ALL the versions of the deplorable happenings at Rawalpindi that we have so far published, namely, the version the Associated Press, the official version, the Muslim version and the version of the SGPC, agree as regards two essential points. One is that, as in the case of the more serious happenings in Calcutta, the trouble had its origin in a trivial incident. The other is that the riot did no good to any one, least of all to the parties concerned. For our part, the thought that in the second quarter of the twentieth century such things should still be possible in India makes us hang our head in shame. There is no question of apportioning blame, at any rate at this stage and in the present state of our knowledge. The Provincial Congress Committee, the SGPC, the Hindu Sabha and the Khilafat Committee have all deputed their agents to enquire into the matter. We have sent our own representative for the purpose and so have several other newspapers. It is only when the results of all these enquiries are published, that the question of fixing the responsibility for the occurrence will arise. Our present concern is with the happenings themselves, and not with their precise origin. Nor is another aspect of the matter to be overlooked. The origin of such happenings is, in most cases, far from being their real cause. It is only the occasion. The real cause is the tense atmosphere, which has existed all the time and which only needed a spark to break out into a conflagration. The only permanent and effective solution of the problem, therefore, is to find out and to deal suitably with the causes of this communal tension.
