91-524: Khudai Khidmatgar ( Pashto : خداۍ خدمتګار , lit. 'servants of God') was an Indian , predominantly Pashtun , nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India ; it was based in the country's North-West Frontier Province (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan). Also called Surkh Posh or "Red Shirts" or "red-dressed", this
182-468: A Khilafat conference. The session ended badly with Maulana Shaukat Ali nearly being attacked by one member from Punjab. Despite the initial closeness between Ghaffar Khan and Ali, the harshness of their critique of Gandhi contrasted poorly with the patience shown by Gandhi in Ghaffar Khan's eyes. Another attempt was made by senior KK leaders to approach Sir Fazli Hussain a senior Punjabi leader of
273-453: A royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language , a symbol for Pashtun nationalism . The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian
364-759: A Muslim, Subhash was taken to Khattak's village Dak Ismailkhel on the request of Mian Akbar Shah from Faqir Chand's house in Peshawar. He stayed with him for two days before leaving in a Pashtun attire for the German Embassy in Kabul leading to his journey to Germany and finally Japan. Agha Haider Ali of the Afghan National bank, helped Bose get in touch with the Kabul authorities and with his travel plans. The increasingly liberal movement faced an increasing backlash from conservatives because of its support for
455-526: A conservative Pashtun society. However, the severity of the repressions increased and in one case five police officers in Benares had to be suspended due to "horrific reports about violence used against young female volunteers". Another tactic employed against Khudai Khadmatgar activists included lacing their morning tea with croton oil , a powerful laxative . When the Khudai Khidmatgar staged
546-656: A cross section of civil society in and around Peshawar, led by Maulana Abdur Rahim Popalzai against discriminatory laws like the Frontier Crimes Regulation against the people of the province. After other Khudai Khidmatgar leaders were arrested, a large crowd of the group gathered at the Qissa Khwani bazaar. As troops of the British Indian Army (BIA) moved into the bazaar, the crowd was loud and stones were thrown. A BIA dispatch rider
637-777: A device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu , with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French , and German . However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto. Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: naṛә́i jahān dunyā tod/táwda garm aṛtyā́ ḍarurah híla umid də...pə aṛá bāra bolә́la qasidah Qissa Khwani massacre The Qissa Khwani massacre ( Pashto : د قصه خوانۍ بازار خوڼۍ پېښه ) in Peshawar , North-West Frontier Province , British India (modern day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan ) on 23 April 1930
728-457: A former ally, turned opponent of Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, the Pir of Manki Sharif . The Pir created a breakaway Muslim League, however, it proved no match for Qayyum who engineered his re-election in 1951. Bacha Khan when took an oath of allegiance to Pakistan in 1948 in legislation assembly and during his speech he was asked by PM Liaquat Ali Khan about Pashtunistan to which he replied that it's just
819-563: A free hand in dealing with the Congress and the Khudai Khidmatgars. Despite the provocation and its obvious ambivalence over Pakistan's creation, the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders reconvened at Sardaryab on 3 and 4 September 1947 and passed a resolution that stated, "The Khudai Khidmagars regard Pakistan as their own country and pledge that they shall do their utmost to strengthen and safeguard its interest and make every sacrifice for
910-586: A group of Muslims committed to the removal of British colonial rule through non-violent methods. On 23 April 1930, Ghaffar Khan was arrested after giving a speech in Utmanzai urging resistance to British colonial rule. Ghaffar Khan's reputation for uncompromising integrity and commitment to non-violence inspired most of the local townspeople to take the oath of membership and join the Khudai Khidmatgar in protest. Simultaneous demonstrations were led by
1001-804: A large number of ethnic Pashtuns holding high positions in the military and the bureaucracy. Ayub himself was a non-Pashto speaking ethnic Pashtun belonging to the Tarin sub-tribe of the Hazara District in the Frontier. The growing participation of Pashtuns in the Pakistani Government resulted in the erosion of the support for the Pashtunistan movement in the Province by the end of the 1960s. The movement lingered on till 1955, when it
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#17327732810341092-576: A name to the Pashtun province in Pakistan same like Punjab , Bengal , Sindh and Baluchishtan are the names of provinces of Pakistan as ethno-linguistic names, contrary to what he believed and strived for Pashtunistan an independent state. During the 1950s to the late 1960s, Pashtuns were promoted to higher positions within the Pakistani government and military, thereby integrating Pashtuns into
