The most flagrant lie spun in Pakistan to elevate Iqbal as a founding father & to paint him greater than he was, is the out-and-out ludicrous claim that he was the first to envision & dream of Pakistan. Despite his literary & philosophical contributions to the Muslims of India & the nascent idea of Pakistan, Iqbal wasn't a founding father of Pakistan! In fact, Iqbal's contribution to the formation of Pakistan was even less than that of Rahmat Ali. The posthumous exaggerated glorification of Iqbal as a founding father on par with Jinnah (a notion historically untenable) is part of the ideological agenda crafted by the Pakistani state to marginalise Jinnah’s secular vision. Regarding Iqbal’s proposal in his 1930 Allahabad Address (on which it's contended that he conceptualized & laid the foundation for what is now Pakistan) it's crucial to distinguish between 2 primary types of independent states: • Autonomous States: Semi-independent states or provinces. • Sovereign States: Fully independent countries. British India was divided into 11 Autonomous States (provinces). In his Allahabad Speech, Iqbal (excluding Bengal) only proposed, "I would like to see Punjab, NWFP, Sindh, & Baluchistan amalgamated into one large state." He referred to these as 'AUTONOMOUS MUSLIM STATES', indicating that he envisaged semi-independent provinces & not a fully sovereign country — what Pakistan is today. Iqbal's vision was to group these provinces to provide Muslims with autonomy, creating a buffer zone between Central Asia & the rest of India. To clarify his concept of autonomous states, Iqbal in 1934 wrote an article in a UK-based newspaper, 'The Times,' titled 'Moslem Provinces'. In it, he reiterated his proposal for a series of contented & well-organized Moslem Provinces on the North West Frontier of India & clarified his position stating, "Pakistan is not my scheme." "The one that I suggested in my address is the creation of a Muslim province," he added. Iqbal shifted his stance in 1937. He only supported the Pakistan scheme, but didn't conceptualize Pakistan. The notion that Iqbal dreamt of Pakistan holds no water for he himself busted this hackneyed assertion! If you believe that Allama Iqbal is a founding father based on the session held in Allahabad, during which Iqbal delivered his address—a proposal that the All India Muslim League neither endorsed nor acted upon, & which was entirely disregarded by the League—let me inform you that there were around 88 other partition schemes, both vague & definitive, proposed between 1857 & 1930 for the separation of the provinces that now constitute Pakistan. Interestingly, the preponderance of these proposals came from non-Muslims. Anyway, prior to Iqbal’s call for an autonomous state in 1930, figures like James Mill, Thomas Arnold, John Bright, W.S. Blunt, Bhai Paramanand, Lovat Fraser, Lord Curzon, the Kheiri Brothers, A.B. Keith, M.A.Q. Bilgrami, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Nadir Ali, Wahabuddin Kamboh, Ashraf Thanwi, Lajpat Rai, and many others had already advocated for a separate state for Muslims. Should we then also regard & hail them as the ideological founding founders of Pakistan? 🤔 Lala Lajpat Rai’s 1924 partition scheme closely & greatly resembled the eventual creation of Pakistan. His plan was to divide India into Muslim & non-Muslim regions in order to reduce Muslim opposition in government & curb Muslim dominance. Should Lala Lajpat Rai then be hailed & celebrated as a founding father as well? 🤔 For those curious as to why Iqbal is taught as a founding father who conceptualized Pakistan and 'inspired Jinnah,' even though Jinnah clearly stated that religion would play no role in the affairs of the state and formed a secular cabinet after the creation of Pakistan to represent the minorities of the Subcontinent, the answer lies in the same rationale that leads to Abdus Salam being scarcely acknowledged, #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #pakistan #punjab #karachi #lahore #peshawar #balochistan #islamabad - @panjabi.raaj