of Pakistan
On 29 December 1930,
Sir Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
delivered his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League annual session. He said:
Sir Muhammad Iqbal did not use the word "Pakistan" in his address. Some scholars argued that
"Iqbal never pleaded for any kind of partition of the country. Rather he was an ardent proponent of a 'true' federal setup for India..., and wanted a consolidated Muslim majority within the Indian Federation".
Another Indian historian,
Tara Chand Tara Chand may refer to:
* Tara Chand (Pakistani politician), Provincial Minister of Balochistan, Pakistan
* Tara Chand (archaeologist), Vice-Chancellor of Allahabad University, India
* Tara Chand (Himachal Pradesh politician), member of the Hima ...
, also held that Iqbal was not thinking in terms of partition of India, but in terms of a federation of autonomous states within India. Dr. Safdar Mehmood also asserted in a series of articles that in the Allahabad address, Iqbal proposed a Muslim majority province within an Indian federation and not an independent state outside an Indian Federation.
On 28 January 1933,
Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founder of the Pakistan National Movement, voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled "Now or Never". In a subsequent book, he 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 homelands ... That is, Panjab, Afghania (North-West Frontier Province),
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
, Iran,
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
(including Kachch and Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan."
The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n Press vehemently criticised these two different schemes and created confusion about the authorship of the word "Pakistan" to such an extent that even
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
had to write:
Campaign for Pakistan
![Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Chaudhry_Khaliquzzaman.jpg)
Until 1937, the Muslim League had remained an organisation of elite Indian Muslims. The Muslim League leadership then began mass mobilisation and it then became a popular party with the Muslim masses in the 1940s, especially after the Lahore Resolution.
Under Jinnah's leadership, its membership grew to over two million and became more religious and even separatist in its outlook.
The Muslim League's earliest base was the
United Provinces, where they successfully mobilised the religious community in the late 1930s. Jinnah worked closely with local politicians, however, there was a lack of uniform political voice by the League during the 1938–1939 Madhe Sahaba riots in Lucknow. From 1937 onwards, the Muslim League and Jinnah attracted large crowds throughout India in its processions and strikes.
At a League conference in
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
in 1940, Jinnah said:
In Lahore, the Muslim League formally recommitted itself to creating an independent Muslim state which would include Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, the North West Frontier Province, and Bengal, and which would be "wholly autonomous and sovereign". The
Lahore Resolution
The Lahore Resolution ( ur, , ''Qarardad-e-Lahore''; Bengali: লাহোর প্রস্তাব, ''Lahor Prostab''), also called Pakistan resolution, was written and prepared by Muhammad Zafarullah Khan and was presented by A. K. Fazlul ...
, moved by the sitting Chief Minister of Bengal
A. K. Fazlul Huq, was adopted on 23 March 1940, and its principles formed the foundation for Pakistan's first constitution. In the Indian provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 425 out of 476 seats reserved for Muslims (and about 89.2% of Muslim votes) on a policy of creating the independent state of Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was not granted. Congress, led by Gandhi and Nehru, remained adamantly
opposed to dividing India.
In opposition to the Lahore Resolution, the
All India Azad Muslim Conference The All India Azad Muslim Conference ( ur, ), commonly called the Azad Muslim Conference (literally, "Independent Muslim Conference"), was an organisation of nationalist Muslims in India. Its purpose was advocacy for composite nationalism and a uni ...
gathered in Delhi in April 1940 to voice its support for a united India.
Its members included several Islamic organisations in India, as well as 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates;
the "attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."
The All-India Muslim League worked to try to silence those Muslims who stood against the partition of India, often using "intimidation and coercion".
For example, Deobandi scholar
Maulana Syed Husain Ahmad Madani
Hussain Ahmad Madani (6 October 1879 – 5 December 1957) was an Indian Islamic scholar, serving as the principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1954. traveled across British India, spreading the idea he wrote about in his book, ''
Composite Nationalism and Islam
''Composite Nationalism and Islam'', titled ''Muttahida Qaumiyat Aur Islam'' ( ur, ) is a book written in 1938 by Husain Ahmad Madani, the Dean (education), Dean of Darul Uloom Deoband, espousing composite nationalism—a united India for both ...
'', which stood for
Hindu-Muslim unity and opposed the concept of a partition of India;
while he was doing this, members of the pro-separatist Muslim League attacked Madani and disturbed his rallies.
The murder of the All India Azad Muslim Conference leader
Allah Bakhsh Soomro
Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro ( sd, اللهَ بخشُ سوُمَرو) (1900 – 14 May 1943), ( Khan Bahadur Sir Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro OBE till September 1942) or Allah Baksh Soomro, was a ''zamindar'', government contractor, Ind ...
in 1943 also made it easier for the All-India Muslim League to demand the creation of Pakistan.
