Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Pashto/Urdu: خان عبد الغفار خان, Hindi: ख़ान अब्दुल ग़्फ़्फ़ार ख़ान) (Born: Hashtnagar in Utmanzai, Peshawar, British India in 1890 Died: Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan on 20 January 1988) was a Pashtun (Pathan) political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,¹and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he was also known as Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Urdu, Pashto: lit., "King Khan"), and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., "Frontier Gandhi"). In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first non-citizen to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

Early years

Ghaffar Khan was born into a generally peaceful and prosperous family from Charsadda, in the Peshawar Valley of British India. His father, Behram Khan, was a land owner, farmer, and the chief of the Mohammedzais ("sons of Mohamed") tribe of the Pashtun (Pathan) people. Ghaffar was the second son of Behram to attend the British run Edward's mission school -- an unusual arrangement since it was discouraged by the local mullahs. At school the young Ghaffar did well in his studies and was inspired by his mentor Reverend Wigram to see the importance of education in service to the community. In his 10th and final year of high school he was offered a highly prestigious commission in The Guides, an elite corp of Pashtun soldiers of the British Raj. Ghaffar refused the commission after realising even Guide officers were still second-class citizens in their own country. He resumed his intention of University study and Reverend Wigram offered him the opportunity to follow his brother, Khan Sahib, to study in London. While he eventually received the permission of his father, Ghaffar's mother wasn't willing to lose another son to London -- and their own culture and religion as the mullahs warned her. So Ghaffar began working on his father's lands while attempting to discern what more he might do with his life. ²

Ghaffar "Badshah" Khan

In response to his inability to continue his own education, Ghaffar Khan turned to helping others start theirs. Like many such regions of the world, the strategic importance of the newly formed North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as a buffer for the British Raj from Russian influence was of little benefit to its residents. The oppression of the British, the repression of the mullahs, and an ancient culture of violence and vendetta prompted Ghaffar to want to serve and uplift his fellow men and women by means of education. At 20 years of age, Ghaffar opened his first school in Utmanzai. It was an instant success and he was soon invited into a larger circle of progressively minded reformers.

While he faced much opposition and personal difficulties, Ghaffar Khan worked tirelessly to organize and raise the consciousness of his fellow Pushtuns. Between 1915 and 1918 he visited every one of the 500 settled districts of the Frontier. It was in this frenzied activity that he had come to be known as Badshah (Bacha) Khan (King of Chiefs).

He married his first wife Meharqanda in 1912; she was a daughter of Yar Mohammad Khan of the Kinankhel clan of the Mohammadzai tribe of Razzar, a village adjacent to Utmanzai. They had a son in 1913, Abdul Ghani Khan, who would become a noted artist and poet. Subsequently, they had another son, Abdul Wali Khan (17 January 1917-), and daughter, Sardaro. Meharqanda died during the 1918 influenza epidemic. In 1920, Abdul Ghaffar Khan remarried; his new wife, Nambata, was a cousin of his first wife and the daughter of Sultan Mohammad Khan of Razzar. She bore him a daughter, Mehar Taj (25 May 1921- ), and a son, Abdul Ali Khan (20th August 1922-19 February 1997). Tragically, in 1926 Nambata died early as well from a fall down the stairs of the apartment they were staying at in Jerusalem.³

Khudai Khidmatgar

In time, Ghaffar Khan's goal came to be the formulation of a united, independent, secular India. To achieve this end, he founded the Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants of God"), commonly known as the "Red Shirts" (Surkh Posh), during the 1920s.

The Khudai Khidmatgar was founded on a belief in the power of Gandhi's notion of Satyagraha, a form of active non-violence as captured in an oath. He told its members:

The organization recruited over 100,000 members and became legendary in opposing (and dying at the hands of) the British-controlled police and army. Through strikes, political organisation and non-violent opposition, the Khudai Khidmatgar were able to achieve some success and came to dominate the politics of the NWFP. His brother, Dr. Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (known as Dr. Khan Sahib), led the political wing of the movement, and was the Chief Minister of the province (from the late 1920s until 1947 when his government was dismissed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah of the Muslim League).

Ghaffar Khan & the Indian National Congress

Ghaffar Khan forged a close, spiritual, and uninhibited friendship with Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of non-violent mass civil disobedience in India. The two had a deep admiration towards each other and worked together closely till 1947.⁵⁶

The Khudai Khidmatgar agitated and worked cohesively with the Indian National Congress, the leading national organization fighting for freedom, of which Ghaffar Khan was a senior and respected member. On several occasions when the Congress seemed to disagree with Gandhi on policy, Ghaffar Khan remained his staunchest ally. In 1931 the Congress offered him the presidency of the party, but he refused saying, "I am a simple soldier and Khudai Khidmatgar, and I only want to serve."⁷ He remained a member of the Congress Working Committee for many years, resigning only in 1939 because of his differences with the Party's War Policy. He rejoined the Congress Party when the War Policy was revised.

