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Thehistory ofPakistan prior to itsindependence in 1947 spans severalmillennia and covers a vast geographical area known as the Greater Indus region.[1]Anatomically modern humans arrived in what is now Pakistan between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago.[2]Stone tools, dating as far back as 2.1 million years, have been discovered in theSoan Valley of northern Pakistan, indicating earlyhominid activity in the region.[3] The earliest known human remains in Pakistan are dated between 5000 BCE and 3000 BCE.[4] By around 7000 BCE, early human settlements began to emerge in Pakistan, leading to the development of urban centres such asMehrgarh, one of the oldest in human history.[5][6] By 4500 BCE, theIndus Valley Civilization evolved, which flourished between 2500 BCE and 1900 BCE along theIndus River.[7] The region that now constitutesPakistan served both as thecradle of a major ancient civilization and as a strategic gateway connectingSouth Asia withCentral Asia and theNear East.[8][9]
Situated on the first coastal migration route ofHomo sapiens out of Africa, the region was inhabited early by modern humans.[10][11] The 9,000-year history of village life in South Asia traces back to theNeolithic (7000–4300BCE) site of Mehrgarh in Pakistan,[12][13][14] and the 5,000-year history of urban life in South Asia to the various sites of theIndus Valley Civilization, includingMohenjo Daro andHarappa.[15][16]
Following the decline of the Indus valley civilization,Indo-Aryan tribes moved into thePunjab from Central Asia originally from thePontic-Caspian Steppe in severalwaves of migration in theVedic Period (1500–500 BCE), bringing with them came theirdistinctive religious traditions and Practices which fused with local culture.[17] The Indo-Aryans religious beliefs and practices from theBactria–Margiana culture and the native Harappan Indus beliefs of the former Indus Valley Civilisation eventually gave rise to Vedic culture and tribes.[18][note 1] Most notable among them wasGandhara civilization, which flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East, connectingtrade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse civilizations.[20] The initial early Vedic culture was a tribal,pastoral society centred in the Indus Valley, of what is today Pakistan. During this period theVedas, the oldestscriptures ofHinduism, were composed.[note 2]
The ensuing millennia saw the region of present-day Pakistan absorb many influences represented among others in the ancient, mainlyHindu-Buddhist, sites ofTaxila, andTakht-i-Bahi, the 14th-centuryIslamic-Sindhi monuments ofThatta, and the 17th-centuryMughal monuments ofLahore. In the first half of the 19th century, the region was appropriated by theEast India Company, followed, after 1857, by 90 years of directBritish rule, and ending with the creation of Pakistan in 1947, through the efforts, among others, of its future national poetAllama Iqbal and its founder,Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Since then, the country has experienced both civilian democratic and military rule, resulting in periods of significant economic and military growth as well as those of instability; significant during the latter, was the 1971secession ofEast Pakistan as the new nation ofBangladesh.[citation needed]
TheSoanian is archaeological culture of theLower Paleolithic,Acheulean. It is named after theSoan Valley in the Sivalik Hills, near modern-dayIslamabad and is dated between c.774,000 and c.11,700 BCE.[22]
Mehrgarh is an importantNeolithic site discovered in 1974, which shows early evidence of farming and herding,[23] and dentistry.[24] The site dates back to 7000–5500BCE and is located on the Kachi Plain ofBalochistan. The residents of Mehrgarh lived in mud brick houses, stored grain in granaries, fashioned tools fromcopper, cultivated barley, wheat,jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. As the civilization progressed (5500–2600 BCE) residents began to engage in crafts, includingflint knapping,tanning, bead production, andmetalworking. The site was occupied continuously until 2600 BCE,[25] when climatic changes began to occur. Between 2600 and 2000 BCE, region became more arid and Mehrgarh was abandoned in favor of the Indus Valley,[26] where anew civilization was in the early stages of development.[27]
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TheBronze Age in theIndus Valley began around 3300 BCE with the Indus Valley Civilization.[28] Along withAncient Egypt andMesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of theOld World, and of the three the most widespread,[29] covering an area of 1.25 million km2.[30] It flourished in the basins of theIndus River, in what is today the Pakistani provinces ofSindh,Punjab andBalochistan, and along a system of perennial, mostly monsoon-fed, rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the seasonalGhaggar-Hakra River in parts of north-west India.[28] At its peak, the civilization hosted a population of approximately 5 million spread across hundreds of settlements extending as far as theArabian Sea to present-day southern and easternAfghanistan, and theHimalayas.[31] Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving), and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
The Mature Indus civilisation flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning of urban civilisation in the Indus Valley. The civilisation included urban centres such asHarappa,Ganeriwala andMohenjo-daro as well as an offshoot called theKulli culture (2500–2000 BCE) in southern Balochistan and was noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multi-storeyed houses. It is thought to have had some kind of municipal organisation as well.
During thelate period of this civilisation, signs of agradual decline began to emerge, and by around 1700 BCE, most of the cities were abandoned. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation did not disappear suddenly, and some elements of the Indus Civilisation may have survived.Aridification of this region during the 3rd millennium BCE may have been the initial spur for the urbanisation associated with the civilisation, but eventually also reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise, and to scatter its population eastward. The civilization collapsed around 1700 BCE, though the reasons behind its fall are still unknown. Through the excavation of the Indus cities and analysis of town planning and seals, it has been inferred that the Civilization had high level of sophistication in its town planning, arts, crafts, and trade.[32]
The Vedic Period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE) is postulated to have formed during the 1500 BCE to 800 BCE. As Indo-Aryans migrated and settled into the Indus Valley, along with them came their distinctive religious traditions and practices which fused with local culture.[17] The Indo-Aryans religious beliefs and practices from theBactria–Margiana Culture and the native Harappan Indus beliefs of the former Indus Valley Civilisation eventually gave rise to Vedic culture and tribes.[33][note 3] EarlyIndo-Aryans were aLate Bronze Age society centred in thePunjab, organised into tribes rather than kingdoms, and primarily sustained by apastoral way of life. During this period theVedas, the oldestscriptures ofHinduism, were composed.[note 4]
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The main Vedic tribes remaining in theIndus Valley by 550 BC were theKamboja,Sindhu,Taksas of Gandhara, theMadras andKathas of theRiver Chenab,Mallas of theRiver Ravi andTugras of theRiver Sutlej. These several tribes and principalities fought against one another to such an extent that the Indus Valley no longer had one powerful Vedic tribal kingdom to defend against outsiders and to wield the warring tribes into one organized kingdom. KingPushkarasarin ofGandhara was engaged in power struggles against his local rivals and as such theKhyber Pass remained poorly defended.King Darius I of theAchaemenid Empire took advantage of the opportunity and planned for an invasion. The Indus Valley was fabled in Persia for its gold and fertile soil and conquering it had been a major objective of his predecessorCyrus the Great.[34] In 542 BC, Cyrus had led his army and conquered the Makran coast in southernBalochistan. However, he is known to have campaigned beyond Makran (in the regions ofKalat,Khuzdar andPanjgur) and lost most of his army in theGedrosian Desert (speculated today as theKharan Desert).