Role in communal violence
In the British Indian province of
Sind
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, the historian
Ayesha Jalal
Ayesha Jalal ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani-American historian who serves as the Mary Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University, and was the recipient of the 1998 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Family and early life
Ayesha Jala ...
describes the actions that the pro-separatist Muslim League used in order to spread communal division and undermine the elected government of
Allah Bakhsh Soomro
Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro ( sd, اللهَ بخشُ سوُمَرو) (1900 – 14 May 1943), ( Khan Bahadur Sir Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro OBE till September 1942) or Allah Baksh Soomro, was a ''zamindar'', government contractor, Ind ...
, which
stood for a united India:
In the few years before the partition, the Muslim League "monetarily subsidized" mobs that engaged in communal violence against Hindus and Sikhs in the areas of Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum and Sargodha, as well as in the
Hazara District
Hazara District was a district of Peshawar Division in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It existed until 1976, when it was split into the districts of Abbottabad and Mansehra, with the new district of Haripur subsequently splitting of ...
.
The Muslim League paid assassins money for every Hindu and Sikh they murdered.
As such, leaders of the Muslim League, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah, issued no condemnation of the violence against Hindus and Sikhs in the Punjab.
Impact on the future courses of the Subcontinent
Pakistan
After the
partition
Partition may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive
* Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job
Software
* Partition (database), the division of a ...
of the
British Indian Empire
The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Q ...
, the Muslim League played a major role in giving birth to modern
conservatism in Pakistan
Conservatism in Pakistan ( ur, پاکستان میں قدامت پسندی), generally relates to the traditional, social, and religious identities in the politics of Pakistan. American historian Stephen Cohen describes several political const ...
and the introduction of the
democratic process
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gover ...
in the country.
The Pakistani incarnation was originally led by the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and later by Prime Minister
Liaquat Ali Khan
Liaquat Ali Khan ( ur, ; 1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951), also referred to in Pakistan as ''Quaid-e-Millat'' () or ''Shaheed-e-Millat'' ( ur, lit=Martyr of the Nation, label=none, ), was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer, political theoris ...
, but suffered from ill-fate following the
military intervention
Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diff ...
in 1958. One of its
factions remained supportive of President
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
until 1962, when all factions decided to reform into the
Pakistan Muslim League
The Pakistan Muslim League ( ur, ; known as PML), is the name of several different Pakistani political parties that have dominated the right-wing platform in the country.
The Muslim League (a different party) was the party of Pakistan’s ...
led by
Nurul Amin
Nurul Amin ( bn, নুরুল আমিন; ur, ; 15 July 1893 – 2 October 1974) was a prominent Pakistani leader, and a jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan and as the first and only vice president of Pakistan. H ...
, and to support
Fatima Jinnah in the
presidential elections
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pr ...
in 1965. Furthermore, it was the only party to have received votes from both
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
and
West Pakistan
West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...
during the
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
held in 1970. During the successive periods of Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League went on to be one of the ruling parties holding alternating power within the nation.
India
After the partition of India in 1947, the All-India Muslim League was disbanded. It was succeeded by
Indian Union Muslim League
The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India.
The first ...
in the new India.
Indian Union Muslim League
The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India.
The first ...
contests
Indian General Elections under the Indian Constitution.
The party has always had a constant, if small presence, in the Indian Parliament.
The party has had two members in every
Lower House
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
from the third to the 16th House, with the exception of the Second, in which it had no members, and the fourth, in which it had three members. The party had a single member in the 14th Lower House. The party currently has four members in Parliament.
The party is currently a part of the
United Progressive Alliance
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
in national level.
Indian Union Muslim League
The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India.
The first ...
is recognized by the
Election Commission of India
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...
as a State Party in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
.The party is a major member of the opposition
United Democratic Front, the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
-lead pre-poll state-level alliance in Kerala.
Whenever the
United Democratic Front rules in Kerala, the party leaders are chosen as important Cabinet Ministers.
Bangladesh
The Muslim League formed its government in
East Bengal
ur,
, common_name = East Bengal
, status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan
, p1 = Bengal Presidency
, flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg
, s1 = East ...
immediately after the
partition of Bengal, with Nurul Amin becoming the first
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
.
Problems in East Pakistan for the Muslim League began to rise following the issue of the
Constitution of Pakistan
The Constitution of Pakistan ( ur, ), also known as the 1973 Constitution, is the supreme law of Pakistan. Drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with additional assistance from the country's Pakistani political parties, opposition ...
. Furthermore, the
Bengali Language Movement proved to be the last event that led the Muslim League to lose its mandate in East Bengal. The Muslim League's
national conservatism
National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, ...
program also faced several setbacks and resistance from the
Communist Party of Pakistan
The Communist Party of Pakistan ( abbr. CPP; ur, کمیونسٹ پارٹی آف پاکستان) is a communist party in Pakistan.
