December 30, 2006

One is inclined to begin near the end of this journey. My father, M.A.H. Ispahani was crystal clear on the role of the Muslim League, pre-partition. He was unshakeable in his conviction that the Muslim League, pre-partition was a movement that culminated in a homeland for the Muslims in Pakistan. The hijacking of the All India Muslim League by a galaxy of hybrid Muslim Leagues was and remains a black mark on Pakistan’s landscape. He never hesitated in making this distinction between the All India Muslim League and the myriad Muslim Leagues that mushroomed during his lifetime.

Amongst the chosen few of the Pakistan Movement and the All India Muslim League were my uncle Mirza Ahmed Ispahani, my father M.A.H. Ispahani and the Raja of Mahmoodabad. Followers of Mr. Jinnah, they devoted their All, time, energy, and money in acquiring all the essentials of Statehood - Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank, an Insurance Company, Eastern Federal. Airline Orient Airways. Mirza Ahmed Ispahani was the first Chairman of P.I.A during its founding ten years. The Star of India was my father’s baby. He devoted his all in making this newspaper viable and an organ of Muslim aspirations and expectations. Mr. Jinnah supported this venture wholeheartedly.

The Quaid and Miss Fatima Jinnah, his sister, were often welcomed to 5 Camac street, the headquarters of the joint Ispahani family, till the two younger brothers, M.A.H. Ispahani and M. Mahmood Ispahani moved with their families to 5 Harrington street and 5/1 Harrington street respectively. Believe it or not, this street was renamed Ho Chi Minh Street, and 5 Harrington Street (my father’s residence) became the home of the US Consul General in Calcutta; a legacy of the Vietnam war and with strong support of the Communist party in West Bengal.

During this mid 1945 period I vividly recall the Quaid arriving punctually for tea at my father’s 5 Harrington street home. My father was also a stickler for time, but was delayed on this one occasion by the throngs of supporters wanting a glimpse of the Quaid. Meanwhile, I ordered tea for the great man, and much to my consternation, he dropped an unexpected bombshell in my direction, saying, “Son, what does Pakistan stand for”? Being sports centric I muttered a few letters, “P” for Punjab. “A” for Assam and “K” for Kashmir. He was nonplussed at my lack of political knowledge and responded swiftly as was his wont, saying “ I must tell Hassan that his son is not politically motivated”. He did go on to emphasize the pivotal role being played by several of the Muslim Students Federations in India towards the making of Pakistan. M.A.H. Ispahani was equally sanguine and reposed faith in the youth as the real makers of Pakistan.

My father recalled meeting Mr. Jinnah at Cambridge circa 1926 at a meeting of the Indian Majlis. The connection was immediate, electric, and permanent. After graduating with high honors from St. John’s College, Cambridge with a BA degree in 1923, and he received an MA degree in 1927. He was called to the bar Inner temple, in 1924. M.A.H Ispahani returned to the family business M.M. Ispahani Ltd in Calcutta. It was some years later that my father’s interest in law and business was overtaken by an all-consuming desire to play a political role in the struggle for freedom and emancipation. From the 1930s onwards he played a significant role in the politics of Bengal and on the national scene. He was elected in 1941 as vice mayor of Calcutta Corporation and later on to the All India Muslim League Working Committee. His loyalty to the Quaid never wavered.

The new nation was not yet born when the Quaid deputed Begum Shahnawaz and M.A.H. Ispahani to promote - and advance Pakistan’s case at the Herald Tribune forum where, they proved excellent Ambassadors and left New York with great success and plaudits. Shortly thereafter, the Quaid nominated Ispahani as Pakistan’s first Ambassador to the United States of America. He established the Pakistan Embassy in a small section of the Berkeley Hotel in Manhattan whilst he was busy finding permanent locations for the Pakistan Embassy and Chanceries in New York and Washington D.C. He was cost conscious, and obtained the best properties for the new Government of Pakistan.

Mr. Ispahani was nominated by Mr. I.I. Chundrigar to the head Muslim League delegation to the Middle East. The visit proved a great success, and amongst other dignitaries, relations with senior members of the Egyptian cabinet and Saudi Royalty were cemented. Whilst the Quaid lay grievously ill at Ziarat, in 1948, my father, then Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States of America, procured and airlifted every Conceivable medicine requested by his doctors. But let us go back to an earlier time. The Muslim League only truly gained momentum from 1933. When the Quaid returned from London.

