Bannu Resolution

The Bannu Resolution (Pashto: د بنو فیصله‎), or the Pashtunistan Resolution (Pashto: د پښتونستان قرارداد‎), was a formal political statement adopted by Pashtun nationalists on 21 June 1947 in Bannu in the North-West Frontier Province of British India (in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). The resolution demanded the British to offer the option of independence for Pashtunistan, comprising all Pashtun territories in British India, rather than choosing between the independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The British, however, refused the request and the North-West Frontier Province voted in favour of joining Pakistan in the July 1947 NWFP referendum. However, Bacha Khan, his elder brother and then Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, and the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the referendum in response, citing that it did not have the options of the NWFP becoming independent or joining Afghanistan.[1][2]

Bannu Resolution
Original titleد بنو فیصله
Presented21 June 1947 (1947-06-21)
LocationBannu, North-West Frontier Province, British India (in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan)
SubjectPashtun territories in British India
Purposeto demand the British to add the option of independence for Pashtunistan in the 1947 NWFP referendum

History

The resolution was adopted on 21 June 1947, seven weeks before the Partition of British India, by Bacha Khan, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, the Khudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi),[3] and other tribal chiefs at a loya jirga held at Bannu, in British India’s North-West Frontier Province.

The resolution demanded that Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan, composing all Pashtun territories of British India - an exemption from the British plan to award territories in British India to either Pakistan or India.

British refusal

The British Raj refused to consider the resolution's demands,[4][5] because in July 1947, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Indian Independence Act 1947 declaring that by 15 August 1947 it would divide British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan with no option for further independent states.

The act also declared that the fate of the North West Frontier Province would be subject to the result of referendum. This was in accord with the June 3rd Plan proposal to have a referendum to decide the future of the Northwest Frontier Province—to be voted on by the same electoral college as for the Provincial Legislative Assembly in 1946.[6]

1947 NWFP referendum
Main article: 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum

The voters voted overwhelmingly in favour of Pakistan versus India in the referendum held in the North-West Frontier Province in July 1947. 289,244 (99.02%) votes were cast in favour of Pakistan.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. Meyer, Karl E. (5 August 2008). The Dust of Empire: The Race For Mastery In The Asian Heartland – Karl E. Meyer – Google Boeken. ISBN 9780786724819. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  2. "Was Jinnah democratic? — II". Daily Times. December 25, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  3. "Past in Perspective". The Nation. August 25, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  4. Ali Shah, Sayyid Vaqar (1993). Marwat, Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan (ed.). Afghanistan and the Frontier. University of Michigan: Emjay Books International. p. 256.
  5. H Johnson, Thomas; Zellen, Barry (2014). Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency. Stanford University Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780804789219.
  6. (Pearson, p. 65)
  7. Electoral History of NWFP (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2013.
  8. Michael Brecher (2017-07-25). A Century of Crisis and Conflict in the International System: Theory and Evidence: Intellectual Odyssey III. Springer. ISBN 9783319571560. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
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