CHAUDHRY RAHMAT ALl

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali was born on November 16, 1897 in village Balachaur, district Hoshiarpur, Punjab. He got his early education in Jalandhar and graduated from Islamia College, Lahore in 1919. In 1930, he left for Cambridge (England) for his postgraduate studies in Law. He spent the rest of his life in England and died there.

From his early years Chaudhry ~mat Ali was convinced that the destiny of the Indian Muslims lay in carving out a separate independent homeland of their own in North-Western India and he relentlessly pursued this goal throughout his life.

The credit for coining the word "PAKISTAN' (meaning Land of the Pure) goes to him when he first used it in his pamphlet titled "Now or Never" published on January 28, 1933. Each alphabet in the word "Pakistan" stood symbolically for the territories that were later to constitute Pakistan i.e. 'P' for Punjab, ' A' for Afghania (i.e. the NWFP), 'K' for Kashmir, 's.' for Sindh, and 'TAN' for Baluchistan. This name soon caught the imagination of the multitudes and even the foreign newspapers began to call the proposed country by this name.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali launched the Pakistan National Movement by issuing and distributing pamphlets, tracts, handbills and other literature. A weekly newspaper under the title 'Pakistan' was also started.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali came to Pakistan on a short visit and then went back to Cambridge (England) where he died on February 3, 1951.