The White House needs to immediately repudiate talk of seizing Pakistan's weapons. Arrest Anti-Americanism from consuming allies

President Abraham Lincoln made a career out of making friends out of enemies. Lincoln was fond of saying that the best way to destroy an enemy was to make a friend of him.
Frederick Kagan and others at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) make a career of making enemies out of lifelong friends. Invading a MNNA (Major Non Nato Ally) is the height of stupidity. This is a tsunami.
Kagan's outbursts may be a direct result of the increasing frustration at the failures in Iraq and the route of NATO forces in Afghanistan which spell the imminent fall of Kabul. The combined might of RAW-and Khad is trying to portray "instability" in Pakistan as an excuse to invade another Muslim country and consecrate the Crusade that the fanatics talk about.
This self-full-filling prophecy has grave consequences for South Asia and the Middle East. Incursions may ignite a fire that may not be containable. Do we want to deal with cardboard caricatures, or do we deal with reality?
One forgets that this is the fourth largest country in the world, nuclear armed and in certain regions of the country the entire population is armed. Does sanity suggest that we antagonize 160 million people? For what and for whom? For getting OBL? One of the worst case scenarios is if Americans are taken hostages and then attempts are made to rescue them. This would be embarrassing for the USA and Pakistan. The risk vs. reward may not be worth it.
Then there is always the possibility of a catastrophe where many Pakistani civilians die as a result of a strike. An accident could occur. If the Pakistanis are not aware of a strike missiles could be launched which could start a regional war. Pakistan and India are nuclear armed. In such a case, all bets are off, and the result would be horrible for the planet.
Pakistan has a 10 division well trained and well equipped army, one of the most professional armies in the world. Most of the officers were trained in the UK, USA, and Australia etc. The army has a centralized control with intense loyalty to the officer corps. More than 500,00 soldiers are in reserve, and like Israel all Pakistani high-schoolers (11th and 12th grades) are trained in basic two year military training called NCC (National Cadet Corp).The army is armed to the teeth, with local arms production M-16, Kalashnikovs, heavy artillery and now airplanes (knockoff of F-16s called JF-17 Thunder). They also have one of the best missile programs in the world, better than that of India.
“The Regime” consists of the army support, an elected National Assembly and Senate with representation of all the political parties including a heavy and intense presence of the MMA, PML and PPP opposition.
Now to eliminate all this would require a full scale invasion. 400,000 American soldiers and mercenaries (contractors) could not do it in Iraq, which has one fifth of the population and was sanctioned for ten years.
Now let us talk about invading Pakistan. Whose army is going to do it? One will need at least two million soldiers to occupy the country partially, and no one in 5000 years has been able to hold it.
Before the country is attacked many unnamed capitals and cities may go up in smoke, the Gulf of Hormuz would be blocked (ending supply of oil to the world), the Suez Canal would be choked, and many oilfields would be radio active for the next ten thousand years. This would mean the end of life as we know it. MAD (mutually assured destruction is the wave of the future).Any takers?
Pakistan may also decide to re-realign itself with Russia and China and leave the USA high and dry. Peace is the only way. Let us build bridges of harmony and rethink the strategy of war and “taking out nukes”. Loose Talk from the likes of Kagan reverberates into a tsunami in Islamabad and may take out all moderate forces in Pakistan

Four Crises and a Peace Process Rebuttal to Cohen

Kargil Internationalized the Kasmir issue and put a death knell to Simla Rebuttal to Cohen’s Four Crises and a Peace Process
It seems like every few Mr. Cohen in the employment of the Indian Lobby comes out with a new book or writing regurgitating the “same old wine in new bottle”. No matter how many times Mr. Cohen with new acolytes repeats the same old nonsense, it does not make it true. Nawaz Sharif visit to the White House made his life miserable in the dungeons of the Attock Fort. Any other leader that makes similar blunders will also receive the same fate.

Hari Singh, the last Maharaja of Kashmir was a weak vacillating man whose perversions and orgies had given him the reputation of the Himalayan Brogia. Unfortunately, Hari Singh, the man who was Mr. A had titillated the readers of the British penny press before the war, was something else. He was the hereditary Hindu maharaja of the most strategically situated princely state in India.

Demographic logic used by the Radcliff boundary commission to separate India and Pakistan seemed to dictate that Kashmir join with Pakistan. Its people were Moslem. It had been one of the areas originally selected for an Islamic state by Rehmat Ali when he formulated his impossible dream. The k in Pakistan was for Kashmir.

Hari Singh the last playboy Raja of Kashmir was an abdominal character-less hedonist bi-sexual. His only redeeming quality was that he held out against Patels bullying. Hari Singh was escorted out of the state under the curfew of the Indian army. India claims that next day he signed the so called article of accession to India. According to Alistair Lamb a noted historian of Kashmir, has cast several doubts on the article of accession. India's claim to accession is in dispute. The U.N. recognised the dispute, and treats Kashmir as disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

Indian forces landed in Kashmir before the insurrection of the local Kashmiris against the Maharaja (source Alister Lamb).

There are serious question on the dates on which the so called article of accession was signed, sealed or delivered to Lord Mountbatten. The Indian government claims that the so called article of accession is lost, if it ever existed.

Alastair Lamb, Incomplete Partition (OUP, 1998) comes to the conclusion that the instrument of accession was not signed on the date claimed by the Indian government to legitimise its sending of troops into Kashmir. American scholar Stanley Wolpert relates the accession story in his 1996 book, Nehru: A tryst with Destiny, basing it on the lack of concordance between versions of the accession. Wolpert writes that Menon returned from Srinagar on 26 October 'with no Instrument of Accession' to report on the perilous condition in Kashmir to the Defence Committee. Only after Mountbatten had allowed the airlift of Indian troops on 27 October, did Menon and Mahajan set out for Jammu 'to get the Instrument of Accession'. The Maharaja signed the Instrument after the Indian troops had assumed control of the state of Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar. If Wolpert's version is accepted then the 'conspiracy' of legalising the airlift becomes acceptable. Lamb thinks that it is possible that 'certainly Menon, perhaps Mountbatten, perhaps Nehru and perhaps Patel' were involved in this conspiracy. Lamb also claims that the document of accession does not exist

Amazingly Mr. Cohen does not mention the UN resolution and India's non-compliance to it. You fail to mention Nehru's commitments to the world, tot he Kashmiris and to Pakistan on holding a plebiscite.Alastair Lamb, Kashmir: A Disputed Legacy 1946-1990 (OUP, 1991) rates Owen Dixon very highly as an investigator and regards his reports to the UN Security Council as most elegantly framed and insightful. After a number of attempts, Dixon failed to convince India to accept new modalities of demilitarisation of the State before holding the plebiscite. He also suggested holding regional plebiscites which would have divided Jammu & Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Josef Korbel, commenting on Dixon's effort in his book Danger in Kashmir (OUP reprint 2002), noted that Dixon 'appeared sceptical of the ability of the United Nations to force upon India any just solution'.

Kashmir in the United Nations
Resolution 38 (1948) adopted by the Security Council at its 229th Meeting held on 17 January 1948
Resolution 39 (1948) adopted by the Security Council at its 230th Meeting held on 20 January 1948
Draft Resolution presented by the President of the Security Council and the Rapporteur on 6 February 1948
Resolution 47 (1948) adopted by the Security Council at its 286th Meeting held on 21 April 1948
Resolution 51 (1948) adopted by the Security Council at its 312th Meeting held on 3 June 1948
Resolution adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan on 13 August 1948
Resolution adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan on 5 January 1949
Proposal in respect of Jammu and Kashmir made by General A.G.L. McNaughton, President of the Security Council of the United Nations on 22 December 1949
Resolution 80 (1950) adopted by the Security Council at its 470th Meeting held on 14 March 1950
Resolution 91 (1951) adopted by the Security Council at its 539th Meeting held on 30 March 1951
Resolution 96 (1951) adopted by the Security Council al its 566th Meeting held on 10 November 1951
Resolution 98 (1952) adopted by the Security Council at its 611th Meeting held on 23 December 1952
Resolution 122 (1957) adopted by the Security Council at its 765th Meeting held on 24 January 1957
Draft Resolution presented by Australia, Cuba, U.K. and U.S.A. on 14 February 1957
Resolution 123 (1957) adopted by the Security Council at its 774th Meeting held on 21 February 1957
Draft Resolution presented by Australia, Columbia,Philippines on 16 November 1957
Resolution 126 (1957) adopted by the Security Council at its 808th Meeting held on 2 December 1957
Draft Resolution submitted by Ireland to the Security Council on June 22, 1962
Statement of the President of the Security Council (French Representative) made on the 18 May 1964 at the 1117th Meeting of the Council (Document No. S/PV. 1117, dated the 18 May l964) summarizing the conclusion of the debate on Kashmir
Resolution 209 (1965) adopted by the Security Council at its 1237th Meeting held on 4 September 1965
Resolution 210 (1965) adopted by the Security Council at its 1238th Meeting held on 6 September 1965
Resolution 211 (1965) adopted by the Security Council at its 1242nd Meeting held on 20 September 1965
Resolution 214 (1965) adopted by the Security Council at its 1245th Meeting held on 27 September 1965
Resolution 215 (1965) adopted by the Security Council at its1251st Meeting held on 5 November 1965
Resolution 303 (1971) adopted by the Security Council at its1606th Meeting held on 6 December 1971
Question considered by the Security Council at its 1606th, 1607th and 1608th Meetings held on 4,5 and 6 December 1971
Resolution 307 (1971) adopted by the Security Council at its 1616th Meeting held on 21 December 1971


Appeals, therefore, to both parties, in seeking a solution by negotiation under the auspices of the Council, to cooperate with each other and with the Council in developing specific proposals and, to this end, to apply the following principles which, in the opinion of the Council, should, among others, constitute the basis of a just settlement;

Acts of violence and hostility must end।

The withdrawal and continued exclusion of all irregular forces and armed individuals who have entered Jammu and Kashmir from outside must be brought about, each party using to that end all the influence at its disposal।

Regular armed forces in aid of the establishment and maintenance of order must be made available. In this connection the Governments should seek to ensure cooperation between their military forces to establish order and security until the question of accession shall have been determined by the plebiscite.

Regular armed forces must be withdrawn as soon as reestablishment of law and order permits।

After acts of violence and hostility have ceased, all citizens of the Jammu and Kashmir State, who had left on account of the recent disturbances, shall be invited and be free to return to their homes and to exercise all their rights without any restrictions on legitimate political activity. There shall be no victimization. All political prisoners should be released.

The conditions necessary for a free and fair plebiscite on the question of whether the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall accede to India or to Pakistan, including an interim administration which will command confidence and respect of the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir must be established।

Such conditions include that the plebiscite must be organized, held and supervised under the authority of the Security Council at the earliest possible date.

THE SINGH DOCTRINE: Resurrecting Lord Curzon’s vision of Imperial India

THE SINGH DOCTRINE (Part I)
Resurrecting Lord Curzon’s vision of Imperial India
By
MOIN ANSARI

The repercussions of the tectonic event are being felt like a tsunami in Pakistani today.It has been half a decade that political scientists witnessed a watershed event in the history of the Subcontinent. India established it’s first military base outside India a few miles from the capital city Dushambe in Tajikistan. This military base combined with a massive $40million Aid package to Dushambe allows India unprecedented clout in Central Asia. Is this takeover, combined with the growing Indian-Israeli nexus, a harbinger of things to come in Central Asia and Afghanistan? The Indian “takeover” of Tajikistan by establishing a military base there has long term consequences for Central Asia, the Middle East, Pakistan and China. In a look West policy, has Russia abdicated her rights to Central Asia and given them to India? Will this perceived “imperialism” be defeated? Charge of the Light Brigade also started with a lot of pomp and ceremony! Is India getting too big for her boots? Does India have the ware withal to take over Russia’s Big Brother role in Central Asia or is this going to be another misadventure for India like the withdrawal from Sri Lanka? This monograph attempts to answer these questions. The entry of the Sultan into Dushambe has been aptly described by Milton in “Paradise Lost”. Here are few lines.

