LAHORE: The Muslim League civil disobedience campaign took a new turn today [Jan 27] when the seven League leaders who were released from the Central Jail yesterday again defied the ban and addressed a gathering of one lakh Muslims outside the Mochi Gate to show their determination to fight the present unrepresentative quisling Ministry … . Later the crowd was led by the League leaders including Khan of Mamdot … in a mile-long procession which passed through the Circular Road and dispersed peacefully outside the Yakki Gate. The police did not interfere, nor did they disperse the meeting or arrest the leaders. According to information … more than one thousand persons were arrested … all over the Punjab for defying the ban.

[Meanwhile, as was also reported from Lahore,] Malik Feroz Khan Noon, the former Defence Member of the Viceroy’s Council said: “Our fight against the Punjab Government is aimed at the vindication of the civil liberties of the people of the Province without any distinction of caste or creed. … I believe that our Hindu and Sikh brethren will also join us in our common fight against the bureaucratic machine of oppression… .”

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2022