1183-665: A promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture." From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet ), Khushal Khan Khattak , Rahman Baba , Nazo Tokhi , and Ahmad Shah Durrani , founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire . The Pashtun literary tradition grew in
1274-399: A rally in 1942, this tactic was used. During the rally, Khudai Khidmatgar activists "were seen breaking ranks and running helter skelter to relieve themselves on the banks of the [Peshawar] canal... to a proud Pathan, known for cleanliness, it [was] the ultimate disgrace. This spectacle, watched by large crowds of Peshawar citizens, was the peak of humiliation" for the Khudai Khidmatgar. After
1365-532: A result, it has been seen as a secessionist movement in Pakistan, and in the 1950s and 1960s, it was also perceived as pro-communist, an argument that was used by conservative elements to discredit it as anti-Islam. The movement's claim to total non-violence seems flawed as well; some critics argue that while the movement proved successful against the British, it like other non-violent movements would not have proved
1456-498: A salar-e-azam or commander-in-chief, who in turn appointed officers to serve under him. Other ranks included Jarnails (Generals). The army was completely voluntary; even the officers gave their services free. Women were recruited too and played an important role in the struggles to come. Volunteers went to the villages and opened schools, helped on work projects, and maintained order at public gatherings. From time to time they drilled in work camps and took long military-style marches into
1547-583: A success against the Pakistani state. This is supposedly proved by its failure to pose a challenge to the Pakistani government. Others have also suggested that the Khudai Khidmatgar movement was not in fact as non-violent as its supporters would argue. Writers like Schofield and Bannerjee have documented cases of attacks on British colonial officials by Khudai Khidmatgar members. Pashto language Pashto ( / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ / PUH -shto , / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ / PASH -toe ; پښتو , Pəx̌tó , [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto] )
1638-522: A variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian . However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian . Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan : Zə tā winə́m /ɐz dɐ wənən/ Az bū tū dzunim Strabo , who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that
1729-668: A wide variety of tactics against KK activists. "The British used to torture us, throw us into ponds in wintertime, shave our beards, but even then Badshah Khan told his followers not to lose patience. He said 'there is an answer to violence, which is more violence. But nothing can conquer nonviolence. You cannot kill it. It keeps standing up.' The British sent their horses and cars to run over us, but I took my shawl in my mouth to keep from screaming. We were human beings, but we should not cry or express in any way that we were injured or weak." – KK activist, Musharraf Din. Another tactic employed against non-violent protesters who were blocking roads
1820-421: Is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns. A national language of Afghanistan , Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan . In Pakistan , Pashto
1911-528: Is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family , natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ( افغانی , Afghāni ). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns , it is one of
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#17327732810342002-517: Is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca". – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan In the presence of God, I solemnly affirm that: We are the army of God By death or wealth unmoved, We march, our leader and we, Ready to die! In the name of God, we march And in his name, We die We serve in the name of God God's servant are we! God
2093-498: Is our king, And great is he, We serve our Lord, His slaves are we! Our country's cause We serve with our breath, For such an end, Glorious is death We serve and we love Our people and our cause Freedom is our aim, And our lives are its price. We love our country And respect our country Zealously we protect it For the glory of God By cannon or gun undismayed Soldiers and horsemen, None can come between, Our work and our duty. The British employed
2184-550: Is spoken by 15% of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province , areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad . Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi , Sindh, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in
2275-508: Is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu. Professor Tariq Rahman states: "The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged
