In July 1988, one sunny evening I went over to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi during visiting hours to visit a friend’s father who was admitted there. It was visiting hours and normally there was no security; but on this particular occasion, there were some police men on duty guiding the crowd and trying to bring a disorderly and noisy crowd under control. A VIP was admitted to the institute, people were saying in whispers but no one seemed to know who. As there was no restriction on movement, I went across the wards exploring and finally outside a private ward with its door ajar I stopped. A lone police man was on duty but as I peeped it, I could make out the person inside, a gaunt, tall bearded old man who was inside it. The VIP patient admitted to the institute was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. He died some months later, far removed from AIIMS in a British built prison hospital in Peshawar.
In today’s day and age of religious and ethnic stereo typing, it is worth recalling the memory of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, giant of a man of a stature larger than his name who belied all stereotypes. A deeply pious Muslim but tolerant and liberal the Frontier Gandhi was a staunch Congressman and a Gandhian all his life and unequivocally opposed to the partition. Born and bred in an area where guns and violence are more than a way of life, Badshah Khan, as he was also known, 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.
Many people think that Gandhiji was a great man but perhaps his disciple the Frontier Gandhi was a bigger man. Many believe that Gandhiji betrayed Hindus by appeasing Muslims, but if there was one man who Gandhi did betray but who still harbored no bitterness, it was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, his disciple and the man who looked up to Gandhiji as his mentor.
The Frontier Gandhi remained a Congressman as long as it was possible to be one , opposed partition unflinchingly as long as there was scope to do so and when partition came, he was the only Congressman of any stature left in what is now Pakistan. Badshah Khan’s last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: “You have thrown us to the wolves.” Distrusted in Pakistan because of his Congress past and opposition to partition, abandoned by the Congress, post independence, the Frontier Gandhi spent over thirty years in prison – British prisons before independence and Pakistani prisons post independence. Gandhiji received many credits because of his work, the Frontier Gandhi, practically none. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s 33 years in prison amount to even more than Nelson Mandela, who spent 28.5 years in prison.
When the Frontier Gandhi died on 20 January 1988 at the age of ninety-eight, the then raging Afghan civil war ceased for a day so that mourners could pay their respects to a man whom they loved and respected but whose ideology of non violence they had long abandoned. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s unique interpretation of Islam is much more valuable because it was lived out through a life that did not bring terror and misery in the lives of others. He too fought imperialists and colonialists as today’s jihadists say they do , but his methods were different. At a time when the people Badshah Khan served all his life have become victims of another geo-political game, his absence is conspicuous. By being rooted to his culture, yet personifying universal values of tolerance and ahimsa, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had blown apart accepted wisdom about the violent Pakthun warrior that have once again gained currency in these disturbed days. He had attacked repressive political structures, be it colonial or national. And he had radically altered the treatise and practice on resistance in the northwest of South Asia. All this, without lifting a gun. He is the first Pashtun in known history to pacify one of the most war-liking people in the world.
In today’s day and age of religious and ethnic stereo typing, it is worth recalling the memory of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, giant of a man of a stature larger than his name who belied all stereotypes. A deeply pious Muslim but tolerant and liberal the Frontier Gandhi was a staunch Congressman and a Gandhian all his life and unequivocally opposed to the partition. Born and bred in an area where guns and violence are more than a way of life, Badshah Khan, as he was also known, 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.
Many people think that Gandhiji was a great man but perhaps his disciple the Frontier Gandhi was a bigger man. Many believe that Gandhiji betrayed Hindus by appeasing Muslims, but if there was one man who Gandhi did betray but who still harbored no bitterness, it was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, his disciple and the man who looked up to Gandhiji as his mentor.
The Frontier Gandhi remained a Congressman as long as it was possible to be one , opposed partition unflinchingly as long as there was scope to do so and when partition came, he was the only Congressman of any stature left in what is now Pakistan. Badshah Khan’s last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: “You have thrown us to the wolves.” Distrusted in Pakistan because of his Congress past and opposition to partition, abandoned by the Congress, post independence, the Frontier Gandhi spent over thirty years in prison – British prisons before independence and Pakistani prisons post independence. Gandhiji received many credits because of his work, the Frontier Gandhi, practically none. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s 33 years in prison amount to even more than Nelson Mandela, who spent 28.5 years in prison.
When the Frontier Gandhi died on 20 January 1988 at the age of ninety-eight, the then raging Afghan civil war ceased for a day so that mourners could pay their respects to a man whom they loved and respected but whose ideology of non violence they had long abandoned. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s unique interpretation of Islam is much more valuable because it was lived out through a life that did not bring terror and misery in the lives of others. He too fought imperialists and colonialists as today’s jihadists say they do , but his methods were different. At a time when the people Badshah Khan served all his life have become victims of another geo-political game, his absence is conspicuous. By being rooted to his culture, yet personifying universal values of tolerance and ahimsa, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had blown apart accepted wisdom about the violent Pakthun warrior that have once again gained currency in these disturbed days. He had attacked repressive political structures, be it colonial or national. And he had radically altered the treatise and practice on resistance in the northwest of South Asia. All this, without lifting a gun. He is the first Pashtun in known history to pacify one of the most war-liking people in the world.
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