(EDITORIAL) In their belated zeal to suppress lawless elements the Government of India are striking at the innocent as well as the guilty. The banning of the Muslim League National Guards is wholly indefensible... . That the Indian authorities were not sure of their own ground is evident from the fact that the communique issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs lists no specific offences committed by the MLNG but only indulges in vague allegations. The MLNG, says the communique, `is disposed to resort to violence... , they have been carrying on secret propaganda for fostering amongst the Muslim citizens of India extra territorial loyalty with the object of disintegrating the country, ... they have been secretly collecting arms, training members in the use of arms and fomenting liaison with members of the organisation across the border`.

This is in the good old tradition of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is easy enough to make sweeping allegations of a general nature but it ill-becomes a Government to do so without producing corroborative evidence.