BY MARCH 1913, when the All-India Muslim League held its 6th session at Lucknow, political relations between Hindus and Muslims had reached such an impasse that all hopes of reconciliation and cooperation were fast fading away. Mian Mohammad Shafi of the Punjab Muslim League, elected President of the session, in his forceful presidential address stressed the need to continue conciliatory efforts, even if it was only for partial cooperation.
Mian Sahib had a discerning mind. His advice was in conformity with the third objective of the League’s constitution which called for promoting friendship and union between Muslims and other communities of India. This third objective was added to the League’s creed through special efforts of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who still had not joined the Muslim League.
In his presidential address, Mian Sahib said: “Not only do the strained relations existing between the Hindu and Muslim communities, particularly in Upper India, retard the peaceful progress of the country and result in infinite harm to the communities themselves, but they, at the same time, create difficulties for the government administrative and others. All sincere wishers of the country are united in deploring the most unfortunate state of things. Signs have not been wanting of a genuine desire on the part of the leaders on both sides, to face this problem in real earnestness.
“In my humble judgment, the time for loud professions and even emphatic declarations is over; every day which passes without definite action is a day lost to the sacred cause of Indian nationality. Are we to continue to wait until unanimity of views all along the line has been reached? Are we to go on being at arms length even where we can cooperate simply because in other matters we are, at present, unable to see eye to eye? Does not human experience show that partial cooperation is often the most effective instrument in bridging over the gulf in its entirety? If this is so, why wait until absolute agreement in respect of every point of difference is attained?”
Today we may wonder as to why Muslims (and Hindus) of pre-independence years did not heed him. But it is no matter of wonderment. Can any group leader be so bold to lead his followers onward without feeling a drag which is called responsibility, and when his decisions might have a lasting effect on posterity? While Mian Sahib was thus speaking of partial cooperation, Mr Jinnah and Mrs Sorajini Naido, both well-known and well-wishers of the great communities of Hindus and Muslims, were sitting in the Kaiser Bagh Hall as honourable visitors. Mian Mohammad Shafi went on further to say: “There are a number of grave problems, a speedy and effective solution of which depends mainly on our united action. Let us take them into our hands at once and make an earnest and well-organized effort to grapple with them.”
Continuing in that strain, Mian Mohammad Shafi said: “And when we have tasted the life-giving pleasures of mutual cooperation for the good of our country by reaping the luscious fruits of our united labour, mutual confidence and goodwill resulting therefrom will bring about complete harmony of feeling and unanimity of views, even as regards matters upon which there is at present divergence of opinion among us.”
How true! Mian Sahib had recounted problems which the country was facing at that time and which had been solved to a great extent after independence. The backdrop of Mian Sahib’s desertations was the old tussle between the two great communities of Hindus and Muslims with which our older generation is so well conversant. The sagacious suggestion of men such as Mian Mohammad Shafi did not find the approval of the people. It was due to a host of factors working against confidence building sentiments. To enlarge upon all of them will be a tedious task and which is now a part of history. The most vexatious problem was about safeguarding the interests and safety of one community against the inordinate demands of the other. Thoughts of freedom from foreign yoke were sweet, but a peaceful enjoyment of its benefits was doubtful where hearts were divided. Seventy million Muslims were apprehensive as to what could possibly serve as a vetoing power against unfair decisions of the majority in future in the absence of a watchful British Crown. This and a thousand other misgivings irritated the Muslim mind. No complacency could be allowed in the face of such formidable issues.
Upto a time (1913), the idea of partitioning the subcontinent into a Muslim-Indian state and a Hindu-Indian state as the only solution of Muslims’ grievances had not emerged on the political horizon, and the idea of a common nationality was still possible. That idea could have become a reality by 1946, if Pandit Nehru had not sabotaged the Cabinet Mission Plan.
The frustrated generation which had been waiting to see the motherland as one is no more. The new generation does not find any reason for frustration except the lack of suitable jobs at their native home.
It is an undeniable fact that it took 90 years and the expiry of a whole generation of adult population to realize at last that cooperation in the way of a good cause, however partial or nominal.
Mian Mohammad Shafi was suggesting the best course of action. Helped by time more than by any other factor, we now seem more inclined to get closer and enter an era of fulfilment and progress and joy. We, in Pakistan, should and must respect the spirit the Indians are showing presently, as President Musharraf has declared: Two steps forward in response to India’s one step of friendship towards us.
