Abstract
Punjab was considered to be the key to the Indian
Muslim politics not only by Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and the leader of the AllIndia Muslim League (AIML) but also by the Congress
hierarchy, the Sikh leadership and the British policymakers in India and London. Mr. Jinnah in his speeches
and statements before and after the elections of 1945-6,
declared that the key to the creation of Pakistan lay in the
hands of Punjab Muslims and that the Punjab was the
cornerstone of his Pakistan. The Congress and the Sikh
leadership also thought that the Punjab held the key to the
unity of India. It was perhaps the only province which
could have prevented the division of India and the creation
of Pakistan. In Talbot’s words, “Pakistan’s creation
depended on the Punjab”.1
Therefore, the outcome of the
1946 elections in India were to determine the future of
Indian Muslims and substantiate or otherwise the Muslims
League’s claim that they were a nation and that the Muslim
League was the sole representative of Muslim opinion in
British India. These elections were thus fought only on one
agenda that was: Pakistan or no Pakistan.
Q. Abid , M. Abid. (2008) UNIONIST - MUSLIM LEAGUE RELATIONS AND THE PUNJAB ADMINISTRATION, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Volime 45, Issue 2.
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