Faiz and the Conspiracy of Foreign Elements

Faiz and the Conspiracy of Foreign Elements

Faiz and the Conspiracy of Foreign Elements

The accused described this incident as a conspiracy of foreign elements, but the state claimed that a political party, in collaboration with several military officers, had planned to overthrow the government. This is still regarded in Pakistan as the first attempt at a military coup, with its initial investigation conducted by the army chief. An interesting aspect of this case was that the military officers involved were not tried in a military court under the Army Act, but rather in a civilian court. A total of 15 individuals were charged in this case, including 11 military officers and four civilians, among whom was Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the editor of the English newspaper Pakistan Times. This case is known as the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case. The background and implications of this case are very significant for students of Pakistani politics.

General Ayub Khan and Defense Secretary Iskander Mirza, who had personally investigated this conspiracy, later imposed Pakistan's first martial law together. The lawyer who defended the accused in court, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, eventually became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Later, on the orders of General Ayub Khan, a treason case was filed against him, but it was never proven in court. The Prime Minister whose government was allegedly targeted in this conspiracy was Liaquat Ali Khan. On March 9, 1951, he revealed the conspiracy himself.

The central figure in this conspiracy was Major General Akbar Khan, the Chief of General Staff of the Pakistani army. The evidence presented during the trial suggested that the conspiracy's aim was not to assassinate Liaquat Ali Khan, but merely to remove him from power. General Ayub Khan, the army chief, was also to be removed from his position, and the country was to be run through a military council. According to the law, the military officers involved in the conspiracy should have been court-martialed, but instead of trying the military conspirators in a military court, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan got a new law passed by the Constituent Assembly, which became the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Special Tribunal Act of 1951.

When the draft of this law was presented in the assembly, the opposition objected, arguing that the Constituent Assembly was not the legislature and could not pass such a law. However, the government used its majority to get the law passed, under which the trial proceedings were to be conducted by three judges from the higher judiciary.

The question arose: why were the military coup conspirators not being tried in a military court? Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan had no satisfactory answer, but the general perception was that the sentences given by this tribunal, passed by the Constituent Assembly, could not be challenged in any other court. The government believed that the accused would be sentenced to death, and to ensure this, religious scholars issued fatwas in favor of the death penalty, and several newspapers published editorials supporting the execution.

While the trial was ongoing in the special tribunal, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated during a public gathering in Rawalpindi. The Prime Minister who had exposed the Rawalpindi conspiracy was killed in Rawalpindi. The same Constituent Assembly that had passed the law for the trial of the accused was dissolved by Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad in 1954.

To secure a conviction, the government had to rely on two "pardon witnesses," both military officers—Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Siddiq Raja and Major Yusuf Sethi. They testified in the tribunal that Major General Akbar Khan, along with his associates, had conspired to overthrow the government, and that the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Syed Sajad Zahir, and journalist-poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz were also involved. Despite the testimony of these witnesses, none of the accused were sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Instead, they were given prison sentences of four years. When the Constituent Assembly was dissolved, the accused filed petitions in the courts, arguing that the assembly that had constituted the tribunal no longer existed, and as a result, they were granted bail. Two of the accused, Colonel Hassan Khan and Captain Zafarullah Poshni, wrote books about their imprisonment and declared the case to be false.

Zafarullah Poshni, in his English book Prison Interlude, wrote that during a gathering of friends on the night of February 23, 1951, a suggestion to revolt against the government was indeed raised, but Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Sajad Zahir opposed this undemocratic action, after which Major General Akbar Khan rejected the proposal. Faiz himself, in an interview, revealed that he had once served in the army, and many military officers were his friends. These officers themselves prepared a plan but later rejected it. The government, however, was upset with these officers because they were critics of the Kashmir policy, so the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case was fabricated to remove them. Faiz was implicated in the case due to his editorials in Pakistan Times, but his arrest only elevated his position and reputation. While in prison, the poetry he wrote reflected a true sense of rebellion. In Hyderabad Jail, he would sing this anthem with fellow prisoners:

The line "When all will leave the homeland one day" means that at some point in the future, everyone will have to leave their home country, either because of changes or because they are no longer able to stay there. It reflects the idea of leaving behind one's roots or homeland for some reason, such as hardship, conflict, or change.

Some will meet their punishment, some will get their reward,
O dwellers of the dust, rise up, for the time is near,
When thrones will be toppled, and crowns will be tossed."

Faiz's poetry became more defiant and rebellious after his imprisonment. To validate the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, a former bureaucrat, Hassan Zaheer, wrote a book using government records. However, Faiz remarked:

The line "The thing that was not mentioned in all the tales" means that there was something important or significant that was left out or not discussed in the stories or accounts that were told. It suggests that there was a hidden truth or a key detail that was deliberately ignored or overlooked in the narrative.

That thing, they found very distasteful."

The history of Pakistan suggests that governments that raise the cry of foreign conspiracies are often themselves part of some conspiracy, and the assemblies that pass laws to convict opponents are often unable to protect themselves.