The Riots of 1953 — Page 94
94 A. No. (Counsel, after being apprised of his responsibility, puts the following question on instructions received from Mr. Said Malik. ) Q. Is it a fact that Mirza Nasir Ahmad son and Mirza Sharif Ahmad brother of Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, the present head of the Ahmadiyya community, were convicted by the Martial Law tribunal during the disturbances? A. Yes. Q. Were they released soon after the lifting of the Martial Law regime? A. I do not know whether they were released before or after the lifting of the Martial Law regime. Q. My instructions are that you interested yourself in the matter of their release by interceding with the authorities including the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and Col. lskandar Mirza, the Defence Secretary, and obtained their release? A. The release was on their petition and was the act, I believe, of the Governor-General, but other official machinery might have come into operation, though not to my knowledge. But, so far as the case is concerned, the matter was openly mentioned in the conference of Governors, Ministers, Chief Ministers, and the Cabinet, in which the Governor-General was present, as a scandal and one of the very high dignitories present himself described the conviction of these two persons as a brutal instance. It was common knowledge and had been openly canvassed generally. One of the confidential reports circulated to all members of the Cabinet itself said that opin- ion had been shocked over these convictions. TO COURT: Q. What were these men convicted for and what were the allegations against them?