View source for All-India Muslim League

{{Short description|Political party in British-ruled India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = All-India Muslim League
| logo             = Flag of Muslim League.svg
| colorcode        = green
| foundation       = {{start date|1906|12|30|df=yes}}, [[Dacca]], [[British India]] (now [[Dhaka]], [[Bangladesh]])
| ideology         = [[Pakistani nationalism]]<br>[[Muslim nationalism in South Asia|Muslim nationalism]]<br />[[Islamic modernism]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://m.timesofindia.com/life-style/spotlight/atheist-fundamentalists/articleshow/6014430.cms|title=Atheist Fundamentalists|newspaper=The Times of India }}</ref><br>[[Conservativism]]<br>[[Two-nation theory]]<br>[[Separatism]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Keen |first1=Shirin |title=Partition of India|url=https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/21/partition-of-india/ |publisher=[[Emory University]] |access-date=9 February 2019 |language=en |date=1998}}</ref>
| position         = [[Right-wing]]
| headquarters     = [[Lucknow]]
| international    = All–India Muslim League (London Chapter)
| country          = [[British India]]
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| leader1_title    = Presiding Leader(s)
| leader1_name     = [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]<br />[[Aga Khan III]]<br />[[A. K. Fazlul Huq]]<br />[[Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh]]<br />[[Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy]]<br />[[Sir Feroz Khan Noon]]<br />[[Khwaja Nazimuddin]]<br />[[Liaquat Ali Khan]]<br />[[Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman|Khaliq-uz-Zaman]]<br />[[Mohammad Ali Bogra]]<br />[[Shabbir Ahmad Usmani]]<br />[[Abul Mansur Ahmed]]
| founder          = [[Khwaja Salimullah]]
| dissolved        = 15 December 1947<ref>[https://www.himalmag.com/the-muslim-league-a-progress-report/ The Muslim League: a progress report]. ''www.himalmag.com''. 1 February 1998.</ref>
| successor        = [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Pakistan Muslim League]]<br>[[Indian Union Muslim League]]
| newspaper        = [[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]
| student_wing     = [[All India Muslim Students Federation|AIMSF]]
| wing1_title      = Paramilitary wing
| wing1            = [[Muslim National Guard]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sajjad |first1=Mohammad |title=Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317559818 |language=en}}</ref>
| religion         = [[Islam]]
| seats1_title     = [[1945 Indian general election|Parliamentary seats]]
| flag             = Flag of Muslim League.svg
| symbol           = [[Crescent and Star]] <br /> [[File:Maki1-religious-muslim-15.svg|centre|100px]]
}}

The '''All-India Muslim League''' ('''AIML''') was a [[political party]] established in [[Dhaka]] in 1906 when some well-known Muslim politicians met the [[Governor-General of India|Viceroy of British India]], [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto|Lord Minto]], with the goal of securing [[Muslims|Muslim]] interests on the [[Indian Subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]].<ref name="storyofpakistan.com">{{cite web |url=http://storyofpakistan.com/establishment-of-all-india-muslim-league/ |title=Establishment of All India Muslim League |website=Story of Pakistan |page=1 |access-date=14 February 2014 |date=June 2003}}</ref>

The party arose out of the need for the political representation of Muslims in [[British Raj|British India]], especially during the [[Indian National Congress]]-sponsored [[Swadeshi movement|massive Hindu opposition]] to the [[1905 partition of Bengal]]. During the 1906 annual meeting of the All India Muslim Education Conference held in [[Ahsan Manzil|Israt Manzil Palace]], Dhaka, the [[Nawab of Dhaka]], [[Khwaja Salimullah]], forwarded a proposal to create a political party which would protect the interests of Muslims in British India. [[Mian Muhammad Shafi|Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi]], a prominent Muslim leader from [[Lahore]], suggested the political party be named the 'All-India Muslim League'. The motion was unanimously passed by the conference, leading to the official formation of the All-India Muslim League in Dhaka.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslim_League|title = Muslim League - Banglapedia}}</ref> It remained an elitist organization until 1937, when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses, which turned the league into a popular organization.<ref name="Rizvi2000" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Keay |first=John |author-link=John Keay |year=2000 |title=India: A History |url=https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay |url-access=registration |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/468 468] |isbn=978-0-8021-3797-5 |quote=Heavily supported by mainly landed and commercial Muslim interests ... they duly consummated this distrust [of Congress] by forming the All India Muslim League.}}</ref>

In the 1930s, the [[Allahabad Address|idea of a separate nation-state]] and influential philosopher [[Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal|Sir Muhammad Iqbal]]'s [[Allahabad Address|vision]] of uniting the [[Administrative units of Pakistan|four provinces]] in North-West British India further supported the rationale of the [[two-nation theory]]. This aligned with the ideas proposed by [[Syed Ahmad Khan]] who, in 1888 at Meerut, said, "After this long preface I wish to explain what method my nation — nay, rather the whole people of this country — ought to pursue in political matters. I will treat in regular sequence of the political questions of India, in order that you may have full opportunity of giving your attention to them. The first of all is this — In whose hands shall the administration and the Empire of India rest? Now, suppose that all English, and the whole English army, were to leave India, taking with them all their cannon and their splendid weapons and everything, then who would be rulers of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances two nations — the Mahomedans and the Hindus — could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. To hope that both could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's speech at Meerut, 16 March 1888|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_sir_sayyid_meerut_1888.html|access-date=2020-07-24|website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref> When the Congress party effectively protested against the United Kingdom unilaterally [[India in World War II|involving India in World War II]] without consulting the Indian people, the Muslim League went on to support the [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|British war efforts]]. The Muslim League played a decisive role in the 1940s, becoming a driving force behind the division of India along religious lines and the creation of [[Pakistan]] as a Muslim state in 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |author-link=Ayesha Jalal |date=1994 |title=The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for Pakistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=4 |isbn=978-0-521-45850-4 |quote=In 1940, ... [the A.I.M.L.] formally demanded independent Muslim states, repudiating the minority status which separate representation necessarily entailed, and instead asserted that Muslims were a nation ... The claim was built upon the demand for 'Pakistan'. But from first to last, Jinnah avoided giving the demand a precise definition.}}</ref>

