With the advantage of hindsight, one has the opportunity to study the historical cycles in a nation’s life. Thanks to this newspaper’s unique, extensive archive of back issues, one can examine the major political, economic and social trends that have shaped Pakistan and the world over the last seven decades and counting.
Cliched as it may sound, history repeats itself, and we — as a state and as a polity — largely refuse to learn from it.
Through this platform, we will look back at the ‘big’ stories that made it to the front pages of Dawn, as well as significant developments tucked away in the inside pages, from the birth of Pakistan onwards, and try to put them in perspective. We will study the critical issues of the week, starting from Aug 14, 1947 and examine the major themes and issues that made it to the paper.
Though Dawn’s archive goes back further, we have chosen to start from the day Pakistan was born. The news items have been selected for their relevance — in the eyes of this writer — to the modern day as well as their historical impact.
‘Friendship with Britain and Hindustan’
The front page of the Dawn Delhi edition of Aug 14, 1947 captured the zeitgeist of the time: a fond farewell to empire, and hope for the future. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, while delivering a speech at a state dinner in honour of Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, spoke of the British warmly, saying Pakistan would “endeavour to create and maintain goodwill and friendship with Britain and our neighbouring dominion — Hindustan. …”
Though relations with Britain saw ups and downs, they have remained generally cordial. The same, obviously, cannot be said for India. Mere months after the Quaid would express his desire for good relations with India, both nations went to war over Kashmir, as Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India, a process that would spark a dispute that remains unsolved to this day; despite how New Delhi may spin it, Jammu and Kashmir remains a disputed region. Moreover, Pakistan and India have fought numerous major and minor wars, with the last conflict breaking out in May 2025 after the Pahalgam incident. The unfinished business of Partition remains unfinished, and has resulted in a permanent state of hostility between Pakistan and India.
A single-column news item on the front page reflected another, forgotten territorial dispute that has now become a part of history. It mentioned that the princely State of Junagadh, in the Kathiawar region of what is now India’s Gujarat state, had decided to join Pakistan. Mr. Ismail Abramani, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs to Junagadh State, “met Mr. Jinnah … and communicated to him the decision of the State.”
Interestingly, when the Muslim nawab of Junagadh decided to accede to Pakistan, India did not accept it and occupied the state in November 1947. Yet the Kashmiri Hindu maharaja’s accession to India was perfectly acceptable to New Delhi. The Indian rulers of the time clearly shifted the goalposts when it suited them.
Trouble in Lahore
But with great hope there was also trepidation. The inside pages carried reports of communal disturbances which reflected the frenzy that accompanied Partition. A grim report from Lahore told the reader that “most of the sectors in the Walled City are on fire and burning unchecked”.
It added that the military and police had been “firing incessantly in several places, where arson and looting was rampant”. So volatile was the situation that the district magistrate clamped an 11-hour curfew on many parts of the Punjab capital; three military brigades had to be moved in to control the situation. Disturbances had also been reported from Amritsar (East Punjab) and Moradabad (UP).
Though Independence held great promise for the people of the subcontinent, freed as they were from colonial subjugation, as the record shows, the bitter rivalry between the erstwhile dominions of Pakistan and Hindustan has persisted, while communalism remains entrenched on both sides of the border.
The pages of Dawn would over the decades tell these — and other — stories that shaped the future of Pakistan, and made it what it is today. It is these stories we will seek to examine every week.
The post Broken record: Friendship with Britain and Hindustan appeared first on Dawn – Home.
