Home Journal List Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan Volume 48 Article Details

THE PUNJAB MUSLIM LEAGUE (1940-1947)

Abstract

So far as the creation of Pakistan was concerned the province of Punjab was considered to be a key province not only by the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah but also by the Congress, the Sikhs and the British Government in London and in India. This most prominent province was to determine the future of Indian Muslims and substantiate the Muslim League's claims such as that the Muslims were a nation (not a minority in India) and that the Muslim League was the sole representative of Muslim opinion in India. The private papers of Lord Wavell (1943-47) reveal the fact that the Government was anxiously waiting for the outcome of the 1946 elections to decide the issue of Pakistan. On the other hand, the Congress and its allies like the Sikhs, the Unionists and all other anti-Pakistan forces had pooled their resources and did all they could to defeat the Punjab Muslim League at the polls; but their efforts bore no fruits. The antiPakistan activities, however, were continued with full swing even after the Punjab League's glorious victory in the elections of 1946. The Punjab's last two anti-Pakistan Governors, Sir Bertrand Glancy (1941-46) and Sir Evan Jenkins (1946-47) supported the Congress Muslim president, Moulana Azad, the Sikhs and their anti-Pakistan allies to give a new lease of life to the Unionist leader Sir Khizer Hayat Tiwana first by reappointing him as Premier of the Punjab and later by assisting him in his anti-League policies. Despite the fact that PML was the single largest party in the Punjab Assembly it was not given a share of power in the Punjab. But the anti-democratic and anti-Pakistan policies of the Punjab Government could do little to harm the popularity of the Muslim League;

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