The text of the Ordinance was bad enough but its application was worse. A large number of prosecutions of Ahmadis were started under garb of this Ordinance—section 298(C). These criminal cases came up before courts and a good number of cases resulted in convictions and appeals were brought against the conviction orders.

In the province of Baluchistan, five Ahmadis were charged under section 298(C) for wearing badges of Kalima Tayyeba and were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. Their appeals before the Sessions failed and a Revision Petition was filed in the High Court of Baluchistan. In the Revision Petition amongst other things it was contended that Kalima Tayyeba has not been expressly mentioned in section 298-C and therefore conviction for displaying a badge of Kalima Tayyeba was illegal. The Constitutional vires of Section 298-C was also challenged on the ground that it violated the guarantee of religious freedom. It was also contended that on the principle of strict construction of criminal statutes the offence under 298-C could not be extended to what is not specifically mentioned in the section. It was further contended that in the background of Abdul Rahman Mubashir it must be assumed that the omission to mention Kalima Tayyeba was deliberate and purposeful. The legislature was fully aware that Kalima Tayyeba is cardinal to Ahmadiyya belief. It was also contended that the word ‘pose’ in Section 298-C was too vague and overbroad and was therefore void. Alternately it was argued that the word ‘pose’ must be assigned a definite and restricted meaning. It was argued therefore that article ‘or’ used several times in section 298-C had been used mostly in explanatory, illustrative and stipulative sense. Law Lexicons were cited in support of this contention. An attempt was thus made to restrict the application of section 298-C.

Professor Antonio R. Gultaire who was visiting Quetta about the same time when the case was being argued in Baluchistan High Court recorded his impressions in his book ‘Conscience and Coercion’ It may be useful to reproduce a small para from the book.