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BOOK TITLE: “GOLD AND GUN ON THE PATHAN FRONTIER”

Author: Abdul Qaiyum

Publisher: Hind Kitabs Publishers, Mumbay

Date of Publication: 1945

Pages: 77

About the Author:

The book “Gold and Gun on the Pathan Frontir” has been author by Khan

Abdul Qaiyum Khan, chief minister of NWFP now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was

born in Nagar village of Chitral on July 16, 1901. In 1932, after losing the Frontier

Legislative Assembly elections, he joined the Congress Party and lost elcetions again

in 1936, but his rise in the Congress was notable. However by 1945 Qaiyum and the

Congress party had fallen out of love. It was around this time that he penned down

his 77 pages ode to Khan brothers and the Mulim League, a party he rages against in

his book. Even though he used the book to patch things with the Congress, when the

latter denied him the party ticket for central legislature, Qaiyum saw the moment an

opportune and switched to the League. When in 1947 Dr. Khan Sahib ministry was

dismissed by the then Governor General Quaid-i-Azam dismissed, Qaiyum was

appointed as chief minister of NWFP now Khyber Pahtunkhwa.

About the Book

It is a unique book as it was banned by its own author after joining All India

Muslim League. The ban on book was never lifted as it is the case with most of the

banned books in Pakistan.

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What is in the book

The book “ Gold and Gun on the Pathan Frontier” consists of eight chapters, in

which the author, with strong nationalistic undertone, expresses a scathing critique of the

British policy in the erstwhile North West Frontier Province and eulogizes the Khudai

Khidmatgar Tehreek (KKT).

Book Review

Gold and Gun on the Pathan Frontier

By Abdul Qaiyum

INTRODUCTION

The author has dedicated this book to Dr. Khan Sahib, the elder brother of

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, for his unceasing fight against corruption in public life

and in public service. In this rather short book he has attempted to give the broad

outlines of certain aspects of the Frontier problem. There is a brief history of the

province, detailed information about its inhabitants and some prominent personalities.

Khudai Khidmatgar Tehreek is eulogized as torch bearer of freedom movement. The

tribal belt has also been dealt with due attention. The economic back ground of the

province as the root cause behind Frontier problem is also highlighted in very

convincing style and lastly, the shape of things to come is discussed.

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According to the author, pathans always desire to live their own way. For a

long period they have not only be misunderstood, but their case has been

misrepresented by interested parties. The author argued that they neither nurtured any

desire to dominate others nor submit to dictations from any quarter. With the help of

this little book the author has earnestly tried to explain the case of Frontier’s people to

India in general and to the people abroad in particular in its right perspective.

Chapter Wise Review

In the very first chapter entitled “Phsyical Outlines of the Pathan Home land”,

the author of the book has described the geographical location of the province. Not

only the settled districts, but the Tribal belt, now Tribal District after merger with

Khyber Pahtunkhwa, has been described with geographic as well as demographic

details. Besides, mountains, rivers, forests, agriculture, orchards and valleys of the

province occupied detailed descripton. In the very beginning of the chapter the author

argues that the area has remained a mystery to the people of India till the thirties of

the last century. With the advent of Reforms in 1932, the peoples’ point of view saw

the light of the day for the first time

The second chaper of the book “The Frontier Caravan Through the Ages”

deals the province in its historical perspective. The land of Pathans has played crucial

role through out the course of long history. There situated the famous passes of

Khyber, Gomal, Tochi and Kurram, to mention few, through which the foreigner

invaders poured into India. From ninth century onwards these in invaders brought
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with them a new religion, an entirely new code of life, different art and architecture,

infact an entirely new conception of life. Resultantly, tremendous changes occurred in

the political and social structute and the outlooks the people about life and its values

witnessed an absolute transformation.

The chapter “ the People” which is third in number, gives a detailed

description of the inhabitants of the Frontier Province as well as the tribal belt. What

is their race? What is their religion? What are the minorities living in their midst?

What is their way of life? These are some questions, which are answered in by this

chapter. The author says that the people of the province are overwhelmingly Pathan

by race. Besides, minorities like Hindu, Sikh and Christian are there hardly constitute

five per cent of the total population. In the tribal area almost all the people are Pathan.

The people of the province speak a language which is called “PASHTO” and by faith

all the Pathans are Muslims. The author argues that perhaps no other people in the

world of Islam are so attached to the faith of Islam as so are the Pathans. The cast

system is alien to this land. This chapter relates the genealogical lineage of the Pathan

race. The Pashto code of life, i-e, “Pahtunwali” is the essence of life in the province.

