Identity crisis — II

Letter December 31, 2010
One agrees with her view that Jinnah wanted a secular state with Muslim majority, she has got several facts wrong.

LAHORE: I am writing in response to Sonam Shyam's letter from Mumbai titled "Identity crisis" (December 31). While one agrees with her view that Jinnah wanted a secular state with a Muslim majority, she has got several of her facts wrong vis-a-vis Partition. For starters, the Muslim League's support was strongest in areas that are now part of India. The creation of Pakistan was based on the Lahore Resolution which did not envisage any exchange of populations. The two-nation theory was to counter the Congress's one-nation theory and it did not envisage that all Muslims would move to Pakistan. Secondly, even if exchange of populations a la Turkey and Greece were an option, it was humanly impossible to accommodate all the Muslims of India into Pakistan, especially after the partition of Punjab and Bengal. So there was no element of choice on the part of Indian Muslims. Despite all of this, a substantial number did move to Pakistan. The fact is that on August 14, 1947, more than 60 per cent of Muslims of British and Princely India were citizens of Pakistan and by 1951 this number rose to 70 per cent. Even today, Pakistan and Bangladesh account for 70 per cent of South Asia's Muslims.

Yasser Latif Hamdani

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.