Historical Background of Pakistan

Pakistan did not come into being overnight. Struggle for equal
rights for the Muslims vis-a- vis Hindus in British India is spanned
over about 90 years which gradually evolved, shaped and reshaped
depending on the circumstances. However, the final product of that
long historical struggle came out in the shape of Pakistan.
The Basis of the historical movement for the creation of Pakistan
started to form with the outbreak of the War of Independence in
1857. The War of Independence started on 10th of May 1857 in
Meerut, a remote and small city of the United Provinces of the
subcontinent. Though unsuccessful, it brought many changes,
particularly in the political strategies of three parties: The British,
the Hindus and the Muslims. The causes of the War of
Independence can be broadly divided into six categories, i.e.,
economic, administrative, political, religious, social and military.

Economic Causes
Before the East India Company’s (EIC) rule, India’s agriculture
Industry and trade were flourishing. However, the British tried to
exploit India for their economic gains and fulfil the demands of
their industry after the industrial revolution. Moreover, the Indian
exports to Britain, i.e. cotton, tea, spices ended up in India as
finished goods or were further exported to other countries.
After gaining the right to collect revenue at Bengal in 1765, EIC
used the money raised through revenue in Bengal for fighting wars
in other parts of India. The Policies of EIC badly affected by
Zamindars, Talookdars, middle-income groups, traders and
labourers etc.

Administrative Causes
The EIC administrative machinery in India was inefficient and
insufficient which created discontent with the locals. The EIC
started annexation of Indian States as part of their expansionist
policies under the Doctrine of Lapse. All high posts; civil or
military were given to Europeans rather than to the locals.
Moreover, unjust and exploitative revenue policies were
introduced in India which further fueled belligerence against the
EIC.

Political Causes
Among the political causes for the War of Independence 1857, the
British expansionist policies in the Indian subcontinent take a
fundamental place. Order of Lord Canning to the Mughal Emperor
to leave Red Fort Delhi and stay at Qutab Minar further added an
insult to the injury for both the Muslims and Hindus alike, as the
Mughal Emperor was the legitimate ruler of India. Moreover, a
wave of unrest struck the socio-politico fabric of the Indian society
following the Lord canning’s order that after the demise of
Bahadur Shah Zafar the Mughal rule will come to an end and all
the property of Mughal rulers will be snatched away.

Social/Religious Causes
The EIC started to extended support to the Christian missionaries
after 1813. It is noteworthy that the Christianmissionaries were not
allowed to come India before that year. Also, the Religious
Disability Act was enacted which announced many incentives for
those Indians who would convert to Christianity.A law made
reforms in Hindu customs. However, they were considered as a
distortion of the teaching of Hinduism. It was widely believed after
1813 that the actual mandate of EIC was to convert Indians
especially Hindus to Christianity.

Military Causes
The EIC had recruited many Indian locals in its military. However,
there was a great disparity in the salaries between Indian and
European soldiers. Besides, sepoys were sent to distant- overseas-
parts of the Empire but extra salaries did not give them. Their
English officers treated the Indian sepoys with contempt as the
English thought they were a superior race and were more advanced
than Indian. The Indian sepoys were refused promotion in services
as like their English counterparts.
The General Service Enlistment Act, 1856 by Lord Canning, was
introduced. The act asked for the soldiers from Bengal to be
recruited and posted wherever the Empire needed them. It was
greatly resented by the Hindus, as travelling via sea for some
Hindus meant leaving the fold of Hinduism. Consequently, out of
such discontent, the Indian sepoys revolted.

Immediate Cause
EIC introduced Enfield rifles in the military. Papers with grease
like substance covered the bullets of these rifles. The sepoys were
to cut the cover with teeth before using it. Rumour spread that the
grease substance was made up of the fat of pigs and cows.
Therefore, both Muslims and Hindu sepoys refused to cut the
cover. They protested against the introduction of this new munition
and were arrested. It ultimately ignited the fire of mutiny all over
India. However, the Mutiny was, ultimately, suppressed, and the
British government officially took over the rule of India from EIC.