2366-653: The Royal Garhwal Rifles , refused to board buses that were to take them into Peshawar for anti-riot duty. A British civil servant wrote later that "hardly any regiment of the Indian Army won greater glory in the Great War (World War I) than the Garhwal Rifles, and the defection of part of the regiment sent shock waves through India, of apprehension to some, of exultation to others." The NCOs of
2457-464: The colonial government to discredit the movement with the assistance of pro-British mullahs and ulema. The British Governor, Cunningham, instructed the big khans to meet each mullah on an individual basis and tell him to serve the cause of Islam' for which he would be duly paid. The Mullahs were told that in case of good progress they would also be considered for a government pension. A Cunningham policy note of 23 September 1942 reads: 'Continuously preach
2548-608: The 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to
2639-825: The 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana . Pə́ṭa Xazāná ( پټه خزانه ) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar ; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard: "In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as
2730-431: The British colonial government. Contemporary estimates put the death toll between the official count of 20 and the figure of 400 put forth by Pakistani and Indian sources. The shooting of unarmed people triggered protests across British India and catapulted the newly formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement into prominence. The Khudai Khidmatgar (literally Helpers in the name of God ), led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , were
2821-548: The British, who persistently tried to severe this relationship. Due to pressure across India, the British colonial government finally released Bacha Khan and lifted restrictions on the movement. As part of the Government of India Act 1935 , a limited male franchise was for the first time introduced in the North-West Frontier Province. In the 1937 elections , the Khudai Khidmatgars won in alliance with
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2912-604: The Congress Party were arrested. This was followed by the shooting of unarmed protestors in Utmanzai and the Takkar Massacre followed by the Hathikhel massacre . In 1932, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement changed its tactics and involved women in the movement. This unnerved many Indian officers working in the region as in those days of conservative India it was considered a grave insult to attack women, more so in
3003-616: The Congress Party, and Dr Khan Sahib was re-elected as the Chief Minister. The Khudai Khidmatgars strongly opposed the proposal for the partition of India , siding with the Indian National Congress and All India Azad Muslim Conference . When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, Bacha Khan, the leader of
3094-589: The Congress Party. Bacha Khan's brother Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (Dr. Khan Sahib) was elected as the Chief Minister of the NWFP. The Khudai Khidmatgar movement faced another crackdown for its role in the Quit India Movement after 1940; in that period it started facing increasing opposition from the Muslim League in the province. The Khudai Khidmatgars also won the 1946 elections in alliance with
3185-502: The Congress government remained in power briefly it was eventually dismissed by the Governor under the orders of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah . Dr. Khan Sahib was replaced by former Congressite Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri. He successfully stopped an attempted rapprochement between Ghaffar Khan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah by stopping a planned meeting between the two citing security threats. With that, Jinnah gave Qayyum Khan Kashmiri
3276-410: The Congress party amidst growing support for the Pakistan movement . The decision of Dr. Khan Sahib to support his daughter's marriage to a Sikh soldier led to some senior associates of Bacha Khan to leave. Similarly, his son Ghani Khan 's criticism of feudal landlords angered many conservative "Khans" and Nawabs, some formerly sympathetic to the movement. This coincided with a determined effort by
3367-459: The Frontier, it was instrumental in giving those groups that opposed the Khudai Khidmatgar movement the opportunity to broaden their constituency. The KK's activists role in helping Subhash Chandra Bose 's escape in 1943 has largely been ignored until recently. In 1941, Amir Khan Khattak along with four other people received Subhash Chandra Bose at Nowshera Railway Station. He had come to make his escape to Nazi Germany via Afghanistan. Disguised as
3458-482: The KK. More, with the introduction of provincial autonomy under the Government of India Act 1935 , the first limited election were held in NWFP in 1936. Ghaffar Khan was banned from the province. His brother, Dr Khan Sahib, led the party to a narrow victory and became Chief Minister. Ghaffar Khan returned to Peshawar in triumph on 29 August 1937 on what the Peshawar daily Khyber Mail called the happiest day of his life. During
