1953 Lahore riots

Last updated

Lahore riots of 1953
Part of the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan
Badshahi Mosque July 1 2005 pic32 by Ali Imran (1).jpg
Badshahi Mosque, Lahore
Date1 February 1953 – 14 May 1953
Location
Result

See Aftermath section

Belligerents
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg  Pakistan Army
Flag of Punjab Police.png Punjab Police
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg Azam Khan
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg Rahimuddin Khan
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari
Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi
Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg Syed Abuzar Bukhari
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam Flag.svg Master Taj-ud-Din Ansari
Abul Ala Maududi [1]
Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi
Chaudhry Muhammad Akbar Sialkoti [2] [3]
Mian Tufail Mohammad
Casualties and losses
4 soldiers killed 11 killed [4]
49 wounded
Between 200 [5] to 2,000 Ahmadis killed [6]

The 1953 Lahore riots were a series of violent riots against the Ahmadiyya movement, a faith marginalized in Pakistan, mainly in the city of Lahore, as well as the rest of Punjab, which were eventually quelled by the Pakistan Army who declared three months of martial law. [5] The demonstrations began in February 1953, soon escalating into citywide incidents, including looting, arson and the murder of somewhere between 200 [5] and 2000 people. [6] Thousands more were left displaced. According to the official inquiry conducted by the Punjab Government, the actual number killed in these riots was around 20. The first page of the inquiry says that before the declaration of martial law, the police killed two people on the night of 4th March and ten the 5th. 66 people were admitted to Lahore hospitals with gunshot wounds. The military attempting to quell the disturbances in Lahore admitted to killing 11 and wounding 49. There were additional casualties in other towns. [4] Seeing that police were unable to contain the increasingly widespread unrest, Governor-General Malik Ghulam Muhammad handed over the administration of the city to the army under Lieutenant General Azam Khan, imposing martial law on 6 March.

Contents

One of the major controversial differences between Ahmadis and mainstream Muslims is their different interpretations of Khatam an-Nabiyyin. Mainstream Muslims are awaiting the coming of the Mahdi and the Second Coming of Jesus and reject the claims of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad whom Ahmadis believe to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi. The Ahmadiyya Community was a vocal proponent of the Pakistan Movement and were actively engaged with the Muslim league having strong relations with many prominent Muslim Leaguers and were opposed to the Congress backed Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. [7] After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Ahmadis prospered and reached many high ranking Government and Military positions in Pakistan, due to an extremely high Literacy rate. They held up stay as an important political force in Pakistan, due to its support for secularism and acted as a counterbalance to Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. [7] This group was disillusioned and disorganized after 1947 and politically isolated. Even before partition one of its primary targets was the Ahmadiyya movement. However, in 1949, the Majlis-e-Ahrar launched countrywide campaigns and protests resulting in a ban on Majlis-e-Ahrar in 1954.

Demands and culmination

Disturbances began after an ultimatum was delivered to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on 21 January 1953 by a deputation of ulama representing Majlis-i Amal (council of action) constituted by an All-Pakistan Muslim Parties Convention held in Karachi from 16 to 18 January 1953. (Including Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat — under Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam) The ultimatum stated unless three demands were met:

... Majlis-e-Amal would resort to direct action (rast iqdum). [4]

Disturbances and aftermath

The ultimatum was rejected and disturbances commenced. [4]

On 6 March martial law was declared. Two people were killed by police prior to martial law and casualties "admitted by the military" caused in "quelling the disturbances in Lahore" were eleven killed and 49 wounded. [4]

Marking the military's first foray into civilian politics, the 70-day-long military deployment saw Lahore return to normalcy under Azam Khan's coherent leadership ; the Secretary General of the Awami Muslim League, Maulana Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi, was arrested and sentenced to death, but his sentence was subsequently commuted. The riots also brought unprecedented political consequences; Ghulam Muhammad first dismissed Mian Mumtaz Daultana from the post of Chief Minister of Punjab on 24 March, allegedly for manipulating the religious element in anti-Ahmadi violence for political benefits. Next on 17 April, using his special powers under the Government of India Act 1935, Ghulam Muhammad dismissed Prime Minister, Khwaja Nazimuddin and the entire federal cabinet. Muhammad Ali Bogra (Pakistan's ambassador to the United States) replaced him. Bogra, who did not know why he was being called back, took the oath as new Prime Minister within hours of Nazimuddin's dismissal.[ citation needed ]

In March 1953, several instigators of the riots, including, Abul Ala Maududi, Mawlana Amin Hussain Islahi, Malik Nasrullah Khan Azeez, Syed Naqiullah, Chaudhry Muhammad Akbar Sialkoti and Mian Tufail Mohammed were arrested and sent to the Lahore Central Jail. [8]

