The Riots of 1953 — Page 11
11 you justified the reliance placed on you. You nobly acquitted yourself in battle against heavy enemy ground and the air attacks without losing a single inch of ground. “Your conduct both individual and collective and your discipline have been of a very high order. “As your mission is over and your Battalion is under orders to disband, I wish to thank every one of you for the service you have rendered to your country. Khuda Hafiz”. (Copy of the message from the Commander-in-Chief Pakistan Army, to the Furqan Battalion read at a ceremonial parade held on June 23, 1950 at Sarai Alamgir) 18 13. The responsible section of the Muslim Press, Muslim intelligentsia and the Government in power openly appreciated the activities of the Ahmadis in the Muslim cause before and after the Partition. The Community also rendered all conceivable help in this hour of distress to the Muslims of East Punjab and those of the strategic town of Amritsar in particular by money and material and by providing food to a large number of non- Ahmadi Muslim refugee s, who had sought shelter at Qadian. 19 They also used their private aeroplane to drop food from the air to the besieged Muslims of Fatehgarh Churian and the neighbouring villages. Steadfastness of the Ahmadis in holding their own against heavy odds was widely admired. This universal appreciation must have created considerable heart-burning in the Ahrar who had remained discredited and disgruntled 20 all this time. 14. The first declaration of the Ahrar after the partition was a meek one by which they affirmed allegiance to the Muslim 18 Nawa-i-Waqt, 25. 6. 1950. 19 Zamindar, 11. 10. 1947. 20 Azad, 14. 11. 49.