Fazl-e-Umar — Page 163
Fazle Umar 163 those provinces and refused to appoint any Muslim League member of the Provincial Legislatures to the post of Minister in any of them. This brought about a direct con- frontation between the Muslim League and the Congress. Any chance of reconciliation was missed. The Congress Ministries proceeded to undermine the Muslim League through the adoption of every conceivable device and stratagem and Muslims soon began to feel the weight and pressure of Hindu domination through the exercise of political power by the Congress. When, on the outbreak of the Second World War, the Congress Ministries resigned as a protest against the entry of India into the war without any consultation with the representatives of the people, the Muslims celebrated the occasion as the Day of Deliverance. In March 1940 the Muslim League in its Lahore session adopted the well-known resolution which has been construed as the demand for Pakistan. The one weakness in the position of the Muslim League and of its leader, Mr Jinnah, was that in the Punjab which was to be the heart of Pakistan, the Provincial Government was headed at first by Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, and after his death by Malik Sir Khizar Hayat Khan. The party they headed was the Unionist Party, the membership of which comprised Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. While Sir Sikandar had arrived at a working understanding with Mr Jinnah, the latter, not being satisfied with the arrangement insisted that Sir Sikandar’s successor should fall into line with Mr Jinnah and should lead the Muslim members of his party into the Muslim League. Sir Khizar Hayat resisted this demand of Mr Jinnah and for a time the situation in the Punjab remained unsatisfactory from the point of view of the Muslim League. In the meantime the country was marching rapidly towards independence, and the Governor General, Lord Wavell, began to work hard to set up an Interim Gov- ernment at the Centre, which should be composed of representatives of the Congress and the Muslim League. Difficulties were encountered and at one time it looked as if