His eye might there command wherever stood City of old or modern fame, the seat Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can, And Samarkand by Oxus, Temir's throne, To Paquin of Sinaean kings, and thence To Agra and Lahore of Great Mogul (Milton, Paradise Lost, XI.385-391)

His eye might there command wherever stood City of old or modern fame, the seat Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can, And Samarkand by Oxus, Temir's throne, To Paquin of Sinaean kings, and thence To Agra and Lahore of Great Mogul (Milton, Paradise Lost, XI.385-391)

The Singh Doctrine is nothing new, it is the application of the American Monroe Doctrine to Asia. The Doctrine defines spheres of influence for powers with “security zones”. To understand the Singh Doctrine, and to confirm that history repeats itself, we need to leaf through the pages of history for lessons learned Lord Curzon has been described as British missionary with a vision. After eliminating the Indian Mutiny, the British got serious in India. The sloppy command of the East India Company was replaced by the British Army that brought the situation in control Springboarding from the conquest of India, he tried to establish the seeds of a global British Empire that would face the Europeans rivals, the Russians and the Chinese, the pre-eminent powers of the time. Lord Curzon presided over the "High noon of Empire” and wanted to take it to new heights.. He argued that the defense of the Empire entailed protection of the entire region between Kabul and the Amu Darya (Oxus river) to the North, Colombo to the South, the Makran coast (now in Pakistan) to the West and Mandalay in Burma to the East. Lord Curzon seemd to think that that the Britain’s future lay in capturing and holding Central Asia.

“Turkestan, Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Persia – to many these words breathe only a sense of utter remoteness or a memory of strange vicissitudes and of moribund romance. To me, I confess, they are the pieces a chessboard upon which is being played out a game for the domination of the world."

Because the successors of the Turkish Ottomans were unwilling and unable to exercise the right to rule many of their Turkish subjects in Eastern Turkistan, Britain evaluated her own right to rule these lands. After the defeat of Britain in Kabul, later British policy abdicated the right to rule Central Asia to Russia.

India is considered by many as the successor state to the British Empire in India. Many of India’s leaders think of “India” as the land stretching from the Hindu Kush Mountains to the mythical land of Raj Kumari beyond Bali in Indonesia. These were the lands that Hindus lived in for centuries. After solidly defeating Pakistan in 1971, Indira Gandhi seemed to appreciate this notion of Indian Grandeur beyond the Subcontinent. This means physical control of the territory and also a string of satellite states circumnutating the country itself. Of course, this does not mean physical control of the geographical area thus delineated by Curzon. Unfriendly regimes are not to be tolerated in Indian sphere of influence the “security zones”, Curzon’s concept later refined by President Munro of the United States and named after him as the Munro Doctrine.

To understand the historical basis of the Singh Doctrine, and the events in Central Asia, we need to look at some snippets of history.
1813 The Treaty of Gulistan forces the Persian Shah to surrender all his territory north of the River Aras, including Georgia, Baku and naval rights on the Caspian Sea
1835 Dost Mohammad secretly approaches the Russians regarding getting help to recapture Peshawar from Ranjit Singh, an ally of Britain (Oct.)
1839

THE FIRST AFGHAN WAR ENDS IN EARLY CAPTURE OF KABUYL BUT REAL DEFEAT FOR THE BRITISH: Robert Bremmer publishes Excursions in the Interior of Russia and the Marquis de Custine publishes La Russe en 1839, both of which warn of Russia's designs in Asia. The British invade Afghanistan via the Sind, launching the First Afghan War (spring). The British enter Kabul without a fight, Dost Mohammad having fled (July)
1841 Conolly arrives in Bukhara (Nov.) Burnes and others are murdered by a mob in Kabul (Nov.). Sir William Mcnaghten, political head of the British mission to Kabul, and others are murdered by Mohammad Akbar Khan, son of Dost Mohammad (Dec.)
1842 The British, under General William Elphinstone, leave Kabul after Akbar agrees to guarantee their safety, but are massacred by Afghan tribesmen en route to the British garrison at Jalalabad (Jan.)
1849 The British seize the Punjab, detaching Kashmir as a separate state with a ruler friendly to them
1898 Russia gains the warm water naval base of Port Arthur from the Chinese. Lord Curzon becomes Viceroy of India

Thus the British move into Afghanistan was a total failure and British retreated back to the Khyber Pass and ruled India from the Khyber to Burma.

At first glance the Singh move into Dushambe, may seem that in nothing less than what is to be considered a diplomatic and military coup. In one stroke the Indian Government has taken over the republic of Tajikistan. Not only does India now have a military base in the Central Asian Republic, but India also gave Tajikistan a loan of $40 million to allow Indian companies to have free reign in the economic aspects of Tajikistan

The Singh strategy goes beyond the desire to clearly encircle Pakistan and face China in the coming few decades. India’s presence in Afghanistan along with her presence in the Central Asian Republic allows her to claim regional status and goes towards her goal of a world power aspiring to become a permanent seat on United National Security Council and a say in world affairs. The current regime in Afghanistan prefers Afghanistan to become an Indian vassal than to remain an independent country tied to Pakistan.

By establishing the military base in Dushambe, India has now painted a red target on herself for not only all those that oppose the governments in those states, but also for her rivals in South and Central Asia, namely, China, Pakistan and Iran. Geographically Tajikistan is north of Pakistan separated by a narrow strip of Afghanistan that was created by the British Raj to separate the British Empire from the Russian Empire. The British had an “on to the Oxus Policy” and a few years later they retreated back to the Khyber pass leaving Afghanistan alone.
Unable to control her own militancy in Kashmir, India now is poised to be bogged down in Tajiskistan and Kashmir. Her charges of the militants moving back and forth between Kashmir, Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics are now to be come a self-fulfilling prophecy, since there is now reason for all the “Hizbs” (Hizb e Tahrir and Hizb e Mujiheen) to cooperate with each other. To understand India’s move, we have to understand the the Central Asian republics are going through what can be described as Civil War. Of course this is not covered in the mainstream or even the Muslim media. Some even consider America’s move into Afghanistan and Iraq to prevent the establishment of super state in Central Asia that would rival Russia and create a new power center to be dealt with. Neither Bolsevik decimation nor absolute Stalinist brutality, nor Putin’s dictatorship have been able to eliminate the desire of the Muslims of the Valley of Ferghana in Tajikistan, Karghyistan, Kasikhistan, Uzbekistan etc to come together under one flag. To take a peek into current affairs, w are witnissign the birth of a nation. All the growing pains are there. The aspirations of the people of Central Asia may allow them independence and control of their enormous oil wealth.

The antithesis of the Singh Doctrine is the Chaudry Rehmat Ali Doctrine. The second part of this article will deal with the Chaudry Rehmat Ali Doctrine as accepted by General Hamid Gul that aspires to establish Pakistan as the focul point of problems faced by the Central Aisan Republic and what India will have to face in the coming decades, if it continues to follow the imperial policy of Lord Curzon.

Mr. Moin Ansari the author, is a free lance journalist, a columnist, and a Senior Fellow with the International Center of Strategic Studies. He has three Bachelor’s degrees including one in International Relations, General History and Political Science, and an MBA. He is President of AJMA (Dialogue between the Children of Abraham). He is the CEO of own consulting business in East Hanover New Jersey. Contact Moinansari@aol.com. This is a seed article for the ICSS White Paper on Central Asia

A FRESH SOLUTION TO THE ENIGMA OF KASHMIR AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT

A FRESH SOLUTION TO THE ENIGMA OF KASHMIR
AND ITS ECONOMIC IMPACT
Learning important lessons from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
by: Moin Ansari
Updated Nov. 1995
Please send all serious responses to MoinA@aol.com

“ Whosoever of you sees an evil action,let him change it with his hand, and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue, and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart- and that is the weakest of faith.” Hadith of the Prophet Mohammad---Related by Imam Muslim.

“If we believe in Ram then the same Ram has created people who believe in Islam and Christianity and Sikhism and Budhhism. so being (a) majority in India isn't it the responsibity of Hindus to be considerate for the feelings of minorities.” Arun Gupta paraphrasing Mohandas K. Gandhi on Resposibilities as an Indian Hindu

We come to you ....as friends,
But you attack us as enemies;
And between our friendship and your enmity,
There is a deep ravine flowing with tears and blood
---- Khalil Gibran

When all efforts to restore peace prove useless and no words avail,
Lawful is the flash of steel, it is right to draw the sword.
--------- Guru Gobind Singh ......Zafarnama 1704

Economically, these days, there is no national sovereignty. Strategically,
borders are becoming meaningless. Scientifically, only the globe and the
universe matter. What is left that is ours? Culture and historical memories
expressed in our language. -- Shimon Peres

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -Martin Luther King

While a person of pure intelligence may
achieve the goal by the most casual of
instructions, another may seek knowledge
all one's life and still remain bewildered.
-Ashtavakra Gita 15.1

Spread of Islam in South Asia:
"....I became more than ever convinced that it was not the
sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It
was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the prophet, the
scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and
followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and
in his own mission. These, and not the sword carried everything before
them and surmounted every trouble." YOUNG INDIA, 1924. (10) M.K. GANDHI


(Bestimmt mochte `liebensraum', aber keine mehr!)

"No civilisation is conquered from without
untill it has destroyed itself from within"

PREFACE
We have been working on a solution for Kashmir for years. What began as an exchange of thoughts has now acquired a life of its own. People from across the planet have sent us information, people who would usually be considered “enemies” participated in evolving a solution. What began as an exercize to learn has yielded enough information to complete a thesis on Kashmir. What makes this monograph different from others is that almost all the information was gathered on the internet through the various newsgroups. We have tried to give credit where it is due. This article has grown due to the tempers it flares and the historical research it spawns. This is more than we bargained for. We have received an overwhelming reponse from Indians and Pakistanis. There is a tremendous desire to achieve peace. It is only the tactics for achieving peace that differ. We have been changing the article based on the feedback from other Indians and Kashmiris.

For the sake of fairness we have tried to include almost ALL perspectives of the conflict in this treatise, however we admit that the article may have a bias towards the Pakistani perspective. We do not aplogize for the bias, because one of the reasons for writing the article was to set the record straight, to put forward the historical chronology for the newer generations of Pakistanis who may not know our side of the story.

The article discusses why peace would be a good thing for South Asia and what it is costing us not to have peace. It traces the history of Kashmir from the earliest times to the present day. It includes or tries to include all the possible points of view (Kashmiri, American, British, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, U.N., Fundamentalist Pakistani, Fanatical Indian and others), and the article includes the current views of international authors, Desmond Edwards, Alister Lamb and Stanley Wolpert. The article then proposes several option and solutions. This is not the final version of this article. As we get more ideas we will try to include them in this writing.

Normal and standard copyright restriction apply to reproducing this article. You may copy any portion of this article as long as you give me or the authors mentioned proper credit. You may not reproduce this article for commercial purposes without the permission of the author.

Moin-Ansari

PURPOSE
The purpose of the article to seek peace for the South Asian Subcontinent. The article seeks to inform instigate and inspire the visionaries. This article is being posted to solicit comments from Indians, Kashmiris and Pakistanis and other students of history and political science who are serious about dialogue between our countries and our peoples. The world is looking at us with great expectations and great apprehension.

Are we going to remain the only island of poverty in Asia or can we overcome our differences and create prosperity for 1 Billion peoples who reside in the subcontinent?

Please send all serious responses to MoinAnsari@aol.com. Please save all non-serious comments for other addresses. We will continue to update this article as we get more information.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND COMPILER
I cannot take credit for all the matierial in this writing even if I wanted to. It is really a compilation of facts and arguments. I have included the writings of the main authors of our times who have written on Kashmir. Let me use this space to thank all the writers that remain acknowledged and those that I have not mentioned in these writings. I would like to consider myself as a student of political science. I was born in Pakistan and now live in the United States. I have several Bachelors degrees from Pakistan and the U.S. My post graduate education includes a degree was from UCLA, and I have an MBA. I am an avid student of history and enjoy discourse on the political estabishments of our time. You may copy any portion of this article as long as you give me or the authors mentioned proper credit

I have no affiliation with any organization on Kashmir. For more information on Kashmir please note that in my opinion the true authority on all Kashmiri history is Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American Council. He should be contacted to refute all attempts at disinformation. Internet URL for more information in Kashmir: http://www.csv.warwick.ac.uk/~suaaf/Kashmir/ or http://www.ummah.org.uk/kashmir/atroc

UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY--Current Affairs

We need to create consensus on the Kashmir issue. India’s hopes of creating a new U.S.-India relationship at the expense of Pakistan has received only lukewarm support in America. Rao is trying to find new friends in Congress. Pakistan’s attempt to internationalize the issue at the United Nations has was a dismal failure, but after the Nuclear explosions in Pokran it is an active and live issues in world capitals. Foreign Offices in both countries are trying to outdo each other, trying to make each country look bad. Both are successful. Both nations look bad. When American business find India and Pakistan at each others throats they seek other pastures in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. When American companies do not move to the subcontinent in droves, both nations suffer.

