z:\ ambedkar\vol 08\vol8 04.indd MK SJ+DK 1 10 2013/YS 13 11 2013 253
PAKISTAN : COMMUNAL AGGRESSION 253
The provisions were applied to all Provinces except the Punjab and the C. P. It was not applied to the Punjab bacause such special protection was considered unnecessary for the Musalmans of the Punjab and it was not applied to the C. P. because it had no Legislative Council at the time.*
In October 1916, 19 members of the Imperial Legislative Council presented the Viceroy (Lord Chelmsford) a memorandum demanding a reform of the Constitution. Immediately the Muslims came forward with a number of demands on behalf of the Muslim community. These were :—
(i) The extension of the principle of separate representation to the Punjab and the C. P.
(ii) Fixing the numerical strength of the Muslim representatives in the Provincial and Imperial Legislative Councils.
(iii) Safeguards against legislation affecting Muslims, their religion and religious usages.
The negotiations following upon these demands resulted in agreement between the Hindus and the Muslims which is known as the Lucknow Pact. It may be said to contain two clauses. One related to legislation, under which it was agreed that:—
“No Bill, nor any clause thereof, nor a resolution introduced by a non-official affecting one or other community (which question is to be determined by the members of that community in the Legislative Council concerned) shall be proceeded with, if three-fourths of the members of that community in the particular Council, Imperial and Provincial, oppose the Bill or any clause thereof or the resolution.”
The other clause related to the proportion of Muslim representation. With regard to the Imperial Legislative Council the Pact provided :—
“That one-third of the Indian elected members should be Muhammadans, elected by separate electorates in the several Provinces, in the proportion, as nearly as might be, in which they were represented on the provincial legislative councils by separate Muhammadan electorates.”
- The C. P. legislative Council was established in 1914.