The irony of Pakistan's birth is this: the people who would inhabit its land never truly allowed to escape possessive identities, the ancient curse of caste and hierarchy, or the feudal-clientelist systems that still strangle them. They were denied the chance to build a modern state rooted in self-determination and individual rights. Jinnah provided an exit — outwardly embraced but never implemented by the State of Pakistan, yet.

Both Muslims and Hindus were marginalised after the British seized Bengal in 1757. Yet while Hindus adapted, Muslims sank into a slumber of self-condemnation. Even Sir Syed's push for modern education and Iqbal's calls to awaken Muslim potential were met with apathy.

Pakistan was not born from organic grassroots struggle. It emerged unexpectedly — a byproduct of lobbying by Muslim ashraafia in UP, demanding British-granted political rights, employment, and support for business opportunities. These concessions came not from British compassion but to counterbalance Hindu nationalism.

Jinnah and the Muslim League (1906), initially loyal to the British Raj (a shield against Hindu majoritarianism), sought a negotiated constitutional role for Muslims in a united India, mirroring the early Congress demands (1885). But Congress later rejected any reforms for Hindu self-rule that accommodated Muslims. The British, however, enforced electoral reforms and held legislative elections in 1937.

Muslims remained blind to Hindu discrimination, evident in communal violence particularly after Bengal's partition, and to the League's hard-won safeguards like separate electorates (1909). Gratitude failed to translate into........

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