History of Pakistan before Partition

History of Pakistan before Partition 

The area of present-day Pakistan has a long history of human settlement as the cradle of the Indus Valley civilization, the earliest-known civilization in South Asia. This Bronze Age culture flourished in the area of the Indus River Valley from about 2500 to 1700 BC. The Indus River is considered the lifeblood of Pakistan, and the ancient culture that arose there serves as an icon of Pakistan’s territorial identity. Important archaeological sites in Pakistan include Mohenjo-Daro (Sindhi for “Mound of the Dead”), in Sind Province, and Harappā, near the Ravi River (a tributary of the Indus) in Punjab Province.
Pakistan’s cultural identity is traced to the centuries of Muslim rule in the region. In ad 711 Mohammad bin Qasim, an Arab general and nephew of Hajjaj, ruler of Iraq and Persia, conquered Sind and incorporated it into the Umayyad Caliphate. Thereafter Muslims continued to rule areas of present-day Pakistan for almost 1,000 years. For the first 300 years the region of Sind was the only part of the Indian subcontinent that was under Muslim rule. Muslim rule began to spread to other areas after the Afghan sultan Mahmud of Ghaznī, leader of the Ghaznavids, invaded in 997. After he conquered the region of Punjab in the early 11th century, he made Lahore his capital. Between 1175 and 1186 the regions of Sind and Punjab were conquered by Muhammad of Ghur, leader of the Turkish Ghurid Empire, which was centered in what is now west central Afghanistan. His generals conquered all of north India by the time he was assassinated in 1206. That year his general Qutubuddin Aybak laid the foundations of an independent Muslim kingdom in India, the Delhi Sultanate. Thirty-five sultans ruled this rich and powerful sultanate from 1206 to 1526. The sultanate included most of Punjab and Sind during this period.
The golden age of Muslim rule in the Indian subcontinent came with the glory and grandeur of the Mughal Empire (1526-1858). Between 1526 and 1707 six powerful Mughal kings ruled in succession: Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. As the boundaries of the empire grew, Islam spread in India through incoming Muslim rulers, intermarriages, conversions among the lower Hindu castes, and the teachings of Sufi mystics. The death of Aurangzeb in 1707 marked the beginning of the decline of the Mughal Empire, and of Muslim rule in India.

British Rule

The waning control of the Mughal Empire left the subcontinent vulnerable to new contenders for power from Europe. The British changed the course of history by penetrating India from the Bay of Bengal, in the east; until then invading forces had entered India from the northwest, mostly by way of the Khyber Pass. The English East India Company established trading posts in Bengal and represented British interests in the region. In 1757 company forces defeated Mughal forces in Bengal in the Battle of Plassey.

This victory marked the beginning of British dominance in the subcontinent. The company continued to expand the area under its control through military victories and direct annexations, as well as political agreements with local rulers. The British annexed the area of present-day Sind Province in 1843. The region of Punjab, then under the control of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore, was annexed in 1849 after British forces won the second of two wars against the Sikhs. Some areas of Baluchistan were declared British territory in 1887.

As the British sought to expand their empire into the northwest frontier, they clashed with the Pashtun tribes that held lands extending from the western boundary of the Punjab plains into the kingdom of Afghanistan. The Pashtuns strongly resisted British invasions into their territories. After suffering many casualties, the British finally admitted they could not conquer the Pashtuns. In 1893 Sir Mortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the colonial government of India, negotiated an agreement with the king of Afghanistan, Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, to delineate a border. The so-called Durand Line cut through Pashtun territories, dividing them between British and Afghan areas of influence. However, the Pashtuns refused to be subjugated under British colonial rule. The British compromised by creating a new province in 1901, named the North-West Frontier Province, as a loosely administered territory where the Pashtuns would not be subject to colonial laws. 

The British maintained their empire in the Indian subcontinent for nearly 200 years. The first 100 years were marked by chaos and crisis. The Sepoy Rebellion, also known as the Indian War of Independence, erupted in 1857 and became a widespread revolt against British rule. After the British quelled the rebellion in 1858, they immediately took steps to maintain control. The British government officially abolished the Mughal Empire and exiled Muhammad Bahadur Shah to Burma. In addition, the British government transferred authority from the English East India Company to the British crown, establishing direct imperial rule in India. To help consolidate control the British initiated a series of educational, administrative, and political processes between 1858 and 1900. English was introduced as the official language. 

