Another Forgotten Hero of Pakistan

Yasser, it would help to provide some more depth to the article if you want non Pakistanis to appreciate it. I have no idea what the Rawalpindi conspiracy or its significance is. Also, some more details on why the disillusionment with the Congress occured, why a leftist would join a party that was more rightwing then Congress etc would be illuminating.

was the rawalpindi conspiracy the one that involved faiz ahmad faiz and some other members of the army? or am i thinking of something else? they were implicated in allegedly planning an overthrow, and were put in prison?

perhaps the rawalpindi conspiracy refers to something else. i will look it up. : )

Good point Stuka,
First let me appreciate Yasser for writing about a person who tried his best to make Pakistan a country of forward looking people. Mian Iftikhar was a great man and an idealists.

I believe Yasser himself is not probably aware of complete background of Mian Iftikhar’s switch. History in Pakistan is the most distorted subject. I was thinking of writing about this in detail, after I read this article. I felt that the factors that led to Mian Iftikhar’s switch from Congress to Muslim League, will have be written to complete this story. I will go in details later as I get some time but here it is in a quick note.

Mian Iftikhar till his death was a congress supporter. He never believed in the TNT nor did he believe in Muslim League twist of political realities of India before partition.

Mian Iftikahr actually was a left sympathizer in the congress and very close to Nehru. That was the only part Yasser got right. Around 1946, when it became apparent that India would be divided into two countries, Communist Party of India decided to support the Pakistan demand. All left leaning Muslims and communist sympathizers that lived in Punjab switched parties and many joined Muslim League on Communist party’s insistence. Mian Iftikhar was one of them. He became a minister in the Pakistan cabinet based on a deal that communist’s and former congress people struck with Jinnah. It seems to me that at that time Jinnah was looking to balance the rightwing in the Muslim league. Jinnah failed and so did many former congress members but that story some other time.

Mian Iftikhar was never a newspaperman. He started those papers on communist Party of India’s insistence as the CPI wanted to provide some cover to the leftwing in Pakistan. CPI in fact sent Sajjad Zaheer to Pakistan to establish Communist Party in Pakistan. Sajjad Zaheer was arrested in Pindi conspiracy case. Zaheer later went back to India and Nehru allowed his citizenship back. Sajjad Zaheer’s daughter married Indian movie actor Raj Babber.

Yasser! You are wrong about Qurat ulain Haider. She wanted to remain in Pakistan. After she wrote two books in Pakistan and was roundly maligned by the rightwing in Pakistan, She herself approached Nehru to get her Indian citizenship back. Nehru was gracious enough to do that for her. Otherwise, she would have met the humiliation that Josh Malihabadi suffered in the late age of his life or Faiz Ahmed Faiz suffered thru all the years of exile.

I will write a little bit later about the Pindi conspiracy case.

Good piece Yasser. Should have elaborated more. Much more.

I think the rejection of Iftikharuddin`s proposal for large scale land reforms and redistribution of vacated lands to refugees in Punjab was the first instance of the split between a stand-out individual like Iftikharuddin and the parasite called the Muslim League. Iftikharuddin resigned from his post as minister as a result of refusal of his proposal.

Though one should be aware of any one ideology, it is quite obvious that those on the right-wing will team up and act in unison to prevent the status quo from being altered. The military in alliance with the bureaucracy (lead by the the parasites Ghulam Muhammad, Mirza, and Ayub Khan), the feudal lords and the Islamic parties are all an alliance willing to deprive, undercut and betray the idealism of someone like Iftikharuddin.

...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....

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

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

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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.

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.....