Punjab Muslim League and Unionist Party Punjab.

In 1924, a secular political party of Punjab, the Punjab Unionist Party was formed to represent the interests and secure the rights of Punjab and Punjab's. Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, Sir Fazli Husain and Sir Chhotu Ram were the co-founders of the party. Although a majority of Unionists were Muslims, a large number of Hindus and Sikhs also supported and participated in the Unionist Party of Punjab.

In 1934, the Quaid-i-Azam returned to India with a new mission and a new vision to revive the Muslim League at center and provincial levels. However, the actual reorganization started in 1936 to contest the upcoming elections a year later.

According to Khurram Mahmood If we observe only Punjab as being a Muslim majority province, there was no support for the Muslim League, of any type from rural areas except some limited urban circles. Therefore, in order to secure the support of the Muslim masses, Jinnah comprehended that it was essential to reorganize PPML. Jinnah was much concerned about the future of League in Punjab, because being a Muslim majority province it held a significant position in his eyes. As far as the re-organization of the League was concerned, it was a long-term plan and could take several years, but the election was due shortly. Therefore, Jinnah decided to co-opt with Unionist Party. For him it was the best solution as a short cut to the successful rebirth of Punjab Muslim League.

He requested Fazl-i-Hussain President of Unionist Party to preside the AIML session at Bombay in April, 1936.

Like a shrewd politician, Fazl-i-Hussain declined the offer of Jinnah on account of his bad health and calculating the advantages and disadvantages of his alliance with a purely Muslim Party, Fazl-i-Husain refused to oblige Mr. Jinnah.

The Unionist Party leaders had decided to challenge the revival of the Punjab Muslim League and defeat Jinnah’s efforts to put a new life into it.

The Unionist Party was the in-charge of the corridors of the powers in the Punjab and therefore, their leaders were in the driving seats.

Private papers, letters and correspondence to and from the Unionist leaders indicated that they had made plans to keep the Punjab Muslim League out of politics and to keep the Punjab Muslims away from the activities of the Punjab Muslim League under the leadership of Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, who later became Punjab’s Chief Minister advised Jinnah to keep his finger 'out of Punjab pie' – ‘and if the meddles – Jinnah might burn his fingers’.

1937 Elections.

As anticipated, in the 1937 elections the Unionist party was able to win a heavy mandate of the Muslims of the Punjab. On the other hand the Punjab Muslim League was able to win only two seats in the Punjab Assembly. One of the winning candidates, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan deserted the PML as soon as the results were officially announced. The other winning candidate was an urban elite, brilliant and an academic lawyer Malik Barkat Ali.

Sir Fazl-i-Husain died in 1936, leaving the way clear for Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan to become the first Chief Minister of the Punjab under the newly introduced provincially autonomy under the act of 1935.

Sir Sikander was the strongest Chief Minister in India and getting the support of 120 out of 175 members of the Punjab Assembly. He laid the foundation of the strongest pro-government ministry in the Punjab.

Contrary to his expectations, the Congress party soon after resuming power in India made Sir Sikandar’s life extremely difficult in the Punjab. The Punjab Congress and their allies like the Khaksars, Majlis-e-Itihad-e-Millat and the Ahrars pooled their resources to give Sir Sikander a very tough opposition.

Sir Sikander and his party could no longer afford to be politically isolated therefore, he agreed to sign a pact with Jinnah called as Sikandar-Jinnah Pact, for some sort of alliance with the Punjab Muslim League, no matter how loose it may be.

Whatever be the reason, this helped the Muslim League to carve out a niche in Punjab but, the PML leaders like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Malik Barkat Ali, were not happy with this situation and began to send a catalogue of complaints to Jinnah against Sir Sikander alleging that the Punjab Premier had been hindering the growth the PML at all levels and both Barkat Ali and Iqbal also recommended the rupture of Sikandar-Jinnah alliance and punish the Punjab Premier.

Allama Iqbal died in 1938 and Sir Shahnawaz Mamdot who was a personal friend of Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, became the Punjab Muslim League leader. Sir Shahnawaz Mamdot due to his connections with the British administrators and also due to his friendship with Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan was not in favor of severing links with the Unionist party.

Moreover, it seems that Jinnah would have made his own calculations that at least for the time being, playing for time was the best policy in dealing with Sir Sikandar Hayat’s polices based on maintaining the status quo model in Punjab politics.

Quaid-i-Azam was a man of vision and farsightedness and he fully understood the limitations of the Punjab Muslim League analyzing that Allama Iqbal was a poet-philosopher and Barket Ali had personal grievances against Sikandar; and that putting undue pressure on Sir Sikandar Hayat was not in the best interest of the Punjab Muslim League.