On 19 June 1953 a Court Of Inquiry was established to look into disturbances, known as the Punjab Disturbances Court Of Inquiry. The inquiry commenced on 1 July and held 117 sittings. The evidence was concluded on 23 January 1954 and arguments in the case lasted to 28 February 1954. Conclusions were formulated and the report issued 10 April 1954. [4]

Timeline

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement</span> Separatist group within the Ahmadiyya movement

The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam, is a separatist group within the Ahmadiyya movement that formed in 1914 as a result of ideological and administrative differences following the demise of Hakim Nur-ud-Din, the first Caliph after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement are referred to by the majority group as ghayr mubāyi'īn and are also known colloquially as Lahori Ahmadis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kausar Niazi</span> Pakistani politician (1934–1994)

Kausar Niazi, born as Muhammad Hayyat Khan and commonly known as MaulanaKausar Niazi, was a Pakistani politician and a religious leader in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Niazi, in Bhutto's premiership cabinet, was a most powerful federal minister in Pakistan during 1974 till 1977. Niazi was one of the close aids and trusted confidents of Bhutto who remained loyal to Bhutto until his death. He was born in Musakhel, Punjab, Pakistan. His father Fateh Khan Niazi Luqi-khel and uncle Muzaffar Khan Niazi Luqi-khel were among the leading persons of the area. He was a religious scholar and orator, who made a name for himself in politics, and was a member of Bhutto's Federal Cabinet. He served as a minister and assisted Bhutto for 6 years. He was also a member of the Pakistan People's Party.

Qadiyani Problem is a 1953 book written by Pakistani scholar Abul A'la Mawdudi. The term "Qadiyani" is a term which refers to members of the Ahmadiyya movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari</span> Islamic Deobandi scholar

Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, was a Muslim Hanafi scholar, religious and political leader from the Indian subcontinent. He was one of the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam's founding members. His biographer, Agha Shorish Kashmiri, states that Bukhari's greatest contribution had been his germination of strong anti-British feelings among the Indian Muslims. He is one of the most notable leaders of the Ahrar movement which was associated with opposition to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and opposition to the establishment of an independent Pakistan, as well as opposition to the Ahmadiyya Movement. He is considered as a legendary rhetoric, which made him famous among the Muslims.

Events from the year 1953 in Pakistan.

On 19 June 1953 a Court of Inquiry was established to look into disturbances in the Punjab, Pakistan caused by agitation against the Ahmadiyya minority group. The disturbances prompted Martial law to be declared and dozens were killed by the military in the process of their quelling. The inquiry into the disturbances commenced on 1 July 1953. Evidence was concluded on 23 January 1954 and arguments on 28 February 1954. The report was issued 10 April 1954. The inquiry was headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Munir and its report is commonly referred to as the "Munir Report", or "Munir-Kiyani report".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirza Nasir Ahmad</span> Ahmadiyya religious leader (1909–1982)

Mirza Nasir Ahmad was the third Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from Pakistan. He was elected as the third successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on 8 November 1965, the day after the death of his predecessor and father, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad</span> Ahmadiyya religious leader (1889–1965)

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad was the second caliph, leader of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the eldest son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from his second wife, Nusrat Jahan Begum. He was elected as the second successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on 14 March 1914 at the age of 25, the day after the death of his predecessor Hakim Nur-ud-Din.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persecution of Ahmadis</span>

The Ahmadiyya branch of Islam has been subjected to various forms of religious persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya Muslim movement emerged within the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all of the five pillars and all of the articles of faith required of Muslims. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi</span> Pakistani politician

Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi was a Pakistani religious and political leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mumtaz Daultana</span> Pakistani politician

Mian Mumtaz Daulatana, was a Pakistani politician and a key supporter of Pakistan Movement in British India. After independence, he served as the second Chief Minister of West Punjab in Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niaz Ali Khan</span> Pakistan Movement activist

Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan was a civil engineer, agriculturalist, and philanthropist who founded "Dar ul Islam Movement" and "Dar ul Islam Trust" in South Asia and "Dar ul Islam Trust" Institutes in Pathankot and Jauharabad. Besides a philanthropist, Niaz was also a civil servant, and a landowner. He was the member of All-India Muslim League and a participant of the Pakistan Movement with the ultimate aim of creating the Muslim-majority areas of British India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Ahmadiyya mosques massacre</span>

