Why Did Pakistan Change its Independence Date: Questioning Historical Beliefs

History
Naveed
September 29, 2023
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The British Parliament mandated Lord Mountbatten to transfer power to India by June 30, 1948. This delay did not sit well with the people of India. who had sacrificed much for India’s independence. In order to prevent further bloodshed and unrest, Mountbatten decided to move the date of independence forward to August 15, 1947.

C. Rajagopalachari, the first Governor-General, stated that if they had waited until June 1948, there might not have been any power left to transfer.

Table of Contents

Mountbatten Plan of Transferring Power.

Mountbatten devised the “Mountbatten Plan” on June 3, 1947, to expedite the independence process. This plan proposed dividing India into two nations, India and Pakistan, granting them autonomy, sovereignty, and the right to create their own constitutions. This plan was accepted by the INC and the Muslim League, and it allowed Princely states the option to remain independent or join India or Pakistan.

The Indian Independence Act of 1947

The Indian Independence Act of 1947 was based on the Mountbatten Act, which removed the British Monarch’s authority from India. After considering input from Mountbatten, the British House of Commons passed the Indian Independence Bill on July 4, 1947, setting the end of British rule for August 15, 1947.

“1.-(i) As from the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent Dominions shall be set up in Dominions. India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan. (2) The said Dominions are hereafter in this Act referred to as the new Dominions, and the said fifteenth day of August is hereafter in this Act referred to as “the appointed day.

But why did Mountbatten choose August 15?

According to his account in the book “Freedom at Midnight,” he selected this date on a whim, wanting to demonstrate his control over the situation. When asked about the date, he decided it had to be soon, possibly in August or September. He settled on August 15 because it coincided with the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

Japan had surrendered on August 15, 1945, after atomic bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On that day, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced that the country had surrendered and would no longer fight in the Second World War.

why India and Pakistan celebrate their independence on different days?

while the Indian Independence Act specified August 15 for both nations, Pakistan chose August 14 as its Independence Day. This choice was based on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan in 1947, which was considered auspicious for Muslims. Additionally, Mountbatten’s schedule played a role. it was decided to shift power i Karachi, Delhi ad it wasn’t possible he couldn’t be in both. New Delhi and Karachi on the same day, he went to Karachi on August 13 and officially transferred power there. This led the Pakistan government to advance its Independence Day by a day.

Independence Day?

Another matter of the fact is Pakistan wasn’t liberated technically in 1947; the law quoted above used the word ‘Dominion.’ Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah took the oath in the name of the king. The head of state was the king.

I, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, do solemnly affirm true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of Pakistan as by law established and that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George VI, in the office of governor-general of Pakistan.

After the death of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth was the second emperor of Pakistan, until 1956 when Pakistan surrendered the status of dominion but made them ensure to be a part of the Commonwealth.

Mater of the fact is, Slavery lies in behaviors,

Pakistan’s National Emblem was also changed.

Unity Faith Discipline

The principal words repeated three times by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah from 1941 to 1948, emphasize the values of Pakistan.

In October 1941, in his Eid message to the Muslims of India, Quaid-e-Azam urged them to demonstrate unity, faith, and order.

In December 1947, he reiterated these words, stating, “I have no doubt that with unity, faith, and discipline, we will compare with any nation in the world.”

The third instance of these words being emphasized in his last speech,

with faith, discipline, unity and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.

The question arises: why and who manipulated these words and events?

I was clueless until I read about the grounds for the resignation of first chairman of Pakistan’s legislative assembly also first law minister,

Jogendra Nath Mandal

He was appointed by Quaid-e-Azam for the creation of first constitution of Pakistan.

In his resignation letter to the then Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan, he highlighted the religious zealotry promoted by the Pakistani establishment. He alleged that religion was being used as a tool and that people were adopting a submissive posture towards it. Some glimpse of his resignation.

Pakistan’s future

I held the view very strongly indeed that the creation of Pakistan would never solve the communal problem. On the contrary, it would aggravate communal hatred and bitterness. Besides, I maintained that it would not ameliorate the condition of Muslims in Pakistan. The inevitable result of the partition of the country would be to prolong, if not perpetuate, the poverty, illiteracy and miserable condition of the toiling masses of both the States. I further apprehended that Pakistan might turn to be one of the most backward and undeveloped countries of the Southeast Asia.

Partition is not the remedy.

Apart from this, I firmly believe that (the creation of Pakistan) will not improve the conditions of Muslims. The inevitable result of partition would be, if not permanently, but for a long time, a period of poverty, ignorance and suffering for the working people of both countries. I fear that Pakistan will probably become the most backward country in Southeast Asia.archive.org

Islam is being offered as the sovereign remedy for all earthly evils.

Miserable Condition of Hindus of East and west Pakistan.

He points out the boycott of Hindu’s the Muslims of East Pakistan. 15 Hindus migrated to India, because basic needs and bread was made impossible for them. Education Authority for Islamization frightened the teaching staff of Secondary Schools and Colleges out of their old familiar moorings. senior posts were allotted t junior Muslims and Hindus were dismissed on minor issues. He wrote.

Thana offices seldom record half the complaints made by the Hindus. That the abduction and rape of Hindu girls have been reduced to a certain extent is due only to the fact that there is no Caste Hindu girl between the ages of 12 and 30 living in East Bengal at present. The few depressed class girls who live in rural areas with their parents are not even spared by Muslim goondas. I have received information about a number of incidents of rape of Scheduled Caste Girls by Muslims.

The last reply recently given by the Officer-in-Charge of recovery of abducted girls said that “his function was to recover Hindu girls and ‘Achhuts’ (Scheduled Castes) were not Hindus.”

His statement about people of Pakistan and their treatment of minorities from both the eastern and western regions is a terrible reflection on us. Echoes of history will punish us both now and in future because we are still on same track. He was declared “Gadar” but in reality, he was a Patriot and loyal Pakistani. A two times minister in Bengal, member of Indian legislative council, first chairman of Pakistan legislative assembly, first law minister of Pakistan, he voted in Favour of Objective Resolution, made to live in tents with his schedule cast people, he sacrifices everything for Pakistan, and rejected by Pakistani “Ruling elite” and the “Untouchable office Clarks” he was humiliated for being an “Achut”.

And the fact is that none of our heroes died smiling, the one who loved Pakistan had died bearing insult, misery and rejection.

And what about the Muslims who are outside the charmed circle of the League rulers and their corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy? There is hardly anything called civil liberty in Pakistan. Witness for example, the fate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan than whom a more devout Muslim had not walked this earth for many years and of his gallant patriotic brother Dr. Khan Sahib. A large number of erstwhile League leaders of the Northwest and also of the Eastern belt of Pakistan are in detention without trial. Mr. Suhrawardy to whom is due in a large measure the League’s triumph in Bengal is for practical purpose a Pakistani prisoner who has to move under permit and open his lips under orders. Mr. Fazlul Haq, that dearly loved grand old man of Bengal, who was the author of that now famous Lahore resolution, is ploughing his lonely furrow in the precincts of the Dacca High Court of Judicature, and the so-called Islamic planning is as ruthless as it is complete. About the East Bengal Muslims general, the less said the better. They were promised of autonomous and sovereign units of the independent State. What have they got instead? East Bengal has been transformed into a colony of the western belt of Pakistan, although it contained a population which is larger than that of all the units of Pakistan put together. It is a pale ineffective adjunct of Karachi doing the latter’s bidding and carrying out its orders. East Bengal Muslims in their enthusiasm wanted bread and they have by the mysterious working of the Islamic State and the Shariat got stone instead from the arid deserts of Sind and the Punjab.