The issues of Dawn of Aug 18 till Aug 24, 1947 were dominated by the announcement of the Radcliffe Commission award, setting the formal boundaries of the dominions of Pakistan and India, while communal violence, and efforts to quell it on both sides, also featured prominently on the pages. In more welcome news, the bureaucracy in the nascent state rolled up their sleeves to take up the task of nation-building — which remains a work in progress, mind you — while congratulations continued to pour in welcoming Pakistan to the comity of nations.
In the Aug 18 edition, the reaction in the lead story to the announcement of the Radcliffe Commission award was highly critical. “The decisions embodied in the reports very materially alter the boundaries as set forth provisionally under the national division and it is the Indian Union which gains all along the line at the expense of Pakistan.” In a related report, Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, the Communication Minister, acerbically termed it “a parting kick of the British”. Clearly, the founding fathers felt His Majesty’s government had pulled a fast one on Pakistan. Apparently, they were not wrong.
Aug 18’s lead editorial termed Sir Cyril Radcliffe’s decision “Territorial Murder”. As the editorial noted, the decision had come like a “bolt from the blue. They represent the award of only one man, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the Chairman [of the commission]. … The Muslim nation has been betrayed. … Pakistan has been cheated of large areas in the Punjab, Bengal and the district of Sylhet which … belonged to it.”
This was, in the words of the Quaid-i-Azam, a “moth-eaten Pakistan”.
Punjab disturbances
Communal bloodshed, particularly in Punjab, remained a major concern for both Pakistan and India. As the lead story on Aug 19 noted, there were “widespread massacres in the Eastern Punjab, particularly in the Amritsar district.”
So serious were matters that Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, and his Indian counterpart Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were briefed on the security situation by Sir Claude Auchinleck, who was supreme commander of both dominions at the time. The Quaid was also informed of the situation by the PM.
Taking care of business, UN application
But even in the midst of grave challenges, there was much work to be done. As the joy of living in a newly independent nation began to sink in, so did the gravity of the task of governing it.
Aug 19 was the first working day of the Pakistan government. The Aug 20 edition noted that “about 5,000 Officers, typists and assistants, turned up for work. All the files have not yet arrived from Delhi.” It added that “every means of conveyance was used” by the public servants of the new state to show up for duty; even “camel carts were not considered too undignified”.
Can you imagine today’s babus showing up for work in carts drawn by animals, or even worse, using public transport like the rest of us plebeians? Perish the thought. Nothing but the slickest, most expensive wheels for today’s ‘servants’ of the people.
Meanwhile, as the Aug 18 issue reported, Pakistan submitted its application to the United Nations. “The formal letter of application arrived from Karachi at United Nations Headquarters today [Aug 16]. Interestingly, the UN Legal Department had decided that while the “new Dominion of India would continue to be an original member state” of the UN, “Pakistan, as a new State, would have to apply for membership.”
Thankfully, Pakistan’s application was accepted in September 1947, with Afghanistan casting the sole vote against this country’s membership.
Pakistan greeted
In the days after independence, numerous heads of state wrote to the Quaid congratulating Pakistan on its birth. For example US President Harry S. Truman assured Pakistan of the “firm friendship and goodwill of the USA.” French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault described the raising of Pakistan “to the rank of the great free nations as a step of great importance for the whole world.”
Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (which had not yet been occupied by Israel) offered the “most sincere congratulations of your Palestinian brethren and their best wishes.” Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, took “great pleasure in extending our greetings” to Pakistan while the Iranian Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam said: “May Pakistan become a great bulwark of freedom, peace and brotherhood in Asia”.
Clearly, nations of the East and West had great expectations of Pakistan.
Dr Khan Sahib’s ministry
The Aug 23 issue contained a news item many current readers will find quite interesting, to say the least. As per a communique issued from Governor House Peshawar on Aug 22, “Dr Khan Sahib’s Ministry has today [Aug 22] been dismissed from office and the Governor has invited Khan Abdul Qayum Khan, Leader of the Opposition Muslim League Party in the NWFP Legislative Assembly to form a Ministry”.
Dr Khan Sahib was the brother of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the “Frontier Gandhi”, who famously did not see eye to eye with Pakistan’s founding fathers. Dr Khan Sahib’s Congress Ministry had taken office in March 1946, and had faced a civil disobedience movement.
An elected government in the NWFP (now KP) led by an opposition party was sent home by the centre at the birth of Pakistan. Sound familiar?
With the advantage of hindsight, one has the opportunity to study the historical cycles in a nation’s life. Thanks to this newspaper’s unique, extensive archive of back issues, one can examine the major political, economic and social trends that have shaped Pakistan and the world over the last seven decades and counting. Cliched as it may sound, history repeats itself, and we — as a state and as a polity — largely refuse to learn from it.
Through this platform, we will look back at the ‘big’ stories that made it to the front pages of Dawn, as well as significant developments tucked away in the inside pages, from the birth of Pakistan onwards, and try to put them in perspective. We will study the critical issues of the week, starting from Aug 14, 1947 and examine the major themes and issues that made it to the paper.