Muslim version of Panipat incident

IN our yesterday’s issue, we published a long statement from Abdul Haye, MLA, about the happenings at Panipat on 1st August. This, we believe, is the first statement issued by a Muslim public man after personal inquiries on the spot; and both on this account and because Haye has gone into some of the minutest details regarding the tragedy, it deserves a careful consideration. The most noteworthy fact about this statement is that in several particulars, it is an improvement on even the official version supplied by the Associated Press immediately after the incident. Another feature of Haye’s statement is that instead of proving his case, he indulges in special pleading and fallacious reasoning to establish many of his assertions. For instance, the crux of the whole question is the object of the Jats in going to Panipat, and to determine that one has to examine the composition of the crowd that collected at the mandi and was later dispersed by the police. The Hindus maintain that the crowd was composed of innocent pilgrims, including a large number of old persons, who were proceeding to the Yamuna for the annual bathing fair. To controvert this statement regarding the motive and composition of the Jat crowd, Haye says: “Was it in view of the fact that breach of peace on the part of Muslims was apprehended beforehand and, therefore, the brains of the Hindu strategies decided that such weak Hindus were the most proper persons to be sent to the town of the Panipat to face the situation to the entire glory of the entire Hindu Jati?”