15—He was the Government
There is however no doubt that during the years of the struggle for freedom, the Great Quaid had put off the key question “how Pakistan would be governed once it came into being” Most Muslim Leaguers had a general idea that the new state would be a democracy of the Western (specifically British) type, but their allegiance to the parliamentary democracy was based more on convenience than on conviction.
While the Great Quaid lived he was the government of Pakistan. But the close circles around him knew (though not spoke of) what the x-rays of his lungs had revealed. The condition of his lungs was such that his life-span after independence could only be measured in months.
During his long political career earlier the Quaid had built a reputation as an astute constitution thinker, and it was constitutionalism which had characterised his actions in the political arena and in his fight for Pakistan. But in August 1946, he had made a sharp and decisive departure from his past. Stalemated in his negotiations for Pakistan, he had obtained from the Muslim League a resolution called the Direct Action. Speaking to the members he had said: “What we have done today is the most historic act in our history. Never have we in the whole history of the League done anything except by constitutional methods and by constitutionalism. But now we are obliged and forced into this position. This day we will bid good bye to constitutional methods. Today we have also forged a pistol and are in a position to use it.”
This had been the Quaid’s Rubicon—the decisive step onto the Road to Pakistan.
The carnage of the Calcutta killings had followed his call. It had become unavoidable because of the Hindu stubbornness. Direct Action had convinced the British that the subcontinent could not be kept united without a bloody civil war.
