If someone were to tell you today that after the establishment of Pakistan, the Communist Party of Pakistan, the left-wing political circles of the country and the social democrats were the foremost in providing practical support and assistance to the Kashmir freedom struggle, then perhaps no one would be ready to believe it, but it is a fact. Just as some of our religious circles are accused of supporting the ongoing armed resistance in Kashmir, the same thing was also said about the communists. In international and internal politics of states, state interests often prevail over principles and rightful positions and objectives, which is why the goal of true peace and harmony is not achieved.
How did progressive and liberal circles participate in the independence of Kashmir? The emotional element that entered the Pakistan movement was religious. It was sustained by the fact that the Muslim League won a majority of seats in the UP elections in 1934. Despite this, the Congress announced that only those representatives would be included in the cabinet who would leave the Muslim League and join the Congress.
Historians agree that this was the moment when Quaid-e-Azam became convinced that the political and economic rights of Muslims could not be protected in a united India. Most importantly, the Pakistan movement received support from circles with different, even contradictory, ideologies.
Foremost among them were the middle-class people associated with the Aligarh Movement, including professionals and those with government service backgrounds. Similarly, elements of the left were also supporting Pakistan, despite their serious ideological differences with the far-right leaders and religious circles of the Muslim League.
Today, the general impression is that the political and practical struggle for the independence of Kashmir has always been carried out by religious parties, but it may seem strange to the new generation that in the beginning the communists were the vanguard of this struggle. It is also a fact that the 'Communist Party of India' supported the partition of the Indian subcontinent and the establishment of Pakistan. Because the Communist Party believed that the Muslim League's demand for the establishment of Pakistan was in line with Marxist-Leninist principles.
This demand was not merely the result of sectarian or religious prejudice. Marxist principles demand that the right of subjugated nations to self-determination be supported. This directive came to them from the Communist International or Comintern, which was the center of the communist system and ideology at that time, and all the communist parties of the world were affiliated with it. In terms of world politics, supporting the establishment of Pakistan was also a well-thought-out strategy.
The Soviet Union (Russia) believed that the British influence on India was very deep. The classes that would be the rulers of the country after independence already had very close ties with Britain and the Western bloc, so in the world political arena, India would remain under the influence of the Western bloc. But if the country were divided, then an opportunity would arise for Russia to exert its influence in the region. Left-wing intellectuals of Pakistan used to make passionate arguments in favor of the fact that a Nawab or Maharaja had no right to decide the fate of his state against the will of its people.
Indian author Bipin Chandra writes in his book India's Struggle for Independence that Communist Party General Secretary PC Joshi believed that the creation of Pakistan would deal a blow to the British policy of "Divide and Rule".
Kamran Asadr Ali wrote his research paper:
Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1972: SURKH SALAM writes, “Although the Communist Party of India had accepted the creation of Pakistan and the split of the Communist Party with it, it was not satisfied with the politics of the Muslim League. In Punjab, the Communist Party had not only allied with the Muslim League but also participated in the formulation of a radical constitution for the elections of 1945-46.” This global political background provided the basis for the first attempts to establish a government based on leftist ideas in Pakistan.
The Communist Party in Pakistan was founded by Sajjad Zaheer, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mian Iftikharuddin and Sajjad Zaheer left India and came to Pakistan on the instructions of the Communist International. Interestingly, the left-wing political circles of Pakistan also chose the path of getting the help of the army to bring about positive change in the country because it was impossible to do so through electoral politics. The late renowned intellectual Khalid bin Saeed has said in his book: Pakistan: The Formative Phase 1857-1948, “After the establishment of Pakistan, there was an increase in left-wing thinking, which later led to incidents like the Rawalpindi conspiracy.”
Major General Akbar Khan had led the fighters in the first Kashmir war with great success, but the liberation of the whole of Kashmir was not possible. General Akbar blamed the government for this. His wife Begum Naseem Jahan was the daughter of Jahanara Shah Nawaz (known as Begum Shah Nawaz), a prominent leader of the Pakistan Movement. It is said that he was aware of the secret plan to bring about change in the country and due to his careless speech, this word probably came out of his mouth and somehow reached the relevant circles.
All the people involved in this plan were arrested and it became known as the 'Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case'. Various people were arrested in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, the most notable of which were Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Sajjad Zaheer was a prominent member of the Progressive Writers Movement of the Communist Party of India and came to Pakistan on the instructions of the Communist Party of India.
He was entrusted with the responsibility of laying the foundation of the Communist Party of Pakistan in Pakistan. In the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, there was a clear socialist/Ishtar tendency, especially in the case of Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Major General Akbar Khan was also somewhat sympathetic to progressive and leftist ideas, but he was essentially a nationalist. The communist leadership saw in General Akbar Khan the personality who could establish a socialist-friendly government.
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