In August 1947, from the window of a Dakota aircraft, he reportedly watched endless columns of men, women and children making their way along dusty roads. From thousands of feet above the fractured landscape of Punjab, Muhammad Ali Jinnah saw the human cost of Partition unfold beneath him.
Nayar wrote that Jinnah was flown over divided Punjab by Pakistan’s rehabilitation minister Iftikhar-ud-din and Pakistan Times editor Mazhar Ali Khan. Both reportedly decided not to repeat Jinnah’s words. The Partition of British India was not caused by one decision or one leader. It followed decades of political disagreements, British policies, communal tensions and the growing rivalry between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League. At the centre of the demand for Pakistan stood Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League. But Jinnah had not always demanded a separate country. Jinnah initially supported Hindu-Muslim cooperation and worked with both Congress and the Muslim League. There were also periods of cooperation.
The 1916 Lucknow Pact brought Congress and the Muslim League together on constitutional demands.
The sight deeply affected Jinnah, according to an account recorded by veteran journalist and author Kuldip Nayar in his autobiography Beyond the Lines. “What have I done?” the Pakistan founder reportedly struck his forehead and said in despair as he looked down at the streams of displaced people. Mazhar later told his wife, Tahira, who eventually shared the account with Nayar. “When he saw streams of people pouring into Pakistan or fleeing it, he struck his hand on the forehead and said despairingly: ‘What have I done?’” Nayar wrote.
Congress and the Muslim League initially accepted the proposal but disagreed over how the provinces would be grouped and how much power the central government would have.
The provincial elections of 1937 became an important turning point. That did not last. Congress was the dominant political force in several provinces, while the Muslim League did not perform as strongly as Jinnah expected.