In 518 BC, Darius led his army through the Khyber Pass and southwards in stages, eventually reaching theArabian Sea coast in Sindh by 516 BC. Under Persian rule, a system of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time, establishing severalsatrapies:Gandāra around the general region of Gandhara,Hindush around Punjab and Sindh,Arachosia, encompassing parts of present-dayKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, andBalochistan,[35]Sattagydia around theBannu basin,[36] andGedrosia covering much of theMakran region of southern Balochistan.[37]
What is known about the easternmost satraps and borderlands of the Achaemenid Empire is alluded to in theDarius inscriptions and from Greek sources such as theHistories ofHerodotus and the laterAlexander Chronicles (Arrian, Strabo et al.). These sources list three Indus Valley tributaries or conquered territories that were subordinated to the Persian Empire and made to pay tributes to the Persian Kings.[36]
By spring of 326 BC, Alexander began on his Indus expedition from Bactria, leaving behind 3500 horses and 10,000 soldiers. He divided his army into two groups. The larger force would enter the Indus Valley through the Khyber Pass, just as Darius had done 200 years earlier, while a smaller force under the personal command of Alexander entered through a northern route, possibly throughBroghol orDorah Pass nearChitral. Alexander was commanding a group of shield-bearing guards, foot-companions, archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and led them against the tribes of the former Gandhara satrapy.
The first tribe they encountered were theAspasioi tribe of theKunar Valley, who initiated a fierce battle against Alexander, in which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart. However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000 people were enslaved. Alexander then continued in a southwestern direction where he encountered theAssakenoi tribe of theSwat andBuner valleys in April 326 BC. The Assakenoi fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to Alexander and his army in the cities of Ora, Bazira (Barikot) and Massaga. So enraged was Alexander about the resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed the entire population of Massaga and reduced its buildings to rubble – similar slaughters followed in Ora.[38] A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi. The stories of these slaughters reached numerous Assakenians, who began fleeing to Aornos, a hill-fort located betweenShangla andKohistan. Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually capturing and destroying the fort and killing everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes either surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe ofPushkalavati (Charsadda) were quickly neutralized where 38,000 soldiers and 230,000 oxen were captured by Alexander.[39] Eventually Alexander's smaller force would meet with the larger force which had come through the Khyber Pass met atAttock. With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to strengthening his military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over theHindu Kush back toBalkh in Bactria.
After conquering Gandhara and solidifying his supply line back to Bactria, Alexander combined his forces with the King Ambhi of Taxila and crossed the River Indus in July 326 BC to begin the Archosia (Punjab) campaign. His first resistance would come at theRiver Jhelum nearBhera against KingPorus of thePaurava tribe. The famousBattle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) between Alexander (with Ambhi) and Porus would be the last major battle fought by him. After defeating Porus, his battle weary troops refused to advance into India[40] to engage the army ofNanda Dynasty and its vanguard of trampling elephants. Alexander, therefore proceeded south-west along the Indus Valley.[41] Along the way, he engaged in several battles with smaller kingdoms inMultan andSindh, before marching his army westward across theMakran desert towards what is nowIran. In crossing the desert, Alexander's army took enormous casualties from hunger and thirst, but fought no human enemy. They encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi, primitive people who lived on the Makran coast, who had matted hair, no fire, no metal, no clothes, lived in huts made of whale bones, and ate raw seafood.
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensiveIron Agehistorical power inSouth Asia based inMagadha, having been founded byChandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE.[43] The Maurya Empire was centralized by the conquest of theIndo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was located atPataliputra (modernPatna). Outside this imperial centre, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty of military commanders who controlled the armed cities sprinkling it.[44][45][46] DuringAshoka's rule (ca. 268–232 BCE) the empire briefly controlled the major urban hubs and arteries of theIndian subcontinent excepting the deep south.[43] It declined for about 50 years after Ashoka's rule, and dissolved in 185 BCE with the assassination of Brihadratha byPushyamitra Shunga and foundation of theShunga Empire in Magadha.
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army, with the assistance ofChanakya, author ofArthasastra,[47] and overthrew theNanda Empire inc. 322 BCE. Chandragupta rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India by conquering thesatraps left byAlexander the Great, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied northwestern India.[48] The Mauryan Empire then defeatedSeleucus I, adiadochus and founder of theSeleucid Empire, during theSeleucid–Mauryan war, thus acquiring territory west of the Indus River.[49][50]
Under the Mauryas, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities thrived and expanded across South Asia due to the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Maurya dynasty built a precursor of theGrand Trunk Road from Patliputra to Taxila.[51] After theKalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of centralized rule under Ashoka. Ashoka's embrace ofBuddhism and sponsorship of Buddhist missionaries allowed for the expansion of that faith intoSri Lanka, northwest India, and Central Asia.[52]
The population of South Asia during the Mauryan period has been estimated to be between 15 and 30 million.[53] The empire's period of dominion was marked by exceptional creativity in art, architecture, inscriptions and produced texts.[54]
The Indo-GreekMenander I (reigned 155–130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out ofGandhara and beyond theHindu Kush, becoming king shortly after his victory. His territories coveredPanjshir andKapisa in modern Afghanistan and extended to thePunjab region, with many tributaries to the south and east, possibly as far asMathura. The capitalSagala (modernSialkot) prospered greatly under Menander's rule and Menander is one of the few Bactrian kings mentioned by Greek authors.[57]
The classicalBuddhist textMilinda Pañha praises Menander, saying there was "none equal to Milinda in all India".[58] His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king,Strato II, disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian kingHeliocles, son of Eucratides, fled from theYuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of theJhelum River. The last known Indo-Greek ruler wasTheodamas, from theBajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a 1st-century CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription"Su Theodamasa" ("Su" was the Greek transliteration of theKushan royal title"Shau" ("Shah" or "King")). Various petty kings ruled into the early 1st century CE, until the conquests by theScythians,Parthians and the Yuezhi, who founded the Kushan dynasty.
It is during this period that the fusion of Hellenistic and Asiatic mythological, artistic and religious elements becomes most apparent, especially in the region of Gandhara, straddling western Pakistan and southern Afghanistan. Detailed, humanistic representations of the Buddha begin to emerge, depicting the figure with a close resemblance to the Hellenic god Apollo; Greek mythological motifs such as centaurs, Bacchanalian scenes, Nereids and deities such as Tyche and Heracles are prominent in the Buddhistic art of ancient Pakistan and Afghanistan.[citation needed]
TheIndo-Scythians were descended from theSakas (Scythians) who migrated from southern Central Asia intoPakistan andArachosia from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Scythians were defeated by the south Indian EmperorGautamiputra Satakarni of theSatavahana dynasty.[59][60] Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed byChandragupta II of theGupta Empire from eastern India in the 4th century.[61]
TheIndo-Parthian Kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its eponymous first rulerGondophares. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan,[63] and northwesternIndia, during or slightly before the 1st century AD. For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings heldTaxila (in the presentPunjab province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted betweenKabul andPeshawar. These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by theArsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups ofIranic tribes who lived east ofParthia proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the titleGondophares, which means "Holder of Glory", were even related. Christian writings claim that the ApostleSaint Thomas – an architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of kingGondophares, had built a palace for the king at Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before leaving forIndus Valley in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reachMalabar Coast.
