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‘Jinnah's offer to the Sikhs’
Before partition, #QuaideAzam met the Maharaja of Patiala in order to negotiate a power sharing formula as per which the Muslims and Sikhs could live together. The meetings were held in Delhi on 15–16 May, 1947.
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Before partition, #QuaideAzam met the Maharaja of Patiala in order to negotiate a power sharing formula as per which the Muslims and Sikhs could live together. The meetings were held in Delhi on 15–16 May, 1947.
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The former Prime Minister of Patiala, Hardit Singh Malik, was also involved in the discussions between the Muslim League and the Sikh leaders. He was interviewed by the veteran Sikh historian of the Punjab partition, Kirpal Singh who posed the following question to Hardit:
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Question: You accompanied the Sikh leaders for negotiations with Mr. Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan.
Could you throw some light on this?
Answer: Jinnah started by saying that he was very anxious to have the Sikhs agree to Pakistan and he was prepared to give them everything...
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Could you throw some light on this?
Answer: Jinnah started by saying that he was very anxious to have the Sikhs agree to Pakistan and he was prepared to give them everything...
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that they wanted, if they could accept Pakistan. I said to him, “Mr. Jinnah you are being very generous but we would like to know exactly what our position will be. You will have a Government, you will have a Parliament and you will have Defence forces, what part will the...
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Sikhs have in all these”?
Jinnah's reply was:
“Mr. Malik! are you familiar with what happened in Egypt? I will deal with the Sikhs as Zaghlul Pasha dealt with the Copts (the Christian minority) when Egypt became independent” He then went on to tell us the story.
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Jinnah's reply was:
“Mr. Malik! are you familiar with what happened in Egypt? I will deal with the Sikhs as Zaghlul Pasha dealt with the Copts (the Christian minority) when Egypt became independent” He then went on to tell us the story.
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According to Jinnah, the Copts when they first met Zaghlul Pasha put forward some demands. After listening to them he advised them to go back, think the whole thing over and come to see him again with a paper incorporating all their demands. They did this.
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Zaghul Pasha took the paper from them and without reading it wrote on it “I agree.” Mr Jinnah added “That is what i will do with the Sikhs.”
‘Jinnah put us in an awkward position. We were determined not to accept Pakistan under any circumstances and here was the...
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‘Jinnah put us in an awkward position. We were determined not to accept Pakistan under any circumstances and here was the...
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Muslim Leader offering us everything. What to do?’
Then I questioned him again, “Mr Jinnah, you are being very generous. But, supposing, God forbid, you are no longer there when the time comes to implement your promises?”
“His reply was astounding...
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Then I questioned him again, “Mr Jinnah, you are being very generous. But, supposing, God forbid, you are no longer there when the time comes to implement your promises?”
“His reply was astounding...
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Jinnah said, “My friend, my word in Pakistan will be like the word of God. No one will go back on it”.
There was nothing to be said after this and the meeting ended.
There was nothing to be said after this and the meeting ended.
Reference:
“The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy Through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts” by Ishtiaq Ahmed
“The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy Through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts” by Ishtiaq Ahmed
