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Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Overview
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890 - 20 January 1988) was an Afghan, Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...

 opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...

, a devout Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

, and a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi, he was also known as Fakhri Afghan ("The Afghan pride"), Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, ., "King Khan") and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 lit., "Frontier Gandhi").
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Quotations

My religion is truth, love and service to God and humanity. Every religion that has come into the world has brought the message of love and brotherhood. Those who are indifferent to the welfare of their fellowmen, whose hearts are empty of love, they do not know the meaning of religion.

Quoted from the Progressive February 2002

There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca. Author : Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Badshah Khan by Eknath Easwaran (Penguin Books).

“It is my inmost conviction,” Badshah Khan said, “that Islam is amal, yakeen, muhabat” – selfless service, faith, and love.

Badshah Khan by Eknath Easwaran (Penguin Books).
Encyclopedia
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890 - 20 January 1988) was an Afghan, Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...

 opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...

, a devout Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

, and a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi, he was also known as Fakhri Afghan ("The Afghan pride"), Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, ., "King Khan") and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 lit., "Frontier Gandhi").

He was initially encouraged by his family to join the British Indian Army; however the treatment of a British Raj officer towards a native offended him, and a family decision for him to study in England was put off after his mother's intervention.

Having witnessed the repeated failure of revolts against the British Raj, he decided social activism and reform would be more beneficial for Pashtuns. This ultimately led to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as the servants of God, represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province....

 movement (Servants of God). The movement's success triggered a harsh crackdown against him and his supporters and he was sent into exile. It was at this stage in the late 1920s that he formed an alliance with Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. This alliance was to last till the 1947 partition of India.

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the Muslim League's demand for the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

. When the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

 accepted the partition plan, he told them "You have thrown us to the wolves."

After partition, Ghaffar Khan was frequently arrested by the Pakistani government in part because of his association with India and his opposition to authoritarian moves by the government. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile.

In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first person not holding the citizenship of India to be awarded the Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order." Unlike knights, holders of the Bharat Ratna...

, India's highest civilian award. Upon his death in 1988, following his wishes, he was buried in Jalalabad. Despite the heavy fighting at the time, both sides in the Afghan war declared a ceasefire to allow his burial.

Early years


Ghaffar Khan was born into a generally peaceful and prosperous family from Utmanzai in the Peshawar Valley of British India. His father, Behram Khan was a land owner in the area commonly referred to as Hashtnaggar. Ghaffar was the second son of Behram to attend the British run Edward's mission school since this was the only fully functioning school because it was run by missionaries. 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. Young 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, Dr. Khan Sahib
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan popularly known as Dr. Khan Sahib was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistan politician.-Early life:...

, to study in London. An alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University,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. So Ghaffar began working on his father's lands while attempting to discern what more he might do with his life.

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 (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 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 500 villages in all part of the settled districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 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 (20 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.

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
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as the servants of God, represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province....

("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
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...

, 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 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. His brother, Dr. Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan popularly known as Dr. Khan Sahib was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistan politician.-Early life:...

 (known as Dr. Khan Sahib), led the political wing of the movement, and was the Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...

 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
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

, 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 (servants of god) agitated and worked cohesively with the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

, 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." 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
Salt Satyagraha
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagrahah began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider...

. A crowd of Khudai Khidmatgar gathered in Peshawar's Kissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar
Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre
The massacre at the Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, British India on 23 April 1930 was a defining moment in the non-violent struggle to drive the British out of India...

. The British ordered troops to open fire with machine guns on the unarmed crowd, killing an estimated 200-250. The Khudai Khidmatgar members acted in accord with their training in non-violence under Ghaffar Khan, facing bullets as the troops fired on them.

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
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 and nonviolence. He viewed his struggle as a jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...

 with only the enemy holding swords. He was closely identified with Gandhi because of his non-violence principles and he is known in India as the 'Frontier Gandhi'. One of his Congress associates was Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal
Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal
Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal was a journalist, a freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement, a Khudai Khidmatgar and a political leader of the Indian National Congress Party from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province of British India...

 of Peshawar.

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

The Partition


Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

. While many Pashtuns (particularly the Red Shirts) were willing to work with Indian politicians, many other 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, Ghaffar Khan was attacked in 1946, leading to his hospitalization in Peshawar.

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 Badshah Khan and his followers felt a sense of betrayal by both Pakistan and India. Badshah Khan's last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: "You have thrown us to the wolves."

