India and Pakistan: 60th anniversary section

Suicide bombers in the capital, rebellion on the borders, lawyers on the streets, and a military ruler clinging to power – this is not the Pakistan that Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisioned.

When he declared Pakistan’s independence 60 years ago today, the British-trained barrister dreamt of a democratic, moderate Islamic state based on the principles of unity, faith and discipline. “I am sure that with your support and cooperation I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world,” he told the first Parliament.

Six decades on Pakistan is in crisis – caught in a simultaneous struggle between democracy and dictatorship, and moderate and extremist Islam, that threatens its very existence.

Just last week President Musharraf considered imposing emergency rule to quell the biggest political crisis he has faced since seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999. It seems now to have been a bluff – government officials (who leaked the idea) said that he rejected it and was committed to free and fair elections.

But the episode reflects the atmosphere of tension, uncertainty and disappointment in which this nation of 165 million people marks its 60th birthday. Across the border India is celebrating its emergence as a major economic power and a beacon of democracy in the developing world.

For those who campaigned alongside Jinnah, however, today will be a day of mourning for the lost ideals of their generation. “We need to teach people about the sacrifices made for the attainment of Pakistan, and about why this movement started,” said Rafiq Ahmad, 80, a veteran of the independence movement.

He was a 13-year-old student in 1940 when Jinnah launched his campaign for a homeland for India’s Muslims. He remembers listening to the radio on the roof of his university in Lahore on August 14, 1947, unsure whether the city of his birth would be included in India or Pakistan. He found out when the newsreader announced that the station had changed its name from All India Radio Lahore to Pakistan Broadcasting Service.

In the following days he helped to clear the bodies of thousands of Muslims slaughtered as they fled India by train. “Lahore was on fire,” he recalled. Today, Dr Rafiq and other veterans run a summer school teaching Pakistani boys and girls about Jinnah’s ideals. “We want to create a sense of unity,” he said after a ceremony at which children sang patriotic songs and read from Jinnah’s speeches.

Faisal Javed, a 38-year-old accountant, said that he brought his four-year-old son, Hashim, to learn from the last survivors of the independence movement. “Pakistan is not fully democratic,” he said. “The Government doesn’t teach this in schools. Here they learn how far we have to go.” The answer is: a long way.

Jinnah died in 1948 and Pakistan suffered its first military coup in 1956: it has had military leaders for 35 of its 60 years. The third, General Ziaul-Haq, introduced Shariah and Islamicised the military while helping America to back the Mujahidin fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

The latest is General Musharraf, 64, a former commando who is helping America to fight many of the same jihadis in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He wants to be reelected by the current Parliament in October and to remain army chief.

But he now faces unprecedented opposition on three fronts. Moderates are incensed by his attempt to sack an independent-minded chief justice this year. Islamists loathe his post9/11 alliance with the US. And many in Washington have criticised his failure to root out militants using remote tribal areas to launch attacks into Afghanistan and Talebanise other areas of Pakistan.

A poll yesterday found that 55 per cent of voters wanted General Musharraf to quit – a huge turnaround from his 60 per cent approval rating a year ago. Against this backdrop, General Musharraf has opened negotiations with Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister who fled into exile to escape corruption charges in 1999 .

She held secret talks with him in Abu Dhabi last month and now says that he has agreed to drop the charges, and let her return for parliamentary elections due before January.

While both sides continue to posture, the consensus is still that there is a deal to share power – with her as Prime Minister and him as President, possibly still in uniform.

Some see that as the best potential outcome – given that the alternative could be a state of emergency.

But for many veterans of 1947, such a deal would once again compromise Jinnah’s founding principles.

“Because of the takeover by the military, Pakistan has not been what it should have been,” said Majid Nizami, 78, whose brother was a close friend of Jinnah. “The only solution is to have real elections,” he said. “Bhutto is a political poodle, and Musharraf is a poodle in uniform. Together they would be utterly bad – disastrous!”

Midnight’s children

Why was British India divided into two countries?
Britain tried to devise a constitutional formula that would preserve the unity of India while offering safeguards for its large Muslim minority. Gandhi also favoured a single, secular, nation. Both failed to convince Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the head of the All India Muslim League

Why do India and Pakistan mark their independence on different days?
They technically became independent at the stroke of midnight between August 14 and 15, 1947. So two ceremonies were held, one in Karachi on the 14th and one in Delhi on the 15th, allowing Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, to attend both

How was the border between the two countries decided?
The British Government commissioned Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a prominent lawyer who had never been to India before, to determine the border. India was roughly formed out of the majority Hindu regions and Pakistan from the majority Muslim areas

Why did so many people have to switch sides?
Punjab and Bengal, the two most densely populated regions, were divided in two – even though most districts in Punjab had a Muslim majority. From India 5.3 million Muslims moved to West Punjab, in Pakistan, while 3.4 million Hindus and Sikhs moved from Pakistan to East Punjab, in India

What happened to Kashmir?
India’s 565 princely states, which were not ruled directly by Britain, were allowed to choose which side to join. The Maharajah of Kashmir, a Hindu leader in a Muslim-majority state, dithered until Pakistani forces invaded. India sent its own troops in response, sparking the first of three wars over the region, which both sides claim to this day

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