On March 23rd, 1940, the All India Muslim League drafted the Lahore Resolution, which made their official goal not to fight for the interests of Indian Muslims as previously, but rather, to fight for a separate Muslim nation known as Pakistan. Pakistan was a term used as early as the early 1900s. At first it was an acronym, the P stood for Punjab, A for Afghania, K for Kashmir, I for Islam, S for Sindh and TAN for BalochisTAN (As history would show, Pakistan would own all these lands and more), Pakistan also meant “Land of the Pure” in Urdu. The resolution sent shockwaves across India. The All India National Congress, the secular party fighting for India’s independence, opposed this, so did the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (All India Hindu Grand Assembly), a far-right Hindu Nationalist party (though their opposition did not stop them from allying with the Muslim League in Sindh). Even some Muslims weren’t so keen on the idea, and they split from the AIML to form the All India Jamhur Muslim League, which merged with the AINC a couple years later. Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist organization in South Asia, denounced the AIML as they saw nationalism as "un-Islamic" and would rather see a Muslim state encompassing all of the Raj. At first, nobody took the resolution seriously. After all, many ethnic groups in the Raj have called for a state of their own, such as the Dravidians who wanted a Dravida Nadu, but the movement failed in the mid 1930s with the defeat of the Justice Party, the party calling for a Dravida Nadu, in Madras Party elections. The British, who saw the unification of all of India’s ethnic groups into one unit as their greatest colonial achievement, dismissed the idea (in the words of Lord Zetland, British Secretary of State for India, Pakistan was “silly” and the resolution was a “council of despair”) yet at the same time issued out a note condemning the resolution.
What is the reason for Pakistan? In the words of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the AIML: “It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time”. This line of thinking began to be known as the “Two-nation theory”, in which it claims that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations, and that any country comprising of both Hindus and Muslims would collapse in civil war (India, with their population being 11% Muslim in 2018 and Pakistan having their population be 9% Hindu also in 2018 has not led to them collapsing in civil war, though riots happen sometimes in both).
While Pakistan was supposed to be a primarily Raj affair, soon it expanded into Ceylon, Afghanistan and Burma. Three months after the Lahore resolution, a personal matter (some say it was over land rights, others say that the Muslim owed the Buddhist money) of a Buddhist and a Muslim in Ceylon turned into religious violence following the Buddhist throwing pork at the Muslim as he was going into a mosque for friday prayers. Some similar incidents happening at the same day escalated into full on religious violence which continued unabated for a month. When the dust settled, there was distrust amongst Muslims and Buddhists across the island.
Following the violence, Razik Fareed, a Sri Lankan Muslim politician, went to Lahore to meet with Jinnah. Following some discussions which lasted for three days, Fareed went back to Ceylon and declared the formation of the Ceylonese Muslim League, which would fight for a homeland for Ceylonese Muslims. However, splits began to emerge as many members couldn’t decide on either a union with Pakistan or an independent Muslim state known as Ampara. As the CML’s leaders were friends with AIML leaders, Fareed ultimately decided that union with Pakistan was a better option, which led to his opponents splitting off and forming the Ampara Muslim League, which was dissolved within a year due to infighting between Sinhalese and Tamil supporters. Ceylonese Tamil Hindus also began to demand some rights for themself following a pogrom in 1941, which led to the death of popular Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam, but as the Sinhalese-dominated United National Party only decided to give very little concessions to the Tamils Tamil separatism grew, and in 1942 the Tamil Federalist Party was founded, with the popular S. J. V. Chelvanayakam as their leader. Soon, the idea of a partitioned Ceylon was becoming more and more plausible and popular.
Whether or not the British were going to partition India and Ceylon or not, one thing was for sure that it was not the first thing on the British government’s minds at the time. The United Kingdom, along with the Soviet Union (and soon, the United States) was embroiled in a war against Nazi Germany and their Italian, Japanese and Spanish allies. As the war was going on, both the UK and the USSR feared countries in the Middle East allying with Germany and as such would give Germany plenty of oil, alongside that threaten British colonies in the Middle East and the USSR in Central Asia. Iraq joined the Axis only to be invaded quickly and have their king deposed, both the UK and USSR feared Iran’s Shah was pro-German and invaded Iran and deposed the Shah in favor of his son. To the east, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah had made Afghanistan have close relations with Germany, Italy and Japan, and his Prime Minister was not so much better. Shortly after the Iran invasion, the USSR and the UK launched an invasion of Afghanistan. However, Churchill worried he was giving too much ground to the Soviets by giving them control of both North Iran and now North Afghanistan. Churchill thought that in order to stop this he decided that the UK should annex the Wakhan Corridor and give it to the British Raj, which hurt UK-USSR relations a bit. However, now if partition was going to happen, the Wakhan Corridor was going to become a part of Pakistan. As the Prime Minister was not trustworthy, and all of Zahir Shah’s children were, well, children, both the UK and USSR decided that their best man to install was Sardar Shah Wali Khan, Zahir Shah’s uncle.