When the referendum over accession to Pakistan was held, Badshah Khan and the Indian National Congress Party boycotted the referendum. As a result, in 1947 the accession of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Pakistan was made possible by a slight majority of the 50.1% votes cast. A loya jirga
Loya jirga
A loya jirga is a type of jirga regarded as "grand assembly," a phrase in the Pashto language meaning "grand council." A loya jirga is a mass meeting usually prepared for major events such as choosing a new king, adopting a constitution, or discussing important national political or emergency...

in the Tribal Areas also garnered a similar result as most preferred to become part of Pakistan. Ghaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgars, however, chose to boycott the polls along with other nationalistic Pakhtuns. Some have argued that a segment of the population voted was barred from voting,.

Arrest and exile


Ghaffar Khan took the oath of allegiance to the new nation of Pakistan on 23 February 1948 at the first session of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly.

He pledged full support to the government and attempted to reconcile with the founder of the new state Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Initial overtures led to a successful meeting in Karachi, however a follow-up meeting in the Khudai Khidmatgar headquarters never materialised, allegedly due to the role of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Abdul Qayyum Khan
Abdul Qayyum Khan
Abdul Qayyum Khan was a major figure in Pakistan politics, in particular in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province where he served as deputy speaker, Chief Minister and Minister in the Central Government and as Federal Interior Minister.-Early life:His father Khan Abdul Hakim was a Tehsildar in N.W.F.P...

 who warned Jinnah that Ghaffar Khan was plotting his assassination.

Following this, Ghaffar Khan formed Pakistan's first National opposition party, on 8 May 1948, the Pakistan Azad Party. The party pledged to play the role of constructive opposition and would be non-communal in its philosophy.

However, suspicions of his allegiance persisted and under the new Pakistani government, Ghaffar Khan was placed 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 Babrra.

"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."


He was arrested several times between late 1948 and in 1956 for his opposition to the One Unit
One Unit
One-Unit was the title of a scheme launched by the federal government of Pakistan to merge the four provinces of West Pakistan into one homogenous unit, as a counterbalance against the numerical domination of the ethnic Bengalis of East Pakistan...

 scheme. The government attempted in 1958 to reconcile with him and offered him a Ministry in the government, after the assassination of his brother, he however refused. He remained in prison till 1957 only to be re-arrested in 1958 until an illness in 1964 allowed for his release.

In 1962, Abdul Ghaffar Khan was named an "Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 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 prisoners of conscience."

In September 1964, the Pakistani authorities allowed him to go to United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 for treatment. During winter his doctor advised him to go to United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He then went into exile to Afghanistan, he returned from exile in December 1972 to a popular response, following the establishment of National Awami Party provincial government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan
Balochistan
Balochistan or Baluchistan is a region which covers parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:...

.

He was arrested by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government at Multan in November 1973 and described Bhuttos government as "the worst kind of dictatorship".

In 1984, increasingly withdrawing from politics he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He visited India and participated in the centennial celebrations of the Indian National Congress in 1985; he was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1967 and later Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna
Bharat Ratna is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order." Unlike knights, holders of the Bharat Ratna...

, India's highest civilian award, in 1987.

His final major political challenge was against the Kalabagh dam
Kalabagh Dam
The Kalabagh dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Indus River at Kalabagh in Mianwali District of the Punjab province in Pakistan. The project has been controversial since its inception.-History:...

 project, fearing that the project would damage the Peshawar valley, his hostility to it would eventually lead to the project being shelved after his death.

Ghaffar Khan died in Peshawar under house arrest in 1988 and was buried in Jalalabad, Afghanistan according to his wishes. This was a symbolic move by Ghafar Khan, this would allow his dream of Pakhtun unification to live even after his death. The Indian government declared a five-day period of mourning in his honour.

Although he had been repeatedly imprisoned and persecuted, tens of thousands of mourners attended his funeral, described by one commentator as a caravan of peace, carrying a message of love from Pashtuns east of the Khyber to those on the west, marching through the historic Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....

 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.

Political legacy



His eldest son Ghani Khan
Ghani Khan
Ghani Khan is widely considered as one of the best Pashto language poets of the 20th century, along with Ameer Hamza Shinwari. He stands on a par with Khushal Khan Khattak and Rahman Baba. He was also a respected writer and artist...

 was a poet, his other son Khan Abdul Wali Khan is the founder and leader of the Awami National Party
Awami National Party
The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

 and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Pakistan National Assembly
National Assembly of Pakistan
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...

. Ghaffar Khans family was the frequent target of government arrests due to their involvement in politics and being accused of being anti-Pakistani.

