Mian Kifait Ali

Mian Kifait Ali

Major Mian Kifait Ali (July 1902 – December 1, 1994) was a pioneer of the Pakistan movement, his masterpiece book “Confederacy of India” published in 1939, under

the pen name “A Punjabi” was the first to deal with political, economic and administrative aspects of Pakistan. He was amongst the first to respond to the call of Pakistan sounded by Muhammad Iqbal in 1930 (Qutote from Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan), Dr. Khursheed kamal aziz Pakistan’s official historian) has described this book as “the most comprehensive and far reaching scheme aimed at furthering and elaborating the idea of Pakistan. Waheed uz-Zaman wrote in his book, “Pakistan”, Lahore, 1964, P. 168, “The book was taken into consideration by the Muslim league, while preparing the Lahore resolution and the fact the solution proposed in the confederacy of India” differed but little from the proposed by the Muslim League in March 1940. The venear of a Confederacy, which was the main theme of his scheme, could anytime be set aside and the remainder would have precisely... Pakistan. So scholarly and so cogent was his reasoning that men like Dr.Rajendra Prasad felt compelled to join issues with him in his books, (Pakistan(Bombay and Calcutta, September 1940), p 34; see also his book “India Divided” page 180-181). The book was reviewed in leading newspapers and journals. Comparatively more scholarly appraisal was in the Tarjaman-ul-Quran of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi. According to Mian Kifait Ali "The idea was suggested to me by the late Choudhary Rahmat Ali’s writings and I developmed it to an extent to which no one had done earlier (Letter to Dr. K.K, September 5, 1968)". Ali also stated that originally it was proposed to publish the book under the title of “Pakistan” a typed manuscript which bore this page title was sent to the press. Soon after he received a telegraphic message from the Muhammad Ali Jinnah that book should not appear under the pen name of “Pakistan”. It was in order to comply with the Quaid’s directive he prepared a federal scheme and was incorporated in the introduction of the book. Thus the book was titled as “Confederacy of India”. (Nation article, Dec 23, 1994 by Sarfraz Hussain Mirza, “Confederacy of India by A Punjabi", also in Daily Times, Cam Diary, "Pak history in Leichester", and article by V.P Bhatia "‘Jinnah was against the name ‘Pakistan’ at First". It was in recognition of this work of Mian Kifait Ali that he was invited to work on the committee presided over by Sir Abdullah Haroon set up in February 1940 to examine the various schemes of constitutional reforms for India and to see whether a consolidated scheme can finally be framed. His book has been referred to as the most comprehensive schemes at demystifying and detailing the ideas regarding the inception of Pakistan, quite a lot has been written about him and his work. Mian Kifait Ali has done “pioneering work in the evolution of Muslim political thoughts and has suffered the hardship of a pioneer… when an objective appraisal of Muslim political movement is made by the historian. He will find an honorable place among the pioneers and selfless workers in this great field of Muslim reconstruction (Quoted by Governor Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani). Famous independence-era personalities such as Abul Ala Maududi, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon, and Sardar V. Patel took issue with him. He responded in several pamphlets.