Thaindian News

Islamabad, Apr 5 (ANI): Chaudhary Rehmat Ali’s dream of having a Pakistan much bigger than what it was in 1947 continues to remain a distant dream 60 years after his death.

Ali wanted the whole of Punjab, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.

that form parts of India today, to be included in Pakistan, with reports saying that these smaller landlocked states were even given exotic sounding names like Osmanistan, Faruqistan and Sadiqistan.

Ali had visited Pakistan for a while after partition, but was highly critical of the division of Punjab and Bengal. He later authored a polemic pamphlet entitled ‘The Great Betrayal’ in which he condemned the country’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and his party, the Muslim League, for orchestrating the “most shameful chapter” in Muslim history.

Ali was reportedly disappointed with Muhammad Ali Jinnah over the issue, and wrote against him that: “Jinnah has acted the Judas and betrayed, bartered and dismembered the Millat, animated by ambition for recognition as the Quisling-i-Azam of Pakistan and Bangistan.”

Subsequently Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, declared Ali as ‘persona non grata’ in June 1948 and he returned to Cambridge. Not long after this episode, Ali died and was buried there.

There are many who raise doubt whether Ali had at all invent the name ‘Pakistan’, as they believe that it might have been copied from KarakalPakstan, an autonomous region in Uzbekistan (then part of the USSR) which existed before “Pakistan” was coined.

Ali himself had originally used the name Pakstan, but the “i” was added later.

While this issue remains unclear, the fact that Ali’s dream to see Pakistan covering a broader area remain a dream as of now. (ANI)