On April 23, 1930, Ghaffar Khan was arrested during protests arising out of the Salt Satyagraha. A crowd of Khudai Khidmatgar gathered in Peshawar's Kissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar. The British ordered troops to open fire with machine guns on the unarmed crowd, killing an estimated 200-250.⁸ The Khudai Khidmatgar members acted in accord with their training in non-violence under Ghaffar Khan, facing bullets as the troops fired on them.⁹

Ghaffar Khan was a champion of women's rights and nonviolence. He became a hero in a society dominated by violence; notwithstanding his liberal views, his unswerving faith and obvious bravery led to immense respect. Throughout his life, he never lost faith in his non-violent methods or in the compatibility of Islam and nonviolence. He viewed his struggle as a jihad with only the enemy holding swords. He was closely identified with Gandhi and he is known in India as the `Frontier Gandhi'.⁶

The Partition

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the partition of India.⁵⁶ While some Pashtuns (particularly the Red Shirts) were willing to work with Indian politicians, many Pashtuns were sympathetic to the idea of a separate homeland for India's Muslims following the departure of the British. Targeted with being Anti-Muslim,⁶ Ghaffar was attacked by fellow Muslims in 1946, leading to his hospitalisation in Peshawar.¹¹

The Congress party refused last ditch compromises to prevent the partition, like the Cabinet mission plan and Gandhi's suggestion to offer the Prime Ministership to Jinnah. As a result Bacha Khan and his followers felt a sense of betrayal by both Pakistan and India. Bacha Khan's last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: "You have thrown us to the wolves."¹²

When given a choice between Pakistan and India, most voters chose Pakistan by a margin of 9 to 1 in 1947, but only 1% were allowed to vote. British bribed tribal elders and sponsored loya jirga in the Tribal Areas, it garnered a similar result as most preferred to become part of Pakistan; an independent Pashtunistan or joining Afghanistan were not an option given by the British. Khan asked his supporters to boycott the polls.

Arrest and exile

The notion Khan took the oath of allegiance to the new nation of Pakistan is false. Under the new Pakistani government, Ghaffar Khan was under house arrest without charge from 1948 till 1954. Released from prison he gave a speech again on the floor of the constituent assembly, this time condemning the massacre of his supporters at Babarra.

Arrested again in 1956 for his opposition to the One Unit scheme he remained in prison till 1957. Re-arrested in 1958 until an illness in 1964 allowed for his release.

In 1962, Abdul Ghaffar Khan was named an "Amnesty International Prisoner of the Year." Amnesty's statement about him said, "His example symbolizes the suffering of upward of a million people all over the world who are in prison for their conscience."

In September 1964, the Pakistani authorities allowed him to go to Britain for treatment. During winter his doctor advised him to go to America. The U S Embassy was reluctant to give him visa because of its ties with Pakistan. The Pakistan Embassy in London opposed his going to Afghanistan or India for treatment. The Pakistan Government requested the Afghan Embassy to refuse him but it the Afghanistan Government had already given a green signal to his stay in their country. After being arrested several times he was exiled in Kabul until December 25, 1972.

From 1972-80 Ghaffar Khan was arrested several times during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the proceeding military government.

Ghaffar Khan died in Peshawar under house arrest in 1988 and was buried in Jalalabad, Afghanistan according to his wishes. The Indian government declared a five-day period of mourning in his honour.¹⁴ Although he had been repeatedly imprisoned and persecuted, tens of thousands of mourners attended his funeral, marching through the historic Khyber Pass from Peshawar to Jalalabad. A cease fire was announced in the Afghan Civil War to allow the funeral to take place, even though it was marred by bomb explosions killing 15.¹⁵

He visited India and participated in the centenary celebrations of the Indian National Congress in 1985; he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1987.¹⁶

Political legacy

Film, Literature and Society

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was briefly portrayed by Dilsher Singh in Richard Attenborough's 1982 epic Gandhi. In 2008 a documentary, titled "The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace," by filmmaker and writer T.C. McLuhan premiered in New York.

Books written on the life of Abdul Ghaffar Khan: "Nonviolent Soldier of Islam" by the late Eknath Easwaran, His autobiography My life and struggle: Autobiography of Badshah Khan was published in 1969.

In the Indian city of Delhi, the popular Khan Bazar is named in honour of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.¹⁷¹⁸

Footnotes

^ An American Witness to India’s Partition by Phillips Talbot Year (2007) Sage Publications ISBN: 9780761936183
^ The Peacemaker of the Pashtun Past By KARL E. MEYER The New York Times Dec 7, 2001
^ Kyber Gateway, Retrieved April 9, 2008
^ Nonviolence in the Islamic Context by Mohammed Abu Nimer 2004
^ ^a ^b "Abdul Ghaffar Khan". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 2008-09-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Abdul Ghaffar Khan". I Love India. Retrieved on 2008-09-24.
^ Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Sunday Tribune: The Tribune India Sunday March 5th 2000[1]
^ Habib, p. 56.
^ Johansen, p. 62.
^ Eknath Easwaran, A Man to Match his Mountains: Bacha Khan, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam (Nilgiri Press, Petaluma, 1984), p. 25.
^ Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 98, a Follower of Gandhi Published: January 21, 1988. New York Times.
^ Partition and Military Succession Documents from the U.S. National Archives
^ Badshah Khan, Budget session of Assembly on March 20th, 1954.
^ Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 98, a Follower of Gandhi (January 21, 1988) New York Times. Retrieved January 21 2008
^ January 23, 1988 edition of the New York Times
^ Abdul Ghaffar Khan, 98, a Follower of Gandhi (January 21, 1988) New York Times. Retrieved January 21 2008
^ "Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Market". Paprika Media Private Ltd.. Retrieved on 2008-11-14.
^ "My visits to Khan Market". Sify News. Retrieved on 2008-11-14.

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