BEWARE OF THE HIDDEN HAND
Our apprehension in our issue of July 8 that the present wave of sectarian fanaticism let loose in the Punjab was foreign inspired has been confirmed by the A.P.P.´s Cairo correspondent. Delhi – Kabul axis, the correspondent has disclosed, has launched a definitive offensive to drive a wedge between Pakistan and the Arab countries. India has made no secret of her Asian leadership ambitions. Pakistan’s growing popularity with the Muslim countries, thanks to her Foreign Minister’s vigorous championship of the just cause of every Muslim country, dashed those dreams to the ground. The proposed consultative system between the Prime Minister of Muslim countries, sponsored by Ch. Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, if allowed to materialise, would mean the last nail in the coffin of those dreams. It would amount to the emergence of a clear-cut Islamic bloc, even though in bare outline. That would be the end of India’s Asian leadership. She resorted to the old game of sowing seeds of discord between Pakistan and the Arab countries through her Muslim hirelings. In pre-partition days the Congress launched what it called the “Muslim mass contact” to isolate the Muslim League from the Muslim masses. It mobilised the so-called “nationalist Muslims”, the Momins, the Red Shirts, the Ahrar and the Ulema into a common front against the Muslim League. Even religious fanaticism was worked up to discredit the Quaid-e-Azam’s leadership. The very organisation which is now playing their previous paymaster’s game in Pakistan threw aspersions on the very religious convictions of the Quaid-e-Azam describing him a Kafir-e-Azam. To boost this stunt and work up Muslims’ passions the lie was concocted that the Quaid-e-Azam had formally disowned Islam by contracting a civil marriage – which mendacious lie was nailed to the counter by reference to the old files of this paper. The Quaid-e-Azam’s resolute leadership, however, blunted the edge of this concerted attack on the Muslim League and turned the Congress “Muslim mass contact” to the greater consolidation of the League ranks. In fact, the League became a mass movement after the Congress mass contact onslaught on Muslim solidarity. This was followed by the attempt to isolate Pakistan from the Frontier Province by starting the Pukhtoonistan stunt which wicked attempt was foiled by the robust common sense of the Pathan masses. Isolation from Kashmir was accomplished in a clandestine manner with the help of Lord Mountbatten, by a secret deal with the Maharaja over the people’s head. Now comes the game of Pakistan’s isolation from the Arab countries, as revealed by the APP correspondent, in collaboration with the new Afghan Ambassador at Cario expressly appointed for this ignoble mission. India and Afghan diplomates are reported to be busy impressing upon the Arab countries that the proposed consultative system would be regarded as an unfriendly set against India and advocating instead the formation of Arab-Asian group. As usual the lie is being propagated that Pakistan is a British creation and the proposed Premiers’ Conference is intended to advance British interests in the Middle East. The anti-Qadiani campaign which has flared up over-night, as if this 60-year-old cult has all of a sudden sprung up only today, is a link in the same chain. Whatever the religious aspect of this issue, there is not a shadow of doubt that the motivation behind it is purely political. It is a blow at the formation of the Islamic bloc of which the Pakistan Foreign Minister has been the moving spirit. Whether or not Islam is really in danger, Pakistan’s solidarity as well as that of the Muslim world has certainly been put into jeopardy by this clever masterstroke of manoeuvring. If once the flood gate of sectarian feuds is thrown open it will know no ending. The battle for Pakistan is not yet over. With Kashmir in Bharat hands Pakistan is at best a protectorate of that country. The Akhand Bharat forces are on the look-out for an opportunity to undo partition. Thanks to Nurul Amin’s strong timely action one such attempt at the integrity of East Pakistan was nipped in the bud. Those who in any way or on any pretext shatter Pakistan’s solidarity are playing the fifth columnist role. Muslim Leaguers who participate in this agitation are false to the Quaid-e-Azam’s legacy of unity, faith and discipline and should have no place in that organisation. The nation will have to make a choice between the Quaid-e-Azam’s conception of Islam and that of the Mulla. The Quaid’s Islam knew no sects; to him everybody was just a Muslim. He was not a scholar of Islam, but his straight upright life had given him an intuitive grasp of the Quranic spirit of Islam summed up in the verse:
وَٱعْتَصِمُوا۟ بِحَبْلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا۟
Al-Imran (The Family of Imran) 3:103
“Hold fast by the covenant of God all of you and do not disintegrate.”
This brand of correct Quranic Islam, revived by the Quaid-e-Azam, is the only guarantee of the security and prosperity of Pakistan. The present foreign-inspired offensive against Pakistan constitutes a grave menace to the entire future of this State and calls for immediate handling by the Central Government. As Premier of the State and President of the Muslim League upon Khwaja Nazimuddin devolves the duty of taking up this grave challenge to the Quaid-e-Azam’s legacy of unity, faith and discipline. It is significant that whereas the issue is an all Pakistan one and as such the proper venue for it is Karachi, the agitation should find a most congenial soil in the Punjab where the Press is allowed a free hand to indulge in a hymn of hate, day in and day out, against a section of Pakistan subjects. The agitation is at bottom political. This clever move is intended to kill a number of birds with one stone. It will divert the nation’s attention from the Kashmir issue which is reaching a crucial stage. It will sabotage the Islamic bloc plan. It will paint Pakistan as a land of fanatics unfit for democracy. Now that is has been traced to its real source, the Delhi-Kabel axis in Cairo, the nation must think twice before encouraging it. It amounts to playing the enemy’s game.
M.Y. Khan
(Chief Editor -The Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore – Thursday, July 10, 1952)
