DefinePK

Abstract

<jats:p>Muhammad Ali Jinnah called for the division of India on 22ndMarch 1940 in his presidential address to the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Lahore. Immediately, the League were beset with not only opposition from all flanks but also the allegation that Jinnah's idea of Pakistan was ill-defined and merely a counter for bargaining. Even after Pakistan's independence in 1947, this theory was furthered to the extent of being elevated to orthodoxy. This paper examines Jinnah's private correspondence dealing with the nature of Pakistan, in particular Jinnah's 1941 letter to the League leader Nawab Ismail that refers to findings of the Reforms Commissioner H.V. Hodson regarding Pakistan, and is often cited as evidence of Jinnah’s ‘real aims’. In parallel, Jinnah and prominent League leaders’ dealings with the British are analyzed in order to reconcile their disparate stances.</jats:p>