TheKushan Empire expanded out of what is now Afghanistan into the northwest of the subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor,Kujula Kadphises, about the middle of the 1st century CE. They were descended from an Indo-European, Central Asian people called theYuezhi,[69][70] a branch of which was known as the Kushans. By the time of his grandson,Kanishka the Great, the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan[71] and the northern parts of theIndian subcontinent at least as far asSaketa andSarnath nearVaranasi (Benares).[72]
Emperor Kanishka was a great patron ofBuddhism; however, as Kushans expanded southward, the deities[73] of their later coinage came to reflect its newHindu majority.[74] The monumental Kanishka stupa is believed to have been established by the king near the outskirts of modern-day Peshawar, Pakistan.
The Kushan dynasty played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in India and its spread to Central Asia and China. HistorianVincent Smith said about Kanishka in particular:
He played the part of a second Ashoka in the history of Buddhism.[75]
The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of theSilk Road through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China andRome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossomingGandharan Art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule.
H.G. Rowlinson commented:
The Kushan period is a fitting prelude to the Age of the Guptas.[76]
By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor wasVasudeva I.[77][78]
The Alchon Empire was the third of four majorHuna states established in Central and South Asia. The Alchon were preceded by theKidarites and succeeded by theHephthalites inBactria and theNezak Huns in theHindu Kush. The names of the Alchon kings are known from their extensive coinage, Buddhist accounts, and a number of commemorative inscriptions throughout the Indian subcontinent.Toramana's sonMihirakula, aSaivite Hindu, moved up to nearPataliputra to the east andGwalior to central India.Hiuen Tsiang narrates Mihirakula's merciless persecution of Buddhists and destruction of monasteries, though the description is disputed as far as the authenticity is concerned.[79] The Alchons have long been considered as a part or a sub-division of theHephthalites, or as their eastern branch, but now tend to be considered as a separate entity.[80][81][82] The Huns were defeated by the alliance of Indian rulers,Maharaja (Great King)Yasodharman of Malwa and Gupta EmperorNarasimhagupta in the 6th century. Some of them were driven out of India and others were assimilated in the Indian society.[83]
After conquering theMiddle East from theByzantine Empire and theSasanian Empire, theRashidun Caliphate reached the coastal region ofMakran in present-day Balochistan. In 643, the second caliphUmar (r. 634–644) ordered an invasion of Makran against theRai dynasty. Following theRashidun capture of Makran, Umar restricted the army to not pass beyond and consolidated his position in Makran.[84] During the reign of the fourth caliphAli (r. 656–661), the Rashidun army conquered the town ofKalat in the heart of Balochistan.[85]During the reign of the sixth Umayyad caliphal-Walid I (r. 705–715), the Arab military generalMuhammad ibn al-Qasim commanded the Umayyad incursion intoSindh. In 712, he defeated the army of the HindumaharajaDahir of Aror (r. 695–712) and established the caliphal province ofSind. The historic town ofal-Mansura was administered as the capital of the province. Afterward, Ibn al-Qasim proceeded to conquerMultan, which subsequently became a prominent centre of Islamic culture and trading. In 747, the anti-Umayyad rebelMansur ibn Jumhur al-Kalbi seized Sind and was defeated byMusa ibn Ka'b al-Tamimi of the succeedingAbbasid Caliphate. In the 9th-century, Abbasid authority gradually declined in Sind and Multan. The tenth Abbasid caliphal-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) assigned the governorship of Sind to Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Habbari, who founded the hereditaryHabbarid dynasty and became the autonomous ruler of Sind in 854. Around the same time, the Banu Munnabih established theEmirate of Multan while Ma'danids reigned overSultanate of Makran. There was gradual conversion toIslam in the south, especially amongst the native Hindu and Buddhist majority, but in areas north of Multan, Hindus and Buddhists remained numerous.[86] By the end of the 10th century CE, the region was ruled by severalHindu kings.
TheZutt Rebellion was an uprising by the Zutt tribe, who were originally from theIndus Valley region in modern-dayPakistan.[87][88][89] The tribe, part of theJat group, had migrated to the region ofMesopotamia (modern-dayIraq) centuries before the rebellion. Over time, the Zutt became mercenaries for the Ummayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, settling in southern Iraq and forming the Banu Zutt or Az-Zutt tribe.
The rebellion began around 810, when Yusuf ibn Zutt, a leader of the tribe, challenged theAbbasid Caliphate and established semi-independent control over the marshlands of southern Iraq, including important areas likeKufa andBasra. The rebellion disrupted resource supplies toBaghdad, putting theAbbasid Caliphate in jeopardy. For years, the Zutt were successful in their raids, causing heavy damage to Abbasid forces and leaders. Their actions contributed heavily to the weakening of the Abbasid Empire, with their guerrilla tactics and raids advancing deep into Abbasid territory, further destabilizing the region.[90]
The rebellion continued to cause turmoil until 835, when the Abbasid Caliphate, under Caliph al-Mu'tasim, managed to suppress the uprising. However, this was no easy feat, as the Zutt's continued resistance disrupted the central authority for years.[91]
The rebellion was led byMuhammad ibn Uthman after Yusuf ibn Zutt, and the Zutt continued to control parts of southern Iraq, employing guerrilla tactics in the marshes. However, the Abbasids eventually managed to quash the resistance by deploying specialized forces that neutralized the Zutt's ability to conduct raids, leading to the collapse of their semi-independent state.[92][91]
Following the defeat of the Zutt, the Abbasid Caliphate dispersed the tribe to prevent future uprisings, and their influence in the region diminished. Despite their loss,Muhammad ibn Uthman retained his position as a leader but with reduced power.[93][94][95]
TheTurk Shahis ruled Gandhara from the decline of theKushan Empire in the 3rd century until 870, when they were overthrown by theHindu Shahis. The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people ofOddiyana in Gandhara.[96][97]
The first king Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura from Kabul, in the modern village ofHund for its new capital.[98][99][100][101] At its zenith, the kingdom stretched over theKabul Valley,Gandhara and westernPunjab underJayapala.[102] Jayapala saw a danger in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city ofGhazni both in the reign ofSebuktigin and in that of his sonMahmud, which initiated theMuslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles.[103] Sebuk Tigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity.[103] Jayapala defaulted on the payment and took to the battlefield once more.[103] Jayapala however, lost control of the entire region between theKabul Valley andIndus River.[104]
However, the army was defeated in battle against the western forces, particularly against the Mahmud of Ghazni.[104] In the year 1001, soon after Sultan Mahmud came to power and was occupied with theQarakhanids north of theHindu Kush, Jaipalattacked Ghazni once more and upon suffering yet another defeat by the powerful Ghaznavid forces, near present-dayPeshawar. After theBattle of Peshawar, he died because of regretting as his subjects brought disaster and disgrace to the Shahi dynasty.[103][104]
Jayapala was succeeded by his sonAnandapala,[103] who along with other succeeding generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various unsuccessful campaigns against the advancing Ghaznvids but were unsuccessful. The Hindu rulers eventually exiled themselves to theKashmirSiwalik Hills.[104]
In 997 CE, the Turkic rulerMahmud of Ghazni, took over theGhaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sebuktegin, a Turkic origin ruler. Starting from the city ofGhazni (now inAfghanistan), Mehmood conquered the bulk ofKhorasan, marched onPeshawar against the Hindu Shahis inKabul in 1005, and followed it by the conquests ofPunjab (1007), deposed theShiaIsmaili rulers ofMultan, (1011), Kashmir (1015) and Qanoch (1017). By the end of his reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire briefly extended fromKurdistan in the west to theYamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187. Contemporary historians such asAbolfazl Beyhaqi andFerdowsi described extensive building work inLahore, as well as Mahmud's support and patronage of learning, literature and the arts.
