Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Alternate
name(s): Badshah Khan

Place of birth: Hashtnagar,Utmanzai, Charsadda, British India

Place of death: Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Movement: Indian Independence Movement

Major
organizations: Khudai Khidmatgar, Indian National Congress,
National Awami party

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890 - 20 January 1988) was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India. A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,[1]and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he was also known as Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Urdu, Pashto: lit., “King Khan”), and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi 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 similar family decision for him to study in England was put of after his Mothers 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 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 1920’s that he formed an alliance with Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. This alliance was to last till the 1947 partition of India.
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 1960’s and 1970’s 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, India’s highest civilian award. In 1988 on his passing, 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 Charsadda, in the Peshawar Valley of British India. His father, Behram Khan, was a land owner, farmer, and the chief of the Mohammedzais (”sons of Mohamed”) tribe of the Pashtun 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 soldiers of the British Raj. 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, 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. [2]