REHMANI ASHFAQ
mediamanfrompk@gmail.com
The story of
injustices made and excesses and atrocities perpetrated on the freedom movement
stalwarts is awful as well as deplorable. Amongst many other heroes of Struggle
for Pakistan belonging to various districts two notable stalwarts of Pakistan
movement belonged to Jallandhar District {East Punjab}. Khalifa Imam Din
Baqa{settled in Gujranwala after the inception of Pakistan} was Secretary
Jallandhar District Muslim League. Khalifa Sahib’s close friend was Maulvi
Shamsul Haq. Khalifa Sahib was dedicated political worker and a forceful
public speaker and poet. Maulvi Shammi was an orator, journalist and poet. As a
work Khalifa Sahib,s services are unparallel. He invited the Quaid-e-Azam- in
Jallandhar and gave a resounding reception to the Quaid in 1942. He worked day
and night in April 1937 to make this success of Malik Barkat Ali possible as
M.P Punjab Assembly. After partition he stayed in the refugee camp Jallandhar
Cantt, for six months for the evacuation of refugees to Pakistan He was a poor
primary school teacher. In Gujranwala he did not grab any evacuee property. He
lived a miserable life and having fed up with the Muslim League leadership he
was forced to join the Awami League of Suharwardy. As a result of a
speech in Ayub was imprisoned under D.P.R. His life story is recorded by Prof
Sajjad Mirza in his book Baqa-i-Dawam.
After migrating
to Pakistan Maulvi Shamsul Haq settled in Faisalabad and launched his paper
Insaf. He criticized the district administration for neglecting the refuges
through his paper and fairy speeches. One day plain clothes men took him from
his hours. He never returned. He was the first missing journalist
after Partion.
After the
inception of Pakistan the crisis of governance gripped Pakistan Prime Minister
Liaquat Ali Khan combined the positions of President of the Muslim League and
Prime Minister in his person. The provincial Chief Ministers followed suit.
Mian Abdul Bari made protest. He was humiliated. Power struggle started between
the feudal and the bureaucracy. Government of India Act 1935 was adopted as the
constitution. Bureaucracy dominated the polity. An entire nation was made
a hostage. Bengalis were in majority. For nine years a democratic constitution
was not framed. Voices of protest from East Pakistan were gagged. Governor
General Ghulam Muhammad abrogated the constituent assembly in 1953 and
unceremoniously ousted the Bengali Prime Minister Kh. Nazim-ud-Din. East
Pakistan was made a colony of West Pakistan. All voices of protest were curbed.
Maulvi Tamiz-ud-Din Speaker lodged a writ in the Sindh High Court against the
undemocratic action of the G.M. The court nullified the action. Govt. went to
Supreme Court which under Justice Munir upheld the action of the Governor
General under law of necessity, which law became an instrument of oppression in
the hands of later Presidents and Military dictators. New elections were held
and at last the first democratic constitution was passed in 1956 which upheld
the principle of parity between the two wings in order to make the Hindu
population of East Pakistan ineffective. Earlier language protest in Dhaka was
suppressed with iron hand by the Punjabi and Urdu Speaking bureaucracy of East
Pakistan. Bengali Youth were discouraged entry into the Pakistan Army attaching
the stigma of non-martial race. Col, later self-styled General Iskandar Mirza
made a plaything of the politicians. He had sworn in as the first civilian
President. His ethnic origin was Bengali. He had plans to declare himself the
emperor of Pakistan. He was ousted from power by Military Dictator
Muhammad Ayub Khan in an exemplary, unceremonious way. Ayub Khan abrogated the
1956 Constitution and grabbed power on 27th October 1958.
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