This 3 part series recounts religion based disorder that unfolded in Punjab, particularly Lahore, between 1950-53 resulting in several hundred deaths, violent street agitation and imposition of first martial law in our history. It also covers the religious, political and administrative deficiencies in the system which led to general deterioration of law and order, and ultimately the fall of both central and provincial governments.

The first part is factual, second is ideological and last is analytical. The source of this series is the “REPORT of THE COURT OF INQUIRY constituted under PUNJAB ACT II OF 1954 to enquire into the Punjab disturbances of 1953” also known as Justice Munir report.

In the beginning of March 1953, widespread disturbances broke out in the Punjab and these took so alarming a turn and assumed such a menacing form that in several places the military had to be called in, and Pakistan’s first Martial Law had to be proclaimed, which remained in force till the middle of May 1953.

The disturbances were the direct result of the rejection by Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, of an ultimatum by a deputation of the ulama constituted by the All-Pakistan Muslim Parties Convention. The ultimatum was to the effect that if within a month the 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, are not removed from their offices, the Ulama would resort to direct action (rast iqdam).

It all started with an organization called Majlis-i-Ahrar which was part and parcel of Congress in Pre-partition days and was vehemently against formation of Pakistan. It conferred the titles like Palidistan / Khakistan to Pakistan and Kafir-e Azam to Quaid-e-Azam. The establishment of Pakistan came as a great disappointment to the Ahrar because all power passed to the Congress or the Muslim League, and no scope for activity was left for the Ahrar in India or in Pakistan. The new Muslim State came to them as a shock, disillusioned them of their ideology and finished them as a political party. Have being sidelined and seeing the level of mistrust against them in the new state, in middle of 1948, they announced their decision to cease functioning as a political party and to continue their future activity as a religious or tableeghi group. Soon to gather traction and attention, Ahmadis started featuring in their conferences and demand was raised to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims, remove Chaudhri Zafrullah (who was nominated as Foreign Minister by Quaid-e-Azam) and all other Ahmadis from Public office.

At a time when Pakistan was struggling for resources on day to day basis and faced a multitude of challenges, the Ahrar made Ahmadis their sole focus of speeches invoking feelings of hatred and disgust amongst public against the minority. The first incident occurred when a certain major Mahmud was lynched by participants of a conference on Khatm-e-Nabuwat. No one claimed responsibility and no one was arrested. The adviser for the law made the following despicable comment “They have made the Ahmadis the target of their attack in order to gain a hearing from the public. They are trying to exploit the religious feelings of an average Musalman against the Ahmadis ; but I do not think it would be advisable to take any action against the Ahrar for the present as the Muslims are very touchy on the point of Ahmadism and to prosecute the Ahrar for their vituperations against the Ahmadis, would, give them an air of martyrdom in the eyes of public which they do not deserve. I would not, therefore, advise any action against the Ahrar leaders for the present”.

In the next few years Ahrar ramped up their rhetoric, delivered hate speeches and circulated booklets/pamphlets across the country. They calculated that if they could arouse public feeling and the masses against the Ahmadis, nobody would dare oppose them and that the more the opposition to this activity of theirs, the more popular they would become. They issued fatwas against Ahmadis, declared them Kafirs, called them traitors to Pakistan, called them Indian spies, while repeating their original 3 demands. Calls to Muslims such as “not only be nimazies but also Ghazies had no other meaning but to say that Ahmadis should be put to sword.”

The civil government machinery did keep an eye on this development over the years and several references and letters were written to Chief Secretary and Chief Minister by the Central Intelligence department, department of Law and the Police. One of the reports by DIG CID reported “I will be failing in my duty if I do not point out to Government that the atmosphere aroused by Ahrar leaders is pregnant with dangerous possibilities and may lead to individual cases of violence against Ahmadis”. Several similar toned letters and notes can be found in records which were sent to higher authorities in government through formal and official channels. But to no avail…

The maximum that was done was a series of warnings issued to Ahrar leaders both in letter and in person. While the Ahrar leaders agreed to adhere to warnings in principle but in practice they completely ignored the warnings and continued with their agenda. Later on, they openly defied warnings and instructions by Police and justified their actions by blaming the government for its inaction.