The May 2010 Lahore attacks, also referred to as the Lahore massacre, occurred on 28 May 2010, in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, during Friday prayers. 94 people were killed and more than 120 others were injured in nearly simultaneous attacks against two mosques of the minority Ahmadiyya community. After the initial attack, a hostage situation lasted for hours. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as well as their Punjab wing, claimed responsibility for the attacks and were also blamed by the Pakistani Police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furqan Force</span>

The Furqan Force or Furqan Battalion was a uniformed Battalion force of volunteers of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the Dominion of Pakistan. Formed in June 1948 at the direction of Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, at the request of Pakistan government, the unit fought for Pakistan against India in the First Kashmir War. In addition to its troops being drawn from the Ahmadiyya population, the expenses of maintaining the unit were also paid by that community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam</span> Former Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent

Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam, also known as Ahrar for short, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj on 29 December 1929 at Lahore.

Mazhar Ali Azhar was a politician in British India and later Pakistan, and one of the founders of Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. He was elected three times to the Punjab Assembly, took part in the Madhe Sahaba Agitation in Lucknow, and became a prominent opponent to the partition of India.

Agha Shorish Kashmiri was a Pakistani journalist, scholar, writer, debater, and a leader of the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam party.

In the period spanning from late May to early September 1974, an altercation between students of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and youths of the Ahmadiyya Muslims Community at the Rabwah railway station. This incidents were marked by a series of events such as protests, violence, property damage, and governmental actions against the Ahmadiyya community across Pakistan. These events reportedly resulted in casualties among Ahmadi individuals and damage to Ahmadi mosques. Furthermore, in response to these events, the government took actions, including constitutional amendments, related to the status of Ahmadis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fateh Muhammad Sial</span>

Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad Sial (1887–1960) was a companion of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and the first Ahmadi missionary sent from India, under the leadership of Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, the first Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya movement. In 1913, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad asked for volunteers to serve as Ahmadi missionaries in England. Sial volunteered and travelled to England on June 22, 1913 and arrived the following month. There he served twice as a missionary. He earned an MA in Arabic from the Aligarh Muslim University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat</span> Islamic religious movement in Pakistan

Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat is the programmatic name of a Pakistani Barelvi organization and Islamic religious movement in Pakistan aiming to protect the belief in the finality of prophethood of Muhammad based on Quran and Sunnah concept of Khatam an-Nabiyyin. It was founded by Mohammad Abdul Ghafoor Hazarvi in 1950 with Zafar Ali Khan, Abdul Hamid Qadri Badayuni, Khwaja Qamar ul Din Sialvi, Syed Faiz-ul Hassan Shah, Ahmad Saeed Kazmi, Abdul Sattar Khan Niazi, Pir of Manki Sharif Amin ul-Hasanat, Muhammad Karam Shah al-Azhari, Sardar Ahmad Qadri and Muhammad Hussain Naeemi. Later on the prominent Barelvi leaders Shah Ahmad Noorani, Shaikh ul Quran Allama Ghulam Ali Okarvi, Pir Muhammad Alauddin Siddiqui, Muhammad Shafee Okarvi, Syed Shujaat Ali Qadri, Iftikharul Hasan Shah and Khalid Hasan Shah also joined them to oppose the Ahmadiyya Movement.

References

  1. "The Vangaurd of the Islamic Revolution".
  2. "جب مولانا مودودی قرآن پاک اٹھائے پھانسی گھر روانہ ہوئے". 22 September 2014.
  3. "مولانا مودودی رحمۃ اللہ علیہ". 22 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Report of the Court of Inquiry - Introductory". The persecution.org. 10 April 1954. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Ali Kadir (4 July 2014). "Parliamentary Heretization of Ahmadiyya in Pakistan". In Gladys Ganiel (ed.). Religion in Times of Crisis. Brill. p. 139. ISBN   9789004277793 . Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  6. 1 2 Blood, Peter R., ed. (December 1996). Pakistan: A Country Study. Diane Publishing Company. p. 217. ISBN   9780788136313 . Retrieved 30 October 2014. In order to rid the community of what it considered to be deviant behavior, the JI waged a campaign in 1953 against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan that resulted in some 2,000 deaths, brought on martial law rule in Punjab, ...
  7. 1 2 "Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan: An Analysis Under International Law and International Relations" (PDF). Harvard Human Rights Journal. 16. September 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2005.
  8. "جب مولانا مودودی قرآن پاک اٹھائے پھانسی گھر روانہ ہوئے". Nawaiwaqt (in Urdu). 22 September 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  9. "07 Mar 1953 - Martial Law After Lahore Riots". nla.gov.au. 7 March 1953.