The Frontier Gandhi: My Life and Struggle: The Autobiography of Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada

Description

Affectionately known as ‘Bacha’ Khan or ‘Badshah’ Khan amongst his people, Khan Abdul Ghaffar’s life was dedicated to the social reform of the Pukhtuns, who traditionally adhere to a strict code of life called ‘Pukhtunwali’, which is governed by rather rigid tribal norms. Bacha Khan is an acknowledged leader in the hearts of the Pukhtuns across the world, due to his life long struggle to modernize Pukhtun society and his teachings of non-violence, adopted by his Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) party, during the struggle for independence against the British. He stands tall in the pantheon of leaders of the movement for independence. A close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, his success in mobilizing the Pukhtuns of the North-West Frontier Province and the Tribal Areas through a non-violent struggle, had significant bearing on this movement, in which the Khudai Khidmatgar allied with the Indian National Congress. Few are aware that, during the struggle for independence, the Khudai Khidmatgar lost the most number of workers, compared to any other party that was part of this movement, under a tyrannical suppression by British colonialists. An increasing consciousness amongst the Pukhtuns against oppression and war, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has led to a resurgence of the teachings of Bacha Khan. His powerful political weapon of non-violence, his emphasis on including women in all walks of life, his belief in religious tolerance and pluralism, are, today, values that bear increasing relevance to the people of a much-troubled region. The Pushto edition of Bacha Khan’s autobiography was first published in 1983 in Afghanistan, when he was 93 years old. Nearly four decades later the book has been translated and published for the first time in English. (An earlier account of his life, also titled My Life and Struggle was published in 1963 but this was based on interviews conducted with him and not his written autobiography.) This translation was painstakingly done by Sahibzada at the request of Shandana Humayun Khan, to whom he has dedicated the book. Shandana’s maternal great-grandfather was Qazi Ataullah, a close lieutenant of Bacha Khan’s and a key figure in the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. Before the translation process started, Sahibzada and Shandana visited several members of Bacha Khan’s family including his grandsons Nasir Ali Khan, Asfandayar Wali Khan and Saleem Jan. The translator shared a close friendship with Bacha Khan’s son, Abdul Ghani Khan, the greatest Pukhtun poet of the century. The book is a result of the participation of several members of his family and those who have spent their lives studying Bacha Khan’s philosophy. For the first time Bacha Khan’s thoughts on Pukhtun society, his vision for a more equitable world achieved along the lines of non-violence have been researched, translated and made available for the world in his own words.

Sujets

• Juvenile Nonfiction
• Raj Británico
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Afganistán
• British Raj
• Golden rule (law)
• Rajmohan Gandhi
• Modern history
• Incarceration
• Colonialism
• Aux frontières des Indes
• Autobiography
• Colonisation
• Independence
• Colony
• India
• Prison
• Raj britannique
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
• Afghanistan

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 01 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788194969181
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988), affectionately known as Bacha Khan, Badshah Khan and Fakr-e-Afghan among his people, and ‘Frontier Gandhi’ in India, was born in Uthmanzai in the North-West Frontier Province of British India. His life was dedicated to the social reform of the Pukhtuns and he continues to be revered across the world by them. In India, he is known for his close association with Mahatma Gandhi and his leadership of the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) movement from 1930–47 – the most successful and sustained Gandhian non-violent campaign anywhere in the world. The Khudai Khidmatgars or ‘Red Shirts’ were key allies of the Congress who formed three governments in the NWFP despite brutal opposition from the colonial regime.
Badshah Khan’s success in creating a disciplined non-violent movement in a Muslim and Pukhtun context that emphasized justice, courage, respect for women and pluralism, continues to inspire today.
This is the first time that his autobiography is available in English. His candid style brings to life events and personalities of the independence movement as he records the untiring energy and sacrifices that went into winning freedom.
The original Pashto edition was first published in 1983 in Afghanistan when he was 93 years old. Subsequently, the book was also published by the Baacha Khan Trust in Peshawar, Pakistan. (An earlier account of his life, also titled My Life and Struggle was published in 1969 but this was based on interviews conducted with him and not his written autobiography.)
This translation was done by Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada at the request of Shandana Humayun Khan. Shandana’s maternal great-grandfather was Qazi Ataullah, a close lieutenant of Bacha Khan’s and a key figure in the Khudai Khidmatgar movement.
 
