Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 262
262 AHMADIYY AT The activities set in motion by the Committee under the direction of the Khalifatul Masih were bewilderingly multi- farious. In the discharge of his responsibilities the ,Khalifatul Masih did not spare himself at all. If it became necessary to approach the Viceroy, he did not shrink from doing so, and if it was felt that his meeting the Maharaja might prove of help he was ready to face the ordeal. The problems that confronted the Committee and its President extended all the way from providing relief for the distressed, to urging the officials of the Kashmir Adminis- tration to perform their duties in a spirit of helpfulness, sympathy and humanity, to providing legal aid for the very large number of the people of Kashmir who were prosecuted on false charges and were made the victims of police aggres- sion and sometimes even of judicial repression. One feature of the struggle that was carried on by the Committee and its workers was that the situation was never permitted to become stale or passive. Once the workers of the Committee had seized the initiative they never let it go and always kept things on the move towards the desired objective. To provide finances for all the multifarious activities of the Committee the Khalifatul Masih ,had to supplement the modest donations made to the Committee by its well- wishers, and for this purpose he imposed a cess on all members of the Movement in addition to the contributions that they made towards financing the Movement itself. The incidence of the Kashmir cess was not at all heavy and the members of the Movement paid the cess cheerfully for several years, even after the direct activities of the Committee had been wound up. Thereafter the proceeds of the cess were utilized for providing relief to the people of Kashmir in respect of their pressing needs. . At the end of the first year of the working of the Com- mittee, which had been carried on with great devotion and earnestness by its workers under the wise and farseeing guid- ance of its President, the Khalifatul Masih insisted that a new President should be elected who should take over the respon-