00:00 Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's aspiration to establish Pakistan
00:07 as a distinct entity was evident from the outset.
00:12 He envisaged a nation free from the shadow of India, despite its geographical proximity
00:17 and shared history.
00:20 Historian John Kaye notes that Jinnah was firm in his preference for the Islamic-sounding
00:24 acronym Pakistan over any name containing India.
00:28 His preference stemmed from Jinnah's desire to emphasize the separateness and purity of
00:34 the new nation, as well as his concerns over the use of the term India.
00:39 The term Pakistan itself was coined by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali in 1933.
00:45 Initially it was an acronym representing the five northern provinces of India, Punjab,
00:50 Northwest Frontier Province or Afghan Province, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.
00:57 As the movement for a separate Islamic state gained momentum in the 1940s, Pakistan became
01:03 a ubiquitous name in Muslim League discourse and correspondence.
01:09 Jinnah's reservations about using India for the newly independent nation were twofold.
01:14 Firstly he believed that neither India nor Pakistan would retain the British title of
01:19 India.
01:20 However, this assumption proved incorrect and Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy,
01:26 granted Nehru's demand that his state retain the name India.
01:30 Jinnah upon discovering this was reportedly furious.
01:35 In a letter to India's first Governor General Lord Mountbatten, Jinnah expressed his concerns
01:40 that the name India was misleading and intended to create confusion.
01:44 He believed that the term carried historical baggage, suggesting an object of conquest
01:50 which could dissuade Nehru from using it.
01:52 Moreover, the genesis of the term India referred to lands that primarily lay on Pakistan's
01:58 side of the border post partition.
02:01 For a nascent nation-state that had not existed just 15 years earlier, laying claim to this
02:07 historical heritage was paramount.
02:11 Jinnah also wanted India to adopt the name Hindustan to emphasize the religious basis
02:16 for the partition and the new nation-states.
02:18 However, the legal provisions of the Indian Independence Act did not officially designate
02:23 Pakistan as an Islamic state, nor did they establish India as a Hindu state.
02:30 Jinnah's objections to the use of India were not limited to rhetoric.
02:34 In 1947, he even rejected an invitation from Lord Mountbatten to be the honorary president
02:39 of an exhibition of Indian art in London because it used the name India.
02:45 Jinnah proposed that the description should read "Exhibition of Pakistan and Hindustan
02:49 Art" to avoid confusion.
02:53 In September 1949, during the deliberations of India's draft constitution, the name Hindustan
03:00 was briefly considered but ultimately rejected in favor of India and Bharat.
03:06 Article 1 of the constitution uses these terms interchangeably, reflecting the enduring complexity
03:13 surrounding the name of the subcontinent's nations.
03:16 (dramatic music)
