The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 259
243 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN the Prime Minister said, "If you insist upon action being taken against the 'ulema, I shall resign. " In the end he banged on the table and said, "All right. Do what you like!" and got up and walked away. His colleagues did not know whether he had meant: do what you like; whatever you decide will be done; or, if you decide something I do not approve of, I will resign. However, they decided that action should be taken and that the leaders of the agitation should be arrested early the next morning before the dawn prayers. That was before I came back. The Governor-General, Malik Ghulam Mohammed, was due to leave on a visit to Saudi Arabia for 10 days, and he asked me to tea in the afternoon of the day I arrived back. I went and he said to me: "There is not enough time for me to give you all the ins and outs of the thing. You will find out what has been happening. I am leaving as you know for 10 days and I hope nothing untoward will happen during this period, but I can tell you in two words that I will stand on principle and I would rather receive bullets into my chest than take a stand against principle. " That was all very well, but the Governor-General would be away and the Prime Minister was the centre of power in the parliamentary system, and though his assurance was comforting as far as the Governor-General was concerned, there was not much comfort to be found in the attitude of the Prime Minister. The Governor-General came back after eight days, and it was then that he began to consider in his own mind - he must have come to a decision either before going or while he was away - that Khwaja Nazimuddin had to go as he would not perform his function! The point was not what decision he should have taken, but he should have taken some decision in the matter and shouldered the responsibility. Then the change of government took place. I had to appear as a witness before the Munir Inquiry Committee. Munir had taken the precaution to ask counsel who represented various groups to put in a list of the questions they intended to ask any particular witness, and those questions that he considered irrelevant he disallowed. Khwaja Nazimuddin, who was also examined, did say in his statement that I had offered to resign but that he had not agreed to it.