Following the end of World War II on October 1st, 1945, the UK was slowly losing their grip on it colonies, one of them being India, Ceylon and Burma. In 1946 elections were held in India, and Muslims voted overwhelmingly for the AIML. Elections were held in Ceylon as well, 90% of Tamils voted for the TFP, 88% of Muslims voted for the CML. Not only that, but Rohingyas in Burma were approaching Jinnah so as to make the Rohingya areas of Burma a part of East Pakistan. Because of this, the proposed Cabinet Mission in 1946 sent by the UK not only discussed topics on Raj decolonization but also on Ceylon and Burma. Jinnah’s demands were tough, as now he was calling for Muslim-majority Sylhet to become a part of East Pakistan, along with wanting the Muslim majority Lakshadweep islands and Keralan city of Malappuram as part of Pakistan. Congress fought back, demanding Lahore and the Hindu parts of Sindh. Jinnah responded by demanding a corridor connecting West and East Pakistan. That demand was just to place pressure on Congress, and in a way they buckled as they gave up the demand of the Hindu parts of Sindh, which at first glance was just desert and not many Sindhi Hindus in urban areas were willing to uproot themselves to a desert. The demand for an Indian Lahore faltered as well when the League began to demand a Pakistani Amritsar (after all, Lahore and Amritsar somewhat had same religious demographics). In January of 1947, Nehru was almost killed by a mentally ill man as he was about to go to Lahore for negotiations, stalling them for a while. Confusion was generated following Sardar Patel, Indian home minister and potential successor to Nehru in case of his death or resignation, who believed that Nehru had died, dying of a heart attack.
As Nehru was bed-ridden for a while, Congress was represented by Indian Education Minister Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Rajagopalachari had a different view on how to deal with the deadlock: a plebiscite on the areas Jinnah was demanding would comprise Pakistan. However, this was opposed by the League (as they saw the 1946 elections as the plebiscite) and even in Congress. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, a Dravidian separatist leader, lending his support as he claimed it would lead to Dravida Nadu certainly did not increase Congress support for Rajagopalachari’s plan. Eventually, after a month of treatment, Nehru was able enough to go back to represent Congress in the negotiations, though he was forced to be put on a wheelchair.
As far as the issue of a third state being carved out of the soon-to-be erstwhile British Raj was concerned, some Bengali leaders both in the AIML and AINC supported an independent Bengal. However, this achieved opposition from the AIML and AINC, but the strongest proponents of an independent Bengal, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sarat Chandra Bose weren’t willing to yield just yet. Jinnah had invited Suhrawardy and some Rohingya leaders, and Suhrawardy agreed to drop the demand on the condition that Bengali be made an official language along with Urdu (As most of the AIML leaders conversed in Urdu, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what language would be made official). Jinnah had hoped that this was one of those nonsensical demands he had made to Congress with the intent on putting pressure on them, but Suhrawardy was serious. While Jinnah would had otherwise supported an independent Bengal, the fact that Ceylonese Muslims were asking to be a part of Pakistan had Jinnah change his mind about Pakistan, now, Jinnah wanted Pakistan to comprise of all the Muslim-majority areas of South Asia. After tense negotiations, and some Muslim League leaders urging Jinnah to go with Suhrawardy demand, Jinnah reluctantly accepted it three days after the meeting. The language question did not make it to Ceylonese and Malayalam Muslim League leaders, and it would cause problems in the 1950s.
Partition ended up a reality. Tamil Eelam was made independent, and Pakistan was comprised of the North-West Frontier Provinces, Balochistan, Sind, Muslim-Majority Punjab (including the Gurdaspur district, which was a source of some debate), Muslim-Majority Bengal, Muslim-Majority Ceylon, Malappuram and the Lakshadweep islands. However, Pakistan did not remain like this.