Mahmud's successors, known as theGhaznavids, ruled for 157 years. Their kingdom gradually shrank in size, and was racked by bitter succession struggles. The HinduRajput kingdoms of western India reconquered theeastern Punjab, and by the 1160s, the line of demarcation between the Ghaznavid state and theHindu kingdoms approximated to the present-day boundary between India and Pakistan. TheGhurid Empire of central Afghanistan occupiedGhazni around 1160, and the Ghaznavid capital was shifted toLahore. Later Muhammad Ghori conquered the Ghaznavid kingdom, occupying Lahore in 1187.[citation needed]
The Ghaznavids under eitherKhusrau Shah or his sonKhusrau Malik lost their control overGhazni to theGhuzz Turks along with some other territories. In the 1170s,Ghurid princeMuhammad of Ghor raided their territory and captured Ghazni from them and was crowned there by his brotherGhiyath al-Din Muhammad in 1173. Muhammad of Ghor marched fromGomal Pass into Pakistan and captured Multan and Uch before being rebuffed by Gujarat'sHinduChaulukya (Solanki) rulers, which forced him to press upon the trumbling Ghaznavids. By 1186–87, hedeposed the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik, bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid empire. The Ghurids were overthrown in 1215, although their conquests in the Indian Subcontinent survived for several centuries under theDelhi Sultanate established by the Ghurid MamlukQutb ud-Din Aibak.
The Turkic originMamluk Dynasty, seized the throne of the Sultanate in 1211. Several dynasties ruled their empires from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211–90), theKhalji (1290–1320), theTughlaq (1320–1413), theSayyid (1414–1451) and theLodhi (1451–1526).[115] Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi, almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule of these large sultanates.
The sultans (emperors) of Delhi enjoyed cordial relations with rulers in theNear East but owed them no allegiance. While the sultans ruled from urban centres, their military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei for many towns that sprang up in the countryside. Close interaction with local populations led to cultural exchange and the resulting "Indo-Islamic" fusion has left a lasting imprint and legacy in South Asian architecture, music, literature, life style and religious customs. In addition, the language ofUrdu (literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various Turkic dialects, but more likely "city" in the South Asian context) was born during the Delhi Sultanate period, as a result of the mingling of speakers of nativePrakrits,Persian,Turkish andArabic languages.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Sultanate was its temporary success in insulating South Asia from theMongol invasion from Central Asia in the 13th century; nonetheless the sultans eventually lost western Pakistan to theMongols (see theIlkhanate dynasty). The Sultanate declined after the invasion of EmperorTimur, who founded theTimurid Empire, and was eventually conquered in 1526 by theMughal EmperorBabar.
The Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal Empire attractedMuslim refugees, nobles, technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, artisans, teachers, poets, artists, theologians andSufis from the rest of theMuslim world and they migrated and settled in the South Asia. During the reign ofSultan Ghyasuddin Balban (1266–1286) thousands of Central Asian Muslims sought asylum including more than 15 sovereigns and their nobles due to theMongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran. At the court ofSultan Iltemish in Delhi the first wave of these Muslim refugees escaping from the Central Asiangenocide by theMongol armies ofGenghis Khan, brought administrators fromIran, painters from China, theologians fromSamarkand,Nishapur andBukhara, divines and saints from the rest of Muslim world, craftsmen and men and maidens from every region, notably doctors adept in Greek medicine and philosophers from everywhere.
TheSoomra dynasty was a local Sindhi Muslim dynasty that ruled between the early 11th century and the 14th century.[116][117][118]
Later chroniclers likeAli ibn al-Athir (c. late 12th c.) andIbn Khaldun (c. late 14th c.) attributed the fall of Habbarids to Mahmud of Ghazni, lending credence to the argument of Hafif being the last Habbarid.[119] The Soomras appear to have established themselves as a regional power in this power vacuum.[119][120]
TheGhurids andGhaznavids continued to rule parts of Sindh, across the eleventh and early twelfth century, alongside Soomrus.[119] The precise delineations are not yet known but Sommrus were probably centred in lower Sindh.[119]
Some of them were adherents ofIsma'ilism.[120] One of their kings Shimuddin Chamisar had submitted toIltutmish, theSultan of Delhi, and was allowed to continue on as a vassal.[121]
TheSamma dynasty was a Sindhi dynasty that ruled inSindh, and parts ofKutch,Punjab andBalochistan fromc. 1351 toc. 1524 CE, with their capital atThatta.[123][124][125]
TheSammas overthrew the Soomra dynasty soon after 1335 and the last Soomra ruler took shelter with the governor ofGujarat, under the protection ofMuhammad bin Tughluq, thesultan of Delhi. Mohammad bin Tughlaq made an expedition against Sindh in 1351 and died at Sondha, possibly in an attempt to restore the Soomras. With this, the Sammas became independent. The next sultan,Firuz Shah Tughlaq attacked Sindh in 1365 and 1367, unsuccessfully, but with reinforcements fromDelhi he later obtained Banbhiniyo's surrender. For a period the Sammas were therefore subject to Delhi again. Later, as the Sultanate of Delhi collapsed they became fully independent.[126] Jam Unar was the founder of Samma dynasty mentioned byIbn Battuta.[126]
The Samma civilization contributed significantly to the evolution of theIndo-Islamic architectural style. Thatta is famous for its necropolis, which covers 10 square km on theMakli Hill.[127] It has left its mark in Sindh with magnificent structures including theMakli Necropolis of its royals in Thatta.[123][128]
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In 1526,Babur, aTimurid descendant ofTimur andGenghis Khan fromFergana Valley (modern-dayUzbekistan), swept across theKhyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire, covering parts of modern-day eastern- Afghanistan, much of what is now Pakistan, parts of India and Bangladesh.[130] The Mughals were descended from Central AsianTurks (with significantMongol admixture).
However, his son and successorHumayun was defeated bySher Shah Suri ofSasaram, in the year 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat toKabul. After Sher Shah died, his sonIslam Shah Suri became the ruler, on whose death his prime minister,Hemu ascended the throne and ruled North India from Delhi for one month. He was defeated by EmperorAkbar's forces in theSecond Battle of Panipat on 6 November 1556.
Akbar, was both a capable ruler and an early proponent of religious and ethnic tolerance and favoured an early form ofmulticulturalism. For example, he declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jainism and rolled back thejizya tax imposed upon non-Islamic mainly Hindu people. The Mughal dynasty ruled most of the South Asia by 1600. The Mughal emperors married local royalty and allied themselves with localmaharajas. Akbar was succeeded byJahangir who was succeeded byShah Jahan. Shah Jahan was replaced by Aurangzeb following the Mughal war of succession (1658–1659).