After the [[Partition of India]] and the establishment of Pakistan, the All-India Muslim League was formally disbanded in India. The League was officially succeeded by the [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Pakistan Muslim League]], which eventually split into several [[List of political parties in Pakistan|political parties]]. Other groups diminished to a minor party, that too only in [[Kerala]] state of [[India]]. In [[Bangladesh]], the Muslim League was revived in 1976, but it was reduced in size, rendering it insignificant in the political arena. In India, a separate independent entity called the [[Indian Union Muslim League]] was formed, which continues to have a presence in the [[Parliament of India|Indian parliament]] to this day.

==History==
{{See also|List of presidents of the All-India Muslim League|l1=Sessions of the All-India Muslim League}}

===Foundation===
{{See also|All India Muhammadan Educational Conference#The 1906 conference}}

[[File:All India Muslim league conference 1906 attendees in Dhaka.jpg|right|350px|thumb|The [[All India Muhammadan Educational Conference|AIME Conference]] in 1906, held at the [[Ahsan Manzil]] palace of the [[Dhaka Nawab Family]], laid the foundation of the Muslim League.]]

With the sincere efforts by the pioneers of the Congress to attract Muslims to their sessions, the majority of the Islamic leadership, with the exception of few scholars (like [[Sir Syed Ahmed Khan]] and [[Syed Ameer Ali]] who focused more on Islamic education and scientific developments), rejected the notion that India has two distinct communities to be represented separately in Congress sessions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=Barbara |author1-link=Barbara Metcalf |last2=Metcalf |first2=Thomas |author2-link=Thomas R. Metcalf |year=2006 |title=A Concise History of Modern India |url=http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=136–137 |isbn=978-0-511-24558-9}}</ref>

In 1886, Sir Syed founded the [[All India Muhammadan Educational Conference|Muhammadan Educational Conference]], but a self-imposed ban prevented it from discussing politics. Its original goal was to advocate for British education, especially science and [[English literature|literature]], among [[India's Muslims]]. The conference, in addition to generating funds for [[Sir Syed]]'s [[Aligarh Muslim University]], motivated the Muslim upper class to propose an expansion of educational uplift elsewhere, known as the [[Aligarh Movement]]. In turn, this new awareness of Muslim needs helped stimulate a political consciousness among Muslim elites, For a few of them, many years after the death of [[Sir Syed Ahmad Khan]] the All-India Muslim League was formed in [[Dhaka]], [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rashid Khan |first=Abdul |date=January–June 2007 |title=All India Muhammadan Educational Conference and the Foundation of the All India Muslim League |journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society |volume=55 |issue=1/2 |pages=65–83}}</ref>

The formation of a Muslim political party on the national level was seen as essential by 1901. The first stage of its formation was the meeting held at [[Lucknow]] in September 1906, with the participation of representatives from all over India. The decision for the re-consideration to form the all-Indian Muslim political party was taken and further proceedings were adjourned until the next meeting of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference. The [[Simla Deputation]] reconsidered the issue in October 1906 and decided to frame the objectives of the party on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Educational Conference, which was scheduled to be held in Dhaka. Meanwhile, Nawab Salimullah Khan published a detailed scheme through which he suggested the party to be named All-India Muslim Confederacy.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Pursuant to the decisions taken earlier at the Lucknow meeting and later in Simla, the annual meeting of the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference was held in Dhaka from 27 December until 30 December 1906.<ref name="KahnZahid2005">Pakistan movement. Commencement and evolution, p. 167, 168, by Dr. Sikandar Hayat Khan and Shandana Zahid, published by Urdu Science Board, Lahore. {{ISBN|969-477-122-6}}</ref> Three thousand delegates attended,<ref name="storyofpakistan.com"/> headed by both [[Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh]] and Nawab [[Mohsin-ul-Mulk]] (the Secretary of the Muhammaden Educational Conference), in which they explained its objectives and stressed the unity of Muslims under the banner of an association.<ref name="KahnZahid2005" /> It was formally proposed by [[Nawab Salimullah Khan]] and supported by [[Hakim Ajmal Khan]], [[Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar]], [[Zafar Ali Khan]], [[Syed Nabiullah]], a barrister from Lucknow, and Syed Zahur Ahmad, an eminent lawyer, as well as several others.

