India: Iqbal, Jinnah and the Muslim Demand for Pakistan

Abstract

By 1942 these heady sentiments had come to excite the political ambitions of a large section of India’s Muslims; five years later they were the basis of the country’s partition into two sovereign states amid circumstances which combined hopes of national fulfilment with death and loss of property for many of those affected. The principal cause of the partition of India was a mass movement amongst the Muslims, who both feared the possible consequences of Britain’s impending departure and grasped the opportunity this created to demand their separate national homeland. While. it would be an oversimplification to associate these events too particularly with a single individual, that movement was so much the inspiration of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who directed it with relentless dedication towards its goal, that his career may best illustrate and help explain the complex reasons which gave rise to the demand for partition.

Pakistan is our only demand!

History justifies it.

Numbers confirm it.

Justice claims it.

Destiny demands it.

Posterity awaits it.

And

By God, we will have it!!¹