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Dedication
The normal practice is that when one authors a book, it is
dedicated to someone. The verses of this poem of Makhfi Sahib,
have proved to be my life long companion in my thoughts,
actions and the struggle of my political life. That is why I want
to dedicate this book to them and wish to bring it before the
public with them:
‘Khawenda wudana klray Zamoong de yawalai Hujra;
Yaw zai pe kshay de zanaklray, De Pukhto dalla khwara;
Yaw zlre, yaw saa yawshanay klray,
Day beyal aw beyal Pukhtun sara.’
‘Oh God for us Pukhtuns create,
Of brotherhood a structure,
Where we Pukhtuns may congregate
Our numerous dispersed groups;
One heart, one breath create for them,
These individual beings.’
‘Kashmir na ter Herat horay, Baluchistan na ter dooray;
Da tol Pukhtun dae har cheray,
Tse rangay prot zaray zaray;
De yaw wajud pa shanay klray,
Ya khudaya da zara zara.’
‘From Kashmir to Herat all spread out, Baluchistan, beyond,
They’re all Pukhtuns, no matter where,
Disorganised, dismayed;
And of them make a whole that’s strong,
Oh God of strength, compassion.’
 
Dedicated to my niece,
Shandana Humayun Khan,
at whose special request this
translation was undertaken.
– Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada
 
Contents
Foreword
Note on this Translation
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Enrolment in School and Conditions of the Time
3. A New Field and Fresh Thoughts
4. With the Sheikh-al-Hind Sahib
5. The Rowlatt Act and Us
6. The Khilafat Movement and Hijrat
7. Intellectual Revolution
8. Jail and the Tale of the Jail
9. Political Developments and the Monthly Pukhtun Magazine
10. Organized Political Activity
11. The Gujarat Jail and Alliance with the All-India Congress Party
12. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact
13. The Round Table Conference
14. Working in my Own Province
15. In Hazaribagh Jail: Mass Arrests Outside
16. Proscribed from Visiting the Frontier and Punjab
17. The First Government of the Khudai Khidmatgar
18. The Nuts and Bolts of the Khudai Khidmatgar (End of 1942)
19. The Elections – Cabinet Mission – Interim Government
20. Dear Readers
Epilogue: Bacha Khan’s Life after Partition (1947) till his Death, 20 January 1988
Notes
Glossary
People who Made this Book Possible
Index
About the Translator
 
Foreword
In earlier generations, Indians called him ‘Khan Sahib’ or ‘Badshah Khan’. Many spoke or wrote of him as ‘the Frontier Gandhi’. Hindi-speakers called him ‘Seemaant Gandhi’. However, ‘Bacha Khan’ is how Pakistanis referred to him and still do.
If many could not remember Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s full name, no one who saw him, whether directly or in a photograph, could forget his towering appearance. In my biography of him, first published in 2004, 1 I recalled Badshah Khan’s ‘immensely tall figure, absolutely straight back, great nose, kindly eyes, and permanent air of nonviolent defiance’.
He died in 1988. It would have been an amazing privilege to present my biography to him. Instead of that, I am being asked to write a foreword to his autobiography! The honour humbles me. It makes me want to hide.
I hope nonetheless that many Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis – and others too – will pore over this indispensable piece of our subcontinent’s history.
Collaboration across the India-Pakistan-Afghanistan border has produced this book, with a leading Indian publisher bringing out a text created in Pakistan about our joint recent history. How wonderful.
Here is my understanding of how the Pashto original of this text was born. Badshah Khan seems to have dictated his story, from birth to the 1947 creation of Pakistan, in 1965, when he was living in exile in Kabul. He was 75 then.
Since he lived until 1988 (reaching the age of 98), missing from this autobiography are forty-one years (from 1947 onwards) of Badshah Khan’s life. That was a substantial chunk of time, during which interesting things continued to happen to, through and around Badshah Khan. Readers should be aware of this absence.
Badshah Khan dictated the story in his language Pashto (also spelt Pakhto or Pukhto). This translation into English is the painstaking work of a distinguished Pakistani civil servant, Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada, now in his eighties, who has also translated some of the brilliant poetry of Badshah Khan’s eldest son, Ghani Khan.
In 2003, when I was working on my biography of Badshah Khan, I had the good fortune to find, in a library, a previous English version 2 (published in 1969) of an autobiography by him. Therein it was stated that Badshah Khan had dictated the story of his life – in Pashto, in Kabul – to Kanwar Bhan Narang, a former Frontier Province legislator who was living in Kabul at the same time, and that a woman named Helen H. Bouman had translated the text into English.
Though I do not know it for a fact, it seems likely that the Pashto text from which Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada has produced this English translation is connected to the text that led to the 1969 book. However, the story emerging in this translation, while remaining confined to the pre-1947 period, seems fuller than what the 1969 book presented, and I note that Badshah Khan appears to have given a 1981 date t