Dr. Syed Latif's Proposal for an Alternate Indian Federation to M.A. Jinnah

Sub title : A Scheme for Culturally Autonomous States and Population Transfer

Subject: Indian Constitutional Reform (1939) | Muslim League Ideology | Federation of India

Date of publication: 1939

Language: English

Page: 50 p.

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 27685

Keyword: M.A. Jinnah -- Dr. Syed Latif -- Alternate Federation Scheme | Two-Nation Theory -- Cultural Autonomy -- Muslim Homelands | Population Exchange -- Indian Constitution 1935 | All-India Muslim League -- Lahore Resolution

Abstract: This collection comprises a detailed proposal from Dr. Syed Latif to M.A. Jinnah and Sir Abdulla Haroon, dated March 1939, presenting an "alternate scheme of Federation" to replace the Government of India Act of 1935. The scheme is a comprehensive constitutional vision rooted in the Two-Nation Theory, arguing that India is a federation of nationalities. It outlines a final goal of partitioning India into 15 "culturally autonomous states" (4 for Muslims, 11 for Hindus), which would necessitate a large-scale, managed exchange of population modelled on the 1923 Greco-Turkish exchange. The documents include a draft resolution for the All-India Muslim League, a detailed ideological justification, a specific map of proposed zones, and outlines for a transitional constitution with safeguards.

Description: This is a collection of sixteen digitized pages containing Dr. Syed Latif's seminal constitutional proposal sent to Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah and other Muslim League leaders in March 1939. The documents represent a crucial intellectual precursor to the Lahore Resolution of 1940. They include the covering letter, a draft League resolution rejecting the 1935 Act, and a detailed schedule outlining the ideology, a final goal involving the demarcation of specific Muslim and Hindu zones (including a "Delhi-Lucknow Block" and a "Deccan Block" based in Hyderabad), and a transitional constitution. The proposal is notable for its early, detailed, and systematic conceptualization of population transfer as a necessary solution for India's communal problem, providing a concrete territorial and administrative vision that informed the evolving demand for Pakistan. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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