Both Pakistanis and Indians need to understand that business is not a zero-sum game. Rao’s visit to the U.S in 1994 was successful in many matters, but it had many problems. Bush’s visit to India was a resounding success. American businesses are moving to India and Pakistan. Companies moving to China want to take advantage of the economic opportunities in Asia. They are not there to burn flags, or salute personalities. Companies moving to India are lured by the 40-200 million consumers in India. Companies moving to Pakistan are seduced by the 20 million consumers in Pakistan. Companies moving to either country would not like to ignore the other consumers across the border. American multi-nationals want to use one Asian country as a springboard to reach the other country. International business borders are very porous. American business does not understand political roadblock. The same Boeing that changed Clinton’s mind on the MFN issue in favor of China would vote for doing business, both in Pakistan and India.

THE REASONS FOR THE CONFLICT

KASHMIR
a) Nehru's obsession of keeping his own HOME STATE under his domain

b) Lack of leadership at the INC.....Gandhi was a messiah not a INC leader....Jawaharlal was too busy with his libido to reach the stature of Motilal Nehru...Patel was too radical to be able to talk to Jinnah's genius

c) India's designs to string satelllite states around itself...a la USSR

d) Lack of democracy in Pakistan

e) Lack of understanding between the ML and INC leadership

f) Failure in Pakistan to understand provincial rights

g) Failure in India to recognize minority rights

h) Cold War: USA-USSR proxy wars

i) Asia: China-India proxy war

j) Central Asia-India cold possibilities

h) Sheikh Abdullahs lack of honesty and his attempts at power

i) The military industrial complexes in BOTH countries. It is beneficial for both militaties to keep the war and hatred alive

j) Religious problems and Two Nation Theory and One Nation theory and ideological wars

REASONS FOR INDEPENDENCE and THE CREATION OF PAKISTAN
1) Federalism vs. Autonomy for states/provinces

2) Congress infatuation with absolute power for the center

3) Lack of chemistry between the leaders of the AIML and the INC

4) Lack of respect for the ML and their leadership

5) Lack of recognition of minority rights in the proposed Indian Union of South Asia

6) In ability of the INC to calm down the rightist factions of the INC ...Rai...etc,

7) In ability fo the INC to undestand Muslim seperatism...they continued to brand it as communalism...where it actually was REGIONALISM and MINORITY RIGHTS under Jinnah

222,000 SQ. KILOMETERS OF KASHMIR IS COSTING 1 BILLION SOUTH ASIANS 25 BILLION DOLLARS YEAR IN LOST FOREIGN INVESTMENT-- Current Affairs--Opinion

South Asia we seem to be stuck in a quagmire. The last and nth round of talks between India and Pakistan have “failed”. We have to dissect the causes of the failure of the talks so that we can learn from it.

The pace of industrialization in the subcontinent is increasing. Before we congratulate our governments over the pace of industrialization, we need to analyze some numbers. American investment to India has stagnated at about a Billion Dollars (750 million in FY93-94), which is 5 times more than what it was 5 years ago, but this investment amount is a drop in the bucket for India. Investment in Pakistan is to the tune of 2 Billion Dollars twice last years amount, and growing. Both amounts pale if compared to the 8 Billion invested in Thailand, and the Billions invested in China. According to some estimates, the cost of not resolving the Kashmir issue is costing India about 20 Billion Dollars a year, and it is costing Pakistan about 5 Billion Dollars a year in foreign investment.

Obviously the Indians are hurting, both economically and in terms of international prestige. Keeping a large army in Kashmir is expensive. Keeping a large army in Kashmir on red alert is very expensive. Dreams of Asian security (recently re-packaged) are going no where without the active cooperation of Pakistan. The Oil pipelines from Qatar and other Gulf states to India cannot materialize without the consent of Pakistan. The land routes from India to Europe are blocked by a belligerent Pakistan. In summary Pakistani enmity is costing India Billions of Dollars. The economic costs are in additional to the un-realistic expenditures on defense.

Indian belligerence is costing Pakistan too. A viscous enemy on the border threatens our very existence. We cannot afford to spend less on defense. Our survival depends on it. Due to the Indian bogey, a disproportionately large portion of our budget is spent on defense. This expenditure could be utilized for better purposes if we did not have animosity with India. Case in point: Pakistan recently paid Billions of Dollars for F-16s and other armaments. We could have built at least 1000 major world class hospitals in Pakistan, if we had spent Billions of Dollars in the health sector. The Indian bogey curtails our industrial growth by prohibiting our industry’s growth and expansion into the lucrative Indian market. The belligerency towards India is advantageous to the military power brokers in Pakistan. It keeps them in business.
For decades the subcontinent led the world in arms expenditure.

INDIAN INITIAL FIRST POSITIONS --Current Affairs--Opinion

Now look at initial the Indian stance:

1) Kashmir is an integral part of India.

2) The accession of Kashmir to India is final.

3) India cannot afford to give up Kashmir because it would open up a Pandora’s box for the Indian Union.

4) The unfinished business of partition is the return of Pakistani (Azad) Kashmir to India

During the last Indo-Pak negotiations a trial balloon was floated right before the negotiations by the Indian side. Would Pakistan accept the existing line of control as the International border? This trial balloon itself was a significant concession from the Indian side because it compromised every position that they have taken up to this point. The Pakistani response tot he trial balloon was quick and brutal. We shot it down without giving it any consideration.

DEVELOP PAKISTANI INITIAL AND FINAL POSITIONS--Current Affairs--Opinion

As Pakistanis we have to assess our expectations and we need to analyze our position. Before we even talk to Indians we have to answer the following two question.

a) Are we looking towards the Kashmir issue as a reason to acquire additional territory for the Islamic republic or we need to evaluate our conscience ?

b) Are we looking at the resolution of the Kashmir issue to help and assist the Kashmiri Muslims of South Asia?

c) Are we willing to consider the aspirations of non-Muslims living in Kashmir?

We have grown up in government rhetoric, and state propaganda for so long that it is extremely difficult to answer the above question in an either or situation. In most Pakistani minds the answer to the above questions is simple. Summarily stated, most Pakistanis would answer the question thus “we are doing the Kashmiris a great favor by allowing them to join us“. Without going in to the merits of this case, we need to understand this reasoning. If the Indians want to understand the Pakistani point of view they have to deal with this mentality. The point of discussion is. what is most perplexing for American, foreign, and even Arab and Muslim governments is “Is this the last or the first position of the Pakistanis?“ For most Pakistanis who have grown up in fixed paradigms there is no question of a first and last position. “return what is ours“.

As a nation we are very weak in conflict resolution. We have suffered because of this weakness in our national character. We have big egos that cannot be bent for our mutual good. We need to develop good conflict resolution skills.

If we are serious about resolving the Kashmir problem, as a nation we need to:

1) Tone down the rhetoric.

2) Inform the Indians that we are serious about the negotiations, and seek confidence building measures from them.

3) Educate and inform our people of the historical facts of Kashmir.

4) Develop consensus amongst ourselves as a nation.

5) Seriously explain the problems to the Kashmiris, and treat them like partners.

6) Develop alliances with the Kashmiris that would support the joint Pakistani-Kashmiri point of view.

7) Develop initial and final Pakistani conditions that would be used in negotiations.

8) Seek assistance from America, Russia, Britain, the Muslim states, and the friends of India to really resolve the issue.

9) Seek the assistance of the United Nations to resolve the conflict, rather than to degrade India.

Part 4
LAND IS LIKE CHILDREN: ONE CANNOT GIVE THEM AWAY --Current Affairs--Opinion

If we are ready to resolve the Kashmir conflict, and as a nation I believe that at the present time we are not ready to resolve the conflict. I state this for the following reasons.

 Siege Mentality

 Land is of paramount importance

 Leadership issues

Most Pakistanis have grown up in a siege mentality. Pakistan is the only nation that was forcibly broken up between WW 2 and the end of the cold war. Land is of extreme important to Pakistanis. Eighty percent of our workers are farmers. 80% of our people live on the land and live off it. Land is everything to them. Pakistanis are afraid and apprehensive of any move that faintly resembles “giving land away”. Land is like children, you cannot give it away. It takes a very bold step to break the siege mentality. However it does not take exceptional or charismatic leaders to take a bold step. Leaders who do take the bold step are considered brave and charismatic. If we look at Begin or Rabin, one could consider them as mediocre politicians who got engulfed in a vision and the vision engulfed them and this increased their stature. For Saddaat it was a very profitable venture for his people. He may have been the only one who had a giant stature.

Both Pakistan and India have weak governments. Can either of them afford to take a bold step? Israel had a very weak government when it signed the peace treaty with Egypt, and it has a very weak coalition movement right now. However she is moving towards peace.

THE POSSIBLE OPTIONS --Current Affairs--Opinion

0) The Do Nothing Option. The status quo remains. The rhetoric is tuned up every few years.

1) All of Kashmir becomes part of India.

2) All of Kashmir is “liberated” and becomes part of Pakistan.

3) All of Kashmir becomes part of China.

4) All of Kashmir becomes “free” and becomes independent.

5) “Kashmir” is divided, and sub-divided again along religious lines, and the parts “given” to India, Pakistan and China.

6) A negotiated combination of any of the above.

7) A real solution to the Kashmir issue through “give and take”, compromise and consensus.

...the rest of this landmark seminal article will be posted on this site...stay tuned!

Iqbal: 3 phases of a dreamer

Shair-e-Mashriq, Hakeem-e-Ummat
Sir Dr. Alama Mohammed Iqbal
THREE PHASES OF A VISIONARY
by
Moin Ansari

"Iqbal, that immortal poet of Islam, whose poetry served as a
beaconlight in the darkest period of our history and whose message
will ever help us on the way to our destiny," Choudhary Rahmat Ali
(1947, 'Pakistan').

alt.language.urdu.poetry
"Saare Jahan se Aachha/ Hindusthan Hamara"
Page 28: On Musalmaan

It was the best of times. Ras Tofari became the emperor of Ethiopia. The planet Pluto was discovered by C.W. Tombaugh. All’s quiet on the Western front was playing in the theaters.

It was the worst of times in the New World. In Germany, Nazis were gaining power. D.H. Lawrence the English novelist had died. The U.S. population was 122 million, and in the land of the Dollar the bottom had fallen out of the financial markets. Wall Street was is total disarray. The stock had crashed. Savings accounts had been wiped out. People had given up hope. Many Millionaires had lost their fortunes and flung themselves out of their windows to their death. Conspicuous consumption had taken its toll. America was in the midst of a depression. It was the year 1930.

And in the old world, an ‘Indian’ dreamer, was making a speech in the city of Allahbad. He was speaking at the session of the All India Muslim League.

“It cannot be denied that Islam regarded as an ethical ideal plus certain kind of polity by which expression I mean a social structure regulated by a legal system and animated by a specific ethical idea has been chief formative factor in the life history of the Muslims of India.”

Would you like me to see Islam as a moral and political ideal, meeting the same fate in the e world of Islam as Christianity has already met in Europe “ Is it possible to retain Islam as an ethical ideal and to reject it as polity in favor of national politics in which religious attitude is not permitted to play its part ?”

Iqbal was philosophizing about separating religion form politics. He maintained that one could not put Islam in a separate compartment, and deal with the political realities of the time. Iqbal maintained that Islam had to be part and parcel of everything a Muslim did. He refuted the secular claim that one could practice religion in the mosque and live in a United India. K. Ali a noted Pakistani historian states that “the construction of a polity on national lines, if it means the displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim.”

Iqbal, speaking as the President of the All Indian Muslim League was saying “Islam is in jeopardy “, and we must save it by creating a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Perhaps he was saying that Islam is in jeopardy in India, and we must provide it a nurturing ground, in certain parts of India, where it can grow and prosper, and influence. Iqbal went on to announce his thoughts at the Allahbad session and I quote Iqbal

“ India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages and professing different religions .... To base a constitution on the conception of a homogenous India .... is to prepare for a civil war. The formation of a consolidated North West Indian State appears to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India”.