In the interim there was talk of creating separate Muslim parties. In 1927 the Muslim Leagues membership was only 1,300 and its activities so few till 1933 that annual expenditure did not exceed Rs3000. In 1936, the Muslim League was in deep slumber and no one really bothered. By 1936 the League had split a second time and the leaders could only agree on one point - i.e. bring Jinnah back from Hampstead and hand the party over to him. He returned to Bombay and it was only in October 1935 that he took over the reorganization of the Muslim League. The League finally convened in Bombay when Jinnah was named the permanent president. He became the party. It was born with him and died with him. His ability and logic made him heads and shoulders above the rest. His young guard comprised Shaheed Suhrawardy of Bengal, Liaquat Ali Khan U.P, Ismail Chundrigar of Bombay, Mirza Abol Hassan Ispahani of Calcutta and the Raja of Mahmoodabad. This group became his eyes and ears on the political scene. Jinnah’s emphasis shifted to three parties, in India the Muslim League, the Hindus, and the British.

The British gave Mr Jinnah space towards the end of 1939 to broadcast a special message to the Muslims of India. This was his crowning glory as spokesman of the Muslims in India. In his speech to the Muslims of India, Jinnah declared December 22nd as a day of deliverance and thanksgiving. The Congress stalwarts Gandhi and Nehru accused Jinnah of breaking up India. M.A.H. Ispahani in his letter to Jinnah of December 12, 1939 had stated and I quote “I shall, however be doing my conscience wrong if I do not state that your direction from the deliverance from Congress rule gave us a rude shock. I did not expect such a command from you because you have all along kept politics on a very high and sung pedestal. The order vas bereft of your fighting spirit. I however, felt that some strong reason must have driven you to issue your command for the observation of this day”.

Between 1930-1933 the center of Hindu Muslim politics shifted to London. Three Round Table Conferences were held and a galaxy of stars participated, including the Aga Khan and Mr. Jinnah. He claimed that Muslims were a “party” and formed the Pakistan strategy. Like the first Round Table Conference, the second Round Table Conference ended in failure. Mr Jinnah and Shah Nawaz Bhutto dubbed the Conference as without result. However Prime Minister Ramsay Mac Donald in keeping with his promise accorded full Governor status to the North West Frontier and a new province of Sind as concessions to the Muslim delegation as promised at the end of the second Round Table Conference.

Parallel with the Round Table Conference the Muslim League convened a meeting at Allahabad in December 29th 1930. Allama Dr. Mohammad Iqbal presided over the meeting which articulated the two nation theory of irreconcilable Hindu- Muslim differences. Congress kept reiterating that there were only two parties in the Country. Nehru kept eulogizing the Muslims in Congress for their struggle, patriotism, and sacrifice. Mr. Jinnah referred to the Muslim in Congress as adventures. The scene shifted to Lahore on 23rd March, 1940. Where the Muslim League’s Subjects Committee met to discuss the draft of the first resolution moved by. Mr. Fazlul Haq with Mr. Jinnah in the chair. It stated that the areas where the Muslim are numerically in a majority as in the North Western and Eastern Zones of India, should be grouped as Independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign. This was the heart of the Lahore Resolution which became known as the Pakistan Resolution.

My father M.A.H. Ispahani remained a pillar of the family business after his return from England and had gradually become absorbed into political developments in India, and, more specifically, Bengal. He revived his association with Mr. Jinnah speaking and writing clearly as his umpteen letters bear testimony. He carried on correspondence with Mr. Jinnah and conveyed the minute to minute political scenario in Bengal. Mr. Ispahani raised a strong protest to Mr. Jinnah in 1937 stating. “I honestly feel that self interest has once again proved to be a greater interest than the interest if the Community…, I felt that the Musalmans of Bengal had at long last got back a portion of their self respect.