In the north was the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, its Maharaja (prince) being Hari Singh. Singh had wanted independence, yet was being courted by both Pakistan and India. Singh hated Congress, Nehru and hated Nehru’s friend, J&K Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah even more. However, Singh did not care much for the Muslim League, leading to Pakistan having a better chance of gaining the state. After negotiations, concessions and some bribery, Hari Singh opted to accede to Pakistan. The agreement was a middle ground between full accession like with many other princely states, and the protectorate status India gave to Sikkim, though if one were to put it on a scale they would realize the autonomy given to J&K was leaning more to Sikkim status, even if they were not fully there. Singh’s accession greatly upset Nehru (himself a Kashmiri Hindu), Sheikh Abdullah and J&K’s Hindu and Sikh population. A brief coup led by anti-Pakistan Dogra soldiers put Sheikh Abdullah in power, but a counter-coup led by Hari Singh, loyalist soldiers and aided by Pakistan led to Hari Singh taking back power. Nehru was about to retaliate, demanding a plebiscite, but health problems caused by his near death (Nehru unknowingly had developed sepsis) led to him dying soon later. Rajagopalachari stepped down from his position of Governor-General in order to become Prime Minister. Rajagopalachari, unlike Nehru, had no connection to Jammu and Kashmir, and as such respected Hari Singh’s decision, and instead focused on helping the Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan.
After partition numerous Hindu and Sikh refugees fled from what became Pakistan to what became India, and many Muslim refugees fled from what became India to what became India. However, when it came to the case of Lahore, a holy city for Sikhs which ended up in the Muslim state of Pakistan, a lot Sikhs refused to go and instead took shelter in the numerous holy temples in Lahore, such as the Nankana Sahib. This refusal led to Lahore having a 15% Sikh population. When Junagadh, a 99% Hindu princely state acceded to Pakistan, the Hindus revolted, but some went to India and formed a provisional government. Junagadh was blockaded and as such Pakistan couldn't do much except try their best to get the leaders of Junagadh to safely come to Pakistan. Junagadh was soon annexed by India, which had Pakistan become a bit annoyed, but decided to drop the matter.
While India was a bit annoyed at Pakistan taking princely states with either a sizeable Hindu population or a Hindu majority they let it go, but others were not so happy. Burma, decrying its partition as a crime, sent Buddhist tribes to attack Pakistani positions, and soon just attacked East Pakistan all together. Pakistan expelled the Burmese troops, but the damage had already been done. Burma and Pakistan developed a rivalry that would last to even today, and lead to wars in the future.
Afghanistan was also annoyed at the inclusion of the Wakhan Corridor into Pakistan, along with the Durand Line, which made the eastern border of Afghanistan what it is. Afghanistan was annoyed that the British left without negotiating with them, and also that the British promised to give back the Wakhan Corridor after the British and Soviets left Afghanistan in 1945, but decided not to. Afghanistan followed the same tactics Burma did with East Pakistan, except the Afghan army did not attack Pakistan. Pakistan expelled the tribals, though like with Burma Pakistan had made an enemy out of Afghanistan.
When it came to domestic issues, South Pakistan (as Lakshadweep, Malappuram and Pakistani Ceylon was beginning to be known as and soon became an official province of Pakistan) was shocked when the government said that Urdu, Bengali and English were made official languages, and not Malayalam, Sinhalese or Tamil, the main languages in South Pakistan. This led to the Southern Language Movement starting, led by Razik Fareed (who later formed All-Pakistan Muslim Congress, the political arm of the SLM), demanding that Sinhalese, Tamil and Malayalam were made official languages. However, some were more radical in their beliefs. The language declaration had risen the Ampara movement from the grave, and some in Lakshadweep and Malappuram were petitioning India to annex them (Rajagopalachari had initially thought of doing so, though he decided that India should focus on developing itself rather than interfere in the affairs of a nation which, while at times being annoying, isn’t that bad to warrant an invasion of. Besides, the economic liberal Rajagopalachari was losing power in his own party due to disputes with the socialist Congress establishment).
