Rehmat Ali Khan proposed the idea of a Muslim nation named ‘Pakistan’
Addressed to the British and the Indian delegates at the third and last Round Table Conference held on November 17, 1932, the pamphlet failed to garner the support of the delegates who rejected it as student ideas.
Khan’s idea of an independent Muslim nation was derived from the two-nation theory proposed by Islamist Syed Ahmed Khan. Khan believed that the fact that the Indian Muslims were ‘different’ from the rest of the people living in India, particularly Hindus, was reason enough for creating a separate country for Muslims. He mentioned his views in the pamphlet:
“Our religion and culture, our history and tradition, our social code and economic system, our laws of inheritance, succession and marriage are fundamentally different from those of most people living in the rest of India. The ideals which move our people to mak the highest sacrifices are essentially different from those which inspire the Hindus to do the same. These differences are not confined to broad, basic principles. Far from it, they extend to the minutest details of our lives. We do not inter-dine; we do not inter-marry. Our national customs and calendars, even our diet and dress are different”.
Almost a decade later, the idea of Pakistan found traction with Muslim leaders, including Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and culminated in the adoption of a political statement by the All-India Muslim League popularly known as the Lahore Resolution or the Pakistan Resolution during the Lahore Conference held in March 1940 in Punjab. Marking the beginning of the Pakistan Movement, the Lahore Resolution accepted the constitution of a united homeland for Muslims recommending the creation of independent Muslim-majority states.
Addressing a gathering of thousands, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who had earlier rejected the idea of Pakistan, validated the two-nation theory and said,
“Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religions, philosophies, social customs, and literature…It is quite clear that Hindus and Muslims derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes, and different episodes…To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numeric minority and the other as a majority must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state.”
Gradually, the idea of Pakistan gained popularity among the Muslims and the Pakistan movement led by the All-India Muslim League resulted in the creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. But the man who conceived the idea of Pakistan was not pleased. Choudhary Rahmat Ali Khan was dissatisfied with the smaller geographical area of Pakistan than he had proposed in his 1933 pamphlet. He criticised Jinnah for settling for a smaller Pakistan and referred to him as ‘Quisling-e-Azam’ (meaning a traitor or collaborator) drawing a comparison with a Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling who collaborated with Nazi Germany during WWII.
Expelled from his dreamland of Pakistan, Ali died a pauper in England
While Jinnah got all the glory after the creation of Pakistan, Choudhary Rahmat Ali Khan led a life of seclusion and destitution till his final days. Ironically, Khan, who so vehemently vouched for a separate Muslim nation which was supposed to be the dreamland of the Muslims of British India, could not get a piece of land in that Muslim dreamland even for his grave. When he returned from England in April 1948, he was expelled from Pakistan by its first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. An impoverished Ali died a lonely death in Cambridge. Emmanuel College, Cambridge bore his funeral expenses. He was buried at Cambridge City Cemetery on February 20, 1951
