Central Jail, New Delhi 18 August 1981
Brother Malik Muhammad Asghar Sahib,
Peace be upon you.
The letter you posted on 22nd June finally reached me on the blessed occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, having traversed many stages of its journey. Thank you for remembering me.
I was somewhat comforted to learn that you have now resolved to maintain this correspondence at regular intervals. I remain unable to comprehend the feeling that kept obstructing you in this matter and led to your long silences. Nevertheless—better late than never.
The sorrowful news of the passing of the late Sufi Muhammad Zaman Sahib had already reached me. Words cannot capture the grief and sadness this accursed news has caused me, especially on a piece of paper such as this. Not only because he was a distinguished leader of our freedom caravan, but also because—being a man—he was endowed by Providence with such rare attributes of sincerity, loyalty, and steadfast patience in the face of trials and tribulations, that they were reserved for him alone.
His passing has left a void in the history of our struggle that, if not impossible, will certainly be difficult to fill. I pray that the Almighty grants him a place among His mercy and bestows upon his bereaved family the strength of beautiful patience.
The finest way for us to honour his memory is to continue striving for those ideals and goals to which he devoted his life, and to make the values of sincerity and loyalty—which were so dear to him—a guiding light for ourselves in that struggle. Pray that God grants us the strength to work for the fulfilment of those dreams he dreamt throughout his life. By persistently standing against deniers of truth and justice for the sake of those unfulfilled longings and aspirations, we can bring solace to the restless soul of not only the late Sufi Sahib but also all those martyrs of the nation whom he joined in the hereafter. What better way of Īsāl-e-Sawāb could there be than this.
You mentioned my brother Malik Muhammad Ijaz¹. Kindly convey my heartfelt greetings to him. In your next letter, do write in a bit more detail about his treatment and recovery. I remain deeply concerned about the illness he’s facing. Yet from such a distance, what more can I do for him besides praying? I hope that by now, he has significantly improved.
I was heartened to hear that respected Mir Qayyum Sahib² also suffered from some ailment.
Though we are not in correspondence, the memories associated with him are still fresh in
my mind. I pray that Allah keeps him in His protection. I would be delighted if you could share in detail the health and well-being of Mir Sahib and all our other elder comrades. The role of these noble friends in kindling the flames of unity and selfless commitment to our cause is not only a golden chapter in our history, but also unforgettable and worthy of emulation by all of us.
By the grace of God, my health is perfectly fine. All other conditions remain the same. I continue to be confined in Ward No. 16, i.e., the “death cell.” By Allah’s grace, I have no mental distress, for as a God-believing man, I hold firm that the best life is one spent in the struggle for the triumph of truth against falsehood, and the finest strength is that which is tested in the course of such jihad. Therefore, there is absolutely no room for sorrow or despair. Just remember me in your prayers.
This time, I received Eid cards from several friends and comrades in Kotli. Though responding to each one individually would be difficult, I am writing a collective reply through Janab Mubarak Bismil³. I hope both letters will reach Kotli together. In the meantime, I request you to kindly thank all those comrades on my behalf.
Wassalam
In need of your prayers,
Muhammad Maqbool Bhat
Note: The names of the friends and comrades who remembered me on the blessed occasion of Eid and whom I wish to thank are as follows: Mubarak Ali Bismil, Muhammad Arif, Raza
Ahmad Rathore, Anjum Nadeem, M. Ashfaq Anjum, Muhammad Maqsood (Naar),
Muhammad Razaq Aasi (Naar), and “a Kashmiri,” who painted and sent an Eid gift by hand.
——————————————————————————–
Malik Muhammad Ijaz of Kotli..
Mir Abdul Qayyum was a patriotic Kashmiri. He was detained in the Ganga Hijacking case and subjected to torture. He lived in Karachi and is now deceased.
Maqbool Bhat’s letter to Bismil Sahib could not be found.
