1947-1958

Pakistan in the Making, 1930-1947

The Muslim League was established in 1906. The Muslim University at Aligarh produced a generation of educated Muslim leaders, a number of whom were to play an important role in the establishment and early history of Pakistan.
In 1930, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal proposed the establishment of a separate Muslim state in India, comprising of the states and territories with a Muslim population majority, these being Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir, British Baluchistan, the NWFP and Bengal. The name Pakistan was suggested by Chaudri Rahmat Ali in 1933, P standing for the Punjab, K for Kashmir, S for Sindh.
The Government of India Act in 1935 introduced limited self-government on provincial basis, and the Muslim League could get actively involved in politics. Yet even in Muslim-majority provinces, the Muslim League had to put up a fight in order to gain support of the masses; during the pre-independence period, Muslim League politicians held the postion of provincial premier in Sindh in 1940-1941, in the NWFP in 1943-1945, in Bengal in 1937-1946, in East Bengal in 1946-1947, in Assam in 1937-1938, 1939-1941, 1942-1946, in the Punjab not at all.
From 1935 on Muhammad Ali Jinnah presided the Muslim League, using it to propagate the concept of a Muslim state in India. When the British withdrew in 1947, the idea of a Muslim state named Pakistan enjoyed strong support among the Muslim population of the Indian subcontinent.