Idea Of Pakistan In Colonial Punjab

Dr. Raza explores how the public sphere in colonial Punjab, particularly in Lahore, shaped Pakistan’s idea through writers, poets, and leaders. Despite elite dominance, intellectuals like Allama Iqbal, Ch Rahmat Ali, Fazl-i-Hussain and others embedded religious symbolism, influencing the partition. Analyzing figures such as Inyatullah Mashriqi, Syed Attaula Bukhari, Dr. Raza illustrates their role in heightening Muslim consciousness before 1940. The public sphere fostered dynamic discussions, bolstering Pakistan’s movement from 1940 to 1947, underpinning this study’s significance in redefining historical narratives.

~ Dr Iqbal Chawla ~

University of the Punjab Lahore

In the partition historiography, the dominant view still remains that the idea of Pakistan has been insufficiently conceived and Pakistan emerged accidently due to the failure of negotiations amongst the contending parties, and thus it is an outcome of a disjuncture between the masses and the elites. Raza Taimoor’s book challenges this understanding and argues that Punjab occupies a central place in the Muslim separatist movement by explaining how the idea of Pakistan was conceived and developed and then was, variously but extensively, debated and discussed in the public sphere by the Punjabi intelligentsia. It further argues that it was popularly imagined by the Muslim masses as a ‘craving for an ideal Muslim state’.

~ Dr Faraz Anjum ~

University of the Punjab Lahore