Wings of Duty

Wings of Duty — Page 29

29 strong wind. I then went to report for my duty. I learnt that Sahibzada Mirza Nasir Ahmad ra would have charge over the plane. He was at the time the president of Khuddamul Ahmadiyya and was also supervising the security arrangements in Qadian. With his permission, I spent the next few days flying over the environs of Qadian for an aerial survey. On a map, I marked the villages near Qadian which had Sikh majorities, villages with Muslim majorities and those with Muslim minorities that were susceptible to violence. Villages in which Muslims were outnumbered had already begun to be attacked with homes being set on fire. The rising smoke from these flames could be seen from numerous dwellings many miles away and livestock would graze freely in the fields without anyone to tend to the animals. A jeep-type vehicle belonging to Khuddamul Ahmadiyya was also conducting a land survey of villages near Qadian. I would often see them from my airplane. Whenever I was needed, they would wave a small flag and I would land in a nearby field. After listening to their reports I would immediately return to Qadian. Sometimes, I would have to land in such narrow places that it would be difficult to take off again. On many occasions, I was close to crashing into