Another Forgotten Hero of Pakistan

ps: there is a typo in the last line of the last paragraph before the saying....

it should read `Mian Iftikharuddin resisted all such attempts` and not `attempted all such attempts`

Noor...

Quratulain died a few years ago in New Dehli...

YLH/Manto,

Pakistan has a singular history about disclaiming / forgetting their own. Where they cannot, they whine.

You are in fact very rare. Liked this one because of that..

I very openly dislike state of Pakistan. Not Islam or Pakistanies. I only hope likes of you and youngsters amongst Indians will finally do something about it.

I am very, very hopeful about Indians part. Not so much about...

Keep it up as long as you can. And please..please do not get riled up very easily. Every one knows your push buttons. Hope your marriage has some calming influence on you.

BTW. Only your ``Better`` half gets the belated regards and best wishes. I hope you mind :). Yes. I do know the name, if at all that matters, to the ``Better`` :).

Yogiraj

So uncle Dost mittar jee... It comes down to basically you pakis don`t hold a candle to us Indians right...


Little known facts of history are often the most interesting and myth shattering.

Dear Yasser:
One can always count on you to throw light on some little-known facts of history. I will leave the Pakistani part to others, but the following is my speculation on why he is not well remembered in India:
-India had numerous giants, even muslims, involved in the freedom movement; muslims like Azad, Asaf Ali, Ajmal Khan, Bacha Khan, Kidwai and others; even Panjabis like General Shahnawaz Khan. There was no reason to remember someone who betrayed the cause.
-As far as the creation of Pakistan is concerned, the only `villain` in the Indian eyes is the `sole spokesperson` and his typewriter. Nobody there has heard of even Chaudhry Rehmatullah. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is remembered in India not as the original founder of the two nation theory but a great Indian visionary reformer. Iqbal too is admired greatly for his poetry and philosophy and above all his tarana-e-hind which has the status of a semi-official national anthem in India; his role in the creation of Pakistan is relatively unknown.
-The only group for whom he might be considered important are the communists. But they are, for obvious reasons, keen to forget and make people forget about their support for the Pakistan movement. They have been very successful in this, too.


``Always a fair man, Iftikharuddin called the Indian constitution prepared by Dr. B R Ambedkar a far more Islamic document than the constitution under deliberation in the Pakistan constituent assembly``
Here is something for those who say that Pakistan`s problems started with Zia. It is quite clear that even a communist like Iftikharuddin had to put an ``islamic`` label to show his admiration for a secular document in the early `50s. And as you know from reading the secular columnists in english language newspaper, the tradition continues.....

HP,

I don`t know about your source of information on Mian Iftikharuddin but my paternal grandfather Mian Abdul Hakim Sahab was a very close friend of Mian Iftikharuddin. Mian Iftikharuddin was enamoured by Jinnah`s personality and his vision for Pakistan. It was this vision he chose to follow. The late Mian iftikharuddin spent many an afternoon in my father`s ancestral home.... Mian Iftikharuddin was also the father in law of Yusuf Sallahuddin, the grandson of Allama Iqbal.. Mian Iftikharuddin was a patriot of Pakistan... and an intense Jinnah admirer. That much is clear... 6 months before Pakistan was created, when by no means Pakistan was a reality, Iftikharuddin had the vision and the foresight of starting up the Pakistan Times, sanctioned by Jinnah himself. Mian Iftikharuddin was like Jinnah after something totally different... the fact that he was no believer in the TNT proves the Ayesha Jalal thesis even further.


You are right however on two counts... there was a deliberate attempt by Jinnah to find more ex-congressmen (as he himself was one) and liberals willing to rally around his cause. This was to create the balance that you talk about..


Secondly... you are right. Quratulain was one of the earliest migrants to Pakistan, and was immediately hired in the information ministry. She really wanted to serve this new nation state, and stayed as long as she could... but in the end she was just heart broken especially with the draconian Ayub Regime... she didn`t want to go, she was pushed away.



-YLH

Stuka...


Congress, League etc were not parties... they were movements... and all movements have left right and center.


Khamkhwa,

Please elaborate...

Quratulain Hyder as far as I am aware was personally asked by Nehru to come back to India.

and i always misspell her name. it is qurratulain and not qurratalain, just as nooralain should be noorulain :)

re: Stuka # 1

Rawalpindi Conspiracy was a failed coup d` etat by a group of Pakistan Army officers in 1951.

The reason behind the conspiracy was to remove the government of Liaquat Ali Khan for its luke warm support during the Kashmir crisis of 1947-48. The coup failed, because one of the plotters was a police officer and a friend of General Akbar Khan (I think that is the correct name) and he got cold feet and informed his IG, who called the NWFP government.

In the memoirs of General Ingalls, who was the first commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy, this conspiracy is also mentioned. According to Ingalls, a group of army officers came to see him and asked him to support the coup, but Ingalls not only refused, he informed Liaquat Ali Khan, when the prime minister came to Kakul and was having scotch with Ingalls.

Most of the coup plotters were given sentences ranging upto 15 years and they were tried by civilian judges. Most of the failed coup makers are dead, except for one person, who is nearing his eighties.

Hope this helps.

Ciao

stuka,

egads ji! you are not knowing of ms. hyder? Qurratalain Hyder is a writer, and quite a good one at that, who lives in India now, i believe? one of her best-known novels is called, `aag ka darya` which is also translated into english and is excellent. do read it if you ever get a chance!

http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?531#bio

http://www.wwnorton.com/nd/FALL99/HyderRIVER.htm

hope this helps!

Who is Quratalin Hyder? Damn, what a tongue twister of a name!!

Iftikharuddin seems to exemplify the fact he who strikes a deal with the devil ends up being the loser.

But for the fact Pakistan needs a figurehead to rally around, Jinnah would have met the same fate.

Remember the Mensheviks in Russia whom the Bolsheviks used and then successfully liquidated?

That is the fate of all those who choose to ally themselves with men without principles.

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Thanks for enlightening us. However, both you and HP need to write a lot more on Mian Ifthikar.
That Zaheer and Quarat were both Pakistanis once is indeed revealing.
Cheerios

Here is one from Omar Qureishi`
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Letters/2002/May/24/04.html

...Quratulain Hyder and Nehru..? are you talking about the author of `Meray bhi sanam khanay` and `Aag ka Darya`, the daughter of Syed Sajjad Hyder Yeldrim...you got your facts wrong as for as she is concerned....