Correspondence between Pir Ilahi Bakhsh and M.A. Jinnah

Sub title : On Constitutional Planning for Sindh and Provincial Representation

Subject: Constitutional Planning for Pakistan Provinces | Sindh Politics | Muslim League Strategy

Date of publication: 1947

Language: English

Page: 6 p.

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 27610

Keyword: M.A. Jinnah — Pir Ilahi Bakhsh — Sindh Constitution | Provincial Autonomy — Constitutional Drafting — Muslim League — Power Transfer 1947 | Sindh Representation — Central Government | Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah.

Abstract: This file contains a series of letters and telegrams from Pir Ilahi Bakhsh to M.A. Jinnah in the critical months leading up to the partition of India in 1947. The core of the correspondence is a detailed letter from February 27, 1947, where Bakhsh, citing the impending British withdrawal, urgently proposes the drafting of a constitution for an independent Sindh. He suggests forming a committee to prepare a "ready-made constitution" and discusses the balance between provincial autonomy and all-India coordination. Follow-up letters show him pushing for action from local League leaders and handling administrative matters like donations to the Sind Madressah Board. A urgent telegram in May 1947 stresses that "Sind ignored so far" and presses the claim for essential representation at the central level for the province.

Description: This collection provides a crucial ground-level view of the political and administrative preparations taking place in Sindh just months before the creation of Pakistan. The correspondence reveals the foresight of local leaders like Pir Ilahi Bakhsh, who recognized the urgent need for provincial constitutions to be ready upon the transfer of power. The letters highlight the tension between the desire for provincial constitutions "suited to its own local conditions" and the need for All-India coordination under the Muslim League. The increasingly urgent tone, culminating in the telegram about Sindh being "ignored," underscores the high-stakes negotiations and concerns over provincial representation in the nascent central government of Pakistan. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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