Organisation
All-India Muslim League
The party founded at Dhaka on 30 December 1906 that, from the Lahore Resolution of 1940, led the demand for Pakistan. Sikhs opposed it, and Punjab was divided in 1947.
The All-India Muslim League was founded at Dhaka on 30 December 1906, on a motion from Nawab Salimullah, after an educational conference. Banglapedia says it aimed to protect Muslim interests, encourage loyalty to the British government and build good relations with other communities. Wikipedia says the Aga Khan III was its first honorary president.
The separate electorates: on 1 October 1906 about 35 Muslim leaders led by the Aga Khan met the Viceroy, Lord Minto, at Simla. They asked for separate electorates and for representation proportionate to their numbers. Minto largely agreed, and the Indian Councils Act of 1909 put many of those demands into law. In 1916 the League and the Congress signed the Lucknow agreement.
Jinnah and Pakistan: Banglapedia says Jinnah took up the League's presidency in 1935 and reorganised its branches. The League passed the Lahore Resolution in March 1940. It was moved by A.K. Fazlul Huq and called for independent homelands for India's Muslims. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism calls it the Pakistan Resolution and says it aroused intense opposition, not least among the Sikhs.
The Sikh side: the Encyclopaedia says the Sikhs viewed with alarm the prospect of becoming a permanent minority in a Muslim state. At the Cabinet Mission Master Tara Singh said that, if Pakistan were conceded, he was for a separate Sikh state. In the 1946 elections in Punjab, the Unionists under Khizar Hayat Tiwana were reduced to seven Muslim seats and the League took the other 79. With Congress and Akali support, Khizar still formed a government.
Key dates
- 30 December 1906: founded at Dhaka.
- 1916: Lucknow agreement with the Congress.
- March 1940: Lahore Resolution.
- 1946: the League sweeps the Muslim seats in Punjab.
- 14 to 15 August 1947: British India is partitioned and Punjab is divided. The Encyclopaedia records that Hindus and Sikhs had to abandon 6.2 million acres of land in West Punjab.
Where it stands: Wikipedia says the All-India Muslim League was dissolved at Karachi on 15 December 1947. The Pakistan Muslim League and the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala are its successors.
Sources
- Muslim League, Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. en.banglapedia.org
- Partition of the Punjab (1947) (entry by Penderel Moon), The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism (ed. Harbans Singh), Punjabi University, Patiala. eos.learnpunjabi.org
- Simla Deputation (date, demands and Minto's reply; used where nothing better loaded), Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
- All-India Muslim League (first honorary president, Lahore Resolution mover, dissolution; used where nothing better loaded), Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org