Pakistan movement: Freedom struggle: Of tonga coachman and motorcar driver
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Of tonga coachman and motorcar driver
Octogenarian Muslim Leaguer Ahmad Saeed Kirmani recalls the difficulties of promoting the League in pre-independence Punjab, revealing the view Jinnah held of Sir Fazle Hussein, reports Javed Bashir
Veteran League leader Ahmad Saeed Kirmani is perhaps the only living member of the Quaid-i-Azam Muslim League who has seen the vicissitudes hitting this foremost nationalist organisation of Indian Muslims before independence from close quarters. He started his political career as a matriculation student with the All India Muslim League students federation in 1938 when the League was being resolutely blocked in Punjab, which then stretched from Attock to Delhi, by the staunchly pro-British Unionist Party setup here.
Kirmani, who spoke to Dawn in his Spartan law office on Fane Road, had the opportunity of interacting with several League stalwarts, especially the Quaid-i-Azam, before independence.
He also spoke about the post-partition culture of corruption that contributed to the steep decline and fragmentation of the Muslim League in contradistinction to the selfless spirit and impeccable honesty of its leaders and workers before independence. Kirmani was asked as to why there was only one Muslim League member, Malik Barkat Ali, in the Punjab Assembly in the late 1930s when millions were sympathetic to the party’s cause in Punjab. Homing in on the negative role of Sir Fazle Hussein and the Unionists, he emphasised that it was in Punjab, dominated by the feudal-bureaucratic compact, that the Muslim League faced one of its greatest challenges.
Although Muslims were in a majority in Punjab, they were hardly organised and united enough to make a dent in the forces arrayed against them, said Kirmani, adding that, “no two Muslims were together”. Intellectual bankruptcy was another obstacle in the task of highlighting the political and economic rationale of the demand for a separate nationhood.
The World War-II was then going on and there were suspicions in the League, given the anti-Muslim tilt of the British, that they might transfer power to Hindus. The Quaid did not want a mere change of masters, so to speak, but real independence.
It was in this context that the Quaid met Sir Fazle Hussein at Lahore on the formation of the Muslim League in Punjab. The talks ended in total failure due to the strong opposition of Sir Fazle to the Quaid. Straight from the abortive talks the Quaid went to Allama Iqbal’s place, who was then very sick and was probably on his deathbed, informing him of what had transpired at the meeting. Iqbal, who was the patron the Muslim League students federation, got up from his bed and said “Jinnah, I am with you”, to which the Quaid replied that “if you (Iqbal) are with me then I have got Punjab”.
Kirmani, who made his mark as a secretary-general of the Punjab Muslim Students Federation from 1943 to 1947, was at pains to underscore the seminal role played by the Muslim students federation in establishing the League in this province. Sir Fazle throughout remained a hurdle in the Quaid’s efforts to promote the League in Punjab.
In this regard, backed by Iqbal, the Quaid knew the potential of the younger generation in galvanising the League in Punjab. Kirmani was asked about the Quaid’s move to appoint Malik Ghulam Mehdi, a retired PCS officer, as general secretary of the ML. It was designed to win the latent support of some feudals as also to soften the resistance of the bureaucracy, he said.Nevertheless, if the Unionists, who opposed the League tooth and nail, were uprooted from Punjab, it was due to the efforts of the Muslim students federation, pointed out Kirmani, reiterating that this contribution was made at the instance of Iqbal who was the motivating force behind it.
Electrifying the Muslim masses in this regard was the towering personality, the charisma, the sharp wit and eloquence of the Quaid. As a true leader, he uplifted the Muslims from the depths of despair to a life of hope and change and materialised the demand for Pakistan.
Kirmani recounted an anecdote to illustrate the Quaid’s concern for quickening the pace of efforts to promote the League in Punjab. To a question about his meeting with Sir Fazle, the Quaid’s reply was telling: “He (Sir Fazle) is a tonga coachman”, he had said, “and I am a motorcar driver”, indicating that the destination is far while the time is short. In the rural areas the hold of the feudal lords and pro-British elements was so strong that even those who otherwise supported the League did not have the courage to come forward. But in the 1945 elections, the Muslim League swept Punjab, the credit for which goes to the Muslim students federation, insists Kirmani.
Being in the thick of this struggle, Kirmani rued what he called our failure to remember the dynamic personalities who played a crucial role in establishing the League in Punjab. He reeled off a string of names, including those of Khalifa Shujauddin and Barrister Ghulam Rasul, who are now forgotten. Pir Tajuddin is also ignored.
The relatively younger ones included Raja Iftikharullah, Syed Qasim Rizvi, nephew of Ghulam Bheek Nairang of Ambala, a Muslim League stalwart. Then there was Aftab Qarshi and Rafique Ahmad Sheikh, former PPP Punjab assembly speaker, now critically ill. There were also Hameed Nizami, Colonel Amjad Hussain, Dr Abdus Salam Khurshid, Mian Bashir Ahmad, Dr Ziaul Islam and of course Ahmad Saeed Kirmani himself.Significantly, other Muslim nationalist forces, including the Ahrars, supported the ML in Punjab, claims Kirmani.
Opposition was still strong in the rural areas, but in the urban areas the Muslim League and the Ahrar candidates started to return in elections. Non-Leaguers helped to mobilise the middle classes sympathetic to the Muslim cause. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan was with the ML.
Ahmad Saeed Kirmani, 84, dwelt on the critical aspect of the abysmal decline of the ML after the death of the Quaid and the subsequent disappearance of his leading lieutenants from the political scene. The situation today is a striking example of the neglect and disregard of the values and norms that informed the League’s formation and the struggle for Pakistan, he said.
Kirmani added he tended to agree with Maulana Maudoodi, whose own party has witnessed considerable decline, that evacuee property destroyed the Pakistani Muslims. The rot it set in could not be stopped. The results are before us. What a fall! he lamented. Nations, he remarked, rose by moral values. The latter-day ML leaders have only taken more and more away from the nation, quite unlike the Quaid, who was a gift of God for Muslims. Not a single companion of the Quaid was corrupt, he said.
The lofty principles they adhered to are unimaginable today. He recalled that Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar who was in Khawaja Nazimuddin’s cabinet at the time of its dismissal by Ghulam Mohammad was approached by the latter with the offer to become prime minister. The proposal was promptly rejected as unthinkable, even though Nishtar had differences with Nazimuddin on some issues. Nishtar didn’t have even Rs200 at the time of his death, Kirmani revealed.
