Liaquat-Nehru pact

Subject : History

Section: Modern India

Concept :

Death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee was marked recently. He resigned from the cabinet of JL Nehru in April 1950 over the controversial Nehru-Liaquat Pact.

About the Nehru-Liaquat pact

The Nehru-Liaquat Pact, also known as the Delhi Pact, was a bilateral agreement signed between India and Pakistan in order to provide a framework for the treatment of minorities in the two countries.
It was signed by the two country’s prime ministers – Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan.

Need for the pact:

The need for such a pact was felt by minorities in both countries following Partition, which was accompanied by massive communal rioting.
Even in 1950 over a million Hindus and Muslims migrated to and from East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh), amidst unspoken violence and communal tensions.

The agreement:

The Governments of India and Pakistan solemnly agree that each shall ensure, to the minorities throughout its territory:
complete equality of citizenship, irrespective of religion,
a full sense of security in respect of life, culture, property and personal honour,
freedom of movement within each country and
freedom of occupation, speech and worship, subject to law and morality.
Members of the minorities shall have equal opportunity with members of the majority community to:
participate in the public life of their country,
to hold political or other office, and
to serve in their country’s civil and armed forces.