===Separate electorates===
The Muslim League's insistence on separate electorates and reserved seats in the Imperial Council were granted in the Indian Councils Act after the League held protests in India and lobbied London.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Talbot  |first1=Ian |last2=Singh |first2=Gurharpal |title=The Partition of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-13aHAAACAAJ |date=23 July 2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85661-4 |page=30}}</ref>

The draft proposals for the reforms communicated on 1 October 1908 provided Muslims with reserved seats in all councils, with nominations only being maintained in Punjab. The communication displayed how much the Government had accommodated Muslim demands<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=153 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> and showed an increase in Muslim representation in the Imperial and provincial legislatures.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860-1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=153–154 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> But the Muslim League's demands were only fully met in UP and Madras. However, the Government did accept the idea of separate electorates. The idea had not been accepted by the Secretary of State, who proposed mixed electoral colleges, causing the Muslim League to agitate and the Muslim press to protest what they perceived to be a betrayal of the Viceroy's assurance to the Simla deputation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=154 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref>

On 23 February Morley told the House of Lords that Muslims demanded separate representation and accepted them. This was the League's first victory. But the Indian Councils Bill did not fully satisfy the demands of the Muslim League.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=156 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> It was based on the October 1908 communique in which Muslims were only given a few reserved seats. The Muslim League's London branch opposed the bill and in a debate obtained the support of several parliamentarians.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=157 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> In 1909 the members of the Muslim League organised a Muslim protest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860-1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=158 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> The Reforms Committee of Minto's council believed that Muslims had a point and advised Minto to discuss with some Muslim leaders. The Government offered a few more seats to Muslims in compromise but would not agree to fully satisfy the League's demand.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=159 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref>

Minto believed that the Muslims had been given enough while Morley was still not certain because of the pressure Muslims could apply on the government. The Muslim League's central committee once again demanded separate electorates and more representation on 12 September 1909.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=160 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> While Minto was opposed, Morley feared that the Bill would not pass parliament without the League's support and he once again discussed Muslim representation with the League leadership.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=160–161 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref> This was successful. The Aga Khan compromised so that Muslims would have two more reserved seats in the Imperial Council. The Muslim League hesitantly accepted the compromise.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Separatism Among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860–1923 |year=1974 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=161 |isbn=978-0-521-04826-2}}</ref>

===Early years===
[[Aga Khan III|Sultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III)]] was appointed the first honorary president of the Muslim League, though he did not attend the Dhaka inaugural session. There were also six vice-presidents, a secretary, and two joint secretaries initially appointed for a three-year term, proportionately from different provinces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://storyofpakistan.com/establishment-of-all-india-muslim-league/2 |title=Establishment of All India Muslim League |website=Story of Pakistan |page=2 |access-date=11 May 2007 |date=June 2003}}</ref> The League's constitution was framed in 1907, espoused in the "Green Book," written by [[Mohammad Ali Jauhar]].{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Aga Khan III shared Ahmad Khan's belief that Muslims should first build up their social capital through advanced education before engaging in politics, but would later boldly tell the British Raj that Muslims must be considered a separate nation within India. Even after he resigned as president of the AIML in 1912, he still exerted a major influence on its policies and agendas.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Valliani |first=Amin |date=January–June 2007 |title=Aga Khan's Role in the Founding and Consolidation of the All India Muslim League |journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society |volume=55 |issue=1/2 |pages=85–95}}</ref> In 1913, [[Mohammed Ali Jinnah]] joined the Muslim league.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Intellectual support and a cadre of young activists emerged from [[Aligarh Muslim University]]. Historian [[Mushirul Hasan]] writes that in the early 20th century, this Muslim institution, designed to prepare students for service to the [[British Raj]], exploded into political activity. Until 1939, the faculty and students supported an all-India nationalist movement. After 1939, however, sentiment shifted dramatically toward a Muslim separatist movement, as students and faculty mobilised behind Jinnah and the Muslim League.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasan |first=Mushirul |author-link=Mushirul Hasan |date=March 1985 |title=Nationalist and Separatist Trends in Aligarh, 1915–47 |journal=The Indian Economic and Social History Review |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–33 |doi=10.1177/001946468502200101|s2cid=144414983 }}</ref>

===Communalism grows===
Politically, there was a degree of unity between Muslim and Hindu leaders after World War I, as typified by the [[Khilafat Movement]]. Relationships cooled sharply after that campaign ended in 1922. Communalism grew rapidly, forcing the two groups apart.<ref>{{cite book |date=2004 |orig-year=First published 1994 as ''Histoire de l'Inde Moderne'' |editor-last=Markovits |editor-first=Claude |title=A History of Modern India, 1480–1950 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzOmy2y0Zh4C&pg=PA372 |location=London |publisher=Anthem Press |pages=371–372 |isbn=978-1-84331-004-4 |quote=Remarkable unity shown between Hindus and Muslims [during the Khilafat movement] ... the tension between the religious communities worsened ... the reforms of 1919 had encouraged Muslim separatism by maintaining constituencies reserved for Muslims: having to get only the votes of their coreligionists, Hindu and Muslim politicians tended to emphasise what divided rather than what united the two communities.}}</ref> Major riots broke out in numerous cities, including 91 between 1923 and 1927 in Uttar Pradesh alone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Sumit  |year=1989 |orig-year=First published 1983 |title=Modern India: 1885–1947 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark |url-access=registration |publisher=Macmillan |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernindia1885100sark/page/233 233] |isbn=978-0-333-43805-3 |quote=Three waves of riots in Calcutta ... disturbances the same year in Dacca, Patna, Rawalpindi and Delhi; and no less than 91 communal outbreaks in U.P., the worst-affected province, between 1923 and 1927.}}</ref> At the leadership level, the proportion of Muslims among delegates to the Congress party fell sharply, from 11% in 1921 to under 4% in 1923.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Judith M. |author-link=Judith Margaret Brown |year=1985 |title=Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_z3o9/page/228 228] |isbn=978-0-19-913124-2 |quote=By 1923 only 3.6 per cent of Congress delegates were Muslims, compared with 10.9 per cent in 1921. |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_z3o9/page/228 }}</ref>

