Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 309
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 309 announcement. Finally, on 3 June 1947, the scheme of parti- tion was, with the agreement of the political leaders, set forth by Lord Mountbatten. Throughout this turbulent and criti- cal period the Khalifatul Masih continued his full support of Mr Jinnah and the Muslim League. In pursuance of the scheme of partition outlined in Lord Mountbatte~'s speech of 3 June 1947, Boundary Commis- sions were set up in the Punjab and Bengal for the demarca- tion of the boundaries between Pakistan and India in the North. . . West and North-East of the Sub-Continent. Mr Jin- nah requested an eminent Ahmadijurist to present the case of the Muslim League to the Punjab Boundary Commission. The Muslim League approached the Khalifatul Masih that he should arrange for the representation of the Ahmadiyya Community before the Punjab Boundary Commission in support of the Muslim League, with particular emphasis on the inclusion of the Gurdaspur District, within which Qadian the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Movement was situated, in Pakistan. The Khalifatul Masih appointed Shaikh Bashir Ahmad, an able senior advocate, to represent the Movement before the Commission. When the Commission started hear- ing arguments, the Khalifatul Masih himself moved to Lahore and rendered valuable assistance to the Muslim Lea- gue both by his advice and by procuring the services of a foreign expert on questions that the Commission would have to take into account in making its report. As was expected the Commission, which was composed of four High Court judges, two Muslim and two non-Muslim, was not able to present a unanimous or majority report and the determination of the boundary was left to the umpire, Sir Cyril (later Lord) Redcliffe. His award came as a profound shock to the Muslims and particularly to the Ahmadiyya Community, as under it several Muslim majority areas conti- guous to the rest of Pakistan were excluded from Pakistan and were included in India. The greater part of the Gurdas- pur District, in which Qadian was situated, was also included within India despite a majority of Muslims in the District.