The 90th anniversary of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre, a pivotal event during the British occupation of the Indian subcontinent, is being commemorated. The event is notable for the brutal response of British soldiers against non-violent protesters of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement on April 23, 1930.
The Khudai Khidmatgar Movement
The Khudai Khidmatgar was a pacifist resistance against British rule over the Indian subcontinent. The movement’s leader was Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun freedom fighter from the North-West Frontier Province. Initially, the focus of Khidmatgar was social reform and self-reliance. However, it gradually transformed into a political movement, attracting the attention of the British due to its increasing influence in the region.
In 1929 following the arrest of Khan and other leaders, the movement formally aligned with the Indian National Congress, after failing to secure support from the All-India Muslim League. The members were well-organized, with men distinctively wearing bright red shirts as uniforms, while women donned black outfits. Despite common assumptions otherwise, the Khudai Khidtmatgar opposed the Partition, suggesting that they weren’t in favor of creating an independent nation called Pakistan.
Cause of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar Massacre
Abdul Ghaffar Khan and other Khudai Khidmatgar leaders were arrested by British law enforcement on April 23, 1930, following Khan’s speech at a rally in the town of Utmanzai in the North-West Frontier Province. This led protests to erupt at the Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar.
When the protesters refused to disperse, British soldiers drove army vehicles into the gathering, causing several casualties among protesters and bystanders.
Abdul Ghaffar Khan: The “Frontier Gandhi”
Abdul Ghaffar Khan, often referred to as the “Frontier Gandhi,” was a prominent leader of the Pashtun community, a Muslim ethnic group in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He entered politics in 1919 due to the Rowlatt Acts, which allowed for the internment of political dissidents without trial, and later joined the Khilafat movement to strengthen the spiritual ties of Indian Muslims to the Turkish Sultan.
In 1921, Khan was elected president of a district Khilafat committee in his native North-West Frontier Province. Following his attendance at an Indian National Congress Party gathering in 1929, Khan founded the Khudai Khitmatgar movement among the Pashtuns.
Khan received the Bharat Ratna Prize, the highest honor given to civilians in India, in 1987, making him the first non-Indian recipient. Other non-Indian laureates include Nelson Mandela in 1990, while Mother Teresa, who received the award in 1980, became the first and only naturalized citizen to receive the Bharat Ratna.
