Pakistan Declaration
| Author | Chaudhry Rehmat Ali |
|---|---|
| Original title | Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever? |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
|
Publication date
|
28 January 1933 |
Pakistan Declaration (titled Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?) was a pamphlet written and published by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, on 28 January 1933, in which the word (without the letter "i") was used for the first time and was presented in the Round Table conferences in 1933.
The declaration was circulated with a covering letter signed by Rahmat Ali alone, dated 28 January 1933, and addressed from 3 Humberstone Road. It read as follows:
3, Humberstone Road,
Cambridge, England.
28 January 1933
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am enclosing herewith an appeal on behalf of the thirty million Muslims of PAKISTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of India—Punjab, North-West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan. It embodies their demand for the recognition of their national status, as distinct from the other inhabitants of India, by the grant to Pakistan of a separate Federal Constitution on religious, social and historical grounds.
I shall be pleased if you will kindly acquaint me with your valuable opinion on the proposed solution of the great Hindu-Muslim problem. I trust that, vitally interested as you are in a just and permanent solution of that complex problem, the objects outlined in the appeal wiIl meet with your fullest approval and active support.
Yours truly, Rahmat Ali (Choudhary). (Founder, Pakistan National Movement)
The pamphlet started with this famous sentence:
At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN—by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan.
The pamphlet asked that "the five Northern units of India"—Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan (or Pakstan) become a state independent of the proposed Indian Federation.
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