3549-540: The Khuda Khidmatgar espoused Hindu-Muslim unity . "The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us 'That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures.' Belief in God is to love one's, fellow men". – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan "There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It
3640-463: The Khudai Khidmatgar at a function in the Indian city of Delhi , with a focus on promoting communal amity and ameliorating poverty. The Khudai Khidmatgar has volunteers in 14 states and according to Faisal, they number about 10,000. Though the present organisation is predominantly Muslim, 10 of 40 seats in its national executive committee are reserved for Hindu members. The Khudai Khidmatgar movement
3731-527: The Khudai Khidmatgars, felt very sad and told the Congress "you have thrown us to the wolves." In June 1947, the Khudai Khidmatgars declared the Bannu Resolution , demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan , composing all Pashtun territories of British India, instead of being made to join Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with
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3822-456: The Pakistani state and severely weakening secessionist sentiments to the point that by the mid-1960s, popular support for an independent Pashtunistan had all but disappeared. An important development in Pakistan during the Ayub period (1958–1969) was the gradual integration into Pakistani society and the military-bureaucratic establishment. It was a period of Pakistan's political history which saw
3913-529: The Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism." Robert Nicols states: "In the end, national language policy, especially in
4004-681: The Pathan community in the city of Kolkata , often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul "). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian . Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian,
4095-680: The Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto. In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of 15% of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are
4186-555: The Tricolor, adopt the Red Flag as the symbol of their party." You have thrown us (Khudai Khidmatgar) to the wolves. However, Qayyum Khan Kashmiri and the central government had already decided that there would be no accord with the movement. On 12 August 1948, while Bacha Khan and the deposed chief minister Dr. Khan Sahib were both under arrest, over 600 Khudai Khidmatgar supporters who were protesting for their release were killed by
4277-664: The Unionist party pleading for assistance against the crackdown which was dismissed. The Congress subsequently offered all possible help to the Pathans in exchange on their part to join the Congress party for the independence struggle. This offer was put forth in the Frontier province and was accepted by the Khudai Kidmatgars in August 1931. The move shocked the British colonial authorities who were forced to ease pressure on
4368-694: The anti-war resignation of Dr Khan's Ministry in 1939 because of the outbreak of the Second World War , British tactics towards the movement changed to a large-scale distribution of pro-colonial propaganda . The movement was facing intense pressure by 1930 and the leadership under Ghaffar Khan was actively seeking political allies in India to help reduce the pressure being placed on it by the British colonial authorities. Previously in December 1928, Barrister Jan Mohammad Abbasi invited Bacha Khan to attend
4459-531: The area of massacre and published a 200-page report criticizing the actions of the British Indian Army. Olaf Caroe, then secretary to the Chief Commissioner, gave the following report of the event ("Public and Judicial Department. Civil Disobedience Campaign in NWFP. Response to Patel allegations". British Library reference number L/PJ/6/2007): ″I received a note on 23rd April evening from Sir Norman Bolton asking me to do what I could to arrange for
4550-511: The backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses. For instance Khushal Khattak laments in : "The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If
4641-493: The burial of as many of the casualties as possible during the night, in order to avoid the danger of a fresh riot occurring over the funeral procession. I spoke to R.S. Mehr Chand Khanna and asked him to bring me some of the leading Khilafists at the Municipal Library. He brought M. Abdurrab Nishtar; M. Ataullah Jan, Municipal Commissioner; M. Aurangzeb Khan, Vakil; Qazi Mohd Aslam, Vakil. I informed these persons what
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#17327732810344732-581: The cause; The dismissal of Dr. Khan Sahib’s ministry and the setting up of Abdul Qaiyum’s ministry is undemocratic, but as our country is passing through a critical stage, the Khudai Khidmatgars shall take no step which might create difficulties in the way of either the Provincial or Central Government; After the division of the country the Khudai Khidmatgars sever their connection with the All-India Congress organization and, therefore, instead of