[[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt to form a Hindu-Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in Britain{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}. The leadership of the League was taken over by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a separate Muslim state in India. The "[[Two-Nation Theory]]", the belief that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations who could not live in one country, gained popularity among Muslims. The two-state solution was rejected by the Congress leaders, who favoured a united India based on composite national identity. Congress at all times rejected "communalism" — that is, basing politics on religious identity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ludden |first=David E. |title=Contesting the nation: religion, community, and the politics of democracy in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEUdPqYQjhoC&pg=PA93 |year=1996 |publisher=U. of Pennsylvania Press |page=93 |isbn=978-0812215854}}</ref> Iqbal's policy of uniting the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh into a new Muslim majority state became part of the League's political platform.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lyon |first=Peter |year=2008 |title=Conflict between India and Pakistan: an encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLwOck15eboC&pg=PA85 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=85 |isbn=978-1-57607-712-2}}</ref>

The League rejected the Committee report (the [[Nehru Report]]), arguing that it gave too little representation (only one quarter) to Muslims, established Devanagari as the official writing system of the colony, and demanded that India turn into a ''de facto'' unitary state, with residuary powers resting at the centre – the League had demanded at least one-third representation in the legislature and sizeable autonomy for the Muslim provinces. Jinnah reported a "parting of the ways" after his requests for minor amendments to the proposal were denied outright, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holt |first1=P. M. |last2=Lambton |first2=Ann K. S. |last3=Lewis |first3=Bernard |year=1977 |title=The Cambridge History of Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y99jTbxNbSAC&pg=PA103 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=103ff |isbn=978-0-521-29137-8}}</ref>

===Conception of Pakistan===
{{main|Pakistan Movement|Allahabad Address}}

On 29 December 1930, [[Muhammad Iqbal|Sir Muhammad Iqbal]] delivered his presidential address to the All-India Muslim League annual session. He said:<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Tariq |editor-first=Abdur-Rahman |year=1973 |title=Speeches and Statements of Iqbal |location=Lahore |publisher=Sh. Ghulam All & Sons |pages=11–12 |oclc=652259138}}</ref>

{{quote|text=I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province [modern-day [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]], 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.}}

Sir Muhammad Iqbal did not use the word "Pakistan" in his address. Some scholars argued that
"Iqbal never pleaded for any kind of partition of the country. Rather he was an ardent proponent of a 'true' federal setup for India..., and wanted a consolidated Muslim majority within the Indian Federation".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Grover |editor-first=Verinder |year=1995 |title=Political Thinkers of Modern Muslim India - Vol. 26, Mohammad Iqbal |location=New Delhi |publisher=Deep & Deep Publications |pages=666–67 |isbn=9788171005727}}</ref>

Another Indian historian, [[Tara Chand (archaeologist)|Tara Chand]], also held that Iqbal was not thinking in terms of partition of India, but in terms of a federation of autonomous states within India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chand |first=Tara |author-link=Tara Chand (archaeologist) |year=1972 |title=History of the Freedom Movement in India |volume=3 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting |pages=252–253 |oclc=80100683 |quote=It is, however, doubtful whether he [Iqbal] contemplated the partition of India and the establishment of a sovereign Muslim state ... at Allahabad, in December 1930 ... It was certainly not a scheme for the partition of India into two independent sovereign states ... his plan of amalgamating Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan in one autonomous region ... There is no reference here to the two-nation theory and to the incompatibility of Hindu and Muslim cultures.}}</ref> Dr. Safdar Mehmood also asserted in a series of articles that in the Allahabad address, Iqbal proposed a Muslim majority province within an Indian federation and not an independent state outside an Indian Federation.<ref>lang,  23, 24 &  25 March 2003;{{full citation needed|date=October 2018}} Also see, {{cite book |last=Mahmood |first=Safdar |year=2004 |title=Iqbal, Jinnah aur Pakistan |location=Lahore |publisher=Khazina Ilm-wa-Adab |pages=52–69 |language=ur}}</ref>

On 28 January 1933, [[Choudhary Rahmat Ali]], founder of the Pakistan National Movement, voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled "Now or Never".<ref>Full text of the pamphlet "Now or Never", published by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_rahmatali_1933.html</ref> In a subsequent book, he discussed the etymology in further detail: “'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our homelands ... That is, Panjab, Afghania (North-West Frontier Province), [[Kashmir]], Iran, [[Sindh]] (including Kachch and Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan."<ref>{{cite book |last=Ali |first=Choudhary Rahmat |author-link=Choudhry Rahmat Ali |year=1978 |orig-year=First published 1935 |title=Pakistan: the fatherland of the Pak nation |edition=3rd |location=Lahore |publisher=Book Traders |pages=224–225 |oclc=12241695}}</ref>

The [[United Kingdom|British]] and the [[India]]n Press vehemently criticised these two different schemes and created confusion about the authorship of the word "Pakistan" to such an extent that even [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] had to write:<ref>{{cite book |last=Nehru |first=Jawaharlal |author-link=Jawaharlal Nehru |year=1946 |title=Discovery of India |url=https://archive.org/details/discoveryofindia00nehr |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=John Day Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/discoveryofindia00nehr/page/353 353] |oclc=370700}}</ref>
{{quote|Iqbal was one of the early advocates of Pakistan and yet he appears to have realised its inherent danger and absurdity. Edward Thompson has written that in the course of a conversation, Iqbal told him that he had advocated Pakistan because of his position as President of Muslim League session, but he felt sure that it would be injurious to India as a whole and to Muslims especially.}}

