KHAN ABDUL GHAFFAR KHAN

Introduction:
Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a Pashtun freedom activist who fought against the
British occupation of India. Popularly known as ‘Bacha Khan’, he was also
a political leader of importance and a spiritual leader known for his
philosophy of non-violence and pacifism. A devout Muslim, he was a very
close friend and ally of Mahatma Gandhi, which also earned him the
sobriquet of ‘Frontier Gandhi’. In 1929, ‘Bacha Khan’ initiated the ‘Khudāyī
Khidmatgār’, (Servants of God) movement. Extremely opposed to the
partition of India, he moved to Pakistan after its creation, however, he spent
much of his time in jail or in exile till his death in 1988.

Early Life
Abdul Ghaffar Khan was born on 6 February 1890, in Utmanzai situated in
the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. His father, Bahram Khān, was a
prosperous landowner in Hashtnaghar area. He attended Edward’s Mission
School run by the British Christian missionaries. In his last year of high
school. In 1910, at the age of 20, Bāchā established a school in a mosque
in Utmanzai. In 1912, he married Meherqandha of the Kinankhel clan of the
Mohammadzai tribe of Razzar, a village neighbouring Utmanzai. The
couple had two sons, Abdul Ghani Khan and Abdul Wali Khan, and a
daughter, Sardaro Meharqanda.

Khudayi Khidmatgar
In time, Bacha Khan's goal came to be the formulation of a united,
independent, secular India. To achieve this end, he founded the Khudai
Khidmatgar ("Servants of God"), commonly known as the "Red Shirts"
(Surkh Pōsh), during the 1920s. The organisation recruited over 100,000
members and became influential in the independence movement for their
resistance to the colonial government. 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.

Death
He died in Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar in 1988. And according to
his wish he was buried in Jalalabad.