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Lahore Resolution

The Lahore Resolution (Urdu: ??????? ??????, Qarardad-e-Lahore; Bengali: ????? ????????, Lahor Prostab), also known as the Pakistan Resolution (Urdu: ??????? ????????, Qarardad-e-Pakistan),was a formal political statement adopted by the All-India Muslim League on the occasion of its three-day general session in Lahore on March 22–24, 1940, which called for the creation of ‘independent states’ for Muslims in north-western and eastern British India. The constituent units of these states were to be autonomous and sovereign.The resolution was presented by A. K. Fazlul Huq, the Prime Minister of Bengal. It was later interpreted as a demand for a separate and single Muslim state, called Pakistan.

Although the name “Pakistan” had been proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his Pakistan Declaration in 1933, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders had kept firm their belief in Hindu-Muslim unity. However, the volatile political climate gave the idea stronger backing.

Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Lahore resolution with Jinnah and liaquat chairing the session

Proceedings

The session was held between March 22 and March 24, 1940, at Iqbal Park, (Lahore)The welcome address was made by Sir Shah Nawaz Khan of Mamdot. He was also chairman of the reception committee and personally bore all the expenses. In his speech,Sikander Hayat Khan recounted the contemporary situation, stressing that the problem of d.g.khan was no more of and nature, but manifestly an national. According to Stanley Wolpert, this was the moment when Jinnah, the former ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, totally transformed himself into Pakistan’s great leader.

According to some , Sikandar Hayat Khan, the chief minister of the Punjab, was the sole author of the original Lahore resolution. However, Khan Abdul Wali Khan differs and attributes the authorship of the Resolution to Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan. Sir Sikandar Hayat’s Unionist Party had swept the elections in Punjab and provided support to Jinnah at the urging of Sir Mohammad Allama Iqbal resulting in the Sikander-Jinnah pact. Sir Sikandar convinced his classfellow Fazlul Haq, premier of Bengal, to support Jinnah as well. Sikandar supported the British in the Second World War at the request of Sir Winston Churchill after all of India’s political parties had refused. The British promised dominion status to India after the war. After his suspicious death other players moved in. Sikandar did not envisage partition of his beloved Punjab. When he learnt of the intended partition of Punjab he rejected this outright. The strike by the Khaksar movement and subsequent killing of their workers was a spoiler and an attempt by their leader to hijack the freedom movement. The Tahreek had supported the Germans and Japanese during the war. Due to civil unrest it was decided that Sir Fazlul Haq would present the resolution. The resolution text unanimously rejected the concept of a united India on the grounds of growing inter-communal violenceand recommended the creation of an independent Muslim state.

After the presentation of the annual report by Liaquat Ali Khan, the resolution was moved in the general session by A.K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of undivided Bengal and was seconded by Choudhury Khaliquzzaman who explained his views on the causes which led to the demand for partition. Subsequently, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi from North-West Frontier Province, Sir Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and Qazi Esa from Baluchistan, and other leaders announced their support. In the same session, Jinnah also presented a resolution to condemn the Khaksar massacre of March 19, owing to a clash between the Khaksars and the police, that had resulted in the loss of 32 lives.

23 March, 1940: Newspapers printed news about Lahore Resolution, demanding division of India

The statement

The Lahore resolution was actually adopted on March 24, but officially in Pakistan March 23 is considered the date of its adoption. In 1941, it became part of the Muslim League’s constitution. In 1946, it formed the basis for the decision of Muslim League to struggle for one state for the Muslims.The statement declared:

No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary.    

Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly

The Sindh assembly was the first British Indian legislature to pass the resolution in favour of Pakistan. G. M. Syed, an influential Sindhi activist, revolutionary and Sufi and one of the important leaders to the forefront of the provincial autonomy movement joined the Muslim League in 1938 and presented the Pakistan resolution in the Sindh Assembly. This text was buried under the Minar-e-Pakistan during its building in the Ayub regime. In this session the political situation was analyzed in detail and Muslim demands a separate homeland only to maintain their identification and to safeguard their rights. Pakistan resolution was the landmark in the history of Muslim of south-Asia.it determined for the Muslims a true goal and their homeland in north-east and north-west. the acceptance of the Pakistan resolution accelerate the pace of freedom movement. It gave new energy and courage to Muslim who gathered around Quaid-i-Azam for struggle for freedom.

Commemoration

• To commemorate the event, Minar-e-Pakistan, a monument 60 m tall in the shape of a minaret was built at the site in Iqbal Park where the resolution was passed.
• March 23 (Pakistan Day) is a national holiday in Pakistan to commemorate both Lahore Resolution (1940) and the Republic Day (1956); the country became the first Islamic Republic in the world.