The language dispute led to the constitution being stalled for a while, though the support of both West and East Pakistanis drowned out the voices of South Pakistanis, and on April 3rd, 1950 the Pakistani constitution was implemented. Jinnah had made a deal with Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first prime minister, that if a constitution is made Liaquat will become president and Jinnah will become prime minister, a reversal of their roles. The deal carried on when the constitution was implemented, making the widely popular (except in South Pakistan) Muhammad Ali Jinnah prime minister. The Dominion of Pakistan was abolished, and in came the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
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I was inspired by @GoulashComrade's Somalia TL and @King of the Uzbeks Bhutan TL. At first I thought of doing a South Africa TL, or a Brazil TL or probably an East Turkestan TL, though I didn't have any more research materials other than Wikipedia, and I realized it could only get me so far, so I decided on Pakistan, and as I have family there and I have some books on Pakistan so I think this TL can be more plausible than a South African, Brazillian or Turkestan TL.
What is the reason for Pakistan? In the words of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the AIML: “It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time”. This line of thinking began to be known as the “Two-nation theory”, in which it claims that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations, and that any country comprising of both Hindus and Muslims would collapse in civil war (India, with their population being 11% Muslim in 2018 and Pakistan having their population be 9% Hindu also in 2018 has not led to them collapsing in civil war, though riots happen sometimes in both).
While Pakistan was supposed to be a primarily Raj affair, soon it expanded into Ceylon, Afghanistan and Burma. Three months after the Lahore resolution, a personal matter (some say it was over land rights, others say that the Muslim owed the Buddhist money) of a Buddhist and a Muslim in Ceylon turned into religious violence following the Buddhist throwing pork at the Muslim as he was going into a mosque for friday prayers. Some similar incidents happening at the same day escalated into full on religious violence which continued unabated for a month. When the dust settled, there was distrust amongst Muslims and Buddhists across the island.
Following the violence, Razik Fareed, a Sri Lankan Muslim politician, went to Lahore to meet with Jinnah. Following some discussions which lasted for three days, Fareed went back to Ceylon and declared the formation of the Ceylonese Muslim League, which would fight for a homeland for Ceylonese Muslims. However, splits began to emerge as many members couldn’t decide on either a union with Pakistan or an independent Muslim state known as Ampara. As the CML’s leaders were friends with AIML leaders, Fareed ultimately decided that union with Pakistan was a better option, which led to his opponents splitting off and forming the Ampara Muslim League, which was dissolved within a year due to infighting between Sinhalese and Tamil supporters. Ceylonese Tamil Hindus also began to demand some rights for themself following a pogrom in 1941, which led to the death of popular Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam, but as the Sinhalese-dominated United National Party only decided to give very little concessions to the Tamils Tamil separatism grew, and in 1942 the Tamil Federalist Party was founded, with the popular S. J. V. Chelvanayakam as their leader. Soon, the idea of a partitioned Ceylon was becoming more and more plausible and popular.
Whether or not the British were going to partition India and Ceylon or not, one thing was for sure that it was not the first thing on the British government’s minds at the time. The United Kingdom, along with the Soviet Union (and soon, the United States) was embroiled in a war against Nazi Germany and their Italian, Japanese and Spanish allies. As the war was going on, both the UK and the USSR feared countries in the Middle East allying with Germany and as such would give Germany plenty of oil, alongside that threaten British colonies in the Middle East and the USSR in Central Asia. Iraq joined the Axis only to be invaded quickly and have their king deposed, both the UK and USSR feared Iran’s Shah was pro-German and invaded Iran and deposed the Shah in favor of his son. To the east, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah had made Afghanistan have close relations with Germany, Italy and Japan, and his Prime Minister was not so much better. Shortly after the Iran invasion, the USSR and the UK launched an invasion of Afghanistan. However, Churchill worried he was giving too much ground to the Soviets by giving them control of both North Iran and now North Afghanistan. Churchill thought that in order to stop this he decided that the UK should annex the Wakhan Corridor and give it to the British Raj, which hurt UK-USSR relations a bit. However, now if partition was going to happen, the Wakhan Corridor was going to become a part of Pakistan. As the Prime Minister was not trustworthy, and all of Zahir Shah’s children were, well, children, both the UK and USSR decided that their best man to install was Sardar Shah Wali Khan, Zahir Shah’s uncle.