The next biggest move by the Muslim League was passage of Lahore Resolution, in March 1940 which entailed the dismemberment of the Punjab and the division of India into Hindu and Muslim states.

The Lahore resolution created many problems for Sikander Hayat and his successor Khizr Hayat Tiwana. The cooperation between PML and the Unionist therefore did not last long.

Khizr Hayat was appointed Chief Minister of Punjab and he adopted anti-Muslim League policies, the alliance between the two parties came to an end. The Muslim supporters of Unionist party were therefore advised by the Muslim League to divorce themselves from the Unionist Party and join the Muslim League ranks as early as possible.

Thereafter, the Muslim supporters of the Unionist party were trickling towards the Muslim League. Some leading Sajjada Nasheens and Pirs joined the Muslim League and later on they appealed to the Muslims to support the Muslim League’s Pakistan Movement because by doing so they will be supporting the cause of Islam.

1946 Elections.

On August 21, 1945 the viceroy announced that elections would be held that Winter to the Central and Provincial Legislative Assemblies. They were to precede the convention of a constitution-making body for British India. The Muslim League had to succeed in this crucial test if its popular support of its demand for Pakistan was to be credible. In particular, it had to succeed in the Punjab as there could be no Pakistan without that province. But in the Punjab's last elections held in 1937 the League had fared disastrously. It had put forward a mere seven candidates for the 85 Muslim seats and only two had been successful. One of those candidates, Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan also deserted the Punjab Muslim League, so there was only one successful candidate of Punjab Muslim League.

On 23 February 1946, all the results of the elections were known and the Punjab Press reported with big headlines the crushing defeat of the Unionist party. Only 13 Muslims were elected on the Unionist ticket, even some of their minister lost their securities in the elections. The Muslim League won a grand victory by capturing 73 seats of a total of 86. Even at this stage, the Congress was all out to install a Unionist ministry in order to keep the Muslim League out of power.

The 1946 elections proved to be turning point in the history of the Punjab Muslim League. In the 1946 election campaign, the Muslim League was able to publicize it's views widely. It claimed that Islam was threatened by Congress. "Pirs" and "Sajjada Nashin" helped the Muslim League to attract Muslim voters. By early 1946, the Muslim League had been able to secure the support of many leading families of Punjab and also eminent Pirs and Sajjada Nasheens.

To give one example of his own area Khizr Hayat Tiwana faced strong opposition from the descendants of Pirs and sajjada Nashins. In district Shahpur, Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi, Qazi Zafar Hussain, and Qazi Mazhar Qayyum gave tough competition to Tiwanas. Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi of Sial Sharif, a descendant of the great pir Khawaja Sham-ud-Din was president of the District Shahpur Muslim League. He was very influential in his region. Likewise Qazis of Soon Valley and descendants of Sufi Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad commanded great respect in their areas. They appealed to their people to vote against Tiwanas. With regard to the exertion of religious influence over the people, the grandfather of Khizar Hayat Tiwana, Malik Sahib Khan could not compete with the great grandfather of Qazi Zafar Hussain, and Qazi Mazhar Qayyum, Qazi Kalim Allah, and their father Qazi Mian Muhammad Amjad. According to SARAH F. D. ANSARI, the Sajjada Nashin or Pir families were not so rich in terms of land as the great landlords of Punjab but these Sajjada Nashin or Pir families exerted great political and religious influence over the people.

According to Ayesha Jalal, David Gimartin believes that a number of pirs developed a personal stake in the League's election campaign; not because this was the most appropriate tactical response to the prospect of a British transfer of power, but because the pirs saw in the Pakistan movement an opportunity to break out of the colonial structures that had for so long thwarted their religious interests.

Pakistan came into being on 14 August 1947, "Pakistan would never have come into being", Talbot argues, "had the Unionist Party held on to the support of Muslim rural elites during the 1946 Punjab Provincial Assembly Election. The Muslim Landlords and Pirs joined the Muslim League before the 1946 election, without its victory in Punjab in that election", Talbot asserts, "the Muslim League would not have gotten Pakistan".

Penderel Moon simply attributes the League's rise to power to the alluring and irresistible appeal of the Pakistan cry to the Muslim masses. Peter Hardy's explained that the Muslim League gained its electoral success in the Punjab by making a religious appeal over the heads of the professional politicians. Pakistani historians have explained the League's success in the Punjab, as elsewhere in the subcontinent, solely in terms of the Two Nation Theory.

Whatever the historians may suggest, one thing is clear that League's success was due to the political vision, farsightedness of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a Grandmaster of the game by his cleverness and clever calculations.