Wings of Duty

Wings of Duty — Page 3

3 the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, was not only an intelligent, attentive, brave, steadfast and far-sighted individual, he was also a peerless leader. He realised long before Partition that because Qadian was situated amid villages which were home to Sikh hardliners, if the law and order situation deteriorated at the time of independence, it was possible Qadian’s links with the outside world could be severed with railway networks, roads, postal services and telephone lines likely to be out of commission for extended periods. Hence, he felt the community needed to acquire at least one small airplane to avoid becoming completely isolated. It is possible that Huzoor was influenced by the memory of the attack against his great-grandfather, Mirza Ata Muhammad, in which extremist Sikh elements raided 85 villages that belonged to him in the environs of Qadian and took possession of them, leaving only Qadian under his ownership. A group of Sikhs known as the Ramgarhia 2 , later entered Qadian and captured it too. They created great havoc in the town, destroyed many mosques and houses and forced Huzoor’s forebears into exile to other parts of 2 The Ramgarhia are a Sikh community belonging to the Punjab. Members of the Ramgarhia were traditionally carpenters but also pursued other artisan occupations like stonemasonery. [Publishers]