I was mistaken”. Despite having expelled Fazlul Haq from the A I M L parliamentary party, Jinnah preferred “compromise” within tolerant limits between the Muslim League and the Proja party of Bengal. Somehow, the pendulum swung between 1937 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and Jinnah writing to Ispahani ruled out any form of compromise or coalition - as the Muslim League had improved his bargaining position Jinnah disliked being bypassed by the Viceroy nominating Sikander Hayat Khan, Saadullah and Fazlul Haq, provincial Chief Ministers and called them to resign. Mr. Haq refused, casting aspersion on Jinnah’s democratic and arbitrary methods. At this point in time Jinnah decided to remove Fazlul Haq and proposed Ispahani as his substitute on the AIML Working Committee. Due to Haq’s incessant summersaults his star was on the wane, and Ispahani regarded him as “more slippery than an eel” Haq went so far as to ditch his present Ministry and form the progressive Coalition party. Haq was losing political ground whilst the Muslim League and Jinnah were strong enough to dismiss Haq from the presidentship of the Bengal provincial Muslim League and the Working Committee of the AIML. The battle of wits between Mr. Jinnah and Haq ensued with the former victorious. Mr. Ispahani wrote to Mr. Jinnah “the Muslim public are being told of the real facts for the first time and are beginning to realize the sale Fazlul Haq has made of their interests” The tide had shifted with Huq’s group losing an election in 1942 at Natore to the League Mr. Haq tried his luck by befriending the British for an assignment at home or abroad. He even tried to mend fences with Mr. Jinnah. He approached Mr. Ispahani who reported that Haq was “prepared to eat humble pie” But his ambivalent nature once again got the better of his judgment and he retracted. The Huq made an unsuccessful bid to launch the Progressive Muslim League based on “Islam first, and Islam throughout”. Despite Mr. Ispahani’s pleas for forgiving Mr. Huq Mr. Jinnah, nevertheless laid down the imperative for a meeting, namely - a) give in writing his disassociation with the Progressive Muslim League, b) withdraw his allegation against the Muslim League and, c) submit himself to the Muslim League discipline. On receiving a written pledge of loyalty, Mr. Jinnah granted an interview.

Reconciliation failed him. Mr. Jinnah stuck to his guns as supreme of the Muslims in India. Mr. Huq tried to impress with his Bengal card and Mr. Ispahani commenting one of his letters to Mr. Jinnah stated “ Fazlul Huq looks a picture of misery. Do not he surprised if the Ministry falls sooner than anticipated”. In 1943 the League defeated all the six candidates contesting the Bengal legislative Council elections. The Muslim League had arrived in Bengal and in the period of six years 1941-1947 it had been transformed from a mere banner of Muslim Solidarity “into the biggest political body” Bengal had ever seen. Pakistan had come to stay in the minds and hearts of the Muslims all over India. Its membership and organization galloping, and by the end of 1945 there were more than a million members of the Bengal Muslim League!

With Mr. Huq’s exit Mr. Nazimuddin became the new Chief Minister. He was saddled with an unwieldy Cabinet of Ministers. The gravity of the famine stalking Bengal was, also a thankless assignment. Mr. Ispahani conveyed his disgust to Mr. Jinnah of how the yearning for office determined the party affiliations of Muslim politicians. Nazimuddin’s Chief Ministership a roller coaster running at varying speeds, to change affiliations and ignore the Provincial League council and District Organization. This situation could not last indefinitely. Mr. Suhrawardy and his group emerged as they had taken control of the party machine and used every means available to entice the M.L.A.S’ with Hindu and Mahasaba backing to vote against to defeat Nazimuddin Government. Nevertheless, Nazimuddin was bent on getting back his Chief Ministership and found only two alternative run the Ministry with corrupt elements or coalesce with a Congress group. Mr. Jinnah did not take kindly to Nazimuddin’s approach Mr. Ispahani had alerted Mr. Jinnah of the Bengal situation, and found Mr. Jinnah’s reply in line with his thinking of the was of curse of corruption among Muslims in India.

The tussle between Nazimuddin and Suhrawardy grew ugly. Both desired the plum chief ministership of Bengal, but the provincial council was stacked against it, and Nazimuddin withdrew from the chief ministership. Mr Ispahani foresaw the pitfalls of these rivalries and division and wrote to Mr Jinnah: “Bengal is an unfortunate province indeed. Whereas Muslims are closing their ranks in other provinces to meet the Congress-Mahasaba challenge, we are fighting within our own camp and are providing an excellent weapon to our enemies to wield against us.” Mr Ispahani’s assessment did not deter Mr Jinnah whose stature and that of the Muslim League had soared between 1936-1947 when millions turned out in Bengal on his election tour. The Muslim League had won every seat in the Constituent Assembly and the Bengal Legislative Assembly except that of Mr Fazlul Haq. Mr Jinnah carried seven non-Bengalis, including three non-residents, who were elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal.

Hard work had paid off. The Muslim League’s clean sweep in 1946 allowed Suhrawardy not Nazimuddin to become chief minister of Bengal. Partition of the subcontinent and the birth of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, changed the geographical boundaries. Bengal was divided and Nazimuddin became Chief Minister of East Pakistan as Suhrawardy had lost his majority in the legislature. Mr Jinnah and the All india Muslim League created a rock solid Pakistan movemenent armed with towering personalities but none to mrrshal the skills, vision and total commitment of its founder, Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

— The writer is Chairman, M.M. Ispahani Ltd, President, Oxbridge Society, Karachi, and son of Mr Ispahani

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