===Campaign for Pakistan===
{{main|Pakistan Movement}}
[[File:All India Muslim League Working Committee Lahore 1940.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Muslim League Working Committee at the Lahore session]]
[[File:Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman seconding the Resolution with Jinnah and Liaquat presiding the session.]]
Until 1937, the Muslim League had remained an organisation of elite Indian Muslims. The Muslim League leadership then began mass mobilisation and it then became a popular party with the Muslim masses in the 1940s, especially after the Lahore Resolution.<ref name="Rizvi2000">{{cite book |last=Rizvi |first=H. |year=2000 |title=Military, State and Society in Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwGIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-230-59904-8 |pages=69– |quote=The Muslim League maintained an elitist character until 1937 when its leadership began to engage in popular mobilisation. It functioned as a mass and popular party for 7-8 years after the Congress provincial ministries resigned in 1939, more so, after the passage of the Lahore Resolution in March 1940.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dhulipala |first=Venkat |year=2015 |title=Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PrqLBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-25838-5 |pages=50– |quote=During this growth spurt, the ML itself was transformed from an elite moribund organization into a mass-based party that gave itself a new constitution, a more radical ideology and a revamped organizational structure.}}</ref> Under Jinnah's leadership, its membership grew to over two million and became more religious and even separatist in its outlook.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sebestyen |first=Victor |year=2014 |title=1946: The Making of the Modern World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sH4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT247 |publisher=Pan Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-74353-456-4 |pages=247– |quote=That, too, had begun life as a cosy club of upper-class Indians, seeking a limited range of extra privileges for Indian Muslims. However, under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the League grew rapidly to a membership of more than two million and its message became increasingly religious and separatist in tone.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Khan |first=Yasmin |author-link=Yasmin Khan |year=2017 |orig-year=First published in 2007 |title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan |edition=New |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PEpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |publisher=Yale University Press |page=18 |isbn=978-0-300-23364-3 |quote=Although it was founded in 1909 the League had only caught on among South Asian Muslims during the Second World War. The party had expanded astonishingly rapidly and was claiming over two million members by the early 1940s, an unimaginable result for what had been previously thought of as just one of the numerous pressure groups and small but insignificant parties.}}</ref>

The Muslim League's earliest base was the [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |year=1982 |title=The growth of the Muslim League in the Punjab, 1937–1946 |journal=Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=5–24 |doi=10.1080/14662048208447395 |quote=Despite their different viewpoints all these theories have tended either to concentrate on the All-India struggle between the Muslim League and the Congress in the pre-partition period, or to turn their interest to the Muslim cultural heartland of the UP where the League gained its earliest foothold and where the demand for Pakistan was strongest.}}</ref> where they successfully mobilised the religious community in the late 1930s. Jinnah worked closely with local politicians, however, there was a lack of uniform political voice by the League during the 1938–1939 Madhe Sahaba riots in Lucknow.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dhulipala |first=Venkat |year=2010 |title=Rallying the Qaum: The Muslim League in the United Provinces, 1937–1939 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=603–640 |jstor=40664926 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x09004016|s2cid=144798260 }}</ref> From 1937 onwards, the Muslim League and Jinnah attracted large crowds throughout India in its processions and strikes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |year=1993 |title=The role of the crowd in the Muslim League struggle for Pakistan |journal=The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=307–333 |doi=10.1080/03086539308582893 |quote=Huge crowds attended Muslim League meetings and flocked to glimpse Jinnah as he journeyed about India from 1937 onwards. They also joined in processions, strikes, and riots.}}</ref>

At a League conference in [[Lahore]] in 1940, Jinnah said:

{{quote|Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literature... It is quite clear that Hindus and Mussalmans derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes and different episodes ... To yoke together two such nations under a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built up for the government of such a state.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hay |first=Stephen |year=1988 |orig-year=First published 1958 |title=Sources of Indian Tradition |volume=2 |edition=Second |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=230 |isbn=978-0-231-06650-1}}</ref>}}

In Lahore, the Muslim League formally recommitted itself to creating an independent Muslim state which would include Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, the North West Frontier Province, and Bengal, and which would be "wholly autonomous and sovereign". The [[Lahore Resolution]], moved by the sitting Chief Minister of Bengal [[A. K. Fazlul Huq]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Lyon |first=Peter |year=2008 |title=Conflict between India and Pakistan: an encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLwOck15eboC&pg=PA85 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=108 |isbn=978-1-57607-712-2 |quote="The Lahore Resolution ...  was moved by a Bengali, Fazlul Huq (Haq)."}}</ref> was adopted on 23 March 1940, and its principles formed the foundation for Pakistan's first constitution. In the Indian provincial elections of 1946, the Muslim League won 425 out of 476 seats reserved for Muslims<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Ayoob |first1=Mohammed |date=2 November 2017 |title=Gandhi's Role in the Partition of India |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-asia/2017-10-19/gandhis-role-partition-india |magazine=Foreign Affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706062601/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-asia/2017-10-19/gandhis-role-partition-india |archive-date=6 July 2020}}</ref> (and about 89.2% of Muslim votes) on a policy of creating the independent state of Pakistan, and with an implied threat of secession if this was not granted. Congress, led by Gandhi and Nehru, remained adamantly [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposed to dividing India]].{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