More murders of Ahmadis followed across Punjab during 1950-51 and Ahmadi mosques were burnt. In some cases, even a few non-Ahmadis were killed as some people misled the mobs to settle their own personal grievances.

On the political front, Ahrar aligned itself with the Muslim League as a tit-for-tat arrangement. Ahrar brought the goodwill of the general Muslim public who always takes pleasure in satire against the cult of new prophet hood in Islam while Muslim League brought support of a popular ruling organization.

In 1952, after careful consideration, Government decided that in the general interest of the public peace and tranquility, neither the Ahrar nor the Ahmadis should be permitted to hold public meetings under any name or garb. In a clever move, the Ahrar shifted the venue of the meetings from public places to mosques which were under the control of Imams etc. The Imams were subsequently instructed by government not to become a party to violation but it didn’t work. On several occasions, public meetings were held in a Sargodha and Gujranwala mosques in violation of section 144 of criminal law with the usual ranting. Some of the people responsible were also prosecuted in court and sentenced to imprisonment but most of the senior leaders were released on bail.

Soon the Ahrar began to confound the issue by making it a grievance that for purely religious activities inside the mosques the worshippers were being arrested and prosecuted and that the Government was thus encroaching on people’s religious beliefs and observances. This is illustrative of the propaganda that began to be carried on against the Government.

The warnings continued, the hate speeches continued, violation of law continued, propaganda against government continued, CID kept informing government of the imminent dangers but the inaction also continued all the while.

Having created a lot of noise and gathered attention of the Muslims, it was at this stage that the Ahrar enlisted the support of the ulama relating to other religious parties by calling a convention of all Muslim parties at Lahore on 13th July 1952 and giving out that the doctrine of khatam-i-nubuwwat had become a general issue for all creeds and sects of Muslims. Invitation was sent to 14 religious parties including Jami’at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan, Jami’at-ul-Ulama-i-Islam, Jama’at-i-Islami. During the days the convention was held, section 144 was in place in Lahore but still it was decided not to interfere with the proceedings. Also at this Convention the three demands, namely, that the Ahmadis be declared to be a minority, that Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan be removed from the office of Foreign Minister and that the Ahmadis be removed from key posts in the State, were adopted and a Council of Action (Majlis-i-Amal) was formed of the following to decide upon the future plan of action.

Qurban Ali Khan, Inspector-General of Police, noted “That Ahrar are assisted by someone is accepted in all quarters. The Ahrar by themselves are not strong enough to have raised this demand but someone from amongst them or those who are behind them are clever enough to have foreseen that none of the so-called religious jama’ats would be foolish enough to lag behind on an issue over which every Musalman has the strongest feeling against the Ahmadis. That every single Muslim will rise on this issue cannot be denied.”

In all this chaos, some of the local Muslim Leaguers started presiding over the Ahrar conferences, particularly in smaller towns. This was declared breach of discipline by the provincial Muslim League office and, as a policy; members were prohibited to preside over non-Muslim League meetings. Paying no head to the warning, resolutions were passed by local offices demonstrating support for the Ahrar cause.

Between the Lahore convention in July 1952 and February 1953, Punjab was marked with several incidents of lawlessness. From street protests to lathi charge, from police opening fire to police officers getting killed, from social boycott of Ahmadis to burning of commercial shops, it was chaos all around.

The Prime Minister Nazim-ud-din finally rejected the demands of Ahrar and leaders of Ahrar were arrested on 27^th February 1952. The agitation then took on a completely different course. Mobs all over Punjab, particularly Lahore & Gujranwala, defied the law, attacked police cordons injuring and even killing policemen. As the situation went out of control and Army was called in, Martial law was declared and curfew was imposed on March 5th.

