HISTORICAL BACKGROUNG (1800-1858)

The British East India Company arrived in India in the early 1600s, struggling and nearly begging for the right to trade and do business. By the late 1700s the thriving firm of British merchants, backed by its own army, was essentially ruling India.

In the 1800s English power expanded in India, in 1857 a rebellion was started by Indians against the British in order to get rid of their domination. It was an extreme effort made by Indians, but in 1858 the war ended and the Indians failed which British official rulers of sub-continent.

CONSTITUIONAL REFORMS

Succession of measures were passed by the British Parliament between 1858 and 1935 to regulate the government of India these reforms are called Indian acts.

The Indian Councils Act was introduced because the British Government wanted to involve the Indian people with the process of law making. This Act was passed on 1st August 1861.

The Indian Councils Act of 1892 increased the number of additional members in the legislative councils and enlarged their functions.

The Indian Councils Act of 1909 for the first time enabled the association of Indians with the executive Councils of the Viceroy and Governors. It also introduced a system of 'separate electorate' for Muslims.

The Government of India act 1919 was passed on the basis of recommendations of Lord Chelmsford and Samuel Montagu to introduce self-governing institutions gradually to India.

In the Indian Act of 1935 a federation of India was promised for, comprising both provinces and states. Two new provinces Sindh and Orissa were created and one-third Muslim representation in the Central Legislature was guaranteed.

POLITICAL EVENTS

The political events resulting in the establishment of Pakistan are as under:

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan put forward the ‘Two Nation Theory’ stating that Hindus and Muslims have different cultural and religious belief and they cannot live together.

A movement started in BENARAS in 1867 for replacing Urdu with Hindi. This movement provoked hatred in Muslims.

Furthermore a cow protection movement was also started by Hindus in 1867 to ban the slaughter of cows.

Civil Services Act of 1867 reduced the age limit for the Civil Services Exams, which resulted in a wave of opposition from the middle class Indians. Consequently some of them came together and formed a number of small political parties that came out in the streets for protests and rallies.

In 1885, a retired British civil servant, Allan Octavian Hume established the Indian National Congress in Simla. Congress was initially dominated by Hindus, but there were some Muslim leaders, who joined the Congress. However, soon the Muslims realized that the Congress was indifferent to their goals and aspirations; hence they withdrew their support for the Congress.

In 1906 Muslim Leaders from all over the Sub-continent assembled in Dacca to establish a central political organization for Muslims called the “All India Muslim League” .The League was established with the primary aim of protecting the political rights of Muslims and presenting their demands and problems before the British Government.

In 1905 the partitioned of Bengal was considered due to its vast area and poor means of communication however due to extreme and violent protests by Hindu capitalists it was annulled in 1911

During the World War I (1914-1919) nearly 1.5 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were sent to fight and die on the behalf of Allied Forces.

As the war ended in favour of Britain a pact was concluded to divide the territories of Turkey among France, Greece and Britain. Since Muslims had profound respect for the holy Ottoman Empire; thus, in 1919, Muslims organized a mass movement, which came to be known as Khilafat Movement to restore the Territories of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1930, Allama Iqbal, in his address at Allahabad, explained that unless the Muslims are considered as a nation and their rights are protected, it is impossible to establish peace and order in the land.

The three Round Table Conferences (1930-1932) were held to consider the ‘Simon Commission Report’ and to suggest reforms to solve the constitutional problem of India. However the Conferences did not achieve much and the constitutional problems were still not resolved.

The result of the long labour of the three sessions of RTC were collected, summarized and published by the Government as the proposals for the Indian Constitution in a document named as White paper issued in March 1933 and debated in Parliament directly after wards.

The provincial elections were held in the winter of 1936-37. Both Congress and the Muslim League participated in the elections. The Congress won majority of the seats.

ANALYSIS