Ch.Rehmat Ali was the first person who used the word "Pakistan".
He said : "For, although I actually named it such much earlier, it was not
until 28th January, 1933, that, in my first Declaration - Now or Never - calling
for its separation from "India" I formally used the name, which by the dispensation
of Allah and the blessing of His Rasool (Prophet), was ordained to ensure the
elementary right of its people to a national solidarity under a national appellation.
In his book "Pakistan- the Fatherland of the Pak Nation" he said : "It was
in the (Now or Never) that I first used for our Indian homelands the name Pakistan,
which I had invented for our combined Indian and Asian homelands, and about
which the following brief explanation may be given here :-
In my early youth, three
fundamental truths became clear to me about the future of our people and our
lands.
First, that such old names of our "Indian" homelands as the Sindh Valley, the Indus Valley, and North-Western India, were anachronistic and dangerous. They were anachronistic because they were the relics both of a mythology which we exploded in the 7th century A.D. and of a hegemony which we annihilated in the 8th; and they were dangerous because they made out our "Indian" homelands Hindoolands and our people Indian - which they had ceased to be least twelve centuries ago. So, to my mind, these names were our worst enemies; for through them the ghosts of dead ages and of defunct hegemonies were still ruling us and ruining our nationhood in our own country.
Second, that in the modern world the recognition of our nationhood was impossible without a national name for our people and our "Indian" homelands- a name which would equally serve and suit after the reintegration of our "Indian" and "Asian" homelands - a reintegration which in my judgment was both vital and inevitable; that the absence of such a name, in the past, had proved harmful to our interest, but, in the future, would prove fatal to our existence. For, more than anything else, it would encourage the Caste Hindoos- and others -
to repeat "Spain" on us, and to stuck into the orbit of Indianism
not only our "Indian" homelands but also our "Asian" homelands- Iran, Afghanistan,
and Tukharistan.Third, that unless and until we all in our "Indian" and "Asian" homelands, now separated by the twists and turns of history and exploited by our enemies, reintegrate ourselves into one nation under a new fraternal name, none of us whether living in the "Indian" or in the "Asian" homelands could survive and thrive in the world.
The realization of these truths created in me a solemn, surging urge to invent such a name as would reflect the soul and spirit of us all, symbolize the history and hopes of us all, strengthen the national bonds of us all, and ensure the realization of the destiny of us all. That is a name that would detach those of us who are living in our "Indian" homelands from Indian Nationalism and re-attach us to Islamic nationalism; that would sever our artificial, national and territorial ties with Iran, Afghanistan, and Tukharistan; and that would meet the challenge of Indianism and British Imperialism both to us in our Indian homelands and to our brethren in Iran, Afghanistan and Tukharistan.
It had therefore to be a name born of all the elements of our life spiritual and fraternal, moral and ethnical, historical and geographical, supra-regional and supra-national. In other words, it had to be charged with an irresistible, eternal appeal to the heart and head of all our people, and possessed of elemental power to seize on our being and make us all go out crusading for the Millat's Mission. For nothing short of that could generate those mighty forces which alone could ensure the liberation of us all, the transformation of some of the most important parts of India and Asia, and the fulfillment of our Millat's Mission in India and its Islands.
In view of that none could have realized more than myself that this was a Herculean task; but it was also a holy task, a task of destiny, a task that had to be attempted. I undertook it years ago and gave to it all that was in me. Neglecting my studies and renouncing every idea of career or home, I made it the be-all and end-all of my life, and devoted to it every spark of the fire and fervor of my faith, and every particle of what knowledge and enlightenment. I possessed, I observed chillahs and prayed for Allah's guidance, I did everything that could help the accomplishment of the task, and never lost faith in Divine guidance. I carried on till, at last, in His dispensation Allah showed me the light, and led me to the name "Pakistan" and to the Pak Plan, both of which are now animating the lives of our people.
So much for the invention of the name 'Pakistan'. Now a word about its composition.
"Pakistan" is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our homelands - "Indian" and "Asian". That is, Punjab, Afghania (North West Frontier Province), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh (including Karachi and Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. It means the land of the Paks-the spiritually pure and clean. It symbolizes the religions, beliefs and the ethnical stocks of our people; and it stands for all the territorial constituents of our original Fatherland. It has no other origin and no other meaning; and does not admit of any other interpretation. Those writers who have tried to interpret it in more than one way have done so either through love of casuistry, or through ignorance of its inspiration, origin and composition.