Pakistan Resolution

23 March 1940

Uzma Zafar
Olevels Pakistan
Study

Contents
Objectives
Main

leaders of the Muslim League Annual Session

Reasons
Main

contents of resolution

Significant

moments

Importance
Reaction

of Lahore Resolution

on Lahore resolution

Conclusion

Objectives
To

understand the circumstances in which

the Pakistan Resolution was moved and

passed.
To

study the main content of the

resolution
To

study the Reaction on Lahore resolution

Annual session of Muslim league

23 March1940
Liqat Ali Khan Presented
the annual report of
Muslim League
Resolution
moved
Molvi fazal Ul- Haq

by

Resolution seconded
Ch. khaliquzaman

by

Session presided by Quaid i Azam

From different regions
The

Resolution was seconded by Maulana Zafar

Ali Khan from Punjab,

Sardar
Sir

Aurangzeb from the NWFP.

Abdullah Haroon from Sindh, and

Qazi

Esa from Baluchistan, along with many other

Reasons for passing Pakistan Resolution

Two nation theory ( Sir Syed Ahmed khan )

Muslim quest for political, economic and cultural safeguard

Allam Iqbal and Chaduhary Rehmat Ali :The idea of separate

homeland

The experience of Congress Rule (1937-1939) compelled the

Muslims to launch the movement for separate homeland.

The Muslims disappointment from the Congress leadership

decided to open a new phase of history.

Quaid-i-Azams article in Time and Tide concluded that Muslims

are a nation.

No Constitution can be enforced by ignoring

Muslims. His comments on March 13, 1940 are remarkable: If

some satisfactory settlement cannot be found for Muslims in

Significant Moments of Resolution

Resolution
They

decided

that

the

Federal

system

under

Government of India Act, 1935 was not acceptable for

the Muslims.
No

revised constitutional plan would be acceptable

unless it was framed with their approval and consent.

Adjacent

units where Muslims are in a majority, as in

Northwest

and

East,

should

be

constituted

as

Independent States where the constituent units will be

autonomous and sovereign.
Protection

of minorities would be given priority

Importance of Resolution

The passing of the resolution was a huge step for the Muslim League.

The Pakistan Resolution offered a fair and attractive solution to the

Problem, the Muslims had grappled with constant strain of being refer
to second-class status.

Had Given the enthusiasm to Muslims

This resolution was passed unanimously and soon became known as

Pakistan Resolution.

The Muslims of subcontinent had finally got their rallying call.

The years of oppression from British and Hindus were to be put behind
them and it was ML which was undisputed leader of Pakistan
Movement.

It joined all the Muslims together to demand for a separate homeland.

Reaction on Lahore resolution

1.

The Hindu press published news that the Muslim

league had a dangerous design to disintegrate the
country by the creation of Pakistan.

2.

Congress, which was dreaming to establish Hindu

Raj had manipulated Lahore resolution as ;

i.

ML creating problems in the way of independence

and wanted to retain the British predominance over
the subcontinent.

ii.

Raised slogan that people of India wanted to form

one United Nation

iii.

Congress hostility grew towards Muslim league.

1.

Gandhi instigate prejudice against partition by

calling it the vivisection of motherland cutting
up

baby

into

two

(Anwar.M,PakistanStudies,volume1,whiterose

halves

publisher Lahore,pg

99)

2.

The Britishs did not oppose it openly because it

was based on Two Nation Theory and British had
accepted Muslims a separate nation on various
occasions .

3.

World war II had put the Britain in a very critical

situation. She did not want to invite trouble by
openly opposing the cause of Muslim League.

Conclusion
The

British had been compelled to recognize

the Muslim League as the sole

representative of the Muslims of India by
1940 and Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali
Jinnah as its undisputed leader.
The

resolution passed in Lahore on March

23, created a scare in the minds of the

Congress and the Hindus. They could see
that the Muslim League had now openly
advocated the division of India into

 He,

Quaid knew that without a well-defined

goal that could be understood even by the

simplest Muslim, there could be no real
awakening of the Muslims. The Pakistan
Resolution gave them a legible, objective
and reachable goal: Pakistan.

Expected question

Explain the reasons for the passage of the Lahore

Resolution in March 1940.

Why was Pakistan resolution passed?

How important was Pakistan resolution in the history of

Pakistan

movement

from

1920-1940?Explain

your

answer

Why was Lahore Resolution passed in 1940?Explain the

content of Lahore resolution .

How successful were attempts to find solutions to the

problems facing the subcontinent in the years 1940 to
1947?

Thank you