In this interview from 2017, Bashir Maan discusses his involvement in the Pakistan movement while he was a student.

Bashir Maan was a Pakistani-Scottish politician. He was born in Maan village in British India (now Pakistan) and moved to Glasgow in 1953, aged 26. As an English speaker, he gradually became a prominent leader of the Muslim community in Scotland. In 1970 Maan became the first Muslim in the UK to hold an elected position when he became a Glasgow councillor; he spent over three decades in public office. 

As a student Maan supported Gandhi in the Indian independence struggle, until a friend introduced him to the Pakistan movement. In this interview extract, Maan recalls getting involved with the movement and his reasons for joining the Muslim League in campaigning for a separate Muslim state. He also talks about the important role that students played in bringing awareness of the campaign to Muslim-majority villages. 

What was the Pakistan movement?

The Pakistan movement was a part of the wider campaign for Indian independence, but it specifically fought to establish Pakistan as an independent Muslim state that would protect the rights of Muslims. The movement began in 1940 and was led by Muhammed Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League.

About Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices

In 2017 BBC journalist Kavita Puri led a project to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition of India. Through interviews, the Partition Voices team directly documented the experiences of those who lived through this traumatic time and subsequently moved to Britain, as well as stories from their children and grandchildren. The testimonies recall epic journeys and forced migration, violence, partings with friends and family, and the end of Empire, with some speaking about these events for the very first time. The outcome of this project was an award-winning three-part series for BBC Radio 4 titled Partition Voices, and later an acclaimed book of the same name. The full recordings and transcripts from Partition Voices are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C1790.

ANT ADEANE:

Can you tell me more about how you got involved in the Pakistan movement and what the atmosphere was like at that time?

BASHIR MAAN:

To begin with, I was mostly, largely, involved in the Congress Party. I liked Gandhi and I thought he was the right person to lead the country so therefore his movement was the Congress Party and I was with that. But when I was in the first or second year at the university, a friend of mine told me what was in the Muslim’s League’s aims. When he told me and explained to me, because I didn’t know that before, the Muslim league wasn’t very well known in the countryside, I had come from the countryside, it was only known in the villages, it hadn’t become yet a very popular party. So having no knowledge of the Pakistan movement, or what the Muslim League’s aims were, I was not with them. But when it was explained to me that the aim was the creation of a country where Muslims can live according to their own culture and religion and all that so that. So that convinced me, I said, well this is the right thing. So then I joined the Muslim League. I took part in the movement when the elections were in 1947, 1946, I don’t remember now. I with other students, we travelled all around in that area to convince the people to vote for the Muslim League.

ANT ADEANE:

Was there a noticeable sense of momentum?

BASHIR MAAN:

Oh yes, yes. Because when people realised what Muslim League means, what’s its aim, how it would happen to Pakistan as a separate country, an independent Muslim country, and the people were excited when they knew that. As I said, there wasn’t much done in particular in the villages with the Muslim League until ’46, ’47. It was the students’ movement which went through the villages, every village they reached, and kind of made people aware, Muslim population aware of the aims of the Muslim League.