Chaudhry Rahmat Ali

LAHORE:

Synonymous with Pakistan is the name Chaudhry Rahmat Ali. For those who are unaware, he was one of the earliest advocates for the creation of a separate homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent and the man who coined the name Pakistan in order to give the Muslims a new-found identity. While his passion remained unparalleled during the creation of Pakistan, it is unfortunate that today his role is often overlooked by many.

He practised law in Lahore before going to Cambridge to attain his Master’s degree. He was residing in London when the roundtable conferences took place in 1930, and tried to convince the Muslim leaders to settle for nothing less than a separate state. At the time, no leader agreed with his opinion. Jinnah still had the belief that the Muslims could prosper under the Indian federation with special rights, and even Iqbal had not gone as far as to say that the Muslims needed to have a separate homeland. However, remaining steadfast with his idea, Rahmat Ali teamed up with three other students from Cambridge to publish a pamphlet Now or Never in 1933 in which he passionately expressed to the general public the necessity for the Muslims to be given a separate state. It was in this pamphlet that he had coined the name that is now at the very core of our identity, Pakistan.

Regardless of his over-enthusiasm, Rahmat Ali still needs to be considered a crucial factor in the Pakistan movement. Not only did he attempt to fill the void at the heart of every Muslim in India, but he also constantly pushed the prominent leaders to aggressively fight for a new separate and autonomous nation.