K. Ali writes, that “This scheme of a separate Muslim state in India appeared to a be a dream of a the poet Iqbal at that time, and it was bitterly criticized. Since 1930, the idea of a separate State was gaining ground in the hearts of the Muslims of India“ Iqbals’s idea was given the moniker of P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N by one Chaudry Rehmat Ali, an Indian Muslim student studying in England. Iqbal had been propagating the idea for a separate homeland for the Muslims. He had been writing to Jinnah, asking him to be the lawyer to defend the cause of the Muslims of India. Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah took the challenge, and the rest as they say is history.

It is clear that earlier statements by Iqbal when the creation of Pakistan was still in the embryonic stage cannot be taken as his true endorsement of a united India. In the thirties almost the entire Muslim population was not entertaining the idea of separatism, and even the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah and others were working for the unity of India.

Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah said that:

“ the differences in India, between the two major nations, the Hindus and the Muslims are a thousand times greater when compared with the continent of Europe. India is not a national state, India is not a country, but a sub-continent composed of nationalities, the two nations being Hindus and Muslims whose culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, name and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, laws and jurisprudence, social and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, outlook on life and of life are fundamentally different nay in many respects antagonistic”.

Any discussion of Iqbal becomes a discussion of Pakistan. That is a tribute to the poet dreamer. The discussion of Pakistan is incomplete without bringing up Iqbal, and the biography of Pakistanis is never complete without discussing the philosophy of “ The poet of the East “.

The two nation theory was initially enunciated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was this enunciation of the two nation theory that appealed to the hearts and minds of Mussalmans all over the subcontinent. They in one voice voted for the Muslim League and Jinnah. Muslims from the Southern tip of Tamiland, to the Central India, to Eastern India accepted and fought for the Two nation Theory. It is incredible that the Pakistan movement began in the United Provinces of India (U.P, a conglomeration of independent princely states, that were railroaded into a province by the British) , and was led by Muslims of Northern India from Aligarh, Lucknow, and Delhi, Muslims who never had any hope of becoming part of Pakistan. Muslims all over the subcontinent voted, worked and died for the ideals dreamt by Iqbal, and preached by Jinnah.

Who was Iqbal ? One of the first to advocate a separate homeland in India, Iqbal ( 1876-1938) was the second crucial link in our independence struggle, the factor that took Sir Syed’s ( 1817-1898) ideals and passed the torch to Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah ( 1876-1948)

The Freedom Struggle Torch carried through generations:

1817-1898 1876-1938 1876-1948




Sir Syed Iqbal Jinnah

RESUME OF MOHAMMED IQBAL
Goals
To awaken the Muslims of India so that they could regain their lost glory and greatness. To wake up the Muslims and be more practical. To show the Muslim youth of India the path of truth and progress

Biography
Name: Mohammed Iqbal
Other names (ALAISes) : Poet of the East, The Poet Thinker, The Poet who dreamt Pakistan, The poet who awakened the Muslims of India. Spiritual father of Pakistan.
Born: November, 1876 at Sialkot
Profession: Taught Philosophy and Law. Barrister at Law. Member Punjab Legislative Council 1926-1930. President of Muslim League 1930
Knighted by the British in 1992 for poetry
Hobbies and Passion, and claim to fame : Poetry in Urdu and Persian
Greatest influence: Nietzsche and other German nation constructors

Publications
Asrar-e-Khudi translated as the Secrets of Self, 1920, 1940
Piyam -e Mashriq. Message of the East 1930
The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam 1930
Bang-e-Dara
Baal-e-Gibreel
Ughuman-e-Hijaz and many others
Education
M.A. Government College Lahore
Barrister at law England
Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908
Experience
Khilafat Movement: Alama Iqbal took part in the brief but important struggle that was carried out by the Muslims of the subcontinent for the restoration of the Khilifat headquartered in Turkey. In WW1 Turkey had allied itself with Germany against Britain. When Germany and Turkey were defeated in 1918 the British had abolished the Muslim caliphate at the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. The Muslims of the subcontinent ( led by Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali, and Abul Kalam Azad ) were outraged, and led a nationwide campaign of agitation to protest the abolition of the Ottoman Empire Caliphate. To this day young Turks remember this movement, and think of Pakistanis as the natural successors of that movement.

All India Muslim league: He expressed great satisfaction at the formation of the Muslim League in 1906.

MPA Lahore: In 1926 Iqbal contested the election from Lahore, and won by a large majority

Nehru Report: In 1928 when the Nehru report came out, Iqbal was disappointed by the he Hindu attitude. At this juncture he made up his mind to form a separate homeland for the Muslims of India

Vision for Pakistan: In 1930 as President of the All India Muslim League, he enunciated the Two nation Theory. “ The Muslims wish to lead a life of freedom and honor. They want to live as a nation and this can be achieved if they have a separate Islamic state“.

Struggle for Pakistan: To his last day, Alama Iqbal was a sincere friend of Quaid-e-Azam, assisting him in putting together a coalition of Muslims together. Iqbal was coaxing the slumbering masses to wake up and demand a homeland. Iqbal was criticized by the orthodox religious right for his “shikwah” and “jawab-shiwah”.


THE THREE PHASES OF IQBAL

1) HUM BULBULAIN HAIN IS CHAMAN KI , YEH WATAN HAI HUMARA. HINDUSTAN HUMARA

The first phase of Iqbal was as an Indian nationalist. He believed that both the Hindus and the Muslims could live together to return the subcontinent of India to its pre-British Moghul glory. This belief was made under the hypothesis that the two-century British period was an aberration in the thousand year history of the country. Iqbal believed that after the British left ‘Indians’ could live together in peace and harmony and make the country of India great. At the time Muslims were about 40% of the population of ‘India’ and Hindus were in slight majority. However the cultural and social centers of India were in the hands of the Muslims. During this phase of his life Iqbal believed that India is as big as Western Europe could compete as a great nation against Europe, America and China. Jinnah at the time also experimented with unity and was called “ The ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity “.

Here is Iqbal clearly disassociating himself from the scheme of Pakistan though he still defends his Allahbad speech made four years earlier

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt. M. A., Ph.D.
Barrister-at-Law Lahore
4th March 1934
My dear Mr. Thompson

I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I am
grateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But you
have made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider it
rather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called
'Pakistan'. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggested
in my address is the creation of a Muslims Province--i.e. a
province having an overwhelming population of Muslims--in the
North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,
a part of the proposed Indian Federation. Pakistan scheme proposes
a separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related to
England as a separate dominion. This scheme originated in
Cambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round
Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu or
so called Indian Nationalism

Yours sincerely,

Mohammad Iqbal

2) CHEEN - O ARAB HUMARA, HINDUSTAAN HUMARA, MUSLIM HAIN HUM, WATAN HAI SARA JAHAN HUMARA

Disappointed by the Hindu attitudes, Iqbal began to think himself as a Muslim first, and an ‘Indian’ second. During this stage of his thinking, Alama Iqbal began believing in Pan-Islamism. Iqbal worked with Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali and Abul Kalaam Azad. He actively wrote poems on his belief that all Muslims should think of themselves as Muslims first. Caste and Creed were to be given up, and nationalism was shunned for the crescent and star.

THE CONCEPT OF KHUDI (self)

Iqbal wrote on the concept of self. “ Khoodi ko kur bulund itna kai khuda bundai say khood poochay, buta teri ruzaa kiya hai “. This concept of self asked the Muslims to improve their lot by themselves, and not be at the mercy of any other person or nationality.



3) KHANJAR HILAL KA HAI QAUMI NITAAN HAMARAH

This is the third and final stage of Iqbal’s’ thinking patterns. Influenced by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan writings, Iqbal changed his thinking. During this phase of his life, Iqbal worked for the All India Muslim League, whose sole purpose was the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Subcontinent

Of his different phases Iqbal himself wrote:

“ I have myself been of he view hat religious differences should disappear from this country, and even now act on the principle, in my private life. But now I think that the preservation of their national identities is desirable for both the Hindus and the Muslims. The vision of a common nationhood for India is a beautiful idea, and has a poetic appeal, but looking to the present conditions and the unconscious trends of the two communities, appears incapable of fulfillment”.

By the year 1941 He was indeed a firm believer in Pakistan and the Two Nation Theory

" Cant you see that a Muslim, when he was converted more than
a thousend years ago, bulk of them, then according to your hindu
religion and philosophy, he becomes an outcast and he becomes a
Malecha (an untouchable) and the Hindus ceased to have anything
to do with him socially , religiously , culturaly or in any other
way? He, therefore belongs to a different order not merely religious
but social and he has lived in that distinctly separate and
antagonostic social order, religiously, socially and culturally...
can you posibally compare this with that nonsensical talk that
mere change of faith is no ground for a demand for Pakistan? Cant
you see the fundamantle difference ? "

2 march 1941. Pres. address to
Punjab Muslim Students Fed.

As can be seen from the above that the entire Muslim nation of India did not actually belive in "Pakistan" untill after the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan. It was after the failure of the CMP that Quaid-e-Azam and the Muslim League had accepted that the MOVEMENT TOWARDS Pakistan or an independent Muslim state began. Earlier writings from Iqbal DO NOT DETRACT anything from Iqbal becasue as early as 1930 he WAS propogating a SEPERATE identity of the Muslims of India

CRITICISM OF IQBAL
Any good writing on Iqbal must discuss his criticism. Here is an Indian author trying to shred the Pakistan ideaology:
Much is made of Iqbal as the philospher of Partition. In this connection his address to the Allahabad Muslim League Session 1930 is lavishly quoted. The reader is never informed that the British had split the League into Shafi Leag-ue and Jinnah League, after League president Jinnah had decided to boycott the Simon Commission. Iqbal was only presiding over the pro-British Shafi League, attended by less than a hundred delegates. Nor is the reader told that, in his later years, Iqbal thought better of Jawaharlal than of Jinnah and that he wrote to Edward Thomson (vide ‘Enlist India for Freedom’, p. 58) that “the Pak-istan Plan would be disastrous to the British Government, disastrous to the Hindu community, disastrous to the Muslim community. But I am the President of the (Shafi) Muslim League and it is, therefore, my duty to support it”.

This is what Sanjeev Sharma says about Iqbal:

“Iqbal never was for a total separate state for Muslims
of India, he wanted them to have a self-determination
in federal republic of India, and even until he
died nowhere in his poems or anywhere we have any
evidence of his support for the dominion of a
Pakistan outside of India, matter of the fact is that
only after he died in 1938, Muslim league passed
a resolution in 1940 at Lahore for a seperate state
of Pakistan, at that Jinnah was its leader.

Iqbal, was a great poet no doubt about it, but
a politician! no way, and Jinnah ,not only he failed
to realized what will happen 40 years down but also
he was directly responsible of 4-10 million murders,
and largest migration of this history on earth.
Again Iqbal, was never for this blood shed and
migration, he insisted on the federal states of
india, unlike Jinnah, who wanted to have a state
for him”.


Criticism from the Religious Right Mualvi establishment
Iqbal was severely criticized for attacking the establishment. His book Zarb-e-Kaleem was titled “Declaration of War against the establishment of Today “. His articles, poems and anthologies attacked the status quo and asked the Muslims to raise their lot. His poems “Shikwah” and “Jawab-e-Shikwah” were severely criticized by the maulvis of his day. In “Shikwah” Iqbal complains to god about the poor lot of the Muslims, and in “Jawab Shikwah” Iqbal plays God and answers man. Many orthodox Muslims called Iqbal a “kafir” for this innovation in his poetry.

I consider "shikwah" good poetry. I wouldn't have had it memorized
otherwise. For the firebrand ideologue Shikwah has great inspirational
power. But "shikwah" (together with most of Iqbal's excellent poetry)
has limited ideological appeal. If you are a Hindu, you'll be disgusted
by "shikwah". (Remember the "muNh ke bal gir kay hua Allah aHad kehtay
thay" part.) In a larger context I see this as a conflict between
the classic ghazal and what they call "maqsadi sha'iri".i

German influence in Iqbal’s writings (Doctorate in Philosophy Germany 1905-1908)

Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German philosophers of his time, Soren Kierkegaard, Fredrick Wilhelm Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. During his stay in Germany the ‘country’ (the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Prussia) was going though its great nationalistic binge. .....The Nazis used Nietzsche for building a nation that was defeated in war, was disarmed, was occupied and was split up into small portions. German states were trying to come together as a nation.

Iqbal’s response was that his inspiration was “Surah Hashar” of the Quran and not any other.