Following the end of World War II on October 1st, 1945, the UK was slowly losing their grip on it colonies, one of them being India, Ceylon and Burma. In 1946 elections were held in India, and Muslims voted overwhelmingly for the AIML. Elections were held in Ceylon as well, 90% of Tamils voted for the TFP, 88% of Muslims voted for the CML. Not only that, but Rohingyas in Burma were approaching Jinnah so as to make the Rohingya areas of Burma a part of East Pakistan. Because of this, the proposed Cabinet Mission in 1946 sent by the UK not only discussed topics on Raj decolonization but also on Ceylon and Burma. Jinnah’s demands were tough, as now he was calling for Muslim-majority Sylhet to become a part of East Pakistan, along with wanting the Muslim majority Lakshadweep islands and Keralan city of Malappuram as part of Pakistan. Congress fought back, demanding Lahore and the Hindu parts of Sindh. Jinnah responded by demanding a corridor connecting West and East Pakistan. That demand was just to place pressure on Congress, and in a way they buckled as they gave up the demand of the Hindu parts of Sindh, which at first glance was just desert and not many Sindhi Hindus in urban areas were willing to uproot themselves to a desert. The demand for an Indian Lahore faltered as well when the League began to demand a Pakistani Amritsar (after all, Lahore and Amritsar somewhat had same religious demographics). In January of 1947, Nehru was almost killed by a mentally ill man as he was about to go to Lahore for negotiations, stalling them for a while. Confusion was generated following Sardar Patel, Indian home minister and potential successor to Nehru in case of his death or resignation, who believed that Nehru had died, dying of a heart attack.
As Nehru was bed-ridden for a while, Congress was represented by Indian Education Minister Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Rajagopalachari had a different view on how to deal with the deadlock: a plebiscite on the areas Jinnah was demanding would comprise Pakistan. However, this was opposed by the League (as they saw the 1946 elections as the plebiscite) and even in Congress. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, a Dravidian separatist leader, lending his support as he claimed it would lead to Dravida Nadu certainly did not increase Congress support for Rajagopalachari’s plan. Eventually, after a month of treatment, Nehru was able enough to go back to represent Congress in the negotiations, though he was forced to be put on a wheelchair.
As far as the issue of a third state being carved out of the soon-to-be erstwhile British Raj was concerned, some Bengali leaders both in the AIML and AINC supported an independent Bengal. However, this achieved opposition from the AIML and AINC, but the strongest proponents of an independent Bengal, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sarat Chandra Bose weren’t willing to yield just yet. Jinnah had invited Suhrawardy and some Rohingya leaders, and Suhrawardy agreed to drop the demand on the condition that Bengali be made an official language along with Urdu (As most of the AIML leaders conversed in Urdu, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what language would be made official). Jinnah had hoped that this was one of those nonsensical demands he had made to Congress with the intent on putting pressure on them, but Suhrawardy was serious. While Jinnah would had otherwise supported an independent Bengal, the fact that Ceylonese Muslims were asking to be a part of Pakistan had Jinnah change his mind about Pakistan, now, Jinnah wanted Pakistan to comprise of all the Muslim-majority areas of South Asia. After tense negotiations, and some Muslim League leaders urging Jinnah to go with Suhrawardy demand, Jinnah reluctantly accepted it three days after the meeting. The language question did not make it to Ceylonese and Malayalam Muslim League leaders, and it would cause problems in the 1950s.
Partition ended up a reality. Tamil Eelam was made independent, and Pakistan was comprised of the North-West Frontier Provinces, Balochistan, Sind, Muslim-Majority Punjab (including the Gurdaspur district, which was a source of some debate), Muslim-Majority Bengal, Muslim-Majority Ceylon, Malappuram and the Lakshadweep islands. However, Pakistan did not remain like this.
