sempozyum_bildiri_kitabi

procession with hundreds of other girls and women. 16 They marched along the Mall towards the
Assembly Chamber, shouting slogans against the government. They were stopped by the police in
front of the Assembly Chamber and were not allowed to proceed to the main entrance of the
Chamber. The participants of the procession then marched towards the office of the Provincial ML 17
and protested peacefully.
Though a lot of Muslim women were put behind the bars, the movement still continued. It was
getting stronger with each passing day. Muslim females of nearby villages, other cities and even from
provinces had come to participate in the movement. In case of arrival of women leaders from other
provinces, the lead of that day’s demonstration was given to the guest leader. The police started
leaving the respected Muslim females many miles away from the city from where they had to come
back on foot. Many of them were wounded in result of beating and attacks of tear gas, but they
remained active because nothing could stop them from their mission. Women’s demonstrations
were not confined to Lahore, but also held in other cities of Punjab.
No one in the ML circle could expect such a gallant performance from the women of Punjab. It
was ‘first mass public mobilization’ 18 of Muslim women anywhere in pre independent India. The ageold
tradition of seclusion and purdah was cast off by women of Punjab to get independence from
foreign rule. They proved themselves as a ‘powerful potential source of political activity.’ 19 Later a
small number of activist Punjabi women mobilized Pathan women of NWFP to start CDM against pro‐
Congress Khan Sahib’s ministry in NWFP, which was also successful. 20
Towards the end of April 1947, Governor‐General Lord Mountbatten visited NWFP to observe the
situation with his own eyes. Around 70,000 males, females, students and other groups of society
organized a demonstration to express their grievances in front of the Viceroy. After attending the
demonstration, a group of females met with the governor Sir Olaf Caro and placed their grievances in
front of him and demanded to arrange their meeting with the Viceroy, which was arranged later. 21
The positive impact of the meeting was that their demand of Referendum was accepted by
Mountbatten in the June 3rd Plan. With the announcement of the referendum Quaid‐i‐Azam
appealed the people of NWFP to call off the CDM and to start preparation for the up‐coming
referendum. 22 While appreciating women’s participation in the whole CDM he said:
I cannot but express my appreciation of the sufferings and sacrifices made by all the
classes of Mussalmans and particularly the great part the women of the Frontier played in
the fight for our civil liberties. 23
During the Referendum campaign, women’s role was again very prominent. Women had been
opposing the anti‐ML government of Sindh, working under Khan Bahadur Allah Bukhsh, 24 who had
formed his government in Sindh with the support of twenty‐one Hindus, two parliamentary
secretaries and a few other candidates. 25 He believed in United India and said that Bengal, Sindh and
NWFP were against the creation of Pakistan. 26 It annoyed every Muslim including Muslim women of
Sindh who were very angry with such statements of Khan Bahadur Allah Bakhsh. Begum Nusrat
Haroon, while representing the ML’s point of view answered the funny statement of Khan Bahadur.
She said:
A lot of bye‐elections have truly clarified that the Muslims of the whole India are in
favour of Pakistan… The claims of Khan Bahadur Allah Bakhsh are restricted to only those
journalists who always remain in search of such Muslims who have lost their self‐respect
and are selfish. In fact, they create timely support for Hindu politics. 27
Although the women of Balochistan organized themselves quite late than the women of other
provinces but they were ready to sacrifice everything for the cause of Pakistan. This class of females
had also started campaign for Pakistan in the rural areas of Balochistan. They visited many areas and
spread the message of Pakistan in a very simple and understandable language to the poor and
uneducated females of the rural areas. 28 The impact of this propaganda campaign was very positive