Daultana, the Chief Minister of Punjab and head of Punjab Muslim League issued a statement on March 6^th giving assurance that the demands will be raised to the Centre and also demanded immediate forced resignation of Chaudhri Zafrullah. This statement was later on withdrawn by Daultana on March 10^th based on the argument that it was an appeal to citizens of Lahore to maintain law and order and since that hasn’t happened and martial law had to be declared to bring order to the province the statement is withdrawn. This demonstrates the complicity of the Muslim league leaders with the Ulama to suit their political agendas.

Post these events a commission was formed to make an inquiry. The commission conducted interviews with a large number of people i.e. from civil administration to law enforcement agencies, from Chief Minister to Prime minister, from Ulama to Masjid Imams etc. It also conducted a highly academic research into almost every important branch of human knowledge—religion, philosophy, science, ethics, attributes of God, reason and revelation, origin and destination of man, aim and object of life, functions of the State and the church, sovereignty, democracy and theocracy, in short, all subjects highly relevant to the functioning of a state.

However, the most fascinating part of the report is the ideological dichotomy which stubbornly exists in the minds of Ulama as well as ordinary citizens. The horror of it all is NOT that a handful of Ulama preached a certain ideology and were able to impose it on general population BUT that the majority of people in the citizenry and in complete control of government allowed them to.

(To be continued)…

As the upcoming license auctions draw close, news flows in that global telecom giants are cosnidering to participate in the bidding process. Prospective bidders to enter the Pakistan telecom market were informed to 3G/4G/LTE advisory committee.

As reported by Dawn News, they include:

• AT&T of USA
• British Vodafone
• Japan’s DoComo
• Qtel of Qatar
• Roshan Telecom from Afghanistan

The report further streghtens Warid’s un-fit financial position for the bid. Also, Warid can possibly make a joint bid with some telecom firm from Malaysia. Qubee is also reported to be in talks with current market players for a joint bid.

Complete report from Dawn News follows:

At least nine telecommunication companies including four world majors are likely to participate in bidding due by end-March for third and fourth generation telecom licences in Pakistan, raising hopes for a better foreign exchange yield.

An advisory committee on 3G/4G/LTE led by prime minister’s adviser on finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was informed on Thursday that British Vodafone, Japan’s DoComo, AT&T of United States, QTel of Qatar and even Roshan Telecom of Afghanistan were preparing for bidding to be new foreign entrants in the country’s fast growing telecom industry.

The information, based on market intelligence, was put forward by Ministry of Telecommunication and Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The advisory committee was also informed that among the existing players Ufone, Mobilink and Zong were keen to get the new licences to be available for 15 years. Another player Warid was not in a position to independently vie for the future licence due to financial constraints but was in contact with a leading Malaysian telecom firm for a joint bid, according to market intelligence.

Qbee another firm that currently operates wireless and internet services in Pakistan and Bangladesh was also reported to be making contacts with some market players for a joint bid.

The advisory committee, said these sources, discussed a proposal to appoint consultant or a consortium of consultants to assist the government in transaction structure and bidding process but was informed that this could delay the transaction in view of procurement rules while the government was interested in over $800 million sale proceeds during the current financial year.

The finance ministry was of the view that the government could exercise its right to bypass procurement rules to reduce time for the appointment of consultants because that would help the government to maximise sale proceeds. The committee members remained divided over the issue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said the decision would be made in a couple of days after consultations with the ministry of law.

In the meanwhile, the PTA was directed to enhance its coordination with the major telecom players for wider participation in the bidding process. The committee decided to appoint a media consultant for the transaction. The committee also considered replies to objections raised by cross-party members of the senate over the base price fixed by the PTA for the bidding. It also decided to issue an international advertisement for competitive bidding.

The government plans to auction three 3G and one cellular licence for 1900/2100 MHz (3G/4G/LTE) band and 800 MHz Band. The base price for 3G licence to be effective for 15 years has been set at $210 million while the base price for cellular licence for 8 years has been set at $155 million.

Likewise, the earnest money to qualify for the bidding has been set at $31.5 million for each bidder of 3G and $23.25 million for cellular license. The spectrum capacity allocation has already been fixed for three 3G licences.

