Tihar Jail, Delhi
8 September 1983
Dear Brother Farooq Haider Sahib,
Peace be upon you.
After quite a while, I received your letter of well-wishing from mid-August, which you had posted at the beginning of July. It was quite a brief letter, a rare example of brevity, consisting of a total of forty words across four sentences, out of which ten words were devoted to titles, salutations, and inquiries about well-being. Believe me, my spirits were lifted. Perhaps you thought that by keeping it short, the “journey” of this letter would also be brief. However, you may not know that the “yar log” (the jail authorities lit: friends) consider it a charming act of love and try to glean any useful information from the spaces between the words or the lines. Nevertheless, it is still a joyful matter that your affectionate letter was received, even if it took a month and a half. The effort of sending a registered letter seems unnecessary because, occasionally, I do receive letters sent by the esteemed Jaswāl Sahib via “book post.” Therefore, letters destined to become offerings on the altar of the gods of fate cannot be saved by the formalities of registered mail.
By the grace and mercy of Allah, I am in good health and I pray for your well-being and that of our other friends. I apologize for not being able to inform you of my health for such a long time. Some difficulties and considerations played a part in this. However, I hope you will accept my apologies in this regard, and I assure you that you will not have any complaints from now on.
The first phase of our efforts for legal proceedings in the Supreme Court here has been completed. On 13 August, the division bench of the court, headed by the Chief Justice, approved our writ petition, in which we had requested the state government and the High Court to provide access to the records of the cases under which my current imprisonment and “sentence” are imposed. You need not be told what excuses the state has concocted to keep this record hidden from us, despite being the aggrieved party, and how they have frustrated our efforts over the past two years with delays and excuses.
Nevertheless, our struggle continues, and the next step will be taken soon after examining the records. When this stage arrives, I will provide you with the necessary information. The plan is to obtain the required documents after reviewing the records and then challenge the legal validity of the case proceedings. Our lawyers believe that the case is quite strong. We will continue our efforts and leave the outcome in the hands of Allah. I seek your prayers in this regard.
Please convey my heartfelt greetings to all friends.
Wassalam,
Your brother,
Muhammad Maqbool Bhat
Note: If Shaukat’s FSC results have come out, please do inform me. I received a letter from my daughter Manza a while ago, but I do not know if my response reached her. In any case, convey my regards to all family members. Much love for the children.
