Information
This question is designed to test knowledge, understanding and analytical and evaluative ability and is worth fourteen marks. This includes the ability to synthesise information, the appropriate use of selected relevant examples and the ability to compare and contrast. This question should be answered in an essay, in continuous prose of approximately two pages of writing, not in note form.
Examples
Was the attempt to achieve a better understanding with the British the most important contribution that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan made to the Muslim cause during the nineteenth century? Explain your answer. [14]
Advice:
When you are given this sort of question, you are expected to write about the person’s achievement or event’s importance that is listed, but you have to bring in others too. You should know that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s contributions were in a group of three; improving British-Muslim Relations, encouraging Western education and increasing political awareness. So, you would have to write about them too or you would be unlikely to score high marks.
So, in this question, there would be three contributions to write about. You would need to:
Planning:
The best way to plan to answer such a question is to treat it like three lots of Question b. Take each contribution and find a number of reasons to explain why he was important. Then add a final paragraph explaining why you think one was more important than the others.
Let us use Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s contribution of improving British-Muslim relations as an example. We could say the following about this:
Showed Muslims as loyal to British by writing ‘The Loyal Muhammadans of India’.
Allowed the two communities to interact by removing differences.
Removed British misconception about the term ‘Nadarath’.
Initiated British-Indian Association where the two communities negotiated and discussed their issues.
Similarly, a similar plan should be made for contribution of encouraging Western education and increasing political awareness.
Suggested Response:
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wrote a pamphlet called ‘The Loyal Muhammadans of India’. In this pamphlet, he brought to light the loyal services of Indian Muslims for British. By doing so, the British realized that the Muslims were actually loyal and so hostility towards them was reduced. Secondly, he wrote a pamphlet called ‘Ahkam-e-Taam-e-Ahl-e-Kitab’. In this, he highlighted the fact that the Muslims and Christians were allowed to dine together by religion. This encouraged the Muslims and British to interact with each other and remove their differences. Thirdly, SSAK cleared a British misconception Indians called the British ‘Nadarath’. The British always mistook this as an insult to them. SSAK cleared this confusion and told the British that this word meant ‘helper’. Thus, this reflected a positive image of the British for Indians and helped improve relations. SSAK also founded the British-Indian Association, a platform for the British representatives to negotiate and discuss issues with Indian representatives. This helped to improve the relations between the two communities.
However, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan made educational contribution too. He founded a scientific society at Ghazipore which translated works of science from English, Arabic and Persian into Urdu. This helped to increase the scientific knowledge of the Muslims. Secondly, he also established the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School in 1875, which was upgraded to college in 1877. By doing so, he introduced the English Public School System in India, making Muslim students receive better education leading to better job opportunities in future. Secondly, it also made the Muslims in a better position to communicate with the British and was unifying force for Muslims in the absence of the Muslim League.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan made many political contributions as well. Congress had suggested open competitive examinations, jobs in civil service and government; however, SSAK knew that the Hindus were more educated and would easily win all the posts so he rejected this reform and suggested a quota be kept in each sector for the Muslims so that they won’t be denied of equal opportunities. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan also gave the Two-Nation Theory at the Hindi-Urdu Controversy in 1867, when Congress argued Hindi for the official language and Muslims stood for Urdu. This made him realize that the Hindus and the Muslims were two different nations with two different demands and, thus, a partition of some sort was required.
This, it can be seen that political reforms were more important as the Two-Nation Theory paved way for the formation of Pakistan which is why Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is known as ‘The Father of the Pakistan Movement’.
Comments on Answer:
The candidate began their accurate and well-argued response by describing the ways in which Sir Syed Ahmad Khan attempted to achieve a better understanding with the British. This part of the response was able to achieve the maximum mark within Level 3. The candidate then went on to discuss further contributions made to the Muslim cause by Sir Syed, which were well explained and evaluated. Overall the resulting mark achieved was the maximum within Level 4. This was an excellent answer, demonstrating authoritative knowledge and a clear understanding of the question.
Mark Awarded = 13 out of 14
Do you agree that during the Second World War there was no significant progress towards independence in the subcontinent? Give reasons for your answer. [14]
Advice:
Whenever you are asked to say whether you agree with a comment or indicate whether you think a policy or person was successful, you must make sure that you give both sides of the argument. So, what the questions really means is ‘What do you know that supports this statement and what do you know that does not?’
Planning:
The best way to plan to answer such a question is to treat it like two halves. Take each side of the answer and lit what you think should go in. To produce an excellent answer, you need to add a final judgment.
No significant progress
Failure of the Cripps Mission
Arrest of Congress leaders during Quit India campaign
Failure of Gandhi-Jinnah Talks
Failure of Simla Conference
Significant progress
End of Congress tyranny
Pakistan Resolution
Cripps Mission (shows British accepted need to protect the minorities)
Quit India Campaign (shows Congress taking radical action)
Gandhi-Jinnah Talks (shows Congress accepting Muslim League as equal)
Simla Conference (all parties agree that an Executive Council should be formed)
By end of war British withdrawal inevitable
Suggested Response:
It is not true that no significant progress was made during the Second World War. Certainly, there were many events which failed, but despite this, independence was much nearer in 1945 than it had been in 1938.
