I have many more reasons, but I record only three, for choosing such an unpleasant title. The first, I wrote in my usual language, precise, direct, and simple, on one and a half page of neat computer print, passed it on to a couple. Without my asking the lady, a doctor practising in America for over ten years, told me without my asking for an opinion, that she could not read such a long writing so she passed it on to her husband to read and let her know what is written therein. The husband said he could read every word but did not understand it at all. He had a good education and was working on technical jobs for the same number of years. Occasionally, when he met, he used to say. “I do not understand you, what you say, what you mean. It is for or against. Yes or no.” I sublimated his remarks by superimposing it with mine that a mathematician and a scientist, at times, without being colour blind, see only black and white, not noticing the grey, the human variant, diverse, unpredictable, individualistic. An outstanding mathematician Chief Justice of ours, not a Muslim, advocated in Australia, cutting off the hand for theft, and there he came to be known as Mr. Chop-the-hand justice.
The second, I purchased Hermes baby typewriter for Rs 150 in 1951 when I reported for training as a CSP officer. I never used it till my retirement in 1994, only because correcting a typing mistake required ten times greater effort than typing it. As long as I remained in the executive, I always had the services of stenotypist or a stenographer available. While receiving training in the judiciary I had no such facility. I adopted writing in my own hand. Introductory training in handling of computers that we had all received at the end of our career in service was not sufficient at all, for me at least. I pulled out the typewriter and typed nine-page article on use, abuse and oppressive manner in which powers conferred under section 144 Cr. P.C read with section 182 Pakistan Penal code were being used in the country, covering the period July 1953 to 14th Feb 1994, a period of forty years of my service, all focused on this subject. A large number of typo mistakes existed which I attempted to correct only to the extent pointed out by friends and well-wishers long after its publication, but allowed the rest of it to keep it as a part of my effort and our history. Only the newspaper Frontier Post of Peshawar published it in two instalments in 1995. I received not a single response. I noticed no change on the ground. I undertook then, never to write again. But then in 2017, I heard a Police Officer announce publicly that those violating the order under section 144 Cr.P.C. shall be arrested on Friday and kept in prison for two days. It amounted to a challenge to vigilante to take on the Police.
Next, I saw a government-paid advertisement on TV requesting the public to show sympathy and respect to Police who serve them so well. The last stage reached, Police seeking protection from the public for its safety. In despair, I sent a copy of my 1995 paper to one learned in all fields, who had written at least three books on law subjects. He acknowledged the receipt of it and informed me that he had placed that document in his archives. I looked at all the dictionaries in order to find whether the meaning of archives has changed while I was hibernating. It had not, continues to mean “to store files for protection”.
Third, it was my practice to discuss with some experienced lawyers of diverse background their views on problems of law and how others, the world over, are dealing with them, nothing to do with pending cases in any court. Once three such counsel separately and independently of each other wanted to discuss my judgment. They thought that not merit but the lawyer made the difference to the decision. They all came separately. After five minutes of hearing them, I asked them have you read the whole judgment. All three replied, “almost the whole”. On hearing this I closed my eyes and my mind and got rid them as quickly as possible, no element of discourtesy shown.
Coming now to the subject in hand, I had a guide, a veterinary expert, whose effort and contribution I have described separately as a tribute to him. He once told me that Mohammad bin Qassim, the hero of left-over Pakistan, reported to the Caliph in Iraq that there is an animal in Multan which ploughs the land to make it extremely fertile, produces milk, pure white and nutritious, and finally, dead or alive it provides plentiful meat for human consumption. Caliph was so enamoured with the creature that he asked Muhammad bin Qassim to send a few to Iraq. Mohammad bin Qassim sent a thousand buffaloes to Iraq. Years later when this expert visited Iraq again, I asked him how are the buffaloes behaving. He informed me that they have not been domesticated so far. They attack the human beings. I wanted to ask him two questions but exercised great restraint in not asking. The first is that according to the folklore understood by everyone, it is only the people pf Multan who require a heavy quilt to keep themselves warmer in the hottest imaginable place in the universe. Whether the attendants sent with the buffaloes were provided that facility. The second whether the buffaloes were provided a pond to wallow for a short while to shed off all their grievances against the human beings. Let some foreign expert advise them on these subjects.
All that follows in italics is from internet Wikipedia, available for verification:
- At the age of 15 to 17, Mohammad bin Qasim was entrusted the command of the force to end the piratical activities of Raja Dahir in Sind.
- He succeeded in conquering up to Multan and not beyond.
- He regularly sent one-fifth of the booty and females of the ex-royals and chiefs to Caliph.
- The two daughters of Raja Dahir as captives, complained that Mohammad bin Qassim had ravished them before handing them over to Calip. On this complaint “Muhammad, (then aged 19-20) was wrapped and stitched in oxen hides and sent to Syria which resulted in his death en route from suffocation.
- Realizing that this complaint of the daughters was false and was for securing vengeance for their fathers’ death, the Caliph was filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.
Conclusions
- More than one hundred institutions, sites, locations ( from port Qasim to Qasim Park in Multan) have been named Qasim in his memory. A minute a year is not reserved for reminiscence on his most horrifying end.
- In collecting facts, in remembering them, in making them part of our history, in learning lessons from them, in ensuring their correctness and relevance, never keep the eyes and the mind closed. It will never serve you nor your posterity.
After I had completed this piece of writing, I cam across an Irish saying (TIME July 20-27, 2020), which, in fact, encapsulated my entire article.
“There are none so blind as those who will not see”
Experiences of a Lifetime 