After the death ofAurangzeb in 1707, different regions of modern Pakistan and India began asserting independence. The empire went into a rapid decline and by about 1720 only really controlled a small region around Delhi. The emperors continued have lip service paid to them as "Emperor of India" by the other powers in South Asia until the British finally abolished the empire in 1858.
For a short time in the late 16th century,Lahore was the capital of the empire. The architectural legacy of the Mughals includes theLahore Fort,Wazir Khan Mosque,Shalimar Gardens,Tomb of Jahangir,Tomb of Nur Jahan,Akbari Sarai,Hiran Minar,Shah Jahan Mosque and theBadshahi Mosque.[129] The Mughal Empire had a great impact on the culture, cuisine, and architecture of Pakistan.
By early 18th century, the Mughal empire declined. In 1749, the Mughals were induced to cedeSindh, thePunjab region and the important transIndus River toAhmad Shah Durrani in order to save his capital from Afghan attack.[131] Ahmad Shah sacked Delhi in 1757 but permitted the Mughal dynasty to remain in nominal control of the city as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad Shah's suzerainty over Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. Leaving his second sonTimur Shah to safeguard his interests, Ahmad Shah left India to return to Afghanistan.
In 1751–52,Ahamdiya treaty was signed between theMarathas andMughals, whenBalaji Bajirao was thePeshwa.[132] Through this treaty, the Marathas controlled whole of India from their capital atPune and the Mughal rule was restricted only to Delhi (the Mughals remained the nominal heads of Delhi). Marathas were now straining to expand their area of control towards the Northwest of India. Ahmad Shah sacked the Mughal capital and withdrew with the booty he coveted. To counter the Afghans, Peshwa Balaji Bajirao sentRaghunathrao. He defeated the Rohillas and Afghan garrisons in Punjab and succeeded in ousting Timur Shah and his court from India and brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on the Indian side of Attock under Maratha rule.[133] Thus, upon his return to Kandahar in 1757, Ahmad was forced to return to India and face the Maratha Confederacy.
In 1758, theMaratha Empire's generalRaghunath Rao attacked and conqueredPunjab, frontier regions andKashmir and drove outTimur Shah Durrani, the son and viceroy of Ahmad Shah Abdali. In 1759, the Marathas and its allies won the Battle of Lahore, defeating the Durranis,[134][135] hence,Lahore,Dera Ghazi Khan,Multan,Peshawar, Kashmir, and other subahs on the south eastern side of Afghanistan's border fell under the Maratha rule.[136]
Ahmad Shah declared ajihad (or Islamic holy war) against theMarathas, and warriors from various Afghan tribes joined his army. Early skirmishes were followed by decisive victory for the Afghans against the much larger Maratha garrisons in Northwest India and by 1759 Ahmad Shah and his army reached Lahore and were poised to confront the Marathas. By 1760, the Maratha groups had coalesced into a big enough army under the command ofSadashivrao Bhau. Once again,Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761), fought between largely Muslim and largely Hindu armies was waged along a twelve-kilometer front. Although the Durrani's army decisively defeated the Marathas, they suffered heavily in the battle.
The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah's—and Afghan—power. However, even prior to his death, the empire began to face challenges in the form of a rising Sikhs in Punjab. In 1762, Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to subdue theSikhs. From this time and on, the domination and control of the Empire began to loosen, and by the time of Durrani's death he had completely lost Punjab to the Sikhs, as well as earlier losses of northern territories to the Uzbeks, necessitating a compromise with them.[137]
Guru Nanak (29 November 1469 – 22 September 1539),Sikhism's founder, was born into aHinduKhatri family in the village ofRāi Bhōi dī Talwandī (present dayNankana, nearSial in modern-day Pakistan). He was an influential religious and social reformer innorth India and the saintly founder of a modernmonotheistic order and first of the ten divineGurus ofSikh religion. At the age of 70, he died atKartarpur,Punjab of modern-day Pakistan.
TheSikh Empire (1799–1849) was formed on the foundations of theSikh Khalsa Army byMaharaja Ranjit Singh who was proclaimed "Sarkar-i-Khalsa", and was referred to as the "Maharaja of Lahore".[138] It consisted of a collection of autonomousPunjabiMisls, which were governed by Misldars,[139] mainly in thePunjab region. The empire extended from theKhyber Pass in the west, toKashmir in the north, toMultan in the south andKapurthala in the east. The main geographical footprint of the empire was the Punjab region. The formation of the empire was a watershed and represented formidable consolidation of Sikh military power and resurgence of local culture, which had been dominated for hundreds of years by Indo-Afghan and Indo-Mughal hybrid cultures.
The foundations of the Sikh Empire, during the time of the Sikh Khalsa Army, could be defined as early as 1707, starting from the death ofAurangzeb. The fall of the Mughal Empire provided opportunities for the Sikh army to lead expeditions against theMughals andPashtuns. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different Sikh armies and then semi-independent "misls". Each of these component armies were known as amisl, each controlling different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762 to 1799,Sikh rulers of their misls appeared to be coming into their own. The formal start of the Sikh Empire began with the disbandment of theSikh Khalsa Army by the time of coronation ofRanjit Singh in 1801, creating a unified political state. All the misl leaders who were affiliated with the Army were from Punjab's nobility.[139]
None of the territory of modern Pakistan was ruled by the British, or other European powers, until 1839, whenKarachi, then a small fishing village with a mud fort guarding the harbour, wastaken, and held as an enclave with a port andmilitary base for theFirst Afghan War that soon followed. The rest ofSindh was taken in 1843, and in the following decades, first theEast India Company, and then after the post-Sepoy Mutiny (1857–1858) direct rule ofQueen Victoria of theBritish Empire, took over most of the country partly through wars, and also treaties. The main wars were that against theBalochTalpur dynasty, ended by theBattle of Miani (1843) in Sindh, theAnglo-Sikh Wars (1845–1849) and theAnglo-Afghan Wars (1839–1919). By 1893, all modern Pakistan was part of theBritish Indian Empire, and remained so until independence in 1947.[140]
Under the British, modern Pakistan was mostly divided into theSind Division,Punjab Province, and theBaluchistan Agency. There were variousprincely states, of which the largest wasBahawalpur. Sindh was part of theBombay Presidency, and there were many complaints over the years that it was neglected by its distant rulers in modernMumbai, although there was usually aCommissioner based in Karachi.[citation needed]
The Punjab (which included the modernIndian state) was instead technically ruled from even more distantCalcutta, as part of theBengal Presidency, but in practice most matters were devolved to local British officials, who were often among the most energetic and effective in India. At first there was a "Board of Administration" led bySir Henry Lawrence, who had previously worked as British Resident at theLahoreDurbar and also consisted of his younger brotherJohn Lawrence andCharles Grenville Mansel.[141] Below the Board worked a group of acclaimed officers collectively known asHenry Lawrence's "Young Men". After the Mutiny, Sir John Lawrence became the firstGovernor of Punjab. ThePunjab Canal Colonies were an ambitious and largely successful project, begun in the 1880s, to create new farmland through irrigation, to relieve population pressure elsewhere (most of the areas involved are now in Pakistan).
