Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

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Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
c. 1890 – 1988
Leader of the non-violent independence movement in British India's Northwest Frontier, known as the Frontier Gandhi.
Alternate name:	Badshah Khan
Place of birth:	Utmanzai, Charsadda, India
Place of death:	Peshawar, Pakistan
Movement:	Indian Independence Movement
Major organizations:	Khudai Khidmatgar

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Pashto/Arabic: خان عبد الغفار خان) (b. at Hashtnagar in Utmanzai, Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, India, c. 1890; d. in Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan, 20 January 1988) was a Pashtun (Afghan) political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule during the final years of the Imperial rule in the Indian sub-continent. He was a lifelong pacifist and a devout Muslim. He was known as Badshah Khan (sometimes written as Bacha Khan), the King of Chiefs, and Frontier Gandhi.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Badshah Khan 3 Khudai Khidmatgar 4 Gandhi and the National Congress Party 5 The Partition 6 Arrest and Exile 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early years

Ghaffar Khan was born into a generally peaceful and prosperous family in the Peshawar Valley. 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 and Sikh soldiers of the British Raj. Ghaffar refused the commission after realizing 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.

[edit] 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, including the loss of his first wife in 1915 to an influenza epidemic, Ghaffer 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 the Badshah Khan (King of Chiefs).

[edit] 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:

I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it.

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).

[edit] Gandhi and the National Congress Party

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.

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." But he remained a member of the Congress Working Committee for a long time, 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.

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'.

"O Pathans! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it, and remember to what race you belong." -- Ghaffar Khan

quoted in Eknath Easwaran, A Man to Match his Mountains: Bacha Khan, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam (Nilgiri Press, Petaluma, 1984), p. 25.

[edit] The Partition

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the partition of India. While the Red Shirts were willing to work with Indian politicians, some Pashtuns desired independence from both India and the newly created state of Pakistan following the departure of the British. Targeted with being Anti-Muslim Ghaffar was attacked by fellow Muslims in 1946, leading to his hospitalisation in Peshawar.^[1]

The Congress party under refused last ditch compromises; 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."

When given a choice between Pakistan and India, most voters chose Pakistan by a margin of 9 to 1 in 1947. A loya jirga in the Tribal Areas garnered a similar result as most preferred to become part of Pakistan. Khan asked his supporters to boycott the polls; the turnout was low.

In February 1948, Khan took the oath of allegiance to the new nation of Pakistan. Shortly afterwards he addressed the Pakistan constituent assembly and announced his support for Pakistan, while at the same time his Khudai Khidmatgar movement pledged allegiance to Pakistan and severed all links to the Congress Party.

In his speech to the assembly he said:

"Whenever I had an opportunity to address the people in different parts of our province, I told them clearly that indeed, I was of the opinion that India should not be divided because today in India we have witnessed the result. Thousands and thousands of young and old, children, men, and women were massacred and ruined. But now that the division is an accomplished fact, the dispute is over.

"I delivered many speeches against the division of India, but the question is: has anybody listened to me? You may hold any opinion about me, but I am not a man of destruction but of construction. If you study my life, you will find that I devoted it to the welfare of our country. We have proclaimed that if the Government of Pakistan would work for our people and our country the Khudai Khidmatgars would be with them. I repeat that I am not for the destruction of Pakistan. In destruction lies no good.

"Neither Hindus nor Muslims, nor the Frontier, not Punjab, Bengal or Sindh stands to gain from it. There is advantage only in construction. I want to tell you categorically I will not support anybody in destruction. If any constructive programme is before you, if you want to do something constructive for our people, not in theory, but in practice, I declare before this House that I and my people are at your service..." (Puri, pp 188-190).

[edit] Arrest and Exile

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 Babra Sharif.

"I had to go to prison many a time in the days of the Britishers. Although we were at loggerheads with them, yet their treatment was to some extent tolerant and polite. But the treatment which was meted out to me in this Islamic state of ours was such that I would not even like to mention it to you." Badshah Khan, Budget session of Assembly on March 20th, 1954."

He went on to say:

"Six years ago, I announced on the floor of this House that Pakistan is our country and its solidarity and protection is our duty and that any program that will be submitted by any party for its progress and its reconstruction shall have my fullest cooperation. I repeat those words of mind even today. But still there are some persons who suspect my loyalty. I therefore think that it would be advisable to set up a tribunal to enquire not only into the question of loyalty or treason but also into the general massacre, arson and loot and the dishonouring of women and children and old men at Charsadda and the oppressive treatment meted out to us in jail." Badshah Khan, Budget session of Assembly on March 20, 1954.

Despite his vitriol he confounded his opponents and Indian supporters, who had long agitated for Ghaffar Khan's release, when to cheering crowds he supported Pakistan's claim to the disputed territory of Kashmir and went on to claim that he had twice offered his services in Kashmir on Pakistan's behalf.^[2]

Re-arrested in 1956 or his opposition to the One-Unit scheme he remained in prison till 1959. Upon being released he went into exile in Kabul. In 1969, he was invited to India to attend the 100th birthday of Gandhi, his first visit after independence.

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."

His autobiography My life and struggle: Autobiography of Badshah Khan was published in 1969.

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.

Ghaffar Khan died in Peshawar under house arrest in 1988 and was buried in Jalalabad according to his wishes. 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 kllling 15.^[3]

"Better be poisoned in one's own blood then to be poisoned in one's principle."

His eldest son Ghani Khan was a poet. Another son Khan Wali Khan is the founder and leader of the Awami National Party and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Pakistan National Assembly. His third son Ali Khan was non-political and a distinguished educator, and served as Vice-Chancellor of University of Peshawar. Ali Khan was also the head of Aitchison College, Lahore, and Fazle Haq college, Mardan.

[edit] Footnotes