Home Critical Analysis/Archives Report on Punjab Disturbances of 1953

DIRECT ACTION DECIDED UPON

A meeting of the Central Majlis-i-Amal was held in Karachi on 26th February 1953. Present at that meeting were :—

(1) Master Taj-ud-Din Ansari,

(2) Sahibzada Faiz-ul-Hasan,

(3) Maulana Sultan Ahmad, Amir-i-Jama’at-i-Islami, Sind and Karachi,

(4) Sayyad Nur-ul-Hasan Bukhari,

(5) Maulana Abul Hasanat Sayyad Muhammad Ahmad Qadri,

(6) Maulana Muhammad Abdul Haamid Badayuni,

(7) Maulana Ehtisham-ul-Haq Thanvi,

(8) Sayyad Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari,

(9) Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Calcuttvi. and

(10) Sayyad Mazaffar Ali Shamsi.

The meeting was presided over by Maulana Abul Hasanat. A resolution, was passed at the meeting to the effect that since the notice decided in the Convention of 18th January to be given to the Central Government had been duly handed over to that Government by a deputation of Majlis-i-Amal and the period of the notice had expired on 22nd February and four more day had passed, the form of peaceful rast iqdam had to be determined. The form of rast iqdam decided upon was that five volunteers, bearing placards with the demands written on them, were to go to the residence of the Prime Minister through by roads, not by a thoroughfare, that if the volunteers were stopped by the sentry, they were to say that they had come to place the demands before the Prime Minister and to request ham to accept them and that they would return only if the Prime Minister declared that he accepted the demands. If these volunteers were arrested, the Council of Action would send another batch of five volunteers, and this was to continue in a peaceful manner until the demands were accepted. The residence of the Governor-General also was to be similarly picketed to avoid the impression that the movement was directed against the Prime Minister because he was a Bengali. Maulana Abul Hasanat Sayyad Muhammad Ahmad was appointed as the dictator of the sacred movement and he was permitted to nominate a successor if he was arrested. It was also resolved that in the public meeting that was going to be held that very evening in Aram Bagh, the public were to be advised to carry on their usual business and not to accompany the volunteers.