Talk on ‘MA Jinnah and Missing Case of Pakistan Constitution’

LAHORE: Jinnah was of the view that two sovereign States should be named Hindustan and Pakistan but to his utter surprise Hindustan was named India by the colonial rulers despite his reservations.

According to a press release, Dr Martin Lau, Dean of Sheikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law at LUMS, stated while delivering a special talk on “MA Jinnah and the Missing Case of Pakistan Constitution”, organised by the Information Technology University’s Centre for Governance and Policy here Sunday. Dr Martin Lau shared his research outcomes regarding the legal developments in the early decade and said in the early years after independence, Pakistan lagged behind India in terms of Constitutional development being a newly-born country on the map of the world. MA Jinnah wanted democracy, unity and social justice in newly-established Pakistan as in the understanding of Jinnah, there was something progressive in Islam as compared to Hinduism, he added.

Dr Lau described the historical developments and said in 1943 Muslim League started using the term “Hindu Raj” and Jinnah feared that an independent India under the domination of Hindus would turn the Muslims into a perpetual minority; therefore, he focused on the separate homeland for the Muslims of the majority areas of Hindustan. Had there been opportunity for Jinnah to live more, the unanswered questions to the Constitution would have been settled, he replied to a question.

The talk was followed by a question-answer session. Dr Martin Wilhelm Lau is a household name in the field of South Asian History. After completing his undergraduate studies in South Asian History from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, he joined LUMS.