The Muslim response to the imposition of British rule evolved around the ideas and leadership of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. In 1875 Sir Syed founded Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh University) because he believed that Muslims could best improve their social and economic standing by gaining a Western education, rather than the traditional Islamic education. He encouraged Muslims to pursue higher education based on the Western model as a way to advance themselves, and their community, in the new order. He also encouraged Muslims to seek government jobs and show loyalty to the British Raj. At the same time he sought British patronage for improving the lives of the Muslims of India. He demanded a separate Muslim electorate, arguing that Muslims were at a disadvantage among India’s overwhelming majority of Hindus. Hindus also were advancing themselves in the new order more quickly than Muslims, the majority of whom held low socioeconomic status as farmers and laborers. The emerging educated Muslim groups found Sir Syed’s ideas inspiring.

In the 1880s the British initiated political reforms that allowed the formation of political parties and local government. The Indian National Congress was created in 1885 to advocate for Indian autonomy from British rule. Many Muslims believed the organization focused on Hindu interests, however, and in 1906 Muslims formed the Muslim League to represent their interests. Muslims demanded, and were granted, separate electorates in the Government of India Act of 1909. This guaranteed Muslims representation in the national and provincial legislative councils, although the authority of these legislative councils was severely limited under the British colonial government. Both Muslims and Hindus demanded autonomy (self-government), and in 1919 constitutional reforms were introduced that gave the legislative councils greater authority. However, the reforms fell short of granting autonomy and did not satisfy political demands. The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 further galvanized nationalist, anti-British sentiment.

The concept of an autonomous Muslim state was publicly proposed during the Allahābād session of the Muslim League in 1930 by the leading Muslim poet-philosopher in South Asia, Mohammad Iqbal. He envisioned a system in which areas that had Muslim majorities would constitute an autonomous state within India. During the next decade, this concept evolved into the demand for the partition of India into separate Muslim and Hindu nations, known as the Two Nations Theory. In 1940 Muslim League president Mohammed Ali Jinnah presided over the organization’s annual session, held that year at Lahore, in which the League made its first official demand for the partition of India. The Lahore Resolution called for an independent, sovereign Muslim state.

During preindependence talks in 1946, the British government found that the stand of the Muslim League on separation and that of the Congress on the territorial unity of India were irreconcilable. The British then decided on partition and on August 14, 1947, granted independence to Pakistan. India gained its independence the next day. They both became independent dominions within the Commonwealth of Nations. Pakistan came into existence in two parts: West Pakistan, coextensive with the country’s present boundaries, and East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The two were separated by 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of Indian territory.

Problems of Partition

The division of India caused tremendous dislocation of populations. Some 3.5 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan into India, and about 5 million Muslim refugees (known as Mohajirs) migrated from India to Pakistan. The demographic shift caused an initial bitterness between the two countries that was further intensified by each country’s accession of a portion of the princely states in the region. Nearly all of these 562 widely scattered polities joined either India or Pakistan; however, the Muslim princes of Hyderābād and Jūnāgadh and the Hindu ruler of Kashmīr chose not to join either country.

On August 14 and 15, 1947, these three princely states had become technically independent. But when the Muslim ruler of Jūnāgadh, with its predominantly Hindu population, joined Pakistan a month later, India annexed his territory. In September 1948 India used force of arms to annex Hyderābād (now part of Andhra Pradesh state, in central India), which had a mostly Hindu population. The Hindu ruler of Kashmīr, whose subjects were 85 percent Muslim, decided to join India. Pakistan, however, questioned his right to do so, and a war broke out between India and Pakistan. Although the United Nations (UN) subsequently resolved that a plebiscite be held under UN auspices to determine the future of Kashmīr, India continued to occupy about two-thirds of the state and refused to hold a plebiscite. Pakistan controlled the remaining portion as Azad (Free) Kashmīr, an autonomous region, and the Northern Areas, federally administered. This deadlock, which still persists, has intensified suspicion and antagonism between the two countries.