Iqbal was greatly influenced by the German’s nation attempt to re-construct itself. He thought he could transfer the concept to his homeland India. Iqbal is said to have been particularly affected by the German philosopher Nietzsche. Some have even accused him of plagiarizing German concepts. In Nietzsche’s famous Thus Spake Zaratustra (1883-85) Nietzsche “introduced in eloquent poetic prose the concepts of the superman and the will to power .... such a heroic man of merit has the courage ... to rise above the masses. Some scholars compare Iqbal’s concepts of Mard-e-Momin to the Nietzsche ‘superman’, and Iqbal’s Khudi to Nietzsche’s will to power. There is no denying the influence of Nietzsche on Iqbal poetry. Iqbal was intelligent enough to use the German concepts for a positive purpose for his own people.

Comparison with Ghalib and Profoundness of Poetry
American research scholars like Marcus and Vonetta Franda have called Iqbal “One of the greatest poets of the Indian subcontinent “. However some researches have compared Iqbal to other great Indian poets like Ghalib, and have found Iqbal’s’ poems trite in comparison. The depth of Ghalib can not be found in Iqbal’s poetry. One Pakistani poet said “Iqbal’s poetry conveys a profound message but is not profound.” Perhaps Iqbal was writing for the common man, and did not want to complicate the message. Iqbal was on a mission. Ghalib, like Wordsworth, and Tennyson and others were poets without missions.

IQBAL AS FOUNDER OF PAKISTAN
Awami National Party leader Wali Khan waved a document at a teachers's function to prove that poet Mohammad Iqbal had not conceived the idea of Pakistan. The document was a letter from the late poet in which he said he had never provided any idea about the creation of Pakistan.

The same letter reveals that it was Sir Zafarullah Khan who
originally mooted the idea of a separate homeland for the Muslims of
the sub-continent.

Source: UNI, June 1, 1996

Iqbal was one of the greatest sons of the subcontinent. He was born in the social, and political backwaters of the subcontinent, Sialkot, and acheived greatness in spite of his humble beginings. He galvanized a subdued and defeated nation who were under the yoke of British colonialism. The Muslims of the subcontinent of had lost their Mughal empire to the British, and and lost the economic and educational battle against the Hindus. The Hindus had gained a status in India that was of greater importance. The Muslims were truly third class citizens of India. Iqbal attempted and succeeded in combining the Muslims of different creeds, castes, and nd linguistic groups into a concept of nationhood based on Islam. Pakistan was but the inevitable result of his efforts.

IHSAN IBN ASLAM says about Iqbal:

I promised recently that I’d deal separately with this subject. So here it is! Lovely, juicy myths. Contrary to a widely held belief, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930.
That was the demand of Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1933. I make my point by reference to original sources, including a vital letter of Iqbal dated 1934 in which he disowned and disassociated himself from the Pakistan scheme.—Ihsan

IQBAL'S 1930 ADDRESS: NO SEPARATE STATE/PAKISTAN

1. INTRODUCTION

All people have a tendency to exaggerate and to create myths around their heroes and historical events. One such myth is that which surrounds Allama Iqbal’s address in 1930. In this address, Iqbal is widely quoted as proposing the creation of an independent Muslim State. Renowned historians such as Prof. S. Wolpert and Dr Ishtiaq H. Qureshi, as well as writers such as Rajmohan Gandhi and almost every Pakistani commenting on this address is of this view. However, this view is NOT based on fact and is not supported either by the full and original text or by other statements by Iqbal himself. The view is based on *misquotes* from the address and unsupported *interpretations*. Here I look at the original text of the address and provide other relevant sources, particularly a vital, but little-known (ignored?), letter of Iqbal dated 1934. Iqbal was a brilliant poet, but politics was not his strength.

2. IQBAL'S ALLAHABAD ADDRESS

a) OVERVIEW

The article concerns Iqbal's presidential address at the annual session of the All-India Muslim League held at Allahabad on December 29, 1930. The text of the address stretches just over 19 pages and is
divided into the following sections:
Islam and Nationalism
Muslim India within India
Federal States
The Simon Report
Hindu Machinations
The Problem of Defence
The Alternative
The Conclusion

The famous (mis)quote is from the section “Muslim India within India”, which speaks for itself. Had people even made a cursory glance at this address they would have seen that Iqbal is talking throughout about Muslims *within* India, ie. a part of the country India.

b) IQBAL'S MUSLIM INDIA WITHIN INDIA: THE 1930 QUOTE

"...Personally I would go further than the demands embodied in it
[resolution of All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi in 1928
concerning Muslim India within India]. I would like to see the
Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan
*amalgamated* into a *single state*. Self-Government within the
British Empire, or without the British Empire, and 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.
The proposal was put forward before the Nehru Committee. They
rejected it on the ground that, if, carried into effect, it would
give a very *unwieldy state*...Thus, possessing full opportunity of
development *within* the body-politic of India, the North-West
Indian Muslims will prove the best defenders of *India*...Nor should
the Hindus fear that the creation of *autonomous Muslim states*...
I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim state in
the best interests of India and Islam...For India it means
security and peace resulting from an *internal balance* of power...

c) COMMENTS BASED DIRECTLY UPON THE ADDRESS

The highlights in the quote above (*) have been added. Some points to bear in mind are the following: (i) Though this was Iqbal’s presidential address to the Muslim League, he was not speaking *officially* for he prefixed his suggestion by “Personally I would...”. His personal proposal was not binding on the Muslim League, who never passed any resolution in support of it and did not adopt Iqbal’s idea as a policy. (ii) The crucial misquote turns Iqbal’s “state” (small ‘s’) into “State” (capital ‘s’). Iqbal is using “state” as a synonym for “province” and not referring to State, as in an independent country. Note that he is speaking of “amalgamating” the four provinces for the “formation” of a larger “consolidated” “single state” within India. (iii) In the proper context of the whole address the the “Self-Government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire” refers to India, of which Iqbal’s large Muslim province/state was an integral part of.
(iv) That he is talking of this province/state *within* India is quite obvious from the quote. Also, as noted above, this quote is headed “Muslim India within India”. Iqbal is speaking of Muslims “within the body-politic of India” and speaks of them defending India and the large Muslim province/state providing “internal balance of power”. It can only be “internal” if it was a part of India. The Nehru Committee rejecting this suggestion as an “unwieldy state”, obviously means a large, cumbersome province difficult to administer as a unit of India. A reading of the whole address bears this out. The section following this one is entitled “Federal States”, for example, which puts the proposal of the “redistribution of territory” for the formation large Muslim province/state into context: it’s a federal unit of India. In “Hindu Machinations” he mentions the Round Table Conference proposal for an “All-India Federation” for India.
3. IQBAL’S LETTER TO EDWARD THOMPSON
Crucial evidence clarifying Iqbal’s 1930 address came to light in 1979 with the publication of Iqbal’s letters to Edward Thompson of Oxford (Ahmad 1979). Almost all historians and writers have failed to refer to this vital source of information. Of the letters, one dated March 4, 1934 is the most important, since it deals directly with the issue. Without much ado, I’ll now let Iqbal speak for himself.

a) TEXT OF IQBAL'S LETTER OF 1934

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sir Mohd. Iqbal Kt.
M. A., Ph.D.
Barrister-at-Law Lahore
4th March 1934
My dear Mr. Thompson

I have just received your review of my book. It is excellent and I am
grateful to you for the very kind things you have said of me. But you
have made one mistake which I hasten to point out as I consider it
rather serious. You call me [a] protagonist of the scheme called
'Pakistan'. Now Pakistan is not my scheme. The one that I suggested
in my address is the creation of a Muslims Province--i.e. a
province having an overwhelming population of Muslims--in the
North west of India. This province will be, according to my scheme,
a part of the proposed Indian Federation. Pakistan scheme proposes
a separate federation of Muslim Provinces directly related to
England as a separate dominion. This scheme originated in
Cambridge. The authors of this scheme believe that we Muslim Round
Tablers have sacrificed the Muslim nation on the altar of Hindu or
so called Indian Nationalism

Yours sincerely,

Mohammad Iqbal
----------------------------------------------------------------

b) COMMENTS ON IQBAL'S LETTER OF 1934

(i) Note that he disassociates himself from the “serious” “mistake” of attributing the Pakistan idea to him. (ii) This is the earliest evidence of Iqbal using the term “Pakistan”, which speaks of its wide and popular usage within a year of its invention (1933).

(ii) Iqbal clearly states that his 1930 proposal was to do with the “creation of a Muslim Province” as a “part of the proposed [Round Table Conference] Indian Federation”, i.e. not a separate Muslim State. (iv) The Pakistan scheme “originated in Cambridge” and proposed a separate Muslim Federation of Muslim provinces. This proposal orginated in the Pakistan Declaration issued on January 28, 1933 from Cambridge and the movement launched by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (the only signatory of the Declaration from Cambridge). Iqbal must have read the Declaration. His last statement on the “Muslim Round Tablers”, of whom Iqbal was a *member*, comes from the Declaration, which condemned the Muslim members in no uncertain terms. Incidentally, Iqbal and Rahmat Ali met during Iqbal’s attendance of the Round Table Conferences in 1931 and 1932 (the Iqbal/Rahmat Ali relationship merits a separate post).

4. PAKISTAN DECLARATION (1933) ON IQBAL'S ADDRESS

In the letter above Iqbal comments on the 1933 Pakistan Declaration. Here is a relevant quote from the Declaration on Iqbal's Address:

"This demand [for Pakistan, which included Kashmir] is basically
different from the suggestion put forward by Doctor Sir Mohammed
Iqbal in his Presidential address to the All-India Muslim League in
1930. While he proposed the amalgamation of these Provinces into a
single state forming a unit of the All-India Federation, we propose
that these Provinces should have a separate Federation of their
own."

Self-explantory.

5. CONCLUSION

There are other relevant sources which help understand Iqbal’s 1930 Address in the correct light (Ahmad 1942, Ali 1947, and see Aziz 1987 for detailed discussion). However, I think the above should be sufficient to dispel the myth that Iqbal proposed a separate Muslim State in his address. An explanation as to why the myth continues to be perpetrated lies party with the “founding party of Pakistan”, the All-India Muslim League, and partly with historians and other writers. Here is my interpretation, but first a list of important dates:

December 29, 1930: Iqbal's Allahabad address
January 28, 1933: Rahmat Ali's Pakistan Declaration
March 24, 1940: A-I Muslim League adopts Lahore Res.
August 14, 1947: Independence Day of Pakistan

After passing the Lahore (“Pakistan”) resolution in 1940, the League tried to find some sort of historical base for their decision after seven years of opposing Rahmat Ali’s Pakistan scheme. Instead of acknowledging the 1933 Pakistan Declaration, which essentially remains unknown to this date, they jumped to Iqbal’s 1930 Allahabad address. Here, from their political perspective, they had two plus points: first, the address was by a renowned Muslim poet, who was later to be adopted officially as the “Poet of Pakistan”, and, second, the address was at the annual session of their party. As for their opposition to, and non-acknowledgement of, Rahmat Ali and his Movement, that is outside the scope of this article.
The Allahabad myth is partly also due to poor scholarship, where reference is not made to original sources, and misquotes have led to misinterpretations or interpretations are made which are contrary to other relevant sources, including Iqbal’s own works. Iqbal did not “convert” to the idea of Pakistan until about 1937 when he wrote letters to the then President of the All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It is said that about this time Iqbal expressed an interest to join Rahmat Ali’s Movement, but he died soon thereafter (Wasti 1982).
In conclusion, then, Allama Iqbal did NOT propose an independent Muslim State in 1930. That is the stuff of the myth-makers.

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1933, "Now or Never: Are we to Live or Perish
for Ever?", Cambridge.

ALI, CHOUDHARY RAHMAT, 1947, "Pakistan: Fatherland of the Pak
Nation", Pakistan National Movement, Cambridge

AHMAD, KHAN A., 1942, "The Founder of Pakistan: From Trial to
Triumph", London. (The "Founder" referred to is Rahmat Ali.)

AHMAD, S. HASAN, 1979, "Iqbal: His Political Ideas at the
Crossroads: A Commentary on Unpublished Letters to Professor
Thompson", Aligarh.

AZIZ, K.K., 1987, "A History of the Idea of Pakistan", Vol.1,
p.184-327, Vanguard, Lahore.

IQBAL, M., 1930, "Presidential Address", _in_ RAIS AHMAD JAFRI
(NADVI), (ed.), "Rare Documents".

IQBAL, M., 1934, "Letter to E. Thompson dated March 4, 1934" _in_
Ahmad 1979, see above.