Causes for the Failure of War of

Independence
For a war to be won, one needs a definite aim and a military
discipline apparatus; however, the Indian mutineers lacked clear
aim. Every group and faction fought for personal reasons without a
central Indian command. Some had a problem with job insecurity,
while others had a problem with high taxes, while others were
concerned with preserving their rule in their states etc.
Moreover, there was a visible lack of unity among those who were
fighting against their oppressors. The revolt was not pre-decided
and spontaneous incidents sparked it. It could not start at one time
in the whole of India. Therefore, the EIC effectively crushed it.
Moreover, the lack of public support also played a role in the
failure of the war. The Educated groups (mainly converted into
Christianity), many traders, and lots of peasants did not participate
in it because they were blossoming in the rule of the EIC.
Another factor, which can be attributed to the failure of the War of
Independence 1857, is the lack of national spirit among the
Indians. Lucknow, Jhansi and Bihar just revolted to safeguard their
rulers’ narrow interests rather than safeguarding the larger interest
of India. The Mughal ruler and other local rulers had quite weak
armies, which had no match for the English officers and their war
tactics. Therefore, the efficient English officials were able to
suppress the revoltin 1857.

Nature of the War of Independence

The War of Independence was not a religious war. Both religious
communities, i.e., Hindus and Muslims alike to reclaim their
independence in India, fought it. War of independence was fought
because of economic and socio-cultural reasons rather than
religious reasons.
After the defeat at the hands of EIC, the Hindus blamed that the
Muslims were alone responsible for it. They blamed a religious
conspiracy against the British by the Muslims.

Hindi/Urdu Controversy
Language is a fundamental means of social-cultural interaction. It
may lead to disintegration in societies with cultural diversities. The
Urdu language was born in India. India was used to be considered
as a golden sparrow regarding its fertile land and workforce. That’s
why many of invaders, including the Muslims, came to occupy it
for different purposes. It happened because when these different
people from different regions of the world came to India, they
brought with them, over number of other things, their language as
well. People like Arabs, Persians and Turks, etc. when mingled
with the native people, they exchanged words of their languages
and thus with this mingling, a new language emerged which was
termed as Urdu, meaning the “language of the troops”.
Since the invaders of the Muslim world formed it and emerged
during the rule of the Mughals in India, it was termed as the
language of the Muslims, and that is why initially it was called
“Musalmani”. However, there were not only Muslims that spoke or
used Urdu, butall the communities in India joined hands for the
promulgation and development of that new language. It was not
only used as an everyday language, but a large number of literary
works appeared in Urdu in all the regions of the sub-continent
primarily Deccan, Lucknow, Maisur, Dehli etc. Thus, almost the
whole of India contributed to the flourishing of Urdu.
In 1837, Urdu as the court and state language replaced Persian, no
one objected to that. With the fall of the Mughal Empire, Hindus,
however, started looking at Urdu as the language of the invaders.
The British on the other hand, in their disregard for Muslims,
adopted the same attitude. Thus, both intentionally started their
efforts to get rid of the language of the Muslims. In this regard
names of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Raja Shiv Parshad, Lakshman
Singh, Haresh Chandra and Binkam Chatterji, etc., among many
others are well known. The first effort was made at the start of the
nineteenth century when a new language was formed with the
name Hindi in which words of pure Arabic, Persian and Turkish
were removed and replaced by Sanskrit words. In that regard in
1809, a Hindu wrote a novel in that very Hindi with the title
“PremSagar”,but since it was not a full-fledged effort, soon that
language went into oblivion.
However, after the War of Independence in 1857 when the British
Crown’s wrath fell upon the Muslims, the Hindus considered it to
be a ripe moment to get rid of Urdu and replace it with their
language – Hindi. The combined, organised effort started in the
second half of the nineteenth century. In 1867, the Hindus of
Banaras presented a request to their government regarding the
replacement of Urdu with Hindi and its Persian script with that of
Devnagri script. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, at that demand remarked
that when even the language of a nation is not safe at the hands of
other nations in a region, it would be unwise to continue living
with them.
Sir Syed, who was, in fact, a great advocate of Hindu-Muslim
unity before that incident, started focusing on the cause of Muslims
alone. His Scientific Society Gazette presented articles on the
importance of Urdu. Similarly, some Muslim newspapers like
Noor-ul- Absar and Banaras Gazette also took the responsibility to
safeguard their language.
The anti-Urdu process continued when, in 1871, the Governor of
Bengal, G. Cambell, banned Urdu in the province at all levels,
courts, administration and even schools. The ban on Urdu boosted
the Hindus in other regions like NWFP, Punjab, Behar, Sindh,
Oudh, etc. to counter Urdu there. Meetings were held of the
Hindus in which thousands of them signed memorials supporting
the cause of elimination of Urdu. The circumstances became even
more hard for the Muslims and their language when Anthony
MacDonnel became the governor of UP in 1900. He was a pro-
Hindu and thus anti-Muslim. Thus, he dismissed Urdu as the
official language of UP, which was in fact considered to be the
home of Urdu language. He issued orders and declared Hindi the
official language of the province.
Sir Syed’s successors at Aligarh, mainly Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk,
the Secretary of the Aligarh Trust, took action against
MacDonnel’s act. He called for a popular gathering of the
supporters of Urdu at Aligarh and openly condemned governor’s
work.He also founded Urdu Defense Association,and it was
decided that the association would take actions against the doings
of the governor.The result of this Muslim response was that Urdu
too- along with Hindi- was declared the official language of the
province. However, Mohsin-ul-Mulk was not satisfied with this
outcome and continued his struggle. When UP got rid of
MacDonnel, he founded another association called Anjuman-e-
Tarraqi-e-Urdu to counter all future attempts of the Hindus and the
English against Urdu.

