Week-4

Contribution of Jinah’s 14 Points and Address of Allamah Iqbal in the

Development of the Constitution of Pakistan

Background of Jinah’s 14 Points

All India Muslim league was established in December 1906 as a response of
biased attitude of the Congress towards the political issues of the Muslims
particularly, after issuance of Nehru Report on 9 March 1929.
After rejection of Nehru Report from Muslim political leaders, Mr. Jinnah
was authorized to draft in concise terms, the basis of a future constitution for India
to present before British authorities.
1. 14 Points of Quid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
On 28th March 1929, the Muslim League session was held at Delhi under the
presidency of Mr. Jinnah. In his address, he consolidated Muslim viewpoints under
fourteen points that became Jinnah's 14 points. On that occasion, Mr. Jinnah
declared it a turning phase and a "parting way" from Hindus and that he would not
have anything to do with the Indian National Congress in the future”.
Followings are the 14 points presented by Mr. Jinnah at the Session.
1: The form of the future constitution should be federal, with the residuary powers
vested in the provinces.
2: A uniform measure of autonomy shall be guaranteed to all provinces.
3: All legislatures in the country and other elected bodies shall be constituted on
the definite principle of adequate and effective representation of minorities in
every province without reducing the majority in any province;
4: In the Central Legislature, Muslim representation shall not be less than one
third.
5: Separate electorate system would be open to any community;
6: Any territorial redistribution shall not in any way affect the Muslim majority
in Punjab, Bengal and NWFP provinces.
7: Full religious liberty shall be guaranteed to all communities.
8: No bill or resolution shall be passed in any legislature if three fourths of the
members of any community in that body oppose the bill.
9: Sindh should be separated from the Bombay Presidency.
10: Reforms should be introduced in the NWFP and Balochistan on the same
footings as in the other provinces.
11: Muslims should be given an adequate share in all services, having due regard
to the requirement of efficiency.
12: The Constitution should embody adequate safeguards for the protection of
Muslim culture, education, language, religion and personal laws, as well as for
Muslim charitable institutions.
13: One-third representation shall be given to Muslims in both central and
provincial cabinets.
14: No change shall be made in the constitution without the consent of the
provinces.
Response form Hindu
Among the Hindus, Jinnah's points were highly disregarded and were rejected by
the Congress Party. Jawaharlal Nehru referred to them as "Jinnah's ridiculous 14
points".
As a result, these points became the demands of the Muslims and greatly
influenced the Muslims' thinking for the next two decades until the establishment
of Pakistan in 1947. When these 14 points were publicized, Mr. Jinnah was invited
to attend the round table conferences, where he forwarded the Muslim point of
view.
2. Address of Allamah Iqbal at Illahabad: 29 December 1930
The Illahabad Address was a speech by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, delivered during the
25th annual session of All-India Muslim League, on 29 December 1930,
at Illahabad, British India.
In his address, Allamah Iqbal defined the Muslims of India as nation and
suggested that there could be no possibility of peace in the country unless they
were recognized as an independent nation. He suggested that under a federal
system of governance, the Muslim majority units were given the same privileges
which were to be given to the Hindu majority units. It would be the only way in
which both Muslims and Hindus could prosper in accordance with their respective
cultural and religious values. He said:
“Indeed it is not an exaggeration to say that India is perhaps the only
country in the world where Islam, as a people-building force, has worked at
its best.’ Allama Iqbal highlighted the importance of religion in politics and
said that “in Islam, the Mosque was the center of law and politics and that
Islam, as a belief system, regulates the social, economic and political aspects of
the lives of its people.
The Muslim community has to necessarily act as a polity, and therefore, it is
not possible to take the Indian Muslim community as a mere community among
communities. For this precise reason, the Muslims of India were struggling for the
right of separate electorates from the beginning, and were not compromising to be
just another one of the numerous Indian communities that had casually merged in
the Hindu community of India.
Iqbal thus, stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim
communities but the desirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider
society based on Islamic principles.
 He further said: “Personally, I would like to see the Punjab, North-West
Frontier Province, Sindh 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.”
In this address Allamah Iqbal outlined the vision of an independent state for
Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India, thus, became the first politician
to articulate a clear picture of what would become known as the Two-nation
theory—that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence
from other regions and communities of India.
Later on, Allamah Iqbal concentrated on gaining political targets of his
speech. He traveled across Europe and West Asia to gain political and financial
support for Muslim League. He repeated his ideas in his 1932 during the “Third
Round-Table Conference”, and opposed the Congress and its proposals for transfer
of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces.