Pakistan, Moplahs Revolt (contd-1)

During the early months of 1921, excitement spread speedily from mosque to mosque, village to village. he violent speeches of the Ali brothers, the july resolution of the Khilafat conderence all added fuel to the fire.All through July and Aug Khilafat meetings were held in which the Karachi resolutionwas fervently endorsed , knives, swords, etc. were secretly manufactured and preparations were made to the proclaim of the coming of the kingdom of Islam. on Aug. '20, the dist. magistrate of calicut with help of troops attempted to arrest leaders with weapons at tiryrangadi, a severe encounter took place with the police and arrests of sme leaders with weapons were made.
Govt. properties were destroyed , Europeans who could not escape were victims in the hands of Moplahs activists, hindus were not allowed to escape. According to official records the govt. lost 43 troops with 126 wounded, while moplahs loss was 3,000, with a rougj account of 10,000< . It was considered a jihad against non-muslims, hindu women were raped and thousands converted forcibly to Muslims.
it is important to note that the Mopla riots came just after the all india khilafat agitation  supported by muslim leaders and mustafa Attaturk was declared the modern caliphate.
   Gandhi tried to condole the Hindus .

Pakistan, Mopla Revolt

The Moplahs are a band of fanatic muslims who have descended from arabs, settled in the malabar coast in about the 8th or 9th century AD and married mostly Indian wives. They had over years acquired an unenviable notoriety for crimes perpetuated under the impulse of religious frenzy. They were responsible for 35 minor outbreaks during the british rule, the most terrible being the one that took place in Aug 1921. The Moplah rebellion also known as Mopla riots was a British -Muslim and Hindu-Muslimconflict in Kerala that movement and the Karachi resolution fuelled the fires of rebellion.
A rumour spread amongst the Moplahs that the British rule had ended and the Islamic Caliphate had been reestablished in Delhi.
According to one view, the reasons for the Moplahs rebellion were religious revivalism among the Muslim Moplahs, and dissatisfaction of the land owning Hindu  Nnair community and the British administration that without doubt the latter. because of lack of support from the from any muslim ruler and leader from any of the muslim countries, the movement had lost its raison d'etre in 1921. But in Kerala, some extra zealous Muslim fanatics had circulated rumours that the Khilafat movement crowned with success and that tht the British regime had had come to an end.
The Mullahs and Maulvis soon appointed Mohammad Haji as their callipand gave a call of jehad ( holy war) against the british. The passions of the local Muslims-Moplas-were in flamed and they started riotson an unprecedected scale.the British authorities suppessed these with n iron hand and killed the rioters numbering 226, wounded 1615, captured 5688, and 38656 surrendered. The Caliph haji mohammad and his associate fell in to British hands. they were courtmarshaled and hanged . 150 Moplahs whomwere carried from alicut to Madras in a goods train under the scorching sun, were all in a prcarious condition, 66 of them had actually died on the way.             

Pakistan, Khilafat Movement (contd-1)

Khilafat Activists leading procession
Khilafat Movement (1919-1924) was a political movement launched mainly by the Muslims against the British rule to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of WWI.The caliphate is an Islamic system of Govt. in which the state rules under islamic laws.Caliph literally means successor or representative and emphasizes religious authority for the head of the state, known as Caliph.Ottoman empire, having takenthe side of the Central Powers during WWI, suffered a major military defeat. The treaty of Versailles (1919) reduced its territorial extent under the Treaty of Sevres (1920) and severed the territory such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, iraq, and Egypt. Though they assured to protect the ottoman emperer's status as caliph.

But a pro-western nationalist movement under the leadership of Kamal Ataturk, known as Kamal Pasa, led an independence war (1919-1924), and made Turket a republic of Turkey abolishing Caliphate in 1924.    

When the terms of the treaty of Serves were announced in 1920, it caused deep resentment among the Muslims. They felt betrayed. In June 1920, 90 influential Muslims wrote to Lord Chelmsford , the viceroy, informing him of their intent to start a non-cooperation movement against the govt. from Aug., until terms of the treaty with Turkey were revised. But this was of no avail as the British Prime minister Lloyd George was an implacable enemy of Turkey.
Dr. Ansari, Abdul Rahman siddiqui, Soaib Qureishi and Choudhury Khaliquzzaman.
   On this occasion about 18,000 indian muslim moved to brotherly independent muslim State Afghanistan .

Pakistan, Khilafat Movement

WW I is a land mark in the history of the colonial world and in the history of the world in general.It was not war between two sets of countries -  it was a war of redistribution of the imperialist countries to its respective fold. During this process of contradiction between two imperialist forces two by products came out as a challenge to the imperialist world.
  1. A portion of the land of the world, Soviet Russia, came out from the clutches of the Imperialist world and declared itself as a socialist country,
  2. More than 100 countries gained momentum in their freedom struggle.
For India this was the first time in the freedom struggle that two communities, Hindu and Muslim,fought together against the British rule on the point  injustice done by the British against the Khilafat issue.

