Correspondence and Documents Related to Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Constitutional Role

Sub title : Constituent Assembly Credentials and the Sylhet Referendum Proceedings

Subject: Constituent Assembly (India) | Sylhet Referendum (1947) | India -- Politics and government -- 1919-1947 | Partition of India

Date of publication: 1941

Language: English

Page: 9 p.

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 27812

Keyword: M.A. Jinnah -- Constituent Assembly 1946 -- Sylhet Referendum 1947 -- Lord Ismay -- H.V.R. Iengar -- Moinul Haque Chaudhary | Partition Administration -- Muslim League -- Assam Government -- Referendum Symbols

Abstract: This collection contains two distinct sets of documents related to M.A. Jinnah's constitutional responsibilities. The first includes official correspondence from H.V.R. Iengar, Secretary of the Constitutional Adviser's office, regarding credentials for the Constituent Assembly meeting in December 1946. The second and more substantial portion comprises detailed communications concerning the Sylhet Referendum of July 1947, including a letter from Jinnah to Lord Ismay forwarding urgent concerns about referendum arrangements. These documents outline serious allegations of administrative bias by the Assam Government, including the appointment of an allegedly anti-Muslim referendum commissioner, inappropriate ballot symbols, military harassment, censorship, and arbitrary arrests aimed at impeding the Muslim League's campaign.

Description: This archive provides crucial documentary evidence of M.A. Jinnah's central role in both the all-India constitutional process and the specific territorial negotiations preceding Partition. The formal invitation to the Constituent Assembly establishes his legitimate position in the central political process, while the detailed Sylhet Referendum documents reveal his active involvement in safeguarding Muslim interests at the provincial level during the critical summer of 1947. The repeated, nearly identical submissions regarding the Sylhet Referendum (pages 6-9) underscore the urgency and importance attached to these concerns by League representatives, who viewed the referendum process as fundamentally compromised. This collection is essential for understanding the practical administrative challenges and political tensions that characterized the implementation of the June 3rd Partition Plan, particularly in contested regions like Sylhet. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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