4823-711: The commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978. Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936
4914-457: The danger to Muslims of connivance with the revolutionary Hindu body. Most tribesmen seem to respond to this', while in another paper he says about the period 1939–43: 'Our propaganda since the beginning of the war had been most successful. It had played throughout on the Islamic theme. Pakistan's Independence in August 1947 marked the beginning of the end of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. While
5005-458: The demand of this resolution. In response, the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the 1947 NWFP referendum about the province joining Pakistan or India, citing that it did not have the options of the NWFP becoming independent or joining Afghanistan. After the partition of India, the Khudai Khidmatgars faced a backlash from the new Pakistani government. The government of the Khudai Khidmatgars was dismissed and their movement banned, with many members of
5096-410: The different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them" Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity . In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with
5187-443: The eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as
5278-462: The evening. When the number of corpses became too many, the ambulance cars of the government took them away. In Peshawar and the surrounding area, the Khudai Khidmatgar experienced some of the most extreme crackdowns against the Indian independence movement . Ghaffar Khan later wrote that this was because the British colonial government thought a non-violent Pashtun was more dangerous than a violent one; claiming that this led them to repeatedly provoke
5369-400: The field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..." Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still
5460-481: The fire, so much so that some people got as many as twenty-one bullet wounds in their bodies, and all the people stood their ground without getting into a panic. . . . The Anglo-Indian paper of Lahore , which represents the official view, itself wrote to the effect that the people came forward one after another to face the firing and when they fell wounded they were dragged back and others came forward to be shot at. This state of things continued from 11 till 5 o'clock in
5551-672: The formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar, the Anjuman-e Islah ul-Afghan in 1921, the farmers' organisation Anjuman-e Zamidaran in 1927 and the youth movement Pashtun Jirga in 1927. Trying to further spread awareness on Pashtun issues Abdul Ghaffar Khan founded the magazine Pakhtun in May 1928. Finally in March 1930, almost on the eve of the Qissa Khwani Massacre the Khudai Khidmatgar were formed. Khan drew his first recruits from
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#17327732810345642-399: The government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity". Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or
5733-469: The government of Pakistan in Charsadda District during the Babrra massacre . The Khudai Khidmatgar organisation was declared unlawful in mid-September 1948, mass arrests followed and the centre at Sardaryab (Markaz-e-Khudai Khidmatgaran), built-in 1942, was destroyed by the Provincial Government. The movement was also hit by defections as party members switched sides out of fear or for benefit. Those members that wished to survive politically rallied behind
5824-471: The hills. Under the influence of Abdul Ghaffar Khan the movement advocated non-violent protests and justified their actions through an Islamic context. Khan did not find Islam and non-violence as incompatible. Despite that the movement was intrinsically non-sectarian, including Muslims, as well as some Hindu members. In more than one occasion when Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawar, Khidmatgar members helped protect their lives and property. To this end,
5915-426: The literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue . King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In
6006-468: The movement into becoming violent, with little effect. The massacre created numerous instances of unrest throughout British India. This resulted in King George VI (Emperor of India) launching a legal investigation into this matter. The British Commission brought the case forward to Chief Justice Naimatullah Chaudhry, a distinguished Judge of the Lucknow protectorate. King George VI subsequently knighted Naimatullah Chaudhry. Naimatullah personally surveyed
6097-429: The name " the Red shirts " or surkh posh . Other reason for the choice of red color was a symbolic adherence of the anti-colonial movements to the revolutionary and socialist discourse. Volunteers who took the oath formed platoons with commanding officers and learned basic army discipline. The volunteers had their own flags: red in the beginning, later tri-colour and bands: bagpipe and drums. The men wore red uniforms and
6188-420: The native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن mečә́n i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή ( mēkhanḗ , i.e.