Chapter four “the Rise of Freedom Movement” discusses the political situation

of the province after the separation of it from the Punjab. In order to subdue the

different warlike tribes, the British promulgated repressive and draconian laws such as

Murderous Outrages Act and the Frontier Crimes Regulation. The author contends

that how the British kept the province deprived of the benefits of reforms for long.

Khan Abdul Gafaar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar Movement are admired for

social and political struggle for the amelioration of the people of the province while
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All India Muslim League is termed as party of aristocracy and elite class. The struggle

for Freedom Movement in the province is spearheaded by the KKT and it leaders and

of course with the support and collaboration of Congress, the author maintains.

Chapter five with the caption of “Some Present Day Personalities” provides

details of some leading figures of the province. Thr Khan brothers, Dr. Khan Sahib

the elder brother and Abdul Gaffar Khan ,the younger, popularly known as Bacha, are

exclusive acknowledged for their meritorious services and the sufferings which they

had to endure in due course of Freedom Movement. In the rival group, that is, Muslim

League the star politician was, of course, Sardar Aurangzeb Khan, who was the first

to go over to Jinnah. Abdul Rob Nashter, then finance minister, is termed as hot

favorite of Jinnah. Then there were leaders of minorities like Rai Bahadur Mehr

Chand Khana. Sir Abdul Qayyam, who was the chief minister of the province, Main

Jaffer Shah Kakakhel, the young Muhammad Yunis ( who wrote a well known book

“Frontier Speaks”), Arbab Abdul Rehman khan ( an aristocratic khan), Amir

Muhamad Khan, Qazi Atta Ullah, beside others were leaders of note.

In chapter six “ Forward Policy at Work in the Tribal Belt” the author deals

with the that problem which had so badly affected the India, in term of money and

lives, for about a century. The Forward Policy of British was shaped in the tribal belt

of the province. The author argues that different motives urged the Britishers to go

farther and farther into this region and their Forward Policy vis-a-via Russia provided

an excuse for incursions and raids into the Tribal Belt.

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The chapter “The Economic Background” the seventh one, is about the crux of

the matter of the Frontier province. Qaiyum says that the British government have

resorted to frequent use of force to correct the Tribal intransigence. However, force

have failed to achieve the desire results. No serious efforts have been made to find out

the real causes of the Tribal lawlessness. It is unfortunate, none has tried to perceive

clearly the real cause behind tribal lawlessness was largely due to economic factors.

In the last chapter of the book, “The Shape of Things to Come”, the author

asks some curcial questions regarding what should be the future course of the Frontier

Province in eve of the division or independence of the subcontinent. Would the

Pathan homeland and the tribal belt have the right to decide their own future? Would

they have the right to join Hindustan or Pakistan or Afganistan or even to form their

own state if they so desire? The author argues that again few have realized the fact

that the people of the NWFP, the Tribal Belt, some parts Baluchestan and Afganistan

constitute the some people, speaking the same language, professing the same faith of

Islam and having the same culture. These are some of the questions that agitated the

minds of educated Pathans at that time. Whatever may be the shape of things to come,

the author considers the right of self determination an inalienable right for the Pathans

and other communities as well.

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Conclusion

Qaiyum is a man known for not only his iron fist rule over what is now known

as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or for his role in the fall of the definitive Khudai Khitmatgar

Movement but for banning his own book. The book starts with descriptions of the

region and its people and then moves into the choppy political waters. As it dresses

down the British, the book also lays into the Muslim League all the way and taking

great pain to explain the KKT and praises the Khan brothers.

Qaiyum’s disdain for the British is noted in what he calls their

imperial hunger for the land, a hunger which forced Afghanistan to cede

tribal belt, which the British then annexed in India. This the author calls

vivisection policy of the British Raj. Qaiyum also criticizes the British for

their portrayal of the Pakhtuns.“It was repeatedly stated that the Pathan

was a mad fanatic, almost a savage animal and if for no other reasons, at

least for the sake of his neighbors in the Indus valley, he must be subdued,”

he writes. The policy of the British divided the region into tribal areas and

settled districts, which Qaiyum again terms as “vivisection.”

In his book, Qayyum calls the Muslim League a collective of

reactionary and opportunistic groups looking to seize power by raising

alarm over “Islam in danger.” Through this, he says, the League also secured

its class interests.