His third son Khan Abdul Ali Khan
Khan Abdul Ali Khan
Khan Abdul Ali Khan , noted educationist, Oxford University alumni, former Principal of Islamia College Peshawar, Fazle Haq College Mardan, Aitchison College, former Vice Chancellor of Peshawar University, Gomal University and former education secretary.Born in a political family, Abdul Ali Khan...

 was non-political and a distinguished educator, and served as Vice-Chancellor of University of Peshawar
University of Peshawar
The University of Peshawar is a public sector university in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. The university was established in October 1950 by Mr...

. Ali Khan was also the head of Aitchison College
Aitchison College
Aitchison College, Lahore, is one of the most prestigious educational institutions of its kind in South Asia. Established in 1886, it has retained its character over the years, maintaining the public school tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports and co-curricular activities...

, Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

 and Fazle Haq college, Mardan
Mardan
Mardan , known as The city of hospitality, is a city and headquarters of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the de facto headquarters of the Yousafzai tribe and the second most populous city in the province, located at 34°12'0N 72°1'60E and an altitude of in the south...

.

Mohammed Yahya
Mohammed Yahya
-Early life and education:Mohammed Yahya was born in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province in 1901. Mohammed Yahya was the second son of the sixth wife of Haji Ghulam Samdani, who belonged to Barra Mulla in Kashmir....

 Education Minister of N W F Province, was the only son in law of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

Asfandyar Wali Khan
Asfandyar Wali Khan
Asfandyar Wali Khan is a democratic socialist and the current the President of the Awami National Party in Pakistan.His father, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, was the party's first President...

 is the grandson of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, and leader of the Awami National Party, the party in power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Salma Ataullahjan
Salma Ataullahjan
-Career:She was named to the upper house by Governor General Michaëlle Jean, on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on July 9, 2010, and will sit with the Conservative caucus. With this appointment, Ataullahjan became the first Canadian senator of Pakistani Pushtun descent...

 is the great grand niece of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and a member of the Senate of Canada.

Abdul Ghaffar Khan's political legacy is mixed he is renowned amongst Pakhtuns and internationally as a leader of a non-violent movement. He is credited with his tireless advocacy of peace in the region he belonged to. However, within Pakistan, there is a large section of society which still has not come to grips with his siding with the All India Congress over the Muslim League as well as his opposition to Mr. M. A. Jinnah who is revered in Pakistan as the father of the nation. In particular people have questioned Ghaffar Khan's patriotism following his insistence that he be buried in Afghanistan after his death and not Pakistan.
Others ask how one's choice of burial place is an indication of one's Patriotism since a better indicator is one's actions while living and even though Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan spent half of his 98 year life in jail most of it in Pakistani jails doing hard labor he continued to reside in Pakistan.

Film, literature and society


In 2008, a documentary, titled The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace
The Frontier Gandhi
The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace, a documentary released in 2008, is the first full film account of Pashtun leader and non violent activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Badshah Khan or Bacha Khan....

, by filmmaker and writer T.C. McLuhan, premiered in New York. The film received the 2009 award for Best Documentary Film at the Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...

 (see film page
The Frontier Gandhi
The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace, a documentary released in 2008, is the first full film account of Pashtun leader and non violent activist Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Badshah Khan or Bacha Khan....

).

In Richard Attenborough's 1982 epic Gandhi
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...

, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was briefly portrayed by Dilsher Singh.

Badshah Khan was listed as one of 26 men who changed the world in a recent children's book
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He also wrote an autobiography (1969), and has been the subject of biographies by Eknath Easwaran
Eknath Easwaran
Eknath Easwaran was a spiritual teacher, an author of books on meditation and ways to lead a fulfilling life, as well as a translator and interpreter of Indian literature....

 (see article
Nonviolent Soldier of Islam
Nonviolent Soldier of Islam is a biography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , an ally of Gandhi's in the Indian independence movement. Originally written by Eknath Easwaran in English, foreign editions have also been published in Arabic and several other languages.Foreign editions of Nilgiri Press Books,...

) and Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.Gandhi's maternal grandfather was C...

 (see "References" section, below). His philosophy of Islamic pacificism was recognised by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a speech to American Muslims.

In the Indian city of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, the popular Khan Market
Khan Market
Khan Market , named in honour of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , it is the costliest market strip in New Delhi. It has been ranked as the costliest retail location in India...

 is named in honour of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and another market in the Karol Bagh
Karol Bagh
Karol Bagh, also spelled as Qarol Bagh , is a mixed residential-cum-commercial neighbourhood in Delhi, India, known for its shopping streets, like the Ghaffar Market and Ajmal Khan Road...

 of New Delhi is named after him called Ghaffar Market

Vibhu Puri is reportedly making a Bollywood Biopic on the life of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan titled Chenab Gandhi.

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