The Baluchistan Agency largely consisted of princely states and tribal territories, and was governed with a light touch, although near the Afghan borderQuetta was built up as a military base, in case of invasion by either the Afghans or the Russians. The1935 Quetta earthquake was a major disaster. From 1876 the sensitive far north was made a"Chief Commissioner's Province". The border with Afghanistan, which remains the modern border of Pakistan, was finally fixed on theDurand Line in 1893.
Railway construction began in the 1850s, and most of the network (some now discontinued) was completed by 1900.Karachi expanded enormously under British rule, followed to alesser extent by Lahore and the other larger cities.
Different Regions of Pakistan were conquered byEast India Company as below:
•Sindh was conquered byBattle of Hyderabad andBattle of Miani in 1843.
•Punjab and easternKhyber pakhtunkhwa were conquered duringSecond Anglo-Sikh War in 1849.
Regions conquered byBritish Raj are as below:
•SouthernBalochistan came under control byTreaty of Kalat in 1876.
•WesternBalochistan was conquered by British empire inSecond Anglo-Afghan War throughTreaty of Gandamak, in 1879.
In 1877,Syed Ameer Ali had formed theCentral National Muhammadan Association to work towards the political advancement of the Indian Muslims, who had suffered grievously in 1857, in the aftermath of the failedSepoy Mutiny against the East India Company; the British were seen as foreign invaders. But the organization declined towards the end of the 19th century.
In 1885, theIndian National Congress was founded as a forum, which later became a party, to promote a nationalist cause.[142] Although the Congress attempted to include the Muslim community in the struggle for independence from theBritish rule – and some Muslims were very active in the Congress – the majority of Muslim leaders, including the influentialSir Syed Ahmed Khan, did not trust the party.
A turning point came in 1900, when the British administration in theUnited Provinces of Agra and Oudh acceded to Hindu demands and madeHindi, the version of theHindustani language written in theDevanagari script, the official language. Theproselytisation conducted in the region by theactivists of a new Hindureformist movement also stirred Muslim's concerns about their faith. Eventually, the Muslims feared that the Hindu majority would seek to suppress the rights of Muslims in the region following the departure of the British.
TheAll-India Muslim League was founded by Shaiiq-e-Mustafa on 30 December 1906, in the aftermath ofdivision of Bengal, on the sidelines of the annualAll India Muhammadan Educational Conference inShahbagh,DhakaEast Bengal.[143] The meeting was attended by three thousand delegates and presided over byNawab Viqar-ul-Mulk. It addressed the issue of safeguarding interests of Muslims and finalised a programme. A resolution, moved byNawab Salimullah and seconded byHakim Ajmal Khan. Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk (conservative), declared:
The Musalmans are only a fifth in number as compared with the total population of the country, and it is manifest that if at any remote period the British government ceases to exist in India, then the rule of India would pass into the hands of that community which is nearly four times as large as ourselves ... our life, our property, our honour, and our faith will all be in great danger, when even now that a powerful British administration is protecting its subjects, we the Musalmans have to face most serious difficulties in safe-guarding our interests from the grasping hands of our neighbors.[144]
The constitution and principles of the League were contained in theGreen Book, written byMaulana Mohammad Ali. Its goals at this stage did not include establishing an independent Muslim state, but rather concentrated on protecting Muslim liberties and rights, promoting understanding between the Muslim community and other Indians, educating the Muslim and Indian community at large on the actions of the government, and discouraging violence. However, several factors over the next thirty years, including sectarian violence, led to a re-evaluation of the League's aims.[145][146] Among those Muslims in the Congress who did not initially join the League was Jinnah, a prominent statesman and barrister in Bombay. This was because the first article of the League's platform was "To promote among the Mussalmans (Muslims) of India, feelings of loyalty to the British Government". The League remained loyal to the British administration for five years until the British decided to reverse the partition of Bengal. The Muslim League saw this British decision as partial to Hindus.[147]
In 1907, a vocal group of Hindu hard-liners within theIndian National Congress movement separated from it and started to pursue a pro-Hindu movement openly. This group was spearheaded by the famous triumvirate ofLal-Bal-Pal –Lala Lajpat Rai,Bal Gangadhar Tilak andBipin Chandra Pal of Punjab, Bombay and Bengal provinces respectively. Their influence spread rapidly among other like minded Hindus – they called itHindu nationalism – and it became a cause of serious concern for Muslims.However, Jinnah did not join the League until 1913, when the party changed its platform to one of Indian independence, as a reaction against the British decision to reverse the1905 Partition of Bengal, which the League regarded it as a betrayal of the Bengali Muslims.[148] After vociferous protests of the Hindu population and violence engineered by secret groups, such asAnushilan Samiti and its offshootJugantar ofAurobindo and his brother etc., the British had decided to reunite Bengal again. Till this stage, Jinnah believed in Mutual co-operation to achieve an independent, united 'India', although he argued that Muslims should be guaranteed one-third of the seats in any Indian Parliament.
The League gradually became the leading representative body of Indian Muslims. Jinnah became its president in 1916, and negotiated theLucknow Pact with the Congress leader,Bal Gangadhar Tilak, by which Congress conceded the principle ofseparate electorates and weighted representation for the Muslim community.[149] However, Jinnah broke with the Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader,Mohandas Gandhi, launched a law violatingNon-Cooperation Movement against the British, which a temperamentally law-abiding barrister Jinnah disapproved of. Jinnah also became convinced that the Congress would renounce its support for separate electorates for Muslims, which indeed it did in 1928. In 1927, the British proposed a constitution for India as recommended by theSimon Commission, but they failed to reconcile all parties. The British then turned the matter over to the League and the Congress, and in 1928 an All-Parties Congress was convened in Delhi. The attempt failed, but two more conferences were held, and at the Bombay conference in May, it was agreed that a small committee should work on the constitution. The prominent Congress leaderMotilal Nehru headed the committee, which included two Muslims, Syed Ali Imam and Shoaib Quereshi; Motilal's son, PtJawaharlal Nehru, was its secretary. The League, however, rejected the committee's report, the so-calledNehru Report, arguing that its proposals gave too little representation (one quarter) to Muslims – the League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature. Jinnah announced a "parting of the ways" after reading the report, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.
Thegeneral elections held in the United Kingdom had already weakened the leftistLabour Party led by Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald.[150] Furthermore, the Labour Party's government was already weakened by theoutcomes ofWorld War I, which fueled new hopes for progress towards self-government inBritish India.[150] In fact,Mohandas K. Gandhi traveled to London to press the idea of "self-government" in British India, and claimed to represent all Indians whilst duly criticizing the Muslim League as being sectarian and divisive.[150] After reviewing the report of the Simon Commission, theIndian Congress initiated a massiveCivil Disobedience Movement underGandhi; the Muslim League reserved their opinion on the Simon Report declaring that the report was not final and the matters should be decided after consultations with the leaders representing all communities in India.[150]
TheRound-table Conferences were held, but these achieved little, since Gandhi and the League were unable to reach a compromise.[150] Witnessing the events of theRound Table Conferences,Jinnah had despaired of politics and particularly of getting mainstream parties like the Congress to be sensitive to minority priorities. During this time in 1930, notable writer and poet,Muhammad Iqbal called for a separate and autonomous nation-state, who in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that he felt that a separate Muslim state was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated South Asia.[151][152]
India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages, and professing different religions [...] Personally, I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India.
