Ch Rehmat Ali remembered on 118th birth anniversary

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LAHORE: Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, the pioneer of word ‘Pakistan,’ was remembered on his 118th birth anniversary on Monday.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, founder of the Pakistan National Movement, was born on Nov 16, 1895. Rahmat Ali completed his education in England, obtaining MA and LLB with honors from the universities of Cambridge and Dublin. It was during the years 1930 through 1933, that he seemed to have established the Pakistan National Movement, with its headquarter at Cambridge.

In 1930 he moved to England to join Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1931. In 1933, he published a pamphlet ‘Now or Never,’ coining the word Pakistan for the first time.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali propagated the Scheme of Pakistan with a missionary zeal since its inception in 1933. In August 1947, Pakistan came to be established and in 1948 Chaudhry Rahmat Ali visited Pakistan.

Later he proceeded to England to champion the cause of Kashmir through the United Nations. Sick and weak, he died on February 12, 1951.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said chief of Indian air force’s statement against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was outrageous.

He disdained his statement and said CPEC would give Pakistan a central status in the region against which some people were agitated.

‘The CPEC would lay foundation for economic prosperity and it will benefit all the provinces including Pashtoon’s,’ he said.