Formation of Indian National Congress

Amid agitations over many diverse issues against the British Raj
by the local Indians, the Indian National Congress was founded on
December 28, 1885.WomeshChunderBonnerjeewas selected as the
leader of the Congress. Among its main objectives was the fusion
into one national whole of all the different, and till now discordant,
elements that constitute the population of India. It also aimed for
the gradual regeneration of Indians along all lines, mental, moral,
social and political. And the consolidation of the union between
England and India, by securing the modification of such of its
condition as may be unjust or injurious to the latter country.
An Englishman A.O. Hume founded the Indian National Congress.
He was a retired government official with the blessings of Lord
Dufferin, the Governor-General of India. When Hume took the
scheme to the Governor-General, the latter amended it and gave
his blessing on the condition that“ His name in this
connection with the scheme of the Congress should
not be divulged so long as he remained in the
country.” His condition was faithfully maintained, and none but
the men consulted by Mr Hume knew anything about the matter.
Sir Syed was quite critical about the Congress; he asked the
Muslims not to join it. A vast majority of people followed his
advice. He was of the opinion that if he were told that even the
Viceroy, the Secretary of State and the whole House of Commons
had openly supported Congress, he would remain firmly opposed
th
to it. The times quoted Sir Syed on 12 November 1888, “It is
my deliberate belief that should the resolution of the
native congress be carried into effect; it would be
impossible for the British Government to preserve
peace, or control in any degree the violence and civil
wars which would ensue.”
The contemporary Muslim Press was also full of criticisms about
the Congress. Mohammad an Observer, The Victoria Paper, The
Muslim Herald, the Rafiq-i-Hind and Imperial Paper spoke with
one voice against it. Moreover, Muslim Organizations and
Institutions like Central National Muhammadan Association,
Muhammadan Literary Society of Bengal, the Anjuman-i-Islam
of Madaras, the DindigalAnjuman and the Muhammadan Central
Association of Punjabasked the Muslims of Indian not to join
Congress as they thought it would never serve the interests of the
Muslims of India.

Partition of Bengal
In 1905, the provinces of Bengal and Assam were reconstituted to
form two provinces of manageable size. The scheme was sent to
London in February 1905. The Province of East Bengal and Assam
officially came into being on 16 October 1905.
The whole plan was nothing but a readjustment of administrative
boundaries. However, the Hindus resented it. The partition resulted
in the creation of Muslim majority province, East Bengal, which
was distasteful to the Hindus. Hindus regarded the partition as an
attempt to strangle nationalism in Bengal, where it was more
developed than elsewhere. Agitation against the partition included
mass meetings, rural unrest, and a “swadeshi”(native) movement to
boycott the import of British goods.
Since this partition favored the Muslims therefore, they embraced
it and seven days after the partition, on 22 October 1905, a large
Muslim meeting at Dacca appreciated the boon conferred on the
people by the change. Two days later, another huge gathering of
Muslims offered thanks to the God for the partition and declared
that under the new scheme, written by the Manchester Guardian on
rd th
23 and 27 October 1905 that“...the Muslims would be
spared many oppressions which they hitherto had to
endure from the Hindus.”, the Hindu agitation
against the partition was condemned.
However, even though the partition of Bengal was beneficial for
the majority of the Muslims of Bengal, the British India
government succumbed to the Hindu and Congress agitation
against the partition. In 1911, East and West Bengal were reunited.
The aim was to combine appeasement of Bengali sentiment with
administrative convenience. This end was achieved for a brief time
but the Bengali Muslims, having benefitted from the partition,
were angry and disappointed. This resentment remained
throughout the rest of the British period. The final division of
Bengal was done at the partitioning of the subcontinent in 1947,
which divided Bengal into India in the West and East Pakistan
(later Bangladesh) in the East, intense violence also accompanied
it.