ISLAMABAD: The 67th death anniversary of Choudhry Rahmat Ali, who is credited with creating the name “Pakistan” for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia is being observed today (Sunday).
Choudhry Rahmat was born on 16th November 1897 into the house of a middle-class landlord Haji Shah Gujjar in the Hoshiarpur District of Punjab, Punjab, British India.
In 1918, he graduating from Islamia College Lahore in 1918. However, in 1930 he moved to England to join Emmanuel College Cambridge, in 1931.
Subsequently, he obtained a BA degree in 1933 and MA in 1940 from the University of Cambridge. In 1933, he published a pamphlet, “Now or Never”, coining the word Pakistan for the first time.
Choudhry Rahmat was a Pakistani nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. and is generally known as the originator of the Pakistan Movement.
He believed that the Muslims of India had to reform politically to become a viable, independent community. Ali believed that Indian Muslims should unite to survive in what he perceived to be an increasingly hostile India.
While Choudhry Rahmat Ali was a leading figure for the conception of Pakistan, he lived most of his adult life in England.
After the partition and creation of Pakistan in 1947, Ali returned to Lahore, Pakistan on 6 April 1948. He had been voicing his dissatisfaction with the creation of Pakistan ever since his arrival in Lahore.
On 3 February 1951, Choudhary Rahmat Ali died in Cambridge.