6279-505: The organisation being targeted in the Babrra massacre that occurred on 12 August 1948. In Delhi, the Khudai Khidmatgar was revived by Faisal Khan in 2011 with a focus on promoting communal amity and aiding in disaster relief; it has a membership of around 5,000 persons. Formed out of the Society for the Reformation of Pashtuns (Anjuman-e-Islah-e-Afghan), it is initially targeted social reformation and launched campaigns against prostitution. Bacha Khan as its founder seemed to be influenced by
6370-465: The possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions —prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. *The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ 𝼈 ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ɽ ] or approximant [ ɻ ] elsewhere. In Pashto, most of
6461-445: The realisation that whenever Indians launched a rebellion against British colonial rule via military force they were always unsuccessful. The same could not be said when using non-violence against the British. The movement started prior to the Qissa Khwani massacre , when a demonstration of hundreds of non-violent supporters were fired upon by a detachment of the British Indian Army in Peshawar . Its low point and eventual dissipation
6552-444: The subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood . Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes
6643-550: The tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana . This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan ( Abgan ). Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in
6734-486: The two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari , and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan , spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto
6825-411: The two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan . Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu. The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto
6916-415: The two platoons, including one led by Hawaldar Major Chandra Singh Garhwali, involved were sentenced to terms of up to eight years imprisonment. The violence continued for six hours. Gene Sharp , who has written a study of nonviolent resistance , describes the scene on that day: When those in front fell down wounded by the shots, those behind came forward with their chests bared and exposed themselves to
7007-539: The two-year stint of the Congress party under Dr Khan Sahib as Chief minister, major reforms were introduced including land reforms, promotion of the teaching of Pashto and the release of political prisoners. On Congress directive, the ministries in eight out of eleven provinces resigned in protest against Britain's not promising India independence after the War. The decision to resign proved a pivotal moment in Indian history, in
7098-483: The unarmed crowd. The Khudai Khidmatgar members willingly faced bullets, responding without violence. Instead, many members repeated "God is great"(اللہُ اکبر) and clutched the Qur'an as they were shot. The exact number of deaths remains controversial— official figures give 20 dead while nationalist sources claimed several hundred were killed, with many more wounded. Two platoons of a respected British Indian Army regiment,
7189-453: The women black. They had drills, badges, a flag, the entire military hierarchy of rank and even a bagpipe corps. Khan set up a network of committees called jirgas , named and modelled after the traditional tribal councils. Villages were grouped into larger groups, responsible to district-wide committees. The Provincial Jirgah was the ultimate authority. Officers in the ranks were not elected, since Khan wanted to avoid infighting. He appointed
7280-658: The world. Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India , Tajikistan , and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen , near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan , and
7371-485: The young men who had graduated from his schools. Trained and uniformed, they served behind their officers and filed out into various villages to seek recruits. They began by wearing a simple white overshirt, but the white was soon dirtied. A couple of men had their shirts dyed at the local tannery, and the brick-red colour proved a breakthrough, it was this distinctive colour that earned the Khudai khidmatgar movement activists
7462-420: Was a success in the terms of its opposition to British colonial rule. However, the social effects of the movement have not survived. While the Ghaffar Khan family maintains a hold over the political philosophy of the movement, its history has largely been wiped out from official memory in Pakistan. The movement has also been criticized for its opposition to partition and by that virtue the creation of Pakistan. As
7553-690: Was after Pakistan's independence in 1947 when the Muslim League Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri banned the movement and launched a brutal crackdown on its members, which culminated in the Babra massacre . At its peak, the KK movement consisted of almost 100,000 members. Initially, the movement focussed on social reform as a means of improving the status of Pashtuns in British India. Ghaffar Khan founded several reform movements prior to
7644-511: Was again banned by the central government because of Ghaffar Khan's opposition to the One Unit . An aborted attempt was made to bring Ghaffar Khan into the government as a minister as well as turning the KK movement into a national organization, but Ghaffar Khan turned down the offer. Although the ban on the movement was lifted in 1972, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement had been broken. On 20 January 2011, young Gandhian activist Faisal Khan revived
7735-512: Was an armoured vehicle-ramming attack and mass shooting of the unarmed civilian freedom fighters by the British colonial troops, which consequently became one of the defining moments of the independence movement in British India . It was the first major confrontation between the British Indian Army and demonstrators in the city belonging to Abdul Ghaffar Khan's non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar (servants of God) movement against
7826-501: Was exiled from the province and large numbers were arrested. Seeking allies, leaders approached the All-India Muslim League and Indian National Congress ; after being rebuffed by the former in 1929, the movement formally joined the Congress Party and played an