In opposition to the Lahore Resolution, the [[All India Azad Muslim Conference]] gathered in Delhi in April 1940 to voice its support for a united India.<ref name="QasmiRobb2017">{{cite book |last1=Qasmi |first1=Ali Usman |last2=Robb |first2=Megan Eaton |title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108621236 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> Its members included several Islamic organisations in India, as well as 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates;<ref name="Haq1970">{{cite book |last1=Haq |first1=Mushir U. |title=Muslim politics in modern India, 1857-1947 |date=1970 |publisher=Meenakshi Prakashan |page=114 |oclc=136880 |language=en |quote=This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed2016">{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ishtiaq |title=The dissenters |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-dissenters/ |work=[[The Friday Times]] |date=27 May 2016 |quote=However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People’s Party in 1934, which later came to be known as ‘Ittehad’ or ‘Unity Party’. ... Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League’s demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a ‘majority of India’s Muslims’. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations ... Shamsul Islam argues that the All-India Muslim League at times used intimidation and coercion to silence any opposition among Muslims to its demand for Partition. He calls such tactics of the Muslim League as a ‘Reign of Terror’. He gives examples from all over India including the NWFP where the Khudai Khidmatgars remain opposed to the Partition of India.}}</ref> the "attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."<ref name="Ali2017">{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Afsar |title=Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims |url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims |work=[[The Milli Gazette]] |date=17 July 2017}}</ref> The All-India Muslim League worked to try to silence those Muslims who stood against the partition of India, often using "intimidation and coercion".<ref name="Ali2017"/><ref name="Ahmed2016"/> For example, Deobandi scholar [[Maulana Syed Husain Ahmad Madani]] traveled across British India, spreading the idea he wrote about in his book, ''[[Composite Nationalism and Islam]]'', which stood for [[Hindu-Muslim unity]] and opposed the concept of a partition of India;<ref name="Kumar1992">{{cite book |last1=Kumar |first1=Pramod |title=Towards Understanding Communalism |date=1992 |publisher=Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development |isbn=9788185835174 |page=22 |language=en |quote=His consciousness was not transformed into communal consciousness, so much so that the Muslim League 'goondas' attacked him several times. For instance, in 1945, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani was touring India to plead for composite nationalism and for opposing the idea of partition. Near Moradabad railway station Muslim League 'goondas' threw Keechar (marshy water) on him.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Engineer |first1=Asgharali |title=Ethnic conflict in south Asia |date=1987 |publisher=Ajanta Publications |page=28 |language=en |quote=At one time, in 1945, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani was touring throughout India to plead for composite nationalism and for opposing the idea of partition: once he was coming out of the railway station near Moradabad, and Muslim League goondas threw keechar (marshy water) on him.}}</ref> while he was doing this, members of the pro-separatist Muslim League attacked Madani and disturbed his rallies.<ref name="Kumar1992"/> The murder of the All India Azad Muslim Conference leader [[Allah Bakhsh Soomro]] in 1943 further solidified the All-India Muslim League to demand the creation of Pakistan.<ref name="Ali2017"/>

==Role in communal violence==

From the late 1930's and onwards in the British Indian province of [[Sind Province (1936–1955)|Sind]], communal tensions between Muslims and Hindus rose to enormous degree. These communal feelings were instrumental in the popularity of the All India Muslim League throughout the province.  Even though the Muslims made up about 70% of the population of Sindh, they had a bare majority (34 of 60 seats) in the Assembly. Furthermore, before the British took over, the Sindhi Hindus didn't own any land but within a century of British rule, their landownership grew by 40% while a further 20% was believed to have been mortgaged to them. The inter-faith conflict was at large connected to the peculiar socio economic order in which the Hindus in Sind dominated with their high socioeconomic status, while the Muslims remained marginalized.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=Farhan Hanif |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KN7fCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |title=The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements |date=2012-05-04 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-33697-3 |language=en}}</ref>

The historian [[Ayesha Jalal]] describes the actions that the pro-separatist Muslim League used in order to further spread communal division and undermine the elected government of [[Allah Bakhsh Soomro]], which [[opposition to the partition of India|stood for a united India]]:<ref name="Jalal2002">{{cite book |last1=Jalal |first1=Ayesha |title=Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1850 |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134599370 |page=415 |language=en}}</ref>
{{quotation|Even before the 'Pakistan' demand was articulated, the dispute over the Sukkur Manzilgah had been fabricated by provincial Leaguers to unsettle Allah Bakhsh Soomro's ministry which was dependent on support from the Congress and Independent Party. Intended as a way station for Mughal troops on the move, the Manzilgah included a small mosque which had been subsequently abandoned. On a small island in the near distance was the temple of Saad Bela, sacred space for the large number of Hindus settled on the banks of the Indus at Sukkur. The symbolic convergence of the identity and sovereignty over a forgotten mosque provided ammunition for those seeking office at the provincial level. Making an issue out of a non-issue, the Sind Muslim League in early June 1939 formally reclaimed the mosque. Once its deadline of 1 October 1939 for the restoration of the mosque to Muslims had passed, the League started an agitation.<ref name="Jalal2002"/>}}

In the few years before the partition, the Muslim League was accused of "monetarily subsidizing" mobs that engaged in [[1947 Rawalpindi massacres|communal violence against Hindus and Sikhs]] in the areas of Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum and Sargodha, as well as in the [[Hazara District]].<ref name="Abid2014"/><ref name="Chitkara1996">{{cite book |last1=Chitkara |first1=M. G. |title=Mohajir's Pakistan |date=1996 |publisher=APH Publishing |isbn=9788170247463 |language=en |quote=When the idea of Pakistan was not accepted in the Northern States of India, the Muslim League sent out its goons to drive the Hindus out of Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi and appropriate their property.}}</ref><ref name="Bali1949">{{cite book |last1=Bali |first1=Amar Nath |title=Now it can be told |date=1949 |publisher=Akashvani Prakashan Publishers |page=19 |language=en |quote=The pamphlet 'Rape of Rawalpindi' gives gruesome details of what was done to the minorities in the Rawalpindi Division. No such details have been published for other towns but the pattern of barbarities committed by the Muslim League goondas was the same everywhere.}}</ref> The Muslim League led mobs reportedly paid assassins money for every Hindu and Sikh killed.<ref name="Abid2014">{{cite news |last1=Abid |first1=Abdul Majeed |title=The forgotten massacre |url=https://nation.com.pk/29-Dec-2014/the-forgotten-massacre |work=The Nation |date=29 December 2014 |quote=On the same dates, Muslim League-led mobs fell with determination and full preparations on the helpless Hindus and Sikhs scattered in the villages of Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum and Sargodha. The murderous mobs were well supplied with arms, such as daggers, swords, spears and fire-arms. (A former civil servant mentioned in his autobiography that weapon supplies had been sent from NWFP and money was supplied by Delhi-based politicians.) They had bands of stabbers and their auxiliaries, who covered the assailant, ambushed the victim and if necessary disposed of his body. These bands were subsidized monetarily by the Muslim League, and cash payments were made to individual assassins based on the numbers of Hindus and Sikhs killed. There were also regular patrolling parties in jeeps which went about sniping and picking off any stray Hindu or Sikh. ... Thousands of non-combatants including women and children were killed or injured by mobs, supported by the All India Muslim League.}}</ref> As such, leaders of the Muslim League, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah, issued no condemnation of the violence against Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab.<ref name="Ranjan2018">{{cite book |last1=Ranjan |first1=Amit |title=Partition of India: Postcolonial Legacies |date=2018 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=9780429750526 |language=en |quote=In the evening of 6 March Muslim mobs numbering in the thousands headed towards Sikh villages in Rawalpindi, Attock and Jhelum districts. ... According to British sources, some two thousand people were killed in the carnage in three rural district: almost all non-Muslims. The Sikhs claimed seven thousand dead. Government reports showed that Muslim ex-service persons had taken part in the planned attacks. The Muslim League leaders, Jinnah and others did not issue any condemenation of these atrocities.}}</ref>

==Impact on the future courses of the Subcontinent==

===Pakistan===
{{main|Politics in Pakistan|Pakistan Muslim League}}

After the [[Partition of India|partition]] of the [[British Indian Empire]], the Muslim League played a major role in giving birth to modern [[conservatism in Pakistan]] and the introduction of the [[Democracy in Pakistan|democratic process]] in the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last=M S |first=Amogh |title=A history project on the impact of the AIMD on the future courses of India and Pakistan |journal=Online Daily |date=20 May 2011}}</ref>

The Pakistani incarnation was originally led by the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and later by Prime Minister [[Liaquat Ali Khan]], but suffered from ill-fate following the [[1958 Pakistani coup d'état|military intervention]] in 1958. One of its [[Convention Muslim League|factions]]<ref name="The Weekly">{{cite news |last=Masood |first=Alauddin |date=25 January 2008 |title=PML Perpetually Multiplying Leagues |newspaper=The Weekly}}</ref> remained supportive of President [[Muhammad Ayub Khan|Ayub Khan]] until 1962, when all factions decided to reform into the [[Pakistan Muslim League]] led by [[Nurul Amin]], and to support [[Fatima Jinnah]] in the [[1965 Pakistani presidential election|presidential elections]] in 1965. Furthermore, it was the only party to have received votes from both [[East Pakistan|East]] and [[West Pakistan]] during the [[1970 Pakistani general elections|elections]] held in 1970. During the successive periods of Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League went on to be one of the ruling parties holding alternating power within the nation.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

===India===
{{Main|Indian Union Muslim League}}

After the partition of India in 1947, the All-India Muslim League was disbanded. It was succeeded by [[Indian Union Muslim League]] in the new India.<ref name=":13">{{Cite news |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-history-of-muslim-league-in-kerala-and-india-5660839/ |title=Explained: History of Muslim League in Kerala and India |date=2019-04-06 |work=The Indian Express |access-date=2019-08-04}}</ref>

Indian Union Muslim League contests [[Elections in India|Indian General Elections]] under the Indian Constitution.<ref name=":13"/> The party has always had a constant, if small presence, in the Indian Parliament.<ref name=":13"/> The party has had two members in every [[Lok Sabha|Lower House]] from the third to the 16th House, with the exception of the Second, in which it had no members, and the fourth, in which it had three members. The party had a single member in the 14th Lower House. The party currently has four members in Parliament.<ref name=":13"/> The party is currently a part of the [[United Progressive Alliance]] in national level.<ref name=":13"/>

Indian Union Muslim League is recognized by the [[Election Commission of India]] as a State Party in [[Kerala]].The party is a major member of the opposition [[United Democratic Front (Kerala)|United Democratic Front]], the [[Indian National Congress]]-lead pre-poll state-level alliance in Kerala.<ref name=":13"/> Whenever the [[United Democratic Front (Kerala)|United Democratic Front]] rules in Kerala, the party leaders are chosen as important Cabinet Ministers.<ref name=":13"/>

===Bangladesh===
{{Main|Awami League}}
The Muslim League formed its government in [[East Bengal]] immediately after the [[Partition of Bengal (1947)|partition of Bengal]], with Khawaja Nazimuddin becoming the first [[Prime Minister of Bangladesh|Chief Minister]].{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

Problems in East Pakistan for the Muslim League began to rise following the issue of the [[Constitution of Pakistan]]. Furthermore, the [[Bengali Language Movement]] proved to be the last event that led the Muslim League to lose its mandate in East Bengal. The Muslim League's [[national conservatism]] program also faced several setbacks and resistance from the [[Communist Party of Pakistan]]. In an interview given to [[List of newspapers in Pakistan|print media]], Nurul Amin stated that the communists had played an [[integral]] and major role in staging the massive protests, mass demonstrations, and strikes for the Bengali Language Movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nair |first=M. Bhaskaran |date=1990 |title=Politics in Bangladesh: A Study of Awami League, 1949–58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mB9N4oxuSY8C&pg=PA73 |location=New Delhi, India |publisher=Northern Book Centre |pages=73– |isbn=978-81-85119-79-3}}</ref>