The Lucknow pact showed that it was possible for middle-class, English educated Muslims and Hindus to arrive at an amicable settlement on Hindu-Muslim constitutional and political problems. This unity reached its climax during the Khilafat and the non-cooperation.

After WW I, the ottoman Empire faced dismemberment. Under the Leadership of the Ali brothers, Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, the Muslims of south Asia launched the historic Khilafat Movement to try and save it. M.K.Gandhi linked the issue of Swaraj with the khilafat issue to associate Hindus with the Movement. The ensuing movement was the first countrywide popular movement.
The Muslims of India had a strong feeling of identity with the world community of Islam. they had seen the decline in the political fortunes of Islam as the European powers conquered the Muslim lands one after the other.The Anglo-Russian convention of 1908 had reduced their next-door neighbour Iran to a mere dependency.Afghanistan also suffered as it was a bone of contention between Russia and Britain, and was now under the latter's sphere of influence.

      The general impression among the Muslims of India was that the western powers were waging a war againsst Islam throughout the world in order to rob it of all its power and influence. The ottoman Empire was the only Muslim power that had maintained a semblance of authority and the Muslims of India wanted to save the the islamic politicak power from extinction/
As an institution , Khilafat has a checkered past. It has originally migrated from Medina to damascusand from damascus to baghdad. For some time it was located in Egypt, then it fell to the lot of Turkey, very much as a prize.

Pakistan , Muhammad Ali Jinnah

The Govt. of India Act of 1909- also known as Morley -Minto Reforms-gave Indians limited role in the central and Provincial legislatures-known as legislative councils. For Mslims it was important both to gain a place in all-India politics and to retain their Muslim identity, objectives that required varying responses according to the circumstances, as the example of M.A.Jinnah illustrates. Jinnah was born in 1876, studied law in England and and began his carrier as an enthusiastic liberal in Congress. But in 1913 he joined in Muslim League, which had been shocked by the 1911 annulment of the Partition of Bengal into co-operating with Congress to make demands on the British. Jinnah continued his membership with Congress until 1919. During dual membership period, he was described as the "Ambassador of Hind-Muslim unity".

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. The leadership of the league was taken by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the demand for a separate state in India.      

Muhammad Iqbal

Pakistan, Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (contd-1)

 In late 1917, Montagu came to India and met Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India, M.K.Gandhi and M.A. Jinnah to discuss the the introduction of limited self-Govt. to India and protecting the rights of minority communities such as Muslims and Sikhs,
The report went before cabinet on 24 May and 7 June 1918 and was embodied in the Govt. of India Act 1919. These reforms represented the maximum concessions the British were prepared to make at that time.The franchise was extended, and increased authority was given to central and provincial legislative concils, but the viceroy remained responsile only to London.
The departments responsible for maintaining the "steel frame " of the British Govt. such as finance,revenue and home were retained by the councillors nominated by the British Govt., In 1921 another change recommended by the report was carried out when elected local council were set up in rural areas, and during 1920s urban municipal corporations were made more democratic and Indianized.

But the 1919 reforms didnot satisfy political demands in India. The British repressed opposition , and restrictions on the presss and on movement were reenacted in the Rowlatt Acts. followed by jalianawalabagh massacre in Amritsar, Punjab, in 1919..Montagu Chelmsford report was reviewed 10 years after by Simmon Commision. gandhi attended the 1931 roundtable conference in London in 1930,1931, and 1932. A new Govt. of india Act came into being in 1935.

Pakistan, Montagu-Chelmsford reforms

Montagu-Chelmsford reforms were  reforms introduced by the British Govt. in India  to introduce self-governing institutions gradually to India.The reforms take their name from Edwin Samuel Montagu, the secretary of state for India during the later parts of WW I and

Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India between 1916 and 1921. The reforms were outlined in the Montagu-Chelmsford report prepared in 1918 and formed the basis of the Govt. of India Act, 1919.

Indian Nationalists considered that the reforms did not

go far enough while British conservatives were critical

Edwin Samuel Montagu

 of them. 

This was actually another step forward for binding India 

in a constitutional net work.

Edwin Montagu became Secretary of State for India in June 1917 after Austen Chamberlain resigned after the capture of Kut by the Turks in 1916 and the capture of an Indian army staged there.he put before the British cabinet a proposed statement containing a phrase that he intended to work towards the gradual development of free institutions in India with a view to ultimate self-govt. This was extension idea fostered by lord Curzon.