WASTI, S.M., 1982, "My Reminiscences of Choudhary Rahmat Ali",
Royal Book Co., Karachi, 175pp.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Cambridge University: The libraries of Emmanuel College, Centre of
South Asian Studies, and the University. Shahid Karim
(karim.8@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu) who queried me on this matter
in a post dated 31 January 1996 in connection with my post
"CRITIQUE--1. Prof. Wolpert on "Zulfi" (ZAB)". Shahid wrote:
"I don`t have any concern about this poster except your remarks
about IQBAL. KK AZIZ is not an authority on Pre and post
Independence events of Pakistan movement. Iqbal was the first person
who proposed an independent homeland for muslims. I would appreciate
some references other than KK AZIZ." Well, as promised, here's my
more detailed respone. Hope it suffices:-)

====================Ihsan Ibn Aslam====================
========Cambridge,England: ihsan@pak.win-uk.net======== Ar-Rahman, 55:60


Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)
Poet-Philosopher
1930 Allahabad address:

"The Muslims of India are suffering from two evils.
The first is the want of personalities...By leaders
I mean men who, by Divine gift or experience, possess
a keen perception of the spirit and destiny of Islam,
along with an equally keen perception of the trend
of modern history. Such men are really the driving
forces of a people, but they are God's gift and cannot
be made to order. The second evil from which the
Muslims of India are suffering is that the community
is fast losing what is called the herd instinct."

Source: Allama's presidential address at the annual
session of the All-India Muslim League held at
Allahabad in 1930. Full text in "Rare Documents".



POETRY OF IQBAL

Article: 209383
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
From: abbas@seas.gwu.edu (Ali Abbas)
Subject: Iqbal on Freedom
Date: 30 Apr 1997 22:52:31 GMT


THE SlGNIFlCANCE OF ISLAMIC FREEDOM
and
SECRET OF THE KARBALA EVENT

Dr Mohammad Iqbal, the Poet of the East.

Whoever makes a covenant with the Omnipresent,
Is freed from the bondage of all (false) gods.
A believer's existence is dependent on Love,
While Love, for its manifestation, is dependent on the believer,
What is impossible for mortals is rendered possible through Love.
Reason is ruthlessly sharp, but Love is sharper;
It is chaster, more shrewd, more daring.
Reason is lost in the maze of cause and effect;
Love is the champion in the field of action.
Love captures its prey through sheer strength;
While Reason captures through deceit by laying a snare.
Doubt and fear are the assets of Reason;
Self-Confidence and firmness of puryose are the integral
parts of Love.
Reason builds to destroy,
While Love destroys to re-create.
Reason has a little value like the air in this World,
Love is highly inestimable.
Reason is absorbed in questioss of how and how much;
Love in its purity transcends them.
Reason advises self-assertion,
While Love counsels self-examination.
Reason is indebted to other things for knowledge.
Love originates in grace (of God) and is contended with self
knowledge.
Reason says, Be happy and prosper,
While Love advises, Surrender thyself and be free.
Love finds both comfort and consolation in freedom,
Freedom is its source of guidance.
Have'nt you heard how summarily, on the occasion of the great conflict,
Love dealt with conceited Reason.
That Imam (Chief) of all lovers, the son of Fatima,
That cypress in the Prophet's garden.
What a marvellous phenomenon ! (Husains) great
grand-father (Ishmael) set the first example of self sacrifice,
Whose meaning and significance became fully explicit
in him (Husain) the great grand-son.
For that Prince of ideal character (Husain),
The last Prophet offered his own shoulder as a substitute for
a camel's back.
Love's majestic visage glowing with pride because of
the blood of the martyred Husain,
The colourfulness of this line is due to the theme of martyrdom.
Husain's unique position in the muslim community,
Is like the honoured place Occupied by the verse (Qul ho-Allah)
in the Quran.
Moses and Pharoah, Husain and Yazeed,
They are, but the conflicting forces of life.
Truth survives and triumphs because of Husain.
Falsehood is destined to meet with failure and grief.
At the moment when the leadership of the faithful broke the link with
the Quran,
Human freedom was poisoned in the blood.
There arose a man, the best of the best among nations,
Like a rain-laden eastern cloud, bringing water to a parched,
rocky soil.
This cloud rained for a moment on Karbala,
Causing the desert to bloom and passed on.
He (Husain) exterminated tyranny for ever,
From his martyred blood, there rose a new garden (of human values)
in the wilderness.
Writhing in dust and blood for defending truth,
He became the corner stone of "La Ilah"
Had Power been his objective,
He would have not set forth so ill-equipped.
His enemies were in multitude just like the sands of the desert,
While the number of his companions was equal to the numerical
value of the word Yezdan (72).
In him (Husain), the mystery of Abraham and Ishmael unfolds and expounds
itself.
He is the illustration of their faith.
His will was firm as a rock;
Swift and triumphant (like a river).
The sword was for him a weapon meant solely for the defence of the faith;
And the protection of the Divine Law.
The muslim owes allegiance to none but Allah.
His head never bows before a tyrant.
This was the secret that Husain unveiled with his blood.
And roused his people from slumber.
When he (Husain) unsheathed the sword of denial of false gods;
He caused the blood to flow from the veins of their supporters.
He inscribed the words Illallah on the desert sands of Karbala,
Thus, he imprinted the first line of the charter of our salvation.
It is from Husain that we have learnt the hidden meaning of the
Holy word (Quran).
The flames of burning faith we borrowed from his fire.
The splendour that was once Syria and Baghdad;
And the glory of Granada are all now a forgotten tale.
At the touch of Husain's plectrum the strings of our being still vibrate;
His cry of Allah o Akbar still keeps our Faith alive.
O Wind! Thou messenger of far-flung people !
Present our tears to the sacred dust that covers Husain's remains.

Shikwa-Jawab Shikwa
Complaint and Answer
Translated by:A.J. Arberry

This is what Khalid Muhammed Shahzad says about the poet of the East

The ‘Shikwa’ and the ‘Jawab-i-Shikwa’, are among the most popular of Iqbal’s poems; they are deservedly celebrated, for they are among the first to bring their author fame as an advocate of Islamic reform and rebirth. The date of their compsition can be fixed very accurately by a reference to contemporary events contained in the second of them; when Iqbal wrote - ‘Now the onslaught of the Bulgars sounds the trumpet of alarm’ he was commemorating the invasion of Turkey by Bulgaria in the late autumn of 1912, an attack which threatened at one time to penetrate as far as Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the last home of the Caliphate. These poems were therefore composed four years after Iqbal’s return from Europe. They mark the beginning of that remarkable career as philosopher and poet which brought Iqbal ever-increasing renown, until he was recognized as the leading thinker of ISLAM in India and the greatest figure in Urdu literature. It is all the more interesting to find him adumbrating in these early pieces that theory of Selfhood (Khudi) and Selflessness (Bekhudi) which later played such an important part in his religious and political philosophy.
The central theme of both poems is the decay of Islam from its former greatness, and the measures to be adopted if it was to re-establish its authority and regain its vitality. The subject was, of course, not a new one; ever since the decline and final extinction of the Moghul Empire, Muslims in India had been searching their minds and their consciences for the explanation of so lamentable a disaster. Nor were Indian Muslims alone in deploring the seeming collapse of Islamic civilization; their co-religionists further West, from Persia to Morocco, had been occupied with the same self-examination. But in these two poems Iqbal stated the problem in singularly arresting directness; the literary form chosen for its exposition, a dialogue between the poet, as a spokesman for Muslims the world over, and God - this dramatic presentation of the common dilemma made an immediate and compelling appeal to Iqbal’s public, an appeal moreover which has lost nothing of its force in the intervening years.
To make a worthy translation of these poems into English is certainly no easy task. To begin wuth, the translator ( A.J. Arberry) has to confess to a very inadequate knowledge of Urdu, the language used by Iqbal on this occasion. Left to his own devices, he would been obliged to abandon the attempt; but the publisher, Sh. M. Ashraf, procured for him a literal rendering of the originals into English prose, ably executed by Mazheruddin Siddiqi, to whom the grateful and cordial thanks of the writer are hereby expressed. But that is by no means the end of the matter; Iqbal naturally illustrated his discourse with metaphors and references familiar enough to those accustomed to read Urdu poetry, but in many instances utterly strange, indeed outlandish, to an English audience. Rather than impose on the poet transformations, of which he would certainly and justly have disapproved, the translator has preferred to reproduce his model as closely and as faithfully as he could, appending notes to his version to light up the dark passages wherever they are found.
************************************************************************************
************************************************************************************

(an asterisk (*) denotes “noon-ghunna”)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kiyu* ziya’ kar banu* sood framosh rahu* ?
(Why must I forever suffer loss, oblivious to gain ?)

Fikr-e-farda na karu* mehv-e-gham-e-dosh rahu* ?
(Why think not upon the morrow, drowned in grief for yesterday ?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Naale bulbul ke sunu* aur hama tan gosh rahu*
(Why must I attentive heed the nightingale’s lament of pain ?)
Ham navaa! mai* bhi koi gul hoo* ke khamosh rahu* ?
(Fellow-bard! am I rose, condemned to silence all the way?)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Jur’at aamoze miri taab-e-sukhan hai mujh ko
No; the burning power of song bids me be bold and not to faint;
Shikwa Allah(s.w.t.) se “khakam badahan” hai muhj ko Dust be in my mouth, but God - He is the theme of my complaint.
---------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************************
************************************************************************************

To be continued....insha-Allah
Aslaamu-alaikum

Standard Disclaimer.Subject: Was Iqbal a Baloch?
From: amahboob@evax12.eng.fsu.edu
Date: 15 Jun 94 13:54:22 EST
Message-ID: <1994jun15.135422.1@evax12.eng.fsu.edu>


Athar Mahboob asks an interesting question has been asked on the net. Was Iqbal a Baloch?
If he was not one then how dare he talk about the "Advice of a Wise Baloch
to his Son". Before we ask if Iqbal was a Baloch we must first ask If
Iqbal was an Arab. If he was not an Arab how dare he wrote "Jang-e-yarmook
ka aik waaqiah". The first verse of that poem can be translated as

The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for
henna to be put on her

And also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote a poem "Taariq ke Duaa".
"The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain". One verse
in that poem reads

KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se

The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs

Also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote the poem "Khitaab ba jawaanaan e
Islam" in which he says to the young Muslim.

You have been reared by a nation
that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia
i.e. the home of the camel herders

How dare Iqbal also says in one of his poems

I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn't our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad

It is getting outrageous on part of Iqbal. Iqbal also said

If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don't then the Arabs have a right over Spain


The people who ask such questions about who was who should first come out of their shell of fake ethnic pride and unfouded sense of superiortity. Iqbal was a poet and a sensitive human being. You donot have to be a flower to talk about a flower. You donot have to be an ant to talk about an ant. You donot have to be a horse to talk about a horse. You donot have to be god to talk about god. A poet uses everyday things to convey his message to us. That is why Iqbal used the “Wise Baloch” to teach us the wise stuff.

Going back to Iqbal being an Arab for a moment. Iqbal said in one of his
poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family.
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat

Note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.

Here he talks about his Hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family.
So even though Iqbal's ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple
hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there
is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.

That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.
So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.
In the world of people who are wrapped up in a shell of fake and hollow pride one human being cannot learn from another human being. In their world there are unpassable barriers to cultural interaction and social inter-course. But their fake world will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the true spirit of human civilization. If we would not be so blind to read our own histories of how our cultures have been formed. Culture is not something static. It is the most dynamic phenomenon known to man. If you come in the way of cultural intermingling you will only destroy yourself.
Going back to Iqbal. Iqbal talked about ants, flowers, women, Turks, Arabs, Indians, Europeans, cows, goats, sqirrels, camels, mountains, rivers, Lenin, Mussolini and thousands of other things. And so has every other poet befor him and after him done the same, talk about things.
I could talk about all the poets that have existed and because of their spirit of love and their preacing of cultural interaction their names (and message) will last till the end of the world. I could talk about Sachal Sarmast, Amir Khusro, Shah AbdulLatif Bhitai, Amir Karore, Bhulley Shah, Waaris Shah, Bahadur Shah. The message of all these people is the same. They use different words and different styles but they teach us the same message. That message is the brotherhood of mankind.
I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude

BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay

Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain all
that tawheed to you

This is what Nadeem Jamali says

Jang-e-yarmook... the poem is specifically about a certain war
Tariq bin Ziad... this is about what a particular person said
Khitab ba jawanaan..... here Iqbal is addressing Muslims
Hindu.... Iqbal is expressing his feelings
Palestine... again Iqbal's own feelings

In the poem about the ``Wise Baloch’’, Iqbal is pretending to know how a wise Baloch thinks. He is not writing about one particular person... he’s trying to make a statement about the Baloch way of thinking in general. Unless he has based the poem on something, it is logical to raise the question. And mind you, I only asked if anyone knows the background.

