The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 254
238 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN struggle to influence daily items of agenda or committee sponsorship, some obviously, but not so much as certainly would be the case in the House of Representatives in the United States. Zafrulla : I have no experience of the House of Representatives, so I have nothing to say on that. I had it in mind all the time that if I had to give a ruling I would not shirk it; I would give my ruling, but I would draw their attention to the rule under which the ruling of a President can always be reversed by a simple majority so as to make it clear that though I had given my ruling I had no personal bias in the matter at all. I think that it was perhaps that impression that the Assembly might have gathered that enabled it to carry on so smoothly. My attitude was that whatever I was doing I would go on doing by the leave and, if possible, with the approval of the Assembly. I think that would help any President, and I am sure the President would always have this attitude. This might sound irrelevant, but is perhaps worth mention. There are tribal divisions among Muslims, in our country, except that, like in Scotland, for instance, we don't add the name of our tribe to our names, but they're well known. Our tribe is Sahi and my mother's tribe is Bajwa. My mother would sometimes say to me, "My dear, it is well known about the Sahis that left to themselves they will carry on normally and reasonably, but if anybody tries to drive them, they will dig in their toes and will not budge. " I think this should be remembered generally with regard to the temper of assemblies also. . . one should not try to drive them, or anybody for that matter, for then they will dig in their toes. If they feel it is up to them: "This fellow is our representative. We have put him there. He's trying to do his best," they'll take something ever if they should feel, "Well, now we think this is inconvenient, but if he wants it, we shall go along. " Question : I'd like to just turn this question back into the body of the Oral History transcript to 1953, when there were very severe riots which later were investigated by a special tribunal of the Pakistan Government, which concerned the Ahmadiyya Sect of which you were certainly the most prominent public figure at the time, and these no doubt complicated your political life very considerably. They certainly complicated Pakistan's public life very considerably.