When the British announced that India was at war with the enemies of the Britain and its allies, and that Indian troops will help their rulers in their cause, the Congress ministries resigned and the era of Congress tyranny ended for the Muslim community. Following this, the All-India Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution which meant that Pakistan Movement had finally begun. The years of oppression from the British and the Hindus were to be put behind them and now was the time to work for the homeland ‘Pakistan’ to become a reality.
In March 1942, British sent Cripps Mission which proposed to form an Indian Union with Dominion status and a Constituent Assembly forming a constitution after the war. The right to opt out of the future Union showed that the British accepted the need to protect the minorities and was a step nearer independence for the Muslims. However, both the Muslim League and the Congress had rejected this proposal because formation of Pakistan was not mentioned. Similarly, Congress demanded immediate control of India’s affairs.
In May 1942, Congress started a mass struggle on non-violent lines on the widest possible scale, i.e. the Quit India Resolution. This campaign showed that Congress was ready to take radical actions against British for Indian safety. However, two days later, Gandhi, Nehru and other senior Congress figures were arrested and the Party was banned. This had obviously weakened the campaign.
In May 1944 came the time when Gandhi and Jinnah (RA) chose to discuss the future of subcontinent face-to-face. Gandhi declared that he did not support the Two-Nation Theory and that he was the representative of the whole subcontinent. Jinnah (RA) denied agreeing on this straight away. The only thing these talks had done was to show that Congress was now accepting the League was an equal and important organisation, and that it spoke with authority on behalf of the Muslims.
In June 1945, Viceroy Wavell called a conference at Simla to propose to set up an Executive Council until a new constitution could be made, which would contain equal number of Muslims and Hindus and be exclusively Indian, except having a few British officials. All the parties had agreed on the principle of Executive Council. However, objections from Jinnah, that this meant a permanent Muslim minority and the League was the undisputed voice of the Muslims, caused the conference to fail.
Be the end of the Second World War, it was now clear that the British intended to leave India. In fact, this was inevitable. So, it appears that no real progress had been made because the Cripps Mission and the Simla Conference had both failed. However, underneath this apparent failure was real progress. Both the Muslims and Hindus had come to see that British rule must end immediately. Many British people realised this too.
Comments on Answer:
The candidate immediately recognised the importance of the words ‘do you agree’ in the question. They structured their response accordingly, and described the events in chronological order. For explaining and evaluating the progresses and the non-progresses towards independence during the Second World War, this response scored almost maximum marks in Level 4.
Mark Awarded = 12 out of 14
How successful was Pakistan in its relationship with the USA between 1947 and 1999? Explain your answer. [14]
Advice:
When you are asked to comment on ‘How successful’ a policy or relations were, you are not just being asked to say in what way it/they were successful. you need to consider the way in which it/they were unsuccessful. The answer to the question might be ‘Not very successful at all because’.
Planning:
The best way to plan to answer such a question is to treat it like two halves. Take each side of the answer and lit what you think should go in. To produce an excellent answer, you need to add a final judgment.
Ways in which it was successful
Liaquat Ali Khan visits in 1950
Alliances 1954-55
Ayub Khan lets the USA build air bases
Pakistan supports the USA during U-2 crisis
Afghan miracle
Ways in which it was unsuccessful
American reluctance to form alliance in 1947-49
Relations in 1960s and 1970s were less good
USA assists India in war with China
Ayub Khan visits China
USA neutral in wars between Pakistan and India
Bhutto considered anti-American
Zia not popular with the USA
End of the Afghan miracle
Suggested Response:
There were many successes as well as failures. During the 1962 Indo-China War, the USA supplied weapons to India to fight the communist China. Since Pakistan and India were rivals, Pakistan hated this. During the 1971 Indo-Pak War, Pakistan asked the USA to help it. The USA did not help it even though they were on friendly terms. When Pakistan lost the war, it left the SEATO and this had worsened the relations.
In 1985, the Pressler Amendment was passed which said that the USA would not help a country, which had or which was developing nuclear weapons, through aid. During the Afghan miracle, this was ignored, but after the war ended, it stopped the aid. Pakistan told the USA that India was also developing nuclear weapons, and was getting aid. The USA ignored Pakistan and the relations worsened.
Apart from the failures, there were certain successes. In 1950, Liaquat Ali Khan was invited to the USA and the USSR at the same time. He chose to go to the USA which improved relations. In 1954, Pakistan entered the SEATO, an organisation designed by Western powers, thus the relations improved as the USA was also present in this organisation.
In 1979, when the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the USA gave maximum aid to Pakistan to fight against the USSR. Pakistan’s army was strengthened due to the USA and it improved relations to a great extent. In 1995, the Brown Amendment was passed in which the Pressler Amendment was revoked. The USA gave Pakistan the F-16’s and also gave them weapon totaling to 388 million dollars which improved the relations a lot. It was a huge success.
In my opinion, the successes were more and they clearly outweigh the failures. Pakistan and the USA have had rough times, but overall, the relations have been great during the 1947 to 1999.
Comments on Answer:
The candidate immediately recognised the importance of the words ‘how successful’ in the question. They structured their response accordingly, and did not simply describe the events in chronological order. For explaining and evaluating the successes and failures of the relationship between Pakistan and the USA, this response scored almost maximum marks in Level 4.
Mark Awarded = 12 out of 14
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