REPORT of THE COURT OF INQUIRY constituted under PUNJAB ACT II OF 1954 to enquire into the PUNJAB DISTURBANCES OF 1953 ht contain some errors. errors. ht contain some g Lahore Printed by the Superintendent, Government printing, Punjab 1954 roofDocument read. still mi p OCR and CONTENTS Pages Introductory … 1 PART I — FROM PARTITION TO LAHORE CONVENTION The Controversy … 9 Ahmadis … 9 The Ahrar … 10 Arrest of two Ahrar Leaders … 13 Murder of Major Mahmud … 13 Speeches by Ahrar Leaders … 14 Stoning to death of Ahmadis in Afghanistan and the ‘Ash-Shahab’ … 17 More Murders … 24 Yaum-i-Tashakkur … 28 Ahmadi Mosque burnt … 30 Other speeches by Ahrar … 31 Policy and measures … 33 More speeches by Bukhari … 36 Section 144 orders enforced against public meetings in mosques : Sargodha and Gujranwala cases … 62 Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan’s speech in Jehangir Park … 75 All Pakistan Muslim Parties Convention in Karachi … 77 All Muslim Parties Convention, Lahore … 78 Newspapers … 81 The Department of Islamiat … 87 PART II — FROM THE LAHORE CONVENTION TO ARREST OF ULAMA IN KARACHI AND PUNJAB (14TH JULY 1952 TO 27TH FEBRUARY 1963) Section 144 orders recalled … 89 The Kup incident … 92 Subsequent events … 99 Newspapers … 101 ii PART II — CONCLUDED The ‘Azad’ … 101 The ‘Afaq’ … 103 The ‘Ehsan’ … 104 The ‘Maghribi Pakistan’ … 105 More speeches; Policy reconsidered … 117 Activities of the Ulama and their interviews with the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister … 125 Direct action decided upon … 136 Preparations to meet the threat of Direct action … 137 Preliminary measures … 145 PART III — THE DISTURBANCES (FROM 27TH FEBRUARY TO END OF DISTURBANCES) Account of disturbances … 151 Lahore … 151 Mr. Daultana withdraws 6th March statement … 167 Sialkot … 168 Gujranwala … 173 Rawalpindi … 177 Lyallpur … 179 Montgomery … 181 PART IV — CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW Doctrinal differences between Musalmans and Ahmadis … 187 Khatm-i-Nubuwwat … 187 Christology … 189 Jihad … 191 Other complaints and accusations … 195 Ideology behind the demands … 200 Islamic State … 201 Foundations of Islamic State : Qur’an, Sunna ijma’, ijtihad … 203 Essentials of Islamic State … 209 iii PART IV — CONCLUDED Sovereignty and Democracy in Islamic State … 210 Other incidents of Islamic State according to Ulama … 210 Legislature and Legislation … 211 Position of non-Muslims … 212 Apostasy … 218 Propagation of other religions … 221 Jihad … 221 Reaction on Muslims on non-Muslim States … 227 Other incidents … 230 Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din’s reaction to demands … 233 Circumstances leading to martial law summed up … 235 PART V — RESPONSIBILITY FOR DISTURBANCES Responsibility … 237 The All Pakistan Muslim Parties Convention, Karachi and All Muslim Parties Convention, Lahore … 239 Members of Ta’limat-i-Ialami Board … 242 Jama’at-i-Islami … 243 The Ahrar … 254 Ahmadis … 260 Muslim League … 261 Press … 280 Central and Provincial Governments : Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din versus Mr. Daultana … 281 PART VI — ADEQUACY OR INADEQUACY OF MEASURES TAKEN BY THE CIVIL AUTHORITY TO MEET THE SITUATION The Administrative machinery … 287 General Assessment of the situation by D.I.G. (C. I. D.) in May 1952 and issue of fresh policy letters … 313 The decisions of 5th July 1952 … 319 “Assurance” by the Ahrar on 19th July 1952 … 321 The decision of 24th December 1952 … 331 iv The Press … 337 Adult Literacy Fund … 346 The Mazdoor … 347 PART VI — CONCLUDED The Azad … 348 Direct action … 348 The Final phase … 351 Conclusions on Part VI … 384 IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTOORRYY - 1 - FROM THE PUNJAB DISTURBANCES COURT OF INQUIRY, LAHORE TO THE HOME; SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB, LAHORE. Dated Lahore, the 10th April 1954 SIR, WE, the President and Member of the Court of Inquiry constituted under the Punjab Disturbances (Public Inquiry) Act, 1953, have the honour to submit the following report:- CONSTITUTION OF COURT In the beginning of March 1953, widespread disturbances broke out in the Punjab which in some places continued till the middle of April 1953. These took so alarming a turn and assumed such a menacing form that in several places the military had to be called in, and in Lahore Martial Law had to be proclaimed, which remained in force till the middle of May 1953. Before the declaration of Martial Law, the police had to resort to firing in several places and at least two persons were killed on the night of 4th March and ten on 5th March, Sixty-six persons more must have been injured in the firing because that number of wounded persons admitted to the Lahore hospitals had gunshot wounds. The number of casualties admitted by the military to have been caused in quelling the disturbances in Lahore was eleven killed