The name of thenation-state was coined by theCambridge University'spolitical science student and Muslim nationalistRahmat Ali,[153] and was published on 28 January 1933 in the pamphletNow or Never.[154] After coining the name of the nation-state, Ali noticed that there is an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in northwest India:
After the publication of the pamphlet, the Hindu Press vehemently criticized it, and the word 'Pakstan' used in it.[157] Thus this word became a heated topic of debate. With the addition of an "i" toimprove the pronunciation, the name of Pakistan grew in popularity and led to the commencement of thePakistan Movement, and consequently the creation ofPakistan.[158]InUrdu andPersian languages, the name encapsulates the concept ofPak ("pure") andstan ("land") and hence a "Pure Land".[159] In 1935, theBritish government proposed to hand oversubstantial power to elected Indian provincial legislatures, with elections to be held in 1937.[160] After theelections the League took office in Bengal and Punjab, but the Congress won office in most of the other provinces, and refused to devolve power with the League in provinces with large Muslim minorities citing technical difficulties. The subsequent Congress Rule was unpopular among Muslims and seen as a reign of Hindu tyranny by Muslim leaders. Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared 22 December 1939, a"Day of Deliverance" for Indian Muslims. It was meant to celebrate the resignation of all members of the Congress party from provincial and central offices.[161]
Meanwhile, Muslim ideologues for independence also felt vindicated by the presidential address ofV.D. Savarkar at the 19th session of the famous Hindu nationalist partyHindu Mahasabha in 1937. In it, this legendary revolutionary – popularly calledVeer Savarkar and known as the iconic father of the Hindu fundamentalist ideology – propounded the seminal ideas of hisTwo Nation Theory or ethnic exclusivism, which influenced Jinnah profoundly.
In 1940,Jinnah called a general session of the Muslim League inLahore to discuss the situation that had arisen due to the outbreak ofWorld War II and theGovernment of India joining the war without consulting Indian leaders. The meeting was also aimed at analyzing the reasons that led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general election of 1937 in the Muslim majority provinces. In his speech, Jinnah criticized theIndian Congress and the nationalists, and espoused theTwo-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for separate homelands.[162]Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister ofPunjab, drafted the original resolution, but disavowed the final version,[163] that had emerged after protracted redrafting by the Subject Committee of the Muslim League. The final text unambiguously rejected the concept of a United India because of increasing inter-religious violence[114] and recommended the creation of independent states.[164] The resolution was moved in the general session byShere-BanglaBengali nationalist,AKF Haq, the Chief Minister ofBengal, supported byChaudhry Khaliquzzaman and other leaders and was adopted on 23 March 1940.[165] The Resolution read as follows:
No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign ... That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities, with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in a minority.[166]
Islamic scholars debated over whether it was possible for the proposed Pakistan to truly become an Islamic state.[167][168]
While the Congress' top leadership had been in prison following the 1942 Quit India Movement, there was intense debate among Indian Muslims over the creation of a separate homeland.[168] The majority of Barelvis[169] and Barelvi ulema supported the creation of Pakistan[170] andpirs and Sunni ulema were mobilized by the Muslim League to demonstrate that India's Muslim masses wanted a separate country.[171] The Barelvis believed that any co-operation with Hindus would be counter productive.[172] On the other hand, most Deobandis, who were led by Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, were opposed to the creation of Pakistan and the two-nation theory. According to them Muslims and Hindus could be one nation and Muslims were only a nation of themselves in the religious sense and not in the territorial sense.[173][174][175] At the same time some Deobandi ulema such as Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani were supportive of the Muslim League's demand to create a separate Pakistan.[171][176]
Muslims who were living in provinces where they were demographically a minority, such as the United Provinces where the Muslim League enjoyed popular support, were assured by Jinnah that they could remain in India, migrate to Pakistan or continue living in India but as Pakistani citizens.
In theConstituent Assembly elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 425 out of 496 seats reserved for Muslims (polling 89.2% of total votes).[148] The Congress had hitherto refused to acknowledge the Muslim League's claim of being the representative of Indian Muslims but finally acquiesced to the League's claim after the results of this election. The Muslim League's demand for Pakistan had received overwhelming popular support from India's Muslims, especially those Muslims who were living in provinces such as UP where they were a minority.[177]
The British had neither the will, nor the financial resources or military power, to hold India any longer but they were also determined to avoid partition and for this purpose they arranged the Cabinet Mission Plan.[178] According to this plan India would be kept united but would be heavily decentralized with separate groupings of Hindu and Muslim majority provinces. The Muslim League accepted this plan as it contained the 'essence' of Pakistan but the Congress rejected it. After the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan, Jinnah called for Muslims to observeDirect Action Day to demand the creation of a separate Pakistan. The Direct Action Day morphed into violent riots between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, with the violence displaying elements ofethnic cleansing. The riots in Calcutta were followed by intense communal rioting elsewhere, including inNoakhali (where Hindus were attacked by Muslims) andBihar (where Hindus attacked Muslims) in October, resulting in large-scale displacement. In March 1947, such violence reached Punjab, where Sikhs and Hindus weremassacred and driven out by Muslims in the Rawalpindi Division.[179]
The British Prime Minister Attlee appointedLord Louis Mountbatten as India's last viceroy, to negotiate the independence of Pakistan and India and immediate British withdrawal. British leaders including Mountbatten did not support the creation of Pakistan but failed to convince Jinnah otherwise.[180][181] Mountbatten later confessed that he would most probably have sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis.[182]
In early 1947, the British had announced their desire to grant India its independence by June 1948. However, Lord Mountbatten decided to advance the date. In a meeting in June, Nehru andAbul Kalam Azad representing the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League,B. R. Ambedkar representing theUntouchable community, andMaster Tara Singh representing theSikhs, agreed to partition India along religious lines.[citation needed]
On 14 August 1947, Pakistan gained independence. India gained independence the following day. The two provinces of British India, Punjab and Bengal, were divided along religious lines by the Radcliffe Commission. Mountbatten is alleged to have influenced the Radcliffe Commission to draw the line in India's favour.[183][184] Punjab's mostly Muslim western part went to Pakistan and its mostly Hindu/Sikh eastern part went to India but there were significant Muslim minorities in Punjab's eastern section and likewise there were many Hindus and Sikhs living in Punjab's western areas.
Intense communal rioting in the Punjab forced the governments of India and Pakistan to agree to a forced population exchange of Muslim and Hindu/Sikh minorities living in Punjab. After this population exchange only a few thousand low-caste Hindus remained in Pakistan's side of Punjab and only a tiny Muslim population remained in the town ofMalerkotla in India's part of Punjab.[185] Political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmed says that although Muslims started the violence in Punjab, by the end of 1947 more Muslims had been killed by Hindus and Sikhs in East Punjab than the number of Hindus and Sikhs who had been killed by Muslims in West Punjab.[186][187]
More than ten million people migrated across the new borders and between 200,000 and 2,000,000[188][189][190] people died in the spate of communal violence in the Punjab in what some scholars have described as a 'retributive genocide' between the religions.[191] The Pakistani government claimed that 50,000 Muslim women were abducted and raped by Hindu and Sikh men and similarly the Indian government claimed that Muslims abducted and raped 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women.[192][193][194] The two governments agreed to repatriate abducted women and thousands of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women were repatriated to their families in the 1950s. The dispute over Kashmir escalated into thefirst war between India and Pakistan. Theconflict remains unresolved.
