- Muslim League
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orig. All India Muslim LeaguePolitical group that led the movement calling for a separate Muslim country to be created out of the partition of British India (1947).The league was founded in 1906, and in 1913 it adopted self-government for India as its goal. For several decades it supported Hindu-Muslim unity in an independent India, but in 1940, fearing Hindu domination, the league called for a separate state for India's Muslims. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Muslim League (as the All Pakistan Muslim League) became Pakistan's dominant political party, but it gradually declined in popularity and by the 1970s had disappeared altogether. See also Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
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▪ Indian Muslim grouporiginal name All India Muslim League,political group that led the movement calling for a separate Muslim nation to be created out of the partition of British India (1947). The Muslim League was founded in 1906 to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims. At first the league was encouraged by the British and was generally favourable to their rule, but the organization adopted self-government for India as its goal in 1913. For several decades the league and its leaders, notably Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Jinnah, Mohammed Ali) (q.v.), called for Hindu-Muslim unity in a united and independent India. It was not until 1940 that the league called for the formation of a Muslim state that would be separate from the projected independent nation of India. The league wanted a separate nation for India's Muslims because it feared that an independent India would be dominated by Hindus.Jinnah and the Muslim League led the struggle for the partition of British India into separate Hindu and Muslim states, and after the formation of Pakistan in 1947 the league became Pakistan's dominant political party. In that year it was renamed the All Pakistan Muslim League. But the league functioned less effectively as a modern political party in Pakistan than it had as a mass-based pressure group in British India, and hence it gradually declined in popularity and cohesion. In the elections of 1954 the Muslim League lost power in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and the party lost power in West Pakistan (now Pakistan) soon afterward. By the late 1960s the party had split into various factions, and by the 1970s it had disappeared altogether.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
