On 5 April 1947, Viceroy Lord Mountbatten met Jinnah for the first time. Jinnah's attitude seemed cold, rude and disobedient to him. The next evening Mountbatten-Edwina invited Jinnah for dinner with her sister Fatima. Asked what is the solution? Jinnah was blunt, “Only surgical operation will be done otherwise India will be destroyed.” Mountbatten said that anesthesia has to be given before the operation. I haven't made up my mind yet. Jinnah kept repeating stories of mistreatment of Muslims and allegations against Congress leaders. His emphasis was on the fact that talks should be held on behalf of Muslims and only with them. Mr. Gandhi himself has admitted that he does not represent anyone.
They met again on 7 and 8 April. Mountbatten asked Jinnah to put him in his place and suggest a solution. Jinnah once again described the creation of Pakistan as the only option. Jinnah repeated his old arguments in favor of Pakistan. Mountbatten said that if partition takes place, Punjab and Bengal will also have to be divided.
Annoyed Jinnah said that you want to give a bit to Pakistan from here and there. Jinnah said that the plan of Congress is to divide Bengal and Punjab so that we get scared and give up the demand for Pakistan, but we are not afraid. In his three-hour meeting with Jinnah on 10 April, Mountbatten found that he could not present a single understandable argument in favor of Pakistan. Arguing with him was impossible. They don't seem to be listening to anything. He remained adamant on Pakistan's demand. However, this could have caused irreparable harm to Muslims.
Jinnah seems to be a victim of mental illness
After meeting Jinnah, Mountbatten wrote about him that there can be a person who has no sense of responsibility but still has so much power in his hands! Mountbatten told his staff, 'Jinnah appears to me to be a victim of mental illness'. Lord Ismay, who was present at some such meetings, wrote about Jinnah, 'The main aspect of Mr. Jinnah's mental structure was hatred and contempt for Hindus. It was obvious that he considered Hindus to be creatures degraded from human status, with whom it was impossible for Muslims to live.
Jinnah taught coordination to Indian Muslims
Opinions are divided on what Mountbatten was writing and saying about Jinnah or what was really in his mind. The truth that came out on June 3, 1947 was the creation of a new country Pakistan and approval of the partition of India. Jinnah had won. They were unconcerned with its price. His biggest argument in favor of Pakistan was that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together. But what would be the future of the large Muslim population which had to remain in India even after the creation of Pakistan? Muhammad Raza Khan, a prominent Muslim Leaguer, in his memoirs has given details of Jinnah's last meeting in India with Muslim members of the Central Assembly and League leaders in the last week of July 1947.
According to Raza, in a way, this was also Jinnah's farewell party. Many people expressed concern over the future of Muslims living in India and asked for his opinion. Jinnah was once again blunt, 'You will have to decide the path yourself in the new system and changed circumstances. But you have to be loyal to India, because you cannot ride two horses together.
Patel said, poison has been removed
On August 7, 1947, Jinnah flew to Karachi with his sister Fatima. Crowds had gathered at the airport and on both sides of the roads to welcome him. Climbing the stairs of the Victorian-style Sindh Governor's House, he said to Naval Lieutenant M.S. Ahsan, who had joined his staff, 'You would not know that I did not expect to see the creation of Pakistan in this life. We should be very thankful to God for reaching this destination.
On the other hand, the next day Sardar Patel was speaking in the Constituent Assembly of India, 'Poison has been removed from the body of India. Now we are one and cannot be divided, because you cannot divide the sea or the river water and as far as Muslims are concerned, their roots are here, their holy places and their centers are here. I don't know what will be done in Pakistan? The time is not far when they will return.
First divided and then taught the lesson of bridging the distance.
On August 11, in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Jinnah was saying that the whole world is surprised but it is true. There was no solution other than partition and otherwise it would have had disastrous consequences. Obviously Jinnah was hiding the truth. The riots were the poisonous consequences of the crop of hatred they had sown to achieve Pakistan.
The country was already suffering before partition in the form of massacre, looting and anarchy. Whatever happened after partition became one of the biggest tragedies in the history of humanity. Jinnah, who till yesterday taught the lesson of separating and dividing people, was saying today that if you people forget the past and do not think of enmity and work with mutual cooperation, then success will definitely be achieved.
