The **Pakistan Movement** (also called **Tehrik-e-Pakistan**, Urdu: تحریکِ پاکستان) was a political movement which was active during the first half of the 20th century. At that time, British India belonged to the British Empire. In British India, most people were Hindu, or Muslim. The people in the Pakistan Movement feared that they would lose their liberty when the British left and so wanted to create a separate state.

The struggle was organised by the All India Muslim League and resulted in the Partition of India. The movement was led by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Other important leaders were Nawab Muhammad Ismail Khan, Raja Amir Ahmed Khan of Mahmudabad, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Fatimah Jinnah, Amjadi Bano Begum, Sir Abdullah Haroon, Khawaja Nazimuddin, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan, Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman, A.K. Fazlul Huq, Aurangzeb Khan, Qazi Muhammad Isa and Abdur Rab Nishtar.

History of the movement
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Muslim League Working Committee at the Lahore session
The first person with the idea of a separate state was not Allama Iqbal, as is generally thought. He publicized the theory onlt in his speech in 1930. It was a prevailing idea that has its origins in the United Provinces of Indian. People like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and others had thought about a separate state there much earlier.

In 1901 onwards, many other Muslim scholars had also been proposing the idea of a separate Muslim state within the subcontinent. Choudhary Rahmat Ali later proposed the name Pakistan in his Pakistan Declaration in 1933.

People like Muhammad Ali Jinnah maintained their belief in religious unity. Religious hostilities between Hindus and Muslims gave the movement a stronger backing.

In 1940 during its meeting in Lahore, the Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution, also known as Pakistan Resolution, which asked for an independent state of Pakistan. Soon after World War II, the United Kingdom became convinced that it could not keep its colonies in South Asia, as the British Empire had suffered very badly from the war. By 1947, British India was divided into two countries, a Muslim-majority Pakistan and a Hindu-majority India. Bangladesh split from Pakistan in 1971.

Timeline
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* 1906 Founding of the All-India Muslim League
* 1909 Minto – Morley Reforms
* 1911 Annulment of the Partition of Bengal
* 1914–18 World War I
* 1916 Lucknow Pact
* 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
* 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms
* 1919–23 Khilafat Movement
* 1922–29 Hindu – Muslim Riots
* 1927 Delhi Muslim Proposals
* 1928 Nehru Report
* 1929 Fourteen Points of Jinnah
* 1930 Simon Commission Report
* 1930 Allama Iqbal Address

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* 1930–32 Round Table Conferences
* 1932 Communal Award (1932)
* 1933 Now or Never Pamphlet
* 1935 Government of India Act
* 1937 Elections
* 1937–39 Congress Rule in the Provinces
* 1937 The famous Jinnah-Sikandar Pact signed in October in Lucknow
* 1938 Pirpur Report
* 1939–45 World War II
* 1940 22–23rd March, the landmark Pakistan Resolution
* 1942 Cripps' mission
* 1944 Gandhi – Jinnah Talks
* 1945 The Simla Conference
* 1946 The Cabinet Mission
* 1946 Direct Action Day
* 1946 Interim Government Installed in Office
* 1946 June 3 Partition Plan
* 1947 , midnight between 14–15 August Creation of Pakistan/Partition of India

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Related pages
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* History of Pakistan