and forty-nine wounded. In some other towns also there were a number of casualties caused by firing by the police or the military. The disturbances were the direct result of the rejection by Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, of an ultimatum delivered to him in Karachi on 21st January 1953 by a deputation of the ulama who had been authorised to do so by the Majlis-i-Amal constituted by the All-Pakistan Muslim Parties Convention held in Karachi from l6th to 18th January 1953. The ultimatum was to the effect that if within a month the Qadiani Ahmadis were not declared a non-Muslim minority and Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan, the Foreign Minister who is an Ahmadi. and other Ahmadis occupying key posts in the State, not removed from their offices, the Majlis-i-Amal would resort to direct action (rast iqdam). At a conference of the Central Ministers and representatives of West Pakistan Provinces held in the early hours of the morning of 27th February it was decided to reject the ultimatum and to arrest the prominent members of Majlis-i-Amal in Karachi and some leaders of the movement in the Punjab. The disturbances commenced immediately after, and as a direct result of, these arrests. REPORT OF THE COURT OF INQUIRY CONSTITUTED UNDER PUNJAB ACT II OF 1954 TO ENQUIRE INTO THE PUNJAB DISTURBANCES OF 1953 - 2 - On 19th June 1953, the Governor of the Punjab promulgated Ordinance III of 1953 which, with certain amendments suggested by us, became the Punjab Disturbances (Public Inquiry) Act, 1953, Punjab Act II of 1954, directing the setting up of a Court for holding a public inquiry into the disturbances. In exercise of the powers given by subsection (1) of section 3 of the Ordinance, the Governor appointed us members of the Court of Inquiry with the direction to make an inquiry into the disturbances in accordance with the following terms of reference:- (1) the circumstances leading to the declaration of Martial Law in Lahore on 6th March 1953; (2) the responsibility for the disturbances; and (3) the adequacy or otherwise of the measures taken by the Provincial civil authorities to prevent, and subsequently to deal with, the disturbances. We commenced the inquiry on 1st July 1953 and held 117 sittings of which 92 were devoted to the hearing and recording of evidence. The evidence was concluded on 23rd January 1954 and arguments in the case lasted from 1st to 28th February 1954. Five weeks were taken by us to formulate our conclusions and in writing the report. The record consists of 3,600 pages of written statements and 2,700 pages of evidence. Three hundred and thirty-nine documents have been formally exhibited, while a large number of books, pamphlets, journals and newspapers was referred to in the course of the evidence and arguments. Besides, a large number of letters, each extending to several pages and a few to even more than a hundred pages, were received, each of which has been carefully perused by us. PROCEDURE AND PARTIES As the inquiry was to be of a general character and not against any named party, and as the Government of the Punjab had no views in the matter, we adopted a procedure of our own to ensure that all relevant material was placed before us to enable us to discharge our functions under the Act. Subsection (5) of section 5 of the Act had declared that we were not bound by the Provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and in exercise of the powers given to us by the same subsection we framed a rule that we were not to be bound by the Evidence Act. The object of framing this rule was to complete the inquiry within the shortest possible time, consistently with the duty of collecting as reliable and authentic a material for our findings and observations as was possible in the circumstances. Despite this rule, however, we have substantially adhered to the principles of the Law of Evidence and have refrained from recording any serious finding against any party on what under the Law of Evidence is not relevant and admissible. In view of the bulk of the material and the scope and extent of our inquiry, we could not, on occasions, help departing from the rule against hearsay but we have accepted hearsay only where we felt there could be no doubt as to its truth. The parties and some important officers were required to put in written statements but we allowed inspection, of such statements and gave to the party affected the right to recall for cross-examination the REPORT OF THE COURT OF INQUIRY CONSTITUTED UNDER PUNJAB ACT II OF 1954 TO ENQUIRE INTO THE PUNJAB DISTURBANCES OF 1953 - 3 - makers of such statements. We feel that by adopting this procedure we have eliminated the element of error as far as possible. In the course of discussion we have referred to numerous extracts from speeches alleged to have been, made by certain persons on specific occasions.