The bidders would be required to start their offers from the base price fixed by government with each increment of at least $2 million multiples. The successful bidder would be required to deposit 50 per cent of the auction price within 30 days of the auction and remaining 50 per cent in five equal instalments. The bidder would be allowed to launch its operations on 100 per cent payment of bid money.

The senators had objected to the bid price saying it was too low given the fact that cellular companies had paid $291 million per license in 2004 for 2G services (GSM), now considered an obsolete technology. The advisory committee was, however, told that base price did not mean a sale price that would go up on competitive bidding and reminded the senators that the base price for 2G licenses was set at $61 million that had increased to $291 through bidding.

The meeting was informed that base price for cellular licence was set at $155 million because it was being issued against the remaining 8 years period of the defunct Instaphone instead of other cellular licenses that were for 15 years. Even the bidding result for one GSM license would also go up.

The committee was informed that base price was arrived at after taking into consideration the 2004 auction result of 2G (GSM), expected service revenues, subscriber growth, economic growth, per capita income, political situation and population of the country.

via Dawn News

By Saeed Shah for The Miami Herald

Pakistan’s political crisis, which pits its president against determined opponents in foes in Parliament, the Supreme Court and the military, is likely to reach fever pitch on Monday with a confidence vote scheduled in Parliament and hearings scheduled in two critical court cases.

The crisis is so intense that President Asif Zardari’s administration may be willing to call elections for as soon as October, according to members of his ruling coalition and its advisers. But that may not be enough to mollify the opposition, which wants earlier elections, or the country’s powerful military establishment, which is believed to be trying to force a so-called “soft coup,” under which Zardari, a critic of the military’s traditional dominance of Pakistan, would be forced out by Parliament or the courts.

The threat of an outright coup also hangs over the crisis, if the politicians cannot find a way out or the court proceedings reach absolute stalemate.

Whether the government can reach agreement with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is unclear. Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party doesn’t want to announce elections until after voting in March for a new Senate, which the PPP is widely expected to win. But Sharif would like the new elections to be in the summer, perhaps June, which would require an earlier announcement.

“There is no other option for the government to come out of the current crisis without elections,” said an adviser to the PPP leadership, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, as did the other coalition members. “It is in the interests of the PPP to reach an agreement with Nawaz.”

The PPP rules with three major coalition partners, but the alliance is looking shaky. Two of the parties, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, have distanced themselves somewhat from the government.

A senior member of the coalition said the parties so far have agreed internally only to a general election to be held in October. That would be just a few months before the February 2013 date when Parliament would complete its five-year term and elections would have to be held anyway.

An early election should also placate the courts and the military. A supposedly neutral caretaker government would have to be installed to oversee a three-month electioneering period.

Another coalition member said: “It is 100 percent certain that there will be elections in 2012. The only solution is elections. It doesn’t matter whether they are held in June or October.”

Zardari’s coalition itself brought Monday’s confidence vote resolution to Parliament, cleverly wording it so that it asks for support not for the prime minister or even the government, but for democracy. That makes it difficult to oppose.

But the PPP’s troubles in Parliament are only one of the fronts in its battle for survival. The courts and the military are both maneuvering against the party’s leaders, with two explosive cases coming up for hearings Monday.

The first stems from a 2007 decree by President Pervez Musharraf that granted immunity from prosecution to Zardari and other exiled PPP politicians in an effort to persuade them to return to Pakistan to participate in elections that Musharraf was being pressured by the United States to hold.

The Supreme Court later ruled, however, that the decree was illegal and demanded that the government reopen corruption charges against Zardari stemming from the time when his wife, the assassinated PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, was prime minister.

The government declined, however, and now the court has summoned the government to explain its actions. The court could declare Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in contempt of court, which would in effect remove him from office.

The other case involves the the scandal in which a judicial commission is investigating allegations that Husain Haqqani, a close Zardari adviser and former ambassador to the U.S., wrote a memo that was passed to U.S. officials in May. That memo offered to replace the Pakistan military’s top officials in return for U.S. support should the military attempt to push Zardari aside.

Haqqani, who was forced to resign, says he had nothing to do with the memo, which the military has said amounted to treason.

The judicial commission may take testimony this week from an American businessman, and occasional news commentator, Mansoor Ijaz, who claimed that he had delivered the memo to U.S. officials, in a column that appeared in the British newspaper the Financial Times in October. Ijaz has said he will show up as a witness, though he apparently has yet to receive a visa to enter Pakistan.

Filed under: Afghanistan, American Muslims, Democracy, Freedoms, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pakistanis, President Obama, Taliban, United States, US Army Tagged: Asif Ali Zardari, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Imran Khan, Mansoor Ijaz, Memogate, MQM, Muttahida Quami Movement, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Pakistan Parliment, Pervez Musharraf, PPP, Yousuf Raza Gilani

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued contempt of court notices to former law minister Babar Awan and other leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The notices were issued with regard to an allegedly insulting press conference addressed by Awan on the memo case.

Apart from Awan, notices were issued to Khurshid Shah, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, PPP’s Secretary Information Qamar Zaman Kaira and adviser to the prime minister, Farooq Awan, a younger brother of the former law minister.

The court directed all parties to submit their replies by Jan 13.

It is pertinent to note that on Dec 1, the Supreme Court had admitted petitions pertaining to the memo scandal for hearing. In reaction to that, the former minister had called a press conference where all individuals who have been issued the contempt notices were also present.

By Saeed Shah for The Guardian

Pakistan’s embattled president, Asif Ali Zardari, has been hospitalised in Dubai with a heart condition, triggering speculation that it could be used as an excuse for him to step down amid growing pressure from the military.

A government adviser said Zardari had suffered a “minor heart attack”, but this was at odds with the official spokesman for the president, who said the president had gone for routine tests for a pre-existing heart condition.

Rumours of a coup or a resignation forced by the military consumed the media and the internet, fuelled by a report in Foreign Policy magazine that said Zardari was “incoherent” on Monday night during a telephone conversation with Barack Obama.

Zardari’s son and political heir-apparent, Bilawal, met prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in Islamabad, adding to media hysteria about imminent change. Bilawal is chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples party.

The speculation hit a receptive, febrile political atmosphere, rocked by a diplomatic scandal and the recent jolt to relations with the US over the deaths of Pakistani soldiers at a border checkpost.

Pakistan has been ruled for half its existence by the military, and the armed forces have pulled the strings the rest of the time, meaning that the threat of coups are ever present .

Zardari’s aides said he would not resign. The president is deeply unpopular with Pakistan’s military establishment, which is widely believed to be behind repeated attempts to oust him.

“He had a minor heart attack on Tuesday. He flew to Dubai where he had an angioplasty. He’s in good health now. He will come back tomorrow. There’s no question of any resignation,” Mustafa Khokhar, the government’s adviser on human rights told the AFP news agency.

However, Farhatullah Babar, the president’s spokesman, dismissed media speculation, saying “Zardari is in a Dubai hospital for medical tests and checkup as planned”.

The president is under pressure from the “memogate” scandal in Pakistan, where he is accused of being behind a written offer delivered to the US military leadership in the days after the raid on Osasma bin Laden in May this year.

The anonymous memo offered to rein in the Pakistani military, in return for US support. Pakistan’s former US ambassador and close Zardari aide, Husain Haqqani, has already been forced to resign over the issue and faces possible treason charges.

Ali Dayan Hasan, of Human Rights Watch, the international campaigning group, warned against any military intervention. “Constitutional rule of law must be followed and civilian supremacy must be maintained,” he said. “Governance must be through genuine periodic elections.”

Filed under: Afghanistan, Democracy, Freedoms, Pakistan, Pakistan Army, Pakistanis, President Obama, United States, US Army Tagged: Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Zardari, Husain Haqqani, Memogate, Pakistan, Pakistanis, President Barack Obama