INDIAN soldiers stationed at Meerut cantonment serving the East India Company revolted against British Raj on May 10, 1857. This insurrection spread across the subcontinent and is known as the War of Independence.

A century later, on the eve of its first centenary, a rumour spread in Pakistan that a significant change was going to take place in the subcontinent on May 10, 1957.

Amid the rumour, Allama Inyatullah Khan Mashriqi, a religious scholar and leader of the Khaksar Party, announced that if one hundred thousand persons gathered in Iqbal Park, Lahore (then Manto Park) on May 10 with a “bailcha” (spade), 57 pao (quarter of a seer) “atta” and 57 “uthanyan” (half-a-rupee), he would lead a march towards Delhi, India.

To promote this March, large posters bearing the words “Delhi key taraf pehla qadam” (first steps towards Delhi) were fixed on walls all over Lahore. He, however, warned that if even one person was short of the target figure, the march would be called off. Naturally, the march had to be called off as not many persons turned up.

Nearly 57 years later, Pakistan Awami Tehrik leader Dr Tahir ul Qadri, has given a call to the people to gather in large numbers on Aug. 14, for a long march towards Islamabad, to bring a fundamental change in the country’s current politico- social system.

Dr Qadri is convinced the time is ripe to bring change. Let us see whether Dr Qadri gets a positive response, which Allama Mashriqi failed to get.

Anwar Khalil Sheikh

Lahore

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2014