ON 14 AUGUST 1947, Pakistan emerged as a sovereign nation­state through the division of territories and the migration of populations across borders drawn to divide what was

This chapter in large part presents a pre-history of the creation of the Pakistani state, with attention to the ways in which forces aligned towards the achievement of independent statehood but also to shape important contextual features for the further develop­ment of constitutionalism in the new state.

Here we follow a more or less linear path in looking at the emergent state-like apparatus of Mughal India, through the divided sovereignty that was exercised under the British East India Company (1601—1858) and at the period of direct British colonial rule in India (1858—1947). A final long part of the chapter deals with the development of Muslim nationalism from within a broader anti-colonial nationalism; a senti­ment and then movement in which a certain populace came to imagine Pakistan as their rightful homeland. Eventually finding a voice through Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the sentiment gained concrete expression in rounds of constitutional negotiations in which he at first represented the demands for ‘sufficient’ representation of Muslim minorities in India. Failing to reach a satisfactory accommodation he thereafter dedicated his efforts towards the recognition of a distinct nation for Muslims of the subcontinent. In this set of movements, advances and compromises, some of the potent reasons for the compromised posi­tion of Pakistani constitutionalism become more clear.

I.