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The Pakistan Movement was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the perceived need for self-determination for Muslims under British rule at the time. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a barrister and politician led this movement after the Lahore Resolution was passed by All-India Muslim League on 23 March 1940.
The Aligarh Movement, under the leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, was instrumental in establishing a base for the Pakistan Movement, and later providing the newly formed country with its ruling elite.[1] Soon thereafter, the All-India Muslim League was formed, which perhaps marked the beginning of the Pakistan Movement.
Many of the top leadership of the movement were educated in Great Britain, with many of them educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. Many graduates of the University of Dhaka soon also joined.
The Pakistan Movement was a part of the Indian independence movement, but eventually it also sought to establish a new nation-state that protected the political interests of Muslims of British India.[2] Urdu poets such as Iqbal and Faiz used literature, poetry and speech as a powerful tool for political awareness.[3][4] Iqbal is called the spiritual father of this movement.[5] The role of Ulama in strengthening this movement divided into two groups. One (Madani Group) was convinced by Composite nationalism. But the other (Thanwi Group) played a significant role in this Movement.[6] Acknowledging the services of these ulema, Shabbir Ahmad Usmani was honoured to raise the flag of Pakistan in Karachi and Zafar Ahmad Usmani, in Dhaka.[7]A group of Ulama, led by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, formed the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and gave their support to the movement for an independent Pakistan.[8]
Despite political obstacles and social difficulties, the movement was successful in culminating Pakistan on 14 August 1947, which also resulted in partition of India and the creation of two separate states. Land boundaries and population demographics of West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan), East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India are among the primary achievements of the Pakistan Movement. [9]
The university that [Sir Sayyid] founded in the town of Aligarh ... not only provided the Pakistan movement with its leadership but, later, also provided the new country of Pakistan with its first ruling elite ... Aligarh College made it possible for the Muslims to discover a new political identity: Being a Muslim came to have a political connotation-a connotation that was to lead this Indian Muslim community inexorably toward acceptance of the 'two-nation theory'