For the history after independence, seeHistory of Pakistan (1947–present).
Zutts who inhabited the mountains of Baluchistan and deserts of Sindh. These two groups had divided the region among themselves and frequently fought with each other. The legendary migration of the Sakas to southern Indus Valley.
...the Zutt from Pakistan to Iraq, it came from the Indian subcontinent...
_without_national_boundaries.svg)
{{cite book}}:Check|isbn= value: checksum (help)Arabic Geographers and Historians speak of the Zutt living in the Lower Indus Valley, "between Makran and Mansura" and sharing Sindh with the Meds.
The Hindu Śāhis were therefore neither Bhattis, or Janjuas, nor Brahmans. They were simply Uḍis/Oḍis. It can now be seen that the term Hindu Śāhi is a misnomer and, based as it is merely upon religious discrimination, should be discarded and forgotten. The correct name is Uḍi or Oḍi Śāhi dynasty.
Rehman (2002: 41) makes a good case for calling the Hindu Śāhis by a more accurate name, "Uḍi Śāhis".
... Jaypala of Waihind saw danger in the consolidation of the kingdom of Ghazna and decided to destroy it. He therefore invaded Ghazna, but was defeated ...
In 1201 Ghurid troops entered Khurasan and captured Nishapur, Merv, Sarakhs and Tus, reaching as far as Gurgan and Bistam. Kuhistan, a stronghold of the Ismailis, was plundered and all Khurasan was brought temporarily under Ghurid control
In 1205, Bakhtīyar Khilji sacked Nudiya, the pre-eminent city of western Bengal and established an Islamic government at Laukhnauti, the capital of the predecessor Sena dynasty. On this occasion, commemorative coins were struck in gold and silver in the name of Muhammad b. Sām
The Soomras are believed to be Parmar Rajputs found even today in Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Kutch and Sindh. The Cambridge History of India refers to the Soomras as "a Rajput dynasty the later members of which accepted Islam" (p. 54 ).
But as many kings of the dynasty bore Hindu names, it is almost certain that the Soomras were of local origin. Sometimes they are connected with Paramara Rajputs, but of this there is no definite proof.
It was the conquest of Kutch by the Sindhi tribe of Sama Rajputs that marked the emergence of Kutch as a separate kingdom in the 14th century.
For five years the League remained thoroughly loyalist to and fully supportive of British rule until King George V announced the revocation of Bengal's partition at his coronation Durbar in Delhi in December 1911. The Muslim League viewed that reversal of British policy in Bengal as a victory for "Hindu terrorist tactics".
In the 1940s a solid majority of the Barelvis were supporters of the Pakistan Movement and played a supporting role in its final phase (1940-7), mostly under the banner of the All-India Sunni Conference which had been founded in 1925.
During the 1946 election, Barelvi Ulama issued fatwas in favour of the Muslim League.
However, the fundamentalist dimension in Pakistan movement developed more strongly when the Sunni Ulema and pirs were mobilised to prove that the Muslim masses wanted a Muslim/Islamic state...Even the Grand Mufti of Deoband, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, issued a fatwa in support of the Muslim League's demand.
For example, the Barelvi ulama supported the formation of the state of Pakistan and thought that any alliance with Hindus (such as that between the Indian National Congress and the Jamiat ulama-I-Hind [JUH]) was counterproductive.
Believing that Islam was a universal religion, the Deobandi advocated a notion of a composite nationalism according to which Hindus and Muslims constituted one nation.
Madani...stressed the difference betweenqaum, meaning a nation, hence a territorial concept, andmillat, meaning an Ummah and thus a religious concept.
Madani makes a crucial distinction betweenqaum andmillat. According to him, qaum connotes a territorial multi-religious entity, while millat refers to the cultural, social and religious unity of Muslims exclusively.
Besides, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, along with his pupils and disciples, lent his entire support to the demand of Pakistan.
In the elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 90 percent of the legislative seats reserved for Muslims. It was the power of the big zamindars in Punjab and Sindh behind the Muslim League candidates, and the powerful campaign among the poor peasants of Bengal on economic issues of rural indebtedness and zamindari abolition, that led to this massive landslide victory (Alavi 2002, 14). Even Congress, which had always denied the League's claim to be the only true representative of Indian Muslims had to concede the truth of that claim. The 1946 election was, in effect, a plebiscite among Muslims on Pakistan.
The signs of 'ethnic cleansing' are first evident evident in the Great Calcutta Killing of 16–19 August 1946. Over 100,000 people were made homeless. They were also present in the wave of violence that rippled out from Calcutta to Bihar, where there were high Muslim casualty figures, and to Noakhali deep in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta of Bengal. Concerning the Noakhali riots, one British officer spoke of a 'determined and organized' Muslim effort to drive out all the Hindus, who accounted for around a fifth of the total population. Similarly, the Punjab counterparts to this transition of violence were the Rawalpindi massacres of March 1947. The level of death and destruction in such West Punjab villages as Thoa Khalsa was such that communities couldn't live together in its wake.
Undivided India, their magnificent imperial trophy, was besmirched by the creation of Pakistan, and the division of India was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, Mountbatten among them.
Mountbatten's partiality was apparent in his own statements. He tilted openly and heavily towards Congress. While doing so he clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League and its Pakistan idea.
When Mountbatten was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged Pakistan if he had known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis, his answer was instructive. There was no doubt in his mind about the legality or morality of his position on Pakistan. 'Most probably,' he said (1982:39).
There are no exact numbers of people killed and displaced, but estimates range from a few hundred thousand to two million killed and more than 10 million displaced.
An estimated 12–15 million people were displaced, and some 2 million died. The legacy of Partition (never without a capital P) remains strong today ...
2,000,000 killed in the Hindu-Muslim holocaust during the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan
In the event, largely but not exclusively as a consequence of their efforts, the entire Muslim population of the eastern Punjab districts migrated to West Punjab and the entire Sikh and Hindu populations moved to East Punjab in the midst of widespread intimidation, terror, violence, abduction, rape, and murder.
The official estimate of the number of abducted women during Partition was placed at 33,000 non-Muslim (Hindu or Sikh predominantly) women in Pakistan, and 50,000 Muslim women in India.
The horrific statistics that surround women refugees-between 75,000–100,000 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh women who were abducted by men of the other communities, subjected to multiple rapes, mutilations, and, for some, forced marriages and conversions-is matched by the treatment of the abducted women in the hands of the nation-state. In the Constituent Assembly in 1949 it was recorded that of the 50,000 Muslim women abducted in India, 8,000 of then were recovered, and of the 33,000 Hindu and Sikh women abducted, 12,000 were recovered.
In addition thousands of women on both sides of the newly formed borders (estimated range from 29,000 to 50,000 Muslim women and 15,000 to 35,000 Hindu and Sikh women) were abducted, raped, forced to convert, forced into marriage, forced back into what the two States defined as 'their proper homes,' torn apart from their families once during partition by those who abducted them, and again, after partition, by the State which tried to 'recover' and 'rehabilitate' them.
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