In the north was the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, its Maharaja (prince) being Hari Singh. Singh had wanted independence, yet was being courted by both Pakistan and India. Singh hated Congress, Nehru and hated Nehru’s friend, J&K Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah even more. However, Singh did not care much for the Muslim League, leading to Pakistan having a better chance of gaining the state. After negotiations, concessions and some bribery, Hari Singh opted to accede to Pakistan. The agreement was a middle ground between full accession like with many other princely states, and the protectorate status India gave to Sikkim, though if one were to put it on a scale they would realize the autonomy given to J&K was leaning more to Sikkim status, even if they were not fully there. Singh’s accession greatly upset Nehru (himself a Kashmiri Hindu), Sheikh Abdullah and J&K’s Hindu and Sikh population. A brief coup led by anti-Pakistan Dogra soldiers put Sheikh Abdullah in power, but a counter-coup led by Hari Singh, loyalist soldiers and aided by Pakistan led to Hari Singh taking back power. Nehru was about to retaliate, demanding a plebiscite, but health problems caused by his near death (Nehru unknowingly had developed sepsis) led to him dying soon later. Rajagopalachari stepped down from his position of Governor-General in order to become Prime Minister. Rajagopalachari, unlike Nehru, had no connection to Jammu and Kashmir, and as such respected Hari Singh’s decision, and instead focused on helping the Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan.
After partition numerous Hindu and Sikh refugees fled from what became Pakistan to what became India, and many Muslim refugees fled from what became India to what became India. However, when it came to the case of Lahore, a holy city for Sikhs which ended up in the Muslim state of Pakistan, a lot Sikhs refused to go and instead took shelter in the numerous holy temples in Lahore, such as the Nankana Sahib. This refusal led to Lahore having a 15% Sikh population. When Junagadh, a 99% Hindu princely state acceded to Pakistan, the Hindus revolted, but some went to India and formed a provisional government. Junagadh was blockaded and as such Pakistan couldn't do much except try their best to get the leaders of Junagadh to safely come to Pakistan. Junagadh was soon annexed by India, which had Pakistan become a bit annoyed, but decided to drop the matter.
While India was a bit annoyed at Pakistan taking princely states with either a sizeable Hindu population or a Hindu majority they let it go, but others were not so happy. Burma, decrying its partition as a crime, sent Buddhist tribes to attack Pakistani positions, and soon just attacked East Pakistan all together. Pakistan expelled the Burmese troops, but the damage had already been done. Burma and Pakistan developed a rivalry that would last to even today, and lead to wars in the future.
Afghanistan was also annoyed at the inclusion of the Wakhan Corridor into Pakistan, along with the Durand Line, which made the eastern border of Afghanistan what it is. Afghanistan was annoyed that the British left without negotiating with them, and also that the British promised to give back the Wakhan Corridor after the British and Soviets left Afghanistan in 1945, but decided not to. Afghanistan followed the same tactics Burma did with East Pakistan, except the Afghan army did not attack Pakistan. Pakistan expelled the tribals, though like with Burma Pakistan had made an enemy out of Afghanistan.
When it came to domestic issues, South Pakistan (as Lakshadweep, Malappuram and Pakistani Ceylon was beginning to be known as and soon became an official province of Pakistan) was shocked when the government said that Urdu, Bengali and English were made official languages, and not Malayalam, Sinhalese or Tamil, the main languages in South Pakistan. This led to the Southern Language Movement starting, led by Razik Fareed (who later formed All-Pakistan Muslim Congress, the political arm of the SLM), demanding that Sinhalese, Tamil and Malayalam were made official languages. However, some were more radical in their beliefs. The language declaration had risen the Ampara movement from the grave, and some in Lakshadweep and Malappuram were petitioning India to annex them (Rajagopalachari had initially thought of doing so, though he decided that India should focus on developing itself rather than interfere in the affairs of a nation which, while at times being annoying, isn’t that bad to warrant an invasion of. Besides, the economic liberal Rajagopalachari was losing power in his own party due to disputes with the socialist Congress establishment).
The language dispute led to the constitution being stalled for a while, though the support of both West and East Pakistanis drowned out the voices of South Pakistanis, and on April 3rd, 1950 the Pakistani constitution was implemented. Jinnah had made a deal with Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan’s first prime minister, that if a constitution is made Liaquat will become president and Jinnah will become prime minister, a reversal of their roles. The deal carried on when the constitution was implemented, making the widely popular (except in South Pakistan) Muhammad Ali Jinnah prime minister. The Dominion of Pakistan was abolished, and in came the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
----
I was inspired by @GoulashComrade's Somalia TL and @King of the Uzbeks Bhutan TL. At first I thought of doing a South Africa TL, or a Brazil TL or probably an East Turkestan TL, though I didn't have any more research materials other than Wikipedia, and I realized it could only get me so far, so I decided on Pakistan, and as I have family there and I have some books on Pakistan so I think this TL can be more plausible than a South African, Brazillian or Turkestan TL.
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