The Riots of 1953 — Page 18
18 met with colossal failure. Only one ‘Saleh’ candidate was returned to the Assembly in the elections of the year 1950. This failure greatly incensed him as he had pinned high hopes. In that state of disillusionment he hit on no better plan than to take up his cudgels against the Ahmadiyya Community and by that method again to curry favour with the masses. His technique though much more subtle was not very different from that of the Ahrar. The Ahrar on their part had forced issues on the Government which it could not ignore and had succeeded, up to an extent, in polluting the masses. Both these Parties had for their common object the otherthrow of the Government and they had now reached a stage where they could unit e and put more pressure on the Government. The Ahrar convened an All Pakistan Ulema Convention at Karachi which was held on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th January, 1951. Both the Ahrar and the Jamaat-i-Islami participated in this Convention. The demands formulated at the Convention introduced for the first time the distinction between Muslim and non-Muslim citizens of Paki s tan and there was also a further distinction of Muslim sects whose status was recognised and there were others whose status needed examination. This concerted action of the Ulema was inspi r ed by a desire to establish a theocratic rule and was meant to form the basis of an intensive propaganda to secure that end. The eight points i. e. the eight demands made by the Jamaat-i-Islami from the Government embodied the demands made in that Convention. In some respects the Resolution was left advisedly vague. The word “Ahmadi” did not find an express mention in it but the foundations for maligning the Community were formally laid in the deliberations held on that occasion. 20. The eight points having been thus formulated, the Jamaat- i-Islami set about securing signatures of Muslims on printed forms containing these demands. The intention was to flood the