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| India-Pakistan |
| A dreamer of another kind - the man who coined 'Pakistan' |
| 2006-08-16 |
| By Hafizur Rahman LONG ago, when I was in Punjab Information, I was directed to ask the federal interior secretary unofficially if anything was being done about bringing home the remains of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, the man who coined the word “Pakistan,” as was being demanded by some people in the province, as also by some popular newspapers. “Nothing,” he said, and added, “Are you sure he himself would have approved? You see, he never came to live in Pakistan because he heartily disapproved of it for being contrary to his concept of a Muslim homeland in India, and preferred to pass his days in England. I wonder what he did for a living there.” This last, more a loud thought than a question, remained unanswered, for some of us too used to make conjectures in the days when Pakistan was still an idea, as to what Rehmat Ali did in Cambridge. But since it was Cambridge, we all thought he was studying there for some kind of a doctorate. It is strange that all those who count him among the founders of Pakistan still can’t throw light on what his activities there amounted to. I owe it to columnist Khalid Hasan for reminding me of those days through a newspaper article called “The Quaid’s Detractor.” Actually detractor is small word, because Rehmat Ali had nothing but contempt for Mr Jinnah whom he took as an agent of the devil for not conforming to his (Rehmat Ali’s) idea of Pakistan. The difference between the two was that one was a practical, democratic, down-to-earth politician, wedded to truth and exactitude, while the other, sitting in Cambridge, was a visionary without any sense of reality or sense of history, and if I may add on my own, without any commonsense. His only contribution to the making of Pakistan was the name, whereas Pakistan with any other name would have been equally — whatever it is. As for his actual map of a homeland for Indian Muslims, it was the most hare-brained scheme one could ever come across. I have called him a Muslim imperialist. If he were alive in 1965 during the September war with India, he would have been one of those who wanted to fly the Star & Crescent on the Red Fort in Delhi, probably by landing on it by helicopter, for otherwise it was hardly possible. He was a firm believer in the slogan “Crush India,” and if he could crush Hindu India from Cambridge he would have readily done so. When (as the map drawn up by him showed) Rehmat Ali appropriated for the Muslims nearly two-thirds of India, he forgot one important detail: how was the new Muslim empire to be brought about? By force of arms or by persuading the non-Muslims to make-do with a very small part of the vast subcontinent to which he chose to give the name Hanoodia? Apparently even this was done in a spirit of generosity, for, in his opinion, the Hindus did not deserve anything better than being pushed into the sea. According to Rehmat Ali, apart from what is today Pakistan, with Kashmir and much more added to it, in the west was Bang-e-Islam, comprising Bengal and Assam in the east, The Muslim Indian empire was also to have Osmanistan (Hyderabad Deccan) and Moplahistan on the western coast of Southern India, and numerous other bits and pieces. Apparently, any area, big or small, that had any connection with Muslim history and culture, had been arbitrarily included, with Rehmat Ali secure in the supreme confidence that the Hindus wouldn’t object despite their overwhelming majority, to say nothing of the Sikhs. This was the “great visionary” who, in school textbooks and the country’s postage stamps, is counted among the heroes whose tireless efforts before 1947 led to the establishment of Pakistan. As his admirers would have us believe, a crazy notion, howsoever nebulous and impracticable, is preferable as an ideal to the real Pakistan, which is too small and too pragmatic to evoke the Muslim spirit of imperialism in the style of Mahmud Ghaznavi. What most of us have dreamed about in the 20th and 21st centuries is empire builders like Muhammad bin Qasim and Salahuddin Ayubi and not the prosaic Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the constitutionalist, who just wanted the Muslims” rights and nothing more. By the way, a Rehmat Ali Society is very much active in Gujrat, his home town. Left to it the Quid’s bones would probably be disinterred from his mausoleum and replaced by its hero’s remains imported from Cambridge which he loved more than Pakistan. He said the Quaid had dealt six deadly blows to the millat. I need not recount the six blows; they are too deadly for this column to take. I am convinced he was plain jealous. If you are interested you can look for an old publication called, “Pakistan, Fatherland of Pak Nation,” which also contains Rehmat Ali’s original pamphlet “Now or Never” on what Pakistan was supposed to consist of as a resuscitated Muslim empire. The thing has been out of print for many decades. I gave away my copy to someone and didn’t bother to take it back. Before I close, let me repeat what that interior secretary said in conclusion. “If it were generally known what Rehmat Ali thought of Quaid-i-Azam and what he wrote about him, the box bringing his bones from England might not get an exactly red carpet welcome. So, as we bureaucrats say about matters that don’t need further attention. Please file.” |
| Posted by:john |
| #3 "in his opinion, the Hindus did not deserve anything better than being pushed into the sea" Hmmmmmm - where have we heard this kind of "thinking" before? "Pushed into the sea" - wait, don't tell me. It's on the tip of my tongue, I just know it will come to me.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-08-16 21:35 |
| #2 Thought up by an intellectual, you say? Hmmm. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-08-16 21:26 |
| #1 This is from Khalid Hassan "Rehmat Ali’s concept of Pakistan was nebulous, impractical and fantasy-ridden. It was to include the entire northwest of India, Kashmir, the Kathiawar peninsula, Kutch, and several enclaves deep within UP, including Delhi and Lucknow. There were to be two independent Muslim states besides Pakistan: Bangistan comprising Bengal and Assam in the east and Osmanistan in the south. These two were to form a federation with Pakistan. The 243 principalities or Rajwaras were to be divided among caste Hindus and “others” and then herded together in a ghetto called Hanoodia. As for the Sikhs, they were to be pushed into an enclave called Sikhia. Other races and religions were to inhabit an encampment by the name of Hanadika. Every non-Muslim was to remain subservient to the master race he called “The Paks”. And yes, the subcontinent was to be renamed Dinia. He did not say how he was going to bring all that about." |
| Posted by: john 2006-08-16 20:58 |