This is what Khurram has contributed on Iqbal:

Majnun nay shehar chora tu sehra bhi chor day
Nazaray ki havas ho to Laila bhi chor day

Wa'iz kamal-i-tarak say milti hai ya'n murad
Dunya jo chor dee hai to Uqba bhi chor day


TRANSLATION:

Majnun left the cities for the wilderness of the deserts, but you (O dervish)
also renounce the latter
If you deire for 'Mushahidas' also give up your Laila


O Preacher! Renunciation leads one to the goal on this path
Now that you have given up dunya also renounce the Hereafter

*****************************************************************************

I am posting a verse of Iqbal that I don't correctly remember. Could someone
please correct it.

Jab is bay-bal-o-par may hota hay zauq-i yaqin paida
To yay _____________ kar laita hay Ruhul Amin paida

The essence of these verses is:
When a passionate desire (for his Lord) surges in the heart of a man
Then this wingless person gives birth to a Ruh-ul Amin within him

***********************************************************************

There's a punjabi quadruplet on the same topic:

Zahid zuhd kamanday thakay rozay nafal namazaan Hu
Aashiq gharq huay vich Wahdat fillah nal Muhabat razaan Hu
Makhi qaid shehad vich phati ki ur'si naal Shebazaan Hu
Jinhan majlis naal Nabi Sarwar day Bahu O sahib raaz niazan Hu

The ascetic died of rigorous prayers and attained paradise
The Lover, in love for Allah, drowned in the ocean of Oneness
and attained his Lord
A bee so caught in honey's snares, how can it accompany the hawk
Bahu, those who attend the Holy Majlis of the Last messenger, they are the
possessors of Divine knowledge




Subject: Iqbal's Mystries of Selflessness (excerpts, part I)
From: altaf@crl.com (Altaf Bhimji)
Date: 28 Oct 1994 18:29:23 -0700
Message-ID: <38s8hj$ej4@crl7.crl.com>


This is what Altaf Bhimji contibutes on Iqbal:

Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness

A Philosophical Poem by Muhammad Iqbal

Translated, with Introduction and Notes by
Professor A.J.Arberry (First Edition 1953 --out of print)

Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938) was not only the leading Urdu poet
of his generation, but is considered by many as the spiritual founder
of Pakistan. His writings were certainly most influential in preparing
the way for the independence of Pakistan. As a philosopher and a
thinker he is one of the greatest figures in modern Islam. In the
Mysteries of Selflessness Iqbal puts forward his views on the
relationship between the Individual and the State, of course from the
Muslim standpoint, using the language and rich imagery of Persian
poetry.

Dedication to the Muslim Community

You, who were made by God to be the Seal (i)
Of all the peoples dwelling upon earth
That all beginnings might in you find end;
Whose saints were prophetlike, whose wounded hearts
Wove into unity the soul of men;
Why are you fallen now so far astray
From Mecca's holy Kabba, all bemused
By the strange beauty of the Christian's way?
The very skies are but a gathering
Of your street's dust, yourselves the cynosure
Of all men's eyes; whither in restless haste
Do you now hurry like a storm-tossed wave,
What new diversion seeking? No, but learn
The mystery of ardor from the moth
And make your lodgment in the burning flame;
Lay Love's foundation-stone in your own soul,
And to the Prophet pledge anew your troth.
My mind was weary of Christian company,
When suddenly your beauty stood unveiled,
My fellow-minstrel sang the epiphany (ii)
Of alien loveliness, the lovelorn theme
Of tresses and soft cheeks, and rubbed his brow
Against the saki's door, rehearsed the chant
Of Magian wenches. I would martyr be
To your brow's scimitar, am fain to rest
Like dust upon your street. Too proud am I
To mouth base panegyrics, or to bow
My stubborn head to every tyrant's court
Trained up to fashion mirrors out of words,
I need not Alexander's magic glass (iii)
My neck endures not men's munificence;
Where roses bloom, I gather close the skirt
Of my soul's bud. Hard as the dagger's steel
I labor in life, my luster win
From the tough granite. Though I am a sea,
Not restless is my billow; in my hand
I hold no whirlpool bowl. A painted veil
Am I, no blossom's perfume-scattering,
No prey to every billowing breeze that blows.
I am a glowing coal within Life's fire.
And wrap me in my embers for a cloak.
An now my soul comes suppliant to your door
Bringing a gift of ardor passionate.
A mighty water out of heaven's deep
Momently trickles o'er my burning breast,
The which I channel narrower than a brook
That I may fling it in your garden's dish.
Because you are beloved by him I love
I fold you to me closely as my heart.
Since Love first made the breast an instrument
Of fierce lamenting, by its flame my heart
Was molten to a mirror; like a rose
I pluck my breast apart, that I may hang
This mirror in your sight. Gaze you therein
On your own beauty, and you shall become
A captive fettered in your tresses' chain.
I chant again the tale of long ago,
To be your bosom's old wounds bleed anew.
So for a people no more intimate
With its own soul I supplicated God,
That He might grant to them a firm-knit life.
In the mid watch of night, when all the world
Was hushed in slumber, I made loud lament;
My spirit robbed of patience and repose,
Unto the Living and Omnipotent God
I made my litany; my yearning heart
Surged, till its blood streamed from my weeping eyes
"How long, O Lord, how long the tulip-glow,
The begging of cool dewdrops from the dawn?
Lo, like a candle wrestling with the night
O'er my own self I pour my flooding tears."
I spend my self, that there might be more light,
More loveliness, more joy for other men.
Not for one moment takes my ardent breast
Repose from burning; Friday does not shame (iv)
My restless week of unremitting toil.
Wasted is now my spirit's envelope;
My glowing sigh is sullied all with dust.
When God created me at Time's first dawn
A lamentation quivered on the strings
Of my melodious lute, and in that note
Love's secrets stood revealed, the ransom-price
Of the long sadness of the tale of Love;
Which music even to sapless straw imparts
The ardency of fire, and on dull clay
Bestows the daring of the reckless moth.
Love, like the tulip, has one brand at heart,
And on its bosom wears a single rose;
And so my solitary rose I pin
Upon your turban, and cry havoc loud
Against your drunken slumber, hoping yet
Tulips may blossom from your earth anew
Breathing the fragrance of the breeze of Spring.
---------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

(i) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) being commonly called the Seal of the Prophets because in him God concluded His series of revelations to manking. Iqbal borrows the term and refers to the
Islamic community as the Seal of the Peoples.

(ii) The reference is to the continuing fashion among Urdu poets to imitate the conventional love-lyrics of Persia in which the images mentioned are very common.

(iii) Alexander the Great is said in Persian legend to have possessed a magic mirror in which he saw the whole world at a glance.

(iv) Friday being the day for Muslim congregational prayer.

ADDITION TO IQBAL
Subject: Was Iqbal a Baloch?
From: amahboob@evax12.eng.fsu.edu
Date: 15 Jun 94 13:54:22 EST
Message-ID: <1994jun15.135422.1@evax12.eng.fsu.edu>


An interesting question has been asked on the net. Was Iqbal a Baloch?
If he was not one then how dare he talk about the "Advice of a Wise Baloch
to his Son". Before we ask if Iqbal was a Baloch we must first ask If
Iqbal was an Arab. If he was not an Arab how dare he wrote "Jang-e-yarmook
ka aik waaqiah". The first verse of that poem can be translated as

The gallant Arab warriors were ready with their swords
The land of Syria was awaiting for them as a bride waits for
henna to be put on her

And also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote a poem "Taariq ke Duaa".
"The prayer of Taariq bin Ziyaad in the battlefield in Spain". One verse
in that poem reads

KhayabaN mein hey muntazir lala kub sey
Qubaa chaheay iss ko khoon e arab se

The lala (a kind of flower) has been waiting for long in the garden
It needs its color from the blood of the Arabs

Also if Iqbal was not an Arab why he wrote the poem "Khitaab ba jawaanaan e
Islam" in which he says to the young Muslim.

You have been reared by a nation
that crushed the crown of Darius under its feet
O what should I tell you of those desert dwellers
They were a people that overcame the whole world
They understood the world
They beautified the world
They took care of the wrold
They were the founders of the greatest civilization
They showed the world how to govern
And they were simply a people from the deserts of Arabia
i.e. the home of the camel herders

How dare Iqbal also says in one of his poems

I would let the hindu in India open his mouth
Only if he is not going to say anything derogatory about Arab leaders
Hasn't our nation been taught the rule
To get close to Mohammad you have to get away from Abu Lahab
The world of Arabs is not founded on geographic boundaries
The world of Arabs is simply founded on belief in Mohammad

It is getting outrageous on part of Iqbal. Iqbal also said

If the Jews have a right over Palestine
Why don't then the Arabs have a right over Spain

The people who ask such questions about who was who should first come out of their shell of fake ethnic pride and unfouded sense of superiortity.

Iqbal was a poet and a sensitive human being. You donot have to be a flower to talk about a flower. You donot have to be an ant to talk about an ant.

You donot have to be a horse to talk about a horse. You donot have to be god to talk about god.

A poet uses everyday things to convey his message to us. That is why Iqbal used the "Wise Baloch" to teach us the wise stuff.

Going back to Iqbal being an Arab for a moment. Iqbal said in one of his
poems
I am descended from a pure Somnathi family
My ancestors were true lovers and worshippers of Laat and Manaat

note: Somnath was a big hindu temple about 1000 years ago.
Laat and manaat are names of two idols (gods) which have been
worshipped in some form or the other by all pagan people and
were the major attaraction in the Kaaba before Islam.

Here he talks about his hindu lineage and that also from a pure Brahmin family. So even though Iqbal’s ancestors had been stalwarts of Hinduism until a couple hundred years ago the light of Islam had pentrated their hearts now. And there is no turning back from the straight path once it has been found.
That is not all Iqbal also uses Khushaal Khan Khattak in a similar poem as “The advice of a Wise Baloch” to convey the message of self-respect and developing self-confidence in one’s self. The poem is titled “The advice of Khushaal Khan Khattak”. Also Iqbal has a whole set of twenty poems and ghazals under a section titled “Mehraab Gul Afghaan ke Afkaar”. Meaning “The thoughts of Mehraab Gul Afghaan”. I don’t know who Mehraab Gul was. But Iqbal uses his thoughts to teach something positive to everybody.
So should we ask if Iqbal was a pure Pashtoon. If he was not then he cannot use the positive qualities of Pushtoons and teach them to others who lack them.

TAWHID
I would use the words of Iqbal himself to conclude

BayaaN meiN nuktae tawheed to aa sakta hey
terey dimagh meiN butkhaana ho to kiya keheay

Yes! I can explain the idea of oneness of God to you
But if you have a whole temple full of idols in your head
what good it would do for me to explain all
that tawheed to you

Athar Mahboob
Subject: Verses by Allama iqbal
Subject: Iqbal: Muslim Brotherhood
From: altaf@crl.com (Altaf Bhimji)
Date: 20 Nov 1994 05:01:53 GMT
Message-ID: <3aml81$6j0@nntp.crl.com>

Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness
By Muhammad Iqbal
Translated by A. J. Arberry.

The story of Bu Ubaid and Jaban, in Illustration of Muslim Brotherhood

A certain general of King Yazdajird (i)
Became a Muslim's captive in the wars;
A Guebre he was, inured to every trick
Of fortune, crafty, cunning, full of guile.
He kept his captor ignorant of his rank
Nor told him who he was, or what his name,
But said, " I beg that you will spare my life
And grant to me the quarter of Muslims gain."
The Muslim sheathed his sword. "To shed thy blood",
He cried, "were impious and forbidden sin."
When Kaveh's banner had been rent to shreds, (ii)
The fire of Sasan's sons turned all to dust (iii)
It was disclosed the captive Jaban was,
Supreme commander of the Persian host.
Then was his fraud reported, and his blood
Petitioned of the Arab general;
Bu Ubaid, famed leader of the ranks
From far Hejaz, who needed not the aid
Of armies to assist his bold resolve
In battletide, thus answered their request.
"Friends, we are Muslims, strings upon one lute
And of one concord. Ali's voice attunes
With Abu Dharr's, although the throat be that
of Qanbar or Bilal. Each one of us (iv)
Is trustee to the whole Community
And one with it, in malice or in truce.
As the Community is the sure base
On which the individual rests secure,
So is its covenant his sacred bond.
Though Jaban was a foeman to Islam,
A Muslim granted him immunity;
His blood, O followers of the best of men,
May not be spilled by any Muslim sword."