History Founding
The CPP was founded in Calcutta, India, soon after the establishment of Pakistan on 6 March 1948 ...
. In an interview given to
print media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information e ...
, Nurul Amin stated that the communists had played an
integral
In mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented i ...
and major role in staging the massive protests, mass demonstrations, and strikes for the Bengali Language Movement.
All over the country, the
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
had favoured the
general elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in Pakistan with the exception of the
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to:
Political parties Subcontinent
; British India
*All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan.
**Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
.
In 1954, legislative elections were to be held for the Parliament.
Unlike in West Punjab, not all of the Hindu population migrated to India, instead a large number stayed in the state.
The influence of the Communist Party deepened, and its goal of attaining power was finally realised during the elections. The
United Front
A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...
, the Communist Party, and the Awami League returned to power, inflicting a severe defeat to the Muslim League.
Out of 309, the Muslim League only won 10 seats, whereas the Communist Party got 4 seats of the ten contested. The communists working with other parties had secured 22 additional seats, totalling 26. The right-wing
Jamaat-e-Islami had completely failed in the elections.
In 1955, the
United Front
A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...
named Abu Hussain Sarkar as the Chief Minister of the State and he ruled the state in two non-consecutive terms until 1958, when martial law was imposed.
The Muslim League remained as a minor party in East Pakistan but participated with full rigour during the
Pakistan general elections in 1970. It won 10 seats from
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
and 7 seats from other parts of Pakistan. After the
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
of Bangladesh, the Muslim League was revived in 1976 but its size was reduced, rendering it insignificant in the political arena.
United Kingdom
During the 1940s, the Muslim League had a United Kingdom chapter active in the
British politics
The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the ...
. After the
establishment
Establishment may refer to:
* The Establishment, a dominant group or elite that controls a polity or an organization
* The Establishment (club), a 1960s club in London, England
* The Establishment (Pakistan), political terminology for the military ...
of Pakistan, the Pakistani
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
's leaders took over the UK branch, choosing
Zubeida Habib Rahimtoola as president of the party to continue to serve its purpose in the United Kingdom.
At present, the Muslim League's UK branch is led by the
PML-N
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) ( ur, , translit=Pākistān Muslim Līg (Nūn) PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right and liberal conservative political party in Pakistan. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party ...
, with Zubair Gull as its president.
Historical versions
Historically, Pakistan Muslim League can also refer to any of the following political parties in Pakistan:
[Mumtaz, Ashraf. ''Dawn'' (Pakistan), 14 May 2006.]
*
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to:
Political parties Subcontinent
; British India
*All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan.
**Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
, the original successor of the All-India Muslim League, which was disbanded during the first martial law.
*
Convention Muslim League
The Convention Muslim League (CML) was a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that split-off in 1962, in support of the military regime of the President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan. The opposition party was known as the Council Muslim League
...
, a political platform created by General
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
in 1962 when he became the president.
*
Council Muslim League
The Council Muslim League was a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League that divided from the Convention Muslim League that was supportive of the military regime of the President of Pakistan Gen. Ayub Khan. Sardar Muhammad Zafarullah, Mian Mumtaz ...
, a party created by political leaders who opposed General Ayub Khan.
*
Muslim League Muslim League may refer to:
Political parties Subcontinent
; British India
*All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan.
**Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
, a party created by
Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan
Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri ( ur, عبدالقیوم خان کشمیری) (16 July 1901 – 23 October 1981) was a major figure in British Indian and later Pakistan politics, in particular in the North-West Frontier Province, where served a ...
when he split with the ''Council Muslim League'' to run for the
1970 general elections.
See also
*
Indian Independence Movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
*
Muslim nationalism in South Asia
From a historical perspective, Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed of the University of Stockholm and Professor Shamsul Islam of the University of Delhi classified the Muslims of South Asia into two categories during the era of the Indian independence moveme ...
*
Indian Nationalism
Indian nationalism is an instance of territorial nationalism, which is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. Indian nationalism can trace roots to pre-colonial India, b ...
*
List of presidents of the All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (popularised as the Muslim League) was a political party established in 1906 in British India. The first session of the party was held in Karachi in 1907. Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined the league in 1913. In 1927 the Leagu ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Government of Pakistan websitePakistan News websiteThe Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan16-second
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
film clip
Colloquium on the One Hundred Years of Muslim League at the University of Chicago, 4 Nov 2006
{{Indian Independence Movement
Political parties established in 1906
Muslim league Muslim League may refer to:
Political parties Subcontinent
; British India
*All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan.
**Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...
Islamic political parties in India
Muslim League
1906 establishments in India
1947 disestablishments in India
History of Pakistan
Conservative parties in India
1900s in Islam
Aligarh Movement