He said : "For, although I actually
named it such much earlier, it was not
until 28th January, 1933, that, in my
first Declaration - Now or Never -
calling for its separation from "India"
I formally used the name, which by the
dispensation of Allah and the blessing
of His Rasool (Prophet), was ordained to
ensure the elementary right of its
people to a national solidarity under a
national appellation. In his book
"Pakistan- the Fatherland of the Pak
Nation" he said : "It was in the (Now or
Never) that I first used for our Indian
homelands the name Pakistan, which I had
invented for our combined Indian and
Asian homelands, and about which the
following brief explanation may be given
here :-
In my early youth, three fundamental
truths became clear to me about the
future of our people and our lands.
First, that such old names of our
"Indian" homelands as the Sindh Valley,
the Indus Valley, and North-Western
India, were anachronistic and dangerous.
They were anachronistic because they
were the relics both of a mythology
which we exploded in the 7th century
A.D. and of a hegemony which we
annihilated in the 8th; and they were
dangerous because they made out our
"Indian" homelands Hindoolands and our
people Indian - which they had ceased to
be least twelve centuries ago. So, to my
mind, these names were our worst
enemies; for through them the ghosts of
dead ages and of defunct hegemonies were
still ruling us and ruining our
nationhood in our own country.
Second, that in the modern world the
recognition of our nationhood was
impossible without a national name for
our people and our "Indian" homelands- a
name which would equally serve and suit
after the reintegration of our "Indian"
and "Asian" homelands - a reintegration
which in my judgment was both vital and
inevitable; that the absence of such a
name, in the past, had proved harmful to
our interest, but, in the future, would
prove fatal to our existence. For, more
than anything else, it would encourage
the Caste Hindoos- and others - to
repeat "Spain" on us, and to stuck into
the orbit of Indianism not only our
"Indian" homelands but also our "Asian"
homelands- Iran, Afghanistan, and
Tukharistan.
Third, that unless and until we all
in our "Indian" and "Asian" homelands,
now separated by the twists and turns of
history and exploited by our enemies,
reintegrate ourselves into one nation
under a new fraternal name, none of us
whether living in the "Indian" or in the
"Asian" homelands could survive and
thrive in the world.
The realization of these truths
created in me a solemn, surging urge to
invent such a name as would reflect the
soul and spirit of us all, symbolize the
history and hopes of us all, strengthen
the national bonds of us all, and ensure
the realization of the destiny of us
all. That is a name that would detach
those of us who are living in our
"Indian" homelands from Indian
Nationalism and re-attach us to Islamic
nationalism; that would sever our
artificial, national and territorial
ties with Iran, Afghanistan, and
Tukharistan; and that would meet the
challenge of Indianism and British
Imperialism both to us in our Indian
homelands and to our brethren in Iran,
Afghanistan and Tukharistan.
It had therefore to be a name born of
all the elements of our life spiritual
and fraternal, moral and ethnical,
historical and geographical,
supra-regional and supra-national. In
other words, it had to be charged with
an irresistible, eternal appeal to the
heart and head of all our people, and
possessed of elemental power to seize on
our being and make us all go out
crusading for the Millat's Mission. For
nothing short of that could generate
those mighty forces which alone could
ensure the liberation of us all, the
transformation of some of the most
important parts of India and Asia, and
the fulfillment of our Millat's Mission
in India and its Islands.
In view of that none could have
realized more than myself that this was
a Herculean task; but it was also a holy
task, a task of destiny, a task that had
to be attempted. I undertook it years
ago and gave to it all that was in me.
Neglecting my studies and renouncing
every idea of career or home, I made it
the be-all and end-all of my life, and
devoted to it every spark of the fire
and fervor of my faith, and every
particle of what knowledge and
enlightenment. I possessed, I observed
chillahs and prayed for Allah's
guidance, I did everything that could
help the accomplishment of the task, and
never lost faith in Divine guidance. I
carried on till, at last, in His
dispensation Allah showed me the light,
and led me to the name "Pakistan" and to
the Pak Plan, both of which are now
animating the lives of our people.
So much for the invention of the name
'Pakistan'. Now a word about its
composition.
"Pakistan" is both a Persian and an
Urdu word. It is composed of letters
taken from the names of all our
homelands - "Indian" and "Asian". That
is, Punjab, Afghania (North West
Frontier Province), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh
(including Karachi and Kathiawar),
Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and
Baluchistan. It means the land of the
Paks-the spiritually pure and clean. It
symbolizes the religions, beliefs and
the ethnical stocks of our people; and
it stands for all the territorial
constituents of our original Fatherland.
It has no other origin and no other
meaning; and does not admit of any other
interpretation. Those writers who have
tried to interpret it in more than one
way have done so either through love of
casuistry, or through ignorance of its
inspiration, origin and composition.
 See Also:
Urdu English Dictionary
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