Editing Pakistan Movement (section)

=== Lahore Resolution ===
The [[Lahore Resolution]] marked the beginning of the Pakistan movement. At the 27th annual Muslim League session in 1940 at Lahore's [[Iqbal Park]] where about 100,000 people gathered to hear Jinnah speak:

<blockquote>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 numerical 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.</blockquote>

At Lahore the Muslim League formally committed itself to create an independent Muslim state, including [[Sindh]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Baluchistan]], the [[North-West Frontier Province|North West Frontier Province]] and Bengal, that would be "wholly autonomous and sovereign". The resolution guaranteed protection for non-Muslims. The Lahore Resolution, moved by the sitting Chief Minister of Bengal [[A. K. Fazlul Huq]], was adopted on 23 March 1940, and its principles formed the foundation for Pakistan's first constitution.

In [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposition]] to the Lahore Resolution, the [[All India Azad Muslim Conference]] gathered in Delhi in April 1940 to voice its support for a united India.<ref name="QasmiRobb2017">{{cite book |last1=Qasmi |first1=Ali Usman |last2=Robb |first2=Megan Eaton |title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108621236 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> Its members included several Islamic organisations in India, as well as 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates.<ref name="Haq1970">{{cite book |last1=Haq |first1=Mushir U. |title=Muslim politics in modern India, 1857-1947 |date=1970 |publisher=Meenakshi Prakashan |page=114 |oclc=136880 |quote=This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed">{{cite web |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ishtiaq |title=The dissenters |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-dissenters/ |work=[[The Friday Times]] |date=27 May 2016 |quote=However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People’s Party in 1934, which later came to be known as ‘Ittehad’ or ‘Unity Party’. ... Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League’s demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a ‘majority of India’s Muslims’. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women who also took part in the deliberations ... Shamsul Islam argues that the All-India Muslim League at times used intimidation and coercion to silence any opposition among Muslims to its demand for Partition. He calls such tactics of the Muslim League a ‘Reign of Terror’. He gives examples from all over India including the NWFP where the Khudai Khidmatgars remain opposed to the Partition of India. |access-date=13 February 2019 |archive-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322163216/https://www.thefridaytimes.com/the-dissenters/ |url-status=live }}</ref>