Achievement

Published in Dawn on October 16, 1994

THIS is with reference to Prof. Shah Faridul Haque's letter (Dawn Oct 5) under the above caption.

The Professor states: "The historic and bold decision by the government of Pakistan in 1974 to declare Qadianis as non-Muslims... was the greatest achievement of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's regime. "

I would like to correct him and put the record straight.

I saw Mr. Bhutto on TV announcing that the National Assembly had been given the task to determine whether the Qadianis were Muslims or not. It was quite evident that he was highly perturbed, and very much against declaring the Qadianis, or any other community as minority.

In fact, the real credit belongs to the Ulema, particularly the late Maulana Maudoodi, who was sentenced to death during the anti-Qadiani riots in 1953 and refused to file a mercy petition. It was he who consistently kept the issue alive, and was finally able to unify the whole country on the question of declaring them a minority.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi