Jinnah’s viceregal role

THIS has a reference to Ghulam Kibria’s letter, ‘Jinnah’s viceregal role’ (Sept 30). This is not for the first time that Jinnah’s position as Governor General has been questioned, especially with reference to democratic traditions and the dismissal of the governments headed by Dr Khan Sahib and by Ayub Khuhro, in the NWFP and Sindh respectively.In the NWFP, a referendum was held from 6 to 17 July, 1947, in which, despite a time of 11 days, Dr Khan Sahib failed to secure the support of the majority. A haughty 2,89,244 votes were cast in favour of joining the constituent assembly of the new born country while only 2874 voters were in favour of joining the existing Indian constituent assembly. It is also important to note that at the announcement of the June 3 plan, Dr. Khan Sahib had declared that he would resign if he failed to secure a majority vote in the referendum.But after independence, he backed out of his promise and decided to continue as chief minister despite the overwhelming support for Pakistan in the referendum. It was only then that Jinnah decided to dismiss him. Also, it is wrong to say that he enjoyed majority in the provincial assembly. His case had been lost in the referendum.Of course, being the Governor General of a newly established state, sometimes he had to go an extra mile to get his work done. As far as, Quaid’s views for democracy are concerned, he was the only Indian who was a democrat to the core.In a meeting with Mountbatten on July 4, 1947, was the Viceroy, in a last attempt to persuade Jinnah to accept him as the GG of both the dominions, said: “Mr Jinnah, as PM of Pakistan you would be able to do more for your country.” Mr Jinnah, in a cool and calm manner, replied: “My Prime Minister can do the same.” ( Zahid Khan Lodhi’s book “Mountbatten’s anti-Pakistan role”, NBF 1995).