LAHORE: Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, chief of the National Awami Party, said here today [March 25] that he was slated for resort to “gherao” and guerilla warfare but he did not know what other course he could adopt when the demands of the overwhelming majority of the people were not accepted.

The Maulana, who was addressing the students here this afternoon, firmly declared that freedom could not be achieved without struggle. He exhorted the student community to join hands with the labour and the peasantry to continue the struggle to bring socialism to the country.

The NAP chief repeated his call for referendum on the demands made by him at the Toba Tek Singh conference, but softened his threat and said he would launch a mass movement to press these demands. He said a mass movement was necessary for socialist revolution. The socialist system originated with Islam, he claimed.

Maulana Bhashani said the people’s Government envisaged by him would nationalise everything and there would no more be any private property. All wealth, including land, houses and mills, would be seized from the capitalists and distributed among the people. He said the capitalists and feudal lords were “the enemies of the people and they should not exist”. — Agency

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2020