The Riots of 1953 — Page 86
86 some aspects of the question in the Cabinet, but i never asked the cabinet to discuss it as a specific subject. Q. Did you ever bring it to the notice of the late Liaquat Ali Khan in any Cabinet meeting that you had certain complaints about the manner in which your community was being treated? A. I have no specific recollection. Q. Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din has said that it was in the time of the late Quaid-i-Millat that you brought it to the notice of the Cabinet that three Ahmadis had been murdered. Is that so? A. My recollection is that in some connection or the other I had mentioned the matter to the present Governor-General who was then Finance Minister. I believe we were at that time abroad. On his return he mentioned the matter to the then Prime Minister and an inquiry might have been made in pursuance of that. Q. To your knowledge, was there a discussion about the agita- tion by the Pakistan Cabinet on or about the 7th or 8th of August 1952? A. There could be no regular Cabinet meeting if I was in Karachi and was not given notice thereof, but I believe on some occasions the Prime Minister, Khwaja Nazim-ud-Din Sahib, called some of his colleagues for consultation in respect of the agitation. On those occasions I was not called. Q. Can you give any reason why you were not called? A. It is open to the Prime Minister to call any of his colleagues for a discussion. Q. Did you then, after this meeting in which you were not called, preside over a Cabinet meeting on or about the same date, that is, about the 7th or 8th August? A. Whenever I happen to be in Karachi and the Prime Minister is not able to preside I presided over the Cabinet meetings.