The Riots of 1953 — Page 36
36 that religion has come in the picture for exploitation of the worse kind. The demand virtually boils down to this that the Ahmadis should not be permitted to hold any belief which is different from the belief which the agitators hold. 48. The Anjuman have respectfully placed its point of view before this Court of Inquiry that the agitation was, in fact, political in character and that religion was employed merely as a weapon and a disguise to seize political power. The religiou s weapon employed, as mentioned above, was that, God forbid, th e Ahmadiyya Community does not believe in the Khatam-i- Nabuwwa t of the Holy Prophet of Arabia, (on whom be peace). The merits or demerits of the religious belief of any community in their nature cannot form the subject of adjudication by a court. Th e belief of a man could be ascertained by his own profession. O nce the State proceeds to find out whether the profession o f an individual that he subscribes to a particular faith is or is not sound it enters on a domain which must set one sect against the other, and the disintegration of the State is the inevitable consequence. The Anjuman therefore entertains no doubt that it is not at all necessary for it to address any arguments to this Hon’ble Court on this aspect of the case. Since, however, the weapon employed has been ostensibly religious it becomes necessary to briefly state its nature so that the submission of the Anjuman regarding relevant facts should become complete. The Anjuman, however, must guard against any possible misconception that such an attempt involves any admission on its part that this could assess the merits of the religious controversy involved. As false and malicious propaganda against us had persist e ntly been going on without an authoritative answer on our part for the simple reason that the Community had not the necessary facilities to represent its point of vie w which were available to its opponents, it was considered