All over the country, the [[List of political parties in Bangladesh|political parties]] had favoured the [[Pakistan elections|general elections]] in Pakistan with the exception of the [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Muslim League]].<ref name="New Left Book plc">{{cite book |last=Ali |first=Tariq |date=2002 |title=The Clash of Fundamentalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8h_VjG4ucsC&pg=PA181 |location=United Kingdom |publisher=New Left Book plc |page=181 |isbn=978-1-85984-457-1}}</ref> In 1954, legislative elections were to be held for the Parliament.<ref name="New Left Book plc"/> Unlike in West Punjab, not all of the Hindu population migrated to India, instead a large number stayed in the state.<ref name="New Left Book plc"/> The influence of the Communist Party deepened, and its goal of attaining power was finally realised during the elections. The [[United Front (East Pakistan)|United Front]], the Communist Party, and the Awami League returned to power, inflicting a severe defeat to the Muslim League.<ref name="New Left Book plc"/> Out of 309, the Muslim League only won 10 seats, whereas the Communist Party got 4 seats of the ten contested. The communists working with other parties had secured 22 additional seats, totalling 26. The right-wing [[Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami|Jamaat-e-Islami]] had completely failed in the elections.<ref name="New Left Book plc"/>

In 1955, the [[United Front (East Pakistan)|United Front]] named Abu Hussain Sarkar as the Chief Minister of the State and he ruled the state in two non-consecutive terms until 1958, when martial law was imposed.<ref name="New Left Book plc"/> The Muslim League remained as a minor party in East Pakistan but participated with full rigour during the [[1970 Pakistani general elections|Pakistan general elections]] in 1970. It won 10 seats from [[East Pakistan]] and 7 seats from other parts of Pakistan. After the [[Bangladeshi independence|independence]] of Bangladesh, the Muslim League was revived in 1976 but its size was reduced, rendering it insignificant in the political arena.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

===United Kingdom===

During the 1940s, the Muslim League had a United Kingdom chapter active in the [[Politics of the United Kingdom|British politics]]. After the [[Independence of Pakistan|establishment]] of Pakistan, the Pakistani [[Pakistani community of London|community]]'s leaders took over the UK branch, choosing [[Zubeida Habib Rahimtoola]] as president of the party to continue to serve its purpose in the United Kingdom.<ref name=" PMLN Muslim League in UK"/> At present, the Muslim League's UK branch is led by the [[Pakistan Muslim League (N)|PML-N]], with Zubair Gull as its president.<ref name="PMLN Muslim League in UK">{{cite web |title=Muslim League in UK |url=http://www.pmln.co.uk/ukorganisation.html |website=PMLN Muslim League in UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604195548/http://pmln.co.uk/ukorganisation.html |archive-date=4 June 2014 |access-date=15 February 2014}}</ref>

==Historical versions==
Historically, Pakistan Muslim League can also refer to any of the following political parties in Pakistan:<ref>Mumtaz, Ashraf. ''Dawn'' (Pakistan), 14 May 2006.</ref>
* [[Muslim League (Pakistan)|Muslim League]], the original successor of the All-India Muslim League, which was disbanded during the first martial law.
* [[Convention Muslim League]], a political platform created by General [[Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)|Ayub Khan]] in 1962 when he became the president.
* [[Council Muslim League]], a party created by political leaders who opposed General Ayub Khan.
* [[Muslim League (Qayyum)|Muslim League]], a party created by [[Abdul Qayyum Khan|Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan]] when he split with the ''Council Muslim League'' to run for the [[1970 Pakistani general election|1970 general elections]].

==See also==
* [[Indian Independence Movement]]
* [[Muslim nationalism in South Asia]]
* [[Indian Nationalism]]
* [[List of presidents of the All-India Muslim League]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Stephen Philip |author-link=Stephen P. Cohen |year=2004 |title=The Idea of Pakistan |url=https://archive.org/details/ideaofpakistan00cohe |url-access=registration |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-8157-1503-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Graham |first=George Farquhar Irving |year=1974 |title=The Life and Work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan |location=Karachi |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-636069-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Malik |first=Iftikar H. |year=2008 |series=The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations |title=The History of Pakistan |location=Westport, Conn. |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-34137-3}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=R. J. |year=1983 |title=Jinnah and the Pakistan Demand |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=529–561 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x00011069 |jstor=312235|s2cid=144125491 }}
* {{cite journal |last=al Mujahid |first=Shairf |date=January–June 2007 |title=Reconstructing the Saga of the All India Muslim League (1906–47) |journal=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society |volume=55 |issue=1/2 |pages=15–26}}

==External links==

* [http://www.pakinformation.com/ Government of Pakistan website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050323012407/http://www.saarinews.com/ Pakistan News website]
* [http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/ The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090402114442/http://therepublicofrumi.com/47.htm Chronicles Of Pakistan]
* [http://www.harappa.com/jinnahmov.html Jinnah at a Meeting of the Muslim League] 16-second [[QuickTime]] film clip
* [http://muslimleague.uchicago.edu Colloquium on the One Hundred Years of Muslim League at the University of Chicago, 4 Nov 2006]
[https://infopak.net/ Pakistan Information]
{{Pakistan Movement}}
{{authority control}}

{{Indian Independence Movement}}

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