Disillusionment with birth itself
What was the scene of the last gathering of the All India Muslim League in Karachi on 14-15 December, a few months after the creation of the Muslims in whose name Jinnah created a separate country? Jinnah did his duty. Of the three hundred delegates, 160 were from India. Like the country, the party was also divided. It was decided that now the Muslim Leagues of Pakistan and India will be separate parties. On this occasion, Jinnah said that the League has achieved Pakistan but it has achieved it for the people. The condition of Muslims was very bad.
Their condition was like that of a crowd. His morale was low. Maulana Jamal stood up and registered his protest, 'Pakistan, calling itself a Muslim state, is in no condition to feel proud. Un-Islamic things are happening from top to bottom. The behavior of ministers is not like that of Muslims. The poor cannot step into his house. Jinnah clarified, 'Right now we are just four months old. You know that people are ready to overthrow us.
Did Jinnah regret his stubbornness?
Did Jinnah have any regrets about the terrible tragedy? He always maintained silence on this question whether in public or in writing. Jinnah's personal secretary Khurshid had told the famous journalist Kuldeep Nayyar, 'One afternoon when Jinnah was having lunch with his sister Fatima and a young naval officer posted with him, the officer was very upset. His parents were killed on the way to Pakistan. He had asked Jinnah, Sir, did we do good by creating Pakistan?
After some silence, Jinnah said, “I don’t know, young man!” Only time will decide this. Nayyar has written in another context related to the same question, 'Pakistan's Rehabilitation Minister Iftikharuddin and Pakistan Times editor Mazhar Ali were taking an aerial tour of divided Punjab in a Dakota plane along with Jinnah.
Meanwhile, seeing the endless convoys of refugees from both sides, Jinnah had said with regret, 'What have I done?' Editor Mazhar had told this to his wife Tahira. Many years after her husband's death, Tahira had mentioned this to Kuldeep Nayyar.
Nizam Hyderabad's help to poor Pakistan
From the very beginning, Pakistan was struggling to meet its daily expenses. Due to his aggressive stance on Kashmir, the Government of India had stopped the payment of his share of Rs 55 crore deposited in the Reserve Bank. In Karachi, Jinnah told Jinnah's staunch disciple, Hyderabad-based financier Mir Laik Ali, who later became the Nizam's Prime Minister, that Pakistan needed immediate economic help. Every reasonable condition will be accepted. Deep connections came in handy through the system of likes.
Nizam Hyderabad bailed out Pakistan from the crisis by giving a loan of Rs. 20 crores. In the last week of October, Laik met Jinnah in Lahore. According to Like, he had never seen Jinnah getting emotional in his life. Jinnah asked him, did he see refugees on the way while coming from the airport? Obviously my answer was yes. After that, while mentioning the partition and the countless deaths and sufferings caused by it, tears rolled down his cheeks several times.
Spent most of his time as Governor General in illness
Jinnah may have managed to hide his life-threatening lung TB disease before Partition, but he spent a large part of his short tenure as Governor General of Pakistan in bed under the care of doctors. This disease had now taken the form of cancer. In his last days, he was kept at Ziarat, a Balochi hill station. Then it was found that the climate there was putting more pressure on his dilapidated lungs. On 11 September 1948, at 4.15 pm, his plane landed at the army's Mauripur air base. This was the same airport at which he had landed a year ago with the dream of a new Pakistan. At that time there was only crowd from there. Today there was only silence.
It was possible to transfer him to the ambulance only by stretcher. Sister Fatima was also with him. This ambulance stopped after traveling only four-five miles. The driver was entangled in the engine. Was giving assurance of recovery soon, but every moment was heavy. The rainy humidity of Bala and the attack of flies. Jinnah was not capable of removing the flies hovering over him. According to Fatima, she and Sister Dunham kept fanning him. Doctor Ilahi Baksh noticed that his pulse was becoming weak and irregular.
The doctor poured tea for her from the flask and gave it to Fatima. There were long rows of refugee huts nearby. Cars, buses and trucks were passing by, blaring their horns. No one knew that their Quaid-e-Azam was waiting for a proper ambulance in his last hours. He was taken to the Governor General House at 6.15 pm. Then he was in deep sleep. He whispered for the last time, Fati' Fatima ran faster. Doctors gave injections. All ineffective. At 10.20 pm, that Jinnah died, who will always remain as a villain in the memories and history of India.
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