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Khaksar Movement Weekly Al-Islahs Role Toward Freedom

The Khaksar Tehriks weekly Al-Islah was started by Allama Mashriqi in 1934 from Lahore.
Distinguished Scholar and Historian Nasim Yousafs article entitled Khaksar Movement Weekly Al-
Islahs Role Toward Freedom has recently been published in Pakistaniaat (Vol. 3, No 3, year 2011,
Autumn Issue). According to the description given on the journals website
(http://www.pakistaniaat.org), Pakistaniaat is a refereed, multidisciplinary, and open access academic
journal offering a forum for scholarly and creative engagement with various aspects of Pakistani history,
culture, literature, and politics. Housed in the English Department of the University of North Texas,
Pakistaniaat is a sponsored journal of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies...Pakistaniaat is an
approved journal of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

The abstract of the said article is as follows: In-depth study and analysis of the Khaksar Tehriks
(Khaksar Movement) weekly paper Al-Islah (started in 1934) is imperative from the perspective of
British Indias independence the emergence of Pakistan and India in 1947. It is not conceivable to
record a balanced and uncontaminated account of the freedom movement of the Indian sub-continent
without examining the role of Al-Islah in the 1930s and 1940s.

This paper, Khaksar Movement Weekly Al-Islahs Role Toward Freedom, discusses the paramount and pre-eminent role that the
said weekly (newspaper) played in spreading the Khaksar Movements ideology, the goal of which was to inculcate character and
discipline amongst the masses and ultimately lead to freedom of India from the British. Al-Islah indeed served to spread the
Movement, which rose to become a Private Army (as referred to by Lord Linlithgow, Viceroy of India) of 5 million, and generated
following in other countries. In addition, the Al-Islah inspired others who copied the Khaksars and
formed similar organizations. The weekly also helped to achieve Allama Mashriqis (founder of the
KhaksarTehrik) mission of instilling unity, strict discipline, equality, and self-less community service
(regardless of religion) amongst millions of Khaksars.

The spread of the Khaksar Movement in British India and other countries and the emergence of
analogous organizations provide clear evidence that Al-Islahs motivational, instigating, and
morale-raising contents brought about an awakening amongst the people of pre-partition India. The
Government of British India was alarmed and banned the Al-Islah. Yet they could neither suppress
the Khaksar Movement nor the spirit of freedom which Al-Islah had infused throughout the nation.

This piece argues that the British would not even have spoken to Indian leaders or thought of transferring power, and the emergence
of Pakistan and India could not have been envisioned, unless the rulers understood the grave threat posed to their rule by this
awakening brought on by Al-Islah and the Khaksar Movement.

The said article is exceptionally important from the perspective of the freedom of the Indian sub-continent from British rule. It fills a
key gap that exists in the historiography of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It also depicts the leading role played by Al-Islah and its
founder Allama Mashriqi in bringing freedom to the Indian sub-continent.

According to the author, Mr. Yousaf, people have been reading false history of the freedom of Indian sub-continent. It is sad that
people only know about the All-India Muslim League and the Indian National Congress leaderships role in the freedom movement,
whereas Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksars sufferings and rigorous fight against the British Raj in Pakistan and India have been
buried, in order to give the full credit of independence to the two formerly mentioned political parties. This is also evident from the
fact that access to original documents in National Archives of Pakistan and India is terrible.

The author said, it must be realized that behind partition were vested interests of Muslim and non-Muslim leaders. Endorsement of
partition breeds hatred between Muslims and Hindus and serves no purpose; therefore, writers and speakers must shun the justification
of partition. To obtain peace in the region, the history of both countries needs to be rectified and re-written; peace in the region will
not be found, unless it is realized on both sides (India and Pakistan) that partition was not endorsed by the majority of Muslims and
Hindus. Partition was a blunder and was sought to meet political ends.

The authors published works unequivocally give new shape to the existing narrative of the freedom movement and, indeed, compel
historians to re-visit the history of the Indian sub-continent.

Historian Nasim Yousaf comes from a renowned family of the Indian sub-continent and is a grandson of the pre-eminent Allama
Mashriqi (world-known scholar, mathematician and founder of the Khaksar Tehrik). He is also a nephew of globally recognized
social scientist Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan (both Allama Mashriqi and Dr. A.H. Khan were nominated for the Nobel Prize; Mashriqi for
Literature for his book Tazkirah and Dr. Khan for Peace for his rural development and poverty alleviation projects). Mr. Yousaf is
an expert on the Khaksar Movement and is the author of 10 books, many articles in the press, and works in scholarly journals; he has
also presented at conferences in the USA.

The authors article in Pakistaniaat can be downloaded from:
http://pakistaniaat.org/index.php/pak/article/view/134

Published in:
All Voices (USA) January 18, 2012
http://www.allvoices.com

Pakistan Christian Post, January 18, 2012
http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/viewarticles.php?editorialid=1394

Daily Pegham International (Azad Kashmir), January, 2012
http://www.dailypegham.com

Himalayan Altitudes, January 19, 2012
http://himalayanaltitudes.blogspot.com/2012/01/khaksar-movement-weekly-al-islahs-role.html

New Age Islam (India), January 31, 2012
http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamBooksAndDocuments_1.aspx?ArticleID=6511

Weekly Press Pakistan (Canada), February 07, 2012
http://weeklypresspakistan.com/2012/02/952

Make Pakistan Better, February 13, 2012
http://www.makepakistanbetter.com/why_how_what_forum.asp?GroupID=22&ArticleID=16734

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