Fazl-e-Umar — Page 182
Fazle Umar 182 eagerness to become members of the Committee and thus the Committee came into being. Immediately thereupon Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who was himself an eminent Kashmiri, proposed that the Head of the Movement should be elected President of the Committee. Huzur was elected its president on 25 July 1931 with many leading Muslims including Sir Muhammad Iqbal as its members. A C H I E v E M E n T S OF T H E C OM M I T T E E U n d E R T H E L E A d E R SH I P OF H A d H R AT K HA L I FAT U L M ASI H I I [ra] The committee won many battles and achieved almost revolutionary results over a two-year period under his vibrant leadership. The problems that confronted the com- mittee and its President extended all the way from providing relief for the distressed, to urging the officials of the Kashmir administration 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 aggression and sometimes even of judicial repression. To provide finances for all the multifarious activities of the Committee the Khali- fatul 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 utilised for providing relief to the people of Kashmir in respect of their pressing needs. The Maharajah was compelled to grant civil rights to the Kashmir Muslims which they had been deprived of previously. Distinguished Muslim leaders from Kashmir, like Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah frequently visited Qadian to seek political advice.