_____________________________________________________________

i) Yazdajird was the last Sassanian king of Persia
ii)Kaveh, a smith of Isphan, raised the standard of revolt against the
usurping tyrant Zahhak and established Feridun on the throne of Persia.
iii)Sasan was the eponymous founder of the Sassanian dynasty,
overthrown at the Arab conquest of Persia.
iv)Qanbar, formerly a slave, was manumitted by caliph Ali. Bilal, formerly
an Abyssinan slave, was taken by the Prophet at the muezzin.

----------------------- Headers -----------------------

Excerpts from the Mysteries of Selflessness
By Muhammad Iqbal
Translated by A. J. Arberry.

The story of Sultan Murad and the Architect, in Illustration of Muslim Equality

An architect there was, that in Khojand
Was born, a famous craftsman of his kind
Worthy to be an offspring of Farhad.
Sultan Murad commanded him to build
A mosque, that which pleased not his majesty,
So that he waxed right furious at his faults.
The baleful fire flared in the ruler's eyes;
Drawing his dagger, he cut off the hand
Of that poor wretch, so that the spurting blood
Gushed from his forearm. In such hapless plight
He came before the cadi, and retold
The tyrant's felony, that had destroyed
The cunning hand which shaped the granite rock.
'O thou whose words a message are of Truth"
He cried, "whose toil it is to keep alive
Muhammad's Law, I am no ear-bored slave
Patient to wear the ring of monarchs' might.
Determine my appeal by the Quran!"
The upright cadi bit his lips in ire
And summoned to his court the unjust king
Who, hearing the Quran invoked, turned pale
With awe, and came like any criminal
Before the judge, his eyes cast down in shame,
His cheeks as crimson as the tulip's glow.
On one side stood the appellant, and on one
The high exalted emperor, who spoke.
"I am ashamed of this that I have wrought
And make confession of my grievous crime."
"In retribution", quoth the judge, "is life,
And by the law life finds stability.
The Muslim slave no less is than free men
Nor is the emperor's blood of richer hue
Than the poor builder's." Listening to these words
Of Holy Writ, Murad shook off his sleeve
And bared his hand. The plaintiff thereupon
No longer could keep silence. "God commands
Justice and kindliness," recited he.
"For God's sake, and Muhammad's," he declared,
"I do forgive him." Note the majesty
Of the Apostle's Law, and how an ant
Triumphantly outfought a Solomon!
Before the tribunal of the Quran
Master and slave are one, the mat of reeds
Coequal with the throne of rich brocade.


QUAID


Subject: PAKISM--Choudhary Rahmat Ali Day-Correction
From: ihsan@pak.win-uk.net (IHSAN IBN ASLAM)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 18:25:46 GMT
Message-ID: <291@pak.win-uk.net>

You did'nt see what was wrong with Quaid's date of birth as given by me? Thanks to Hasher and another E-mailer for pointing it out. Pressure of work. Please excuse the typo. mistake.--Ihsan

>11 September: Death Anniversary of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah
>25 December: Birthday of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah
>9 November: Iqbal Day
>*16 November: Choudhary Rahmat Ali Day*

>Spare a little thought and du'a for all those who contributed towards the creation of Pakistan and have since strived for it. In particular, today being 16 November, let us remember the man who gave us the name Pakistan and to this day remains forgotten for dedicating his life to the Pakistan movement.

> CHOUDHARY RAHMAT ALI
> 16 November 1897 to 3 February 1951


From: mmunir@inforamp.net ()

This is what Munir M. Pervaiz contributes on IqbaL:

Allama Iqbal like any great intellectual had a great sense of humor.
I have been posting some serious poetry of Allama, and now as an
interlude some humorous poetry from him, befor moving
to serious poetry again:

Shaikh sahib bhi to pardey kay ko'i haami naheeN
Muft meiN college kay larkey unn say bad zan ho gaey
Wa'az meiN farma diya kal aap nay yeh saaf saaf
"Parda aakhir kiss say ho jab mard hi zan ho gaey"
*******

Woh miss boli iraada khood kushi ka jab kiya meiN nay
Mohazzab hay to ay aashiq, qadam bahar na dhhar had say

Na jur'at hay na khanjar hay,to qasd e khood kuushi kaisa
Yeh maana dard e naa kaami gaya tera guzar had say

Kaha meiN kay" ay jan e jahaaN kuchh naqd dilwa do
Kiraaey par manga loonga ko'i afghaan sarhad say"

****************

Takraar thhi mazaar'e o maalik meiN aik rauz
Dono yeh keh rahey thhey mera maal hay zameeN

Kehta thha woh, karey jo zaraa'at ussi ka khait
Kehta thha yeh, kay aql thikaaney teri naheeN

Pochha zameeN say meiN kay , hay kiss ka maal too
Boli mujhhey to hay faqat iss baat ka yaqeeN

Maalik hay ya mazaar'a e shoreeda haal hay
Jo zeir e aasmaaN hay woh dharti ka maal hay
-----------------------------------------
Ta abad aadmi ko dunya meiN
Zindigi ka khiraaj deina hay
Tifl e nau za'ida ko kal say mujhhey
Zehr e rasm o riwaaj deina hay

Another poem from Allama Iqbal's Baal e jibra'eel for lovers of
great Urdu poetry:

PANJAB KAY PEER ZAADON SAY
Hazir hua meiN sheikh e mujaddid ki lehd par
Woh khaak kay hay zeir e falak matla e anwaar

Iss khaak kay zarroN say heiN sharminda sitaarey
Iss khaak meiN posheeda hay woh sahib e israr

Gardan na jhukee jiss ki jahaangir kay aagey
Jiss kay nafas e garm say hay garmi e ahraar

Woh hind meiN sarmaya e millat ka nigehbaaN
Allah nay bar waqt kiya jiss ko khabardaar

Ki arz yeh meiN nay kay ata faqr ho mujhh ko
AankheiN meri beena heiN wa lekin naheeN baidaar

Aaee yeh sada silsila e faqr hua band
HeiN ahl e nazar kishwar e punjaab say baizaar

Aarif ka thikaana naheeN woh khitta kay jiss meiN
Paida kulah e faqr say ho turra e dastaar

Baqi kulah e faqr say thha walwala e haq
TurroN nay charhaya nasha e khidmat e sarkaar
-----------------------------------------

Merey jism o rooh to kab kay, dhoop meiN jal kar raakh huey
Tuum jinn say miltey rehtey ho, woh to merey saaey heiN
(Munir)One wonders why Allama Iqbal was picking topics like this. Was there a purpose. But it also explains why he is systematically censored in Pakistan.
PUNJABI MUSSALMAN
Mazhab meiN bohat taaza pasand iss ki tabi'at
Kar lay kahiN manzil to guzarta hay bohat jald

Tahqeeq ki baazi ho to shirkat nahiN karta
Ho khail mureedi ka to harta hay bohat jald !

Taaweel ka phanda koi sayyad lagaa day
Yeh shaakh e nasheman say utarta hay bohat jald !
GADAAI
Maikaday meiN aik din ik rind e zeerak nay kaha
Hay hamaaray shehr ka waali gadaa e bay haya
Taaj pehnaya hay kiss ki bay kulaahi nay ussay
Kiss ki uryaani nay bakhshi hay ussay zarreeN qaba
Uss kay aab e laala gooN ki khoon e dehqaaN say kasheed
Terey merey khait ki matti hay uss ki keemya
Uss aky nemat khaaney ki har cheez hay maangi hoee
Deney waala kaun hay ? mard e ghareeb o bay nawa
Maangnay waala gada hay sadqa maangey ya khiraaj
Koi maaney yaa na maaney meer o sultaN sab gada
Subj: Iqbal's letter 1
Date: 96-04-30 21:59:36 EDT
From: 93abbass@wave.scar.utoronto.ca (ABBASS SYED AKBAR)
To: NASIM.AWAN@mira.co.uk ("AWAN, NASIM"), moina@aol.com, irfan@cisco.com (syed irfan ashraf), ahmedm@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (manan ahmed), progressive@nelofer.erum.com.pk (Progressive), irf@canadiana.com (Irfan Qureshi)

Dear readers,
After the posting of my article, 'The Truth about Iqbal', I met
with some requests for posting one of the letters written by Iqbal that I
referred to. The following is a reproduction in toto of a letter written
by Iqbal to the editor of the London Times, dated October 15, 1931. It is
indicative of the fact that Iqbal did NOT want a separate muslim nation
at the time, but merely a muslim majority province in the proposed Indian
Federation.

//
NORTH-WEST INDIA- MOSLEM PROVINCES
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES

Sir,-Writing in your issue of October 3 last, Dr. E. Thompson has
torn the following passage from its context in my presidential address to
the All-India Moslem League of last December, in order to serve as
evidence of "Pan-Islamic plotting":-
/I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province,
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 Moslem State appears to me to be the
final destiny of the Moslems, at least of North-West India./
May I tell Dr. Thompson that in this passage I do not put forward
a "demand" for a Moslem State outside the British Empire, but only a
guess at the possible outcome in the dim future of the mighty forces now
shaping the destiny of the Indian sub-continent. No Indian Moslem with
any pretence to sanity contemplates a Moslem State or series of States in
North-West India outside the British Commonwealth of Nations as a plan of
practical politics.
Although I would oppose the creation of another cockpit of
communal strife in the Central Punjab, as suggested by some enthusiasts, I
am all for a redistribution of India into provinces with effective
majorities of one community or another on lines advocated by the Nehru and
the Simon reports. Indeed, my suggestion regarding Moslem provinces merely
carries forward this idea. A series of contented and well-organized Moslem
provinces on the North-West Frontier of India would be the bulwark of
India and the British Empire against the hungry generations of the Asiatic
highlands.
Yours faithfully,
MUHAMMED IQBAL.
St. James's court, S.W.1, Oct. 10.//

I suggest that people interested make a copy of this article. One
thing that should be pointed out is when a 'STATE' is referred to ,it
does NOT mean an independent country/nation. The word 'STATE' is synonymous
with province. The rest I leave to your interpretation. One final thing.
Anyone wishing to peruse the text of the Nehru Report can look for the
following call number directly or via interlibrary loan (Library of Congress
Classification): JQ 215/1928/A7.

I am your sincerely,
Syed Ali Akbar Razavi (President)
-U of T Humanities Research Society
Malaysia organising conference on Iqbal

LAHORE (APP) -- The Institute for Policy Research, Malaysia,is organising an international
conference on poet philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal at Selangor from June 3 to 5.

The three-day conference will highlight the works and achievements of the poet of the East .

A four-member delegation of the Institute for Policy Research is currently visiting Pakistan to seek
the Government's help in procuring various works of Iqbal for display during the conference.

The delegation is led by Khalid Jaffar, Press Assistant to the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister
Anwar Ibrahim,Raja Rajaratnam,N.V.Raman and Anwar Tahir who are all members of the
Research Institute.

Briefing the newsmen on Saturday, Rajaratnam said the Conference will be the second of the series
designed to highlight the accomplishments of the Asian scholars and intellectuals.

He said the title of the upcoming conference is 'Muhammad Iqbal and the Asian Renaissance.'

Rajaratnam said experts drawn from various countries will read papers on Iqbal and his
works.Some of the topics are Iqbal:Worldview,Metaphysics and Mysticism,Iqbal on
Reform,Justice,Polity & Ethnic Relations, Iqbal and the Muslim World,Iqbal:East,West and the
Renaissance.

He said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been invited to deliver keynote address on the opening
day of the conference.

The Malaysian scholar disclosed that an exhibition will also be organised on the occasion, displaying
Allama Iqbal's publications, books, manuscripts and photographs.

Rajaratnam said Iqbal was a well known figure in his country especially among the Muslims and the
conference has been designed to project him as an Asian thinker in the East Asia.

' The occasion will provide an excellent opportunity for scholars from other countries to exchange