Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 256
256 AHMADIYY AT the principal towns of the Punjab and evoked a wave of horror against the repetition of Rajpal' s outrage by Vartman. The authorities felt that unless an announcement was made at once of the action the government had decided to take to deal with the situation, communal riots might erupt all over the province involving a large number of people of both re- ligions and causing great loss of life and property. It was, therefore, decided that the editor and publisher of Vartman should be tried speedily by a Division Bench of the High Court, so that an authoritative construction of the relevant provision of the law might be obtained as early as possible. The Division Bench that was constituted for trial of the case overruled the judgment of the single Judge in the Rajpal case and held that the action of the accused amounted to an offence under the relevant provision of the law, and con- victed the two accused and sentenced them to a term of imprisonment. The Provincial Government also moved the Government of India to put through an amendment of the particular section of the Indian Penal Code so as to put it beyond all doubt that a publication of the type of Rajpal's book and the article in Vartman constituted an offence under the law. The real remedy, however, that the Khalifatul Masih devised, was to remind the Muslims that they had woefully neglected one of their principal duties, namely, to present the life and character of the Holy Prophet in their true colours to the non-Muslims. He proposed, therefore, that on a specified day in every year public meetings should be held all over the country in which speeches should be delivered by Muslims and non-Muslims on the life and character of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him. He proposed that this scheme should be inaugurated on 17 June 1928. He forthwith set up machinery at Qadian to make the scheme fully effective and appealed for speakers to address the meetings to be held on 17 June. There was a most heartening response to the appeal, not only on the part of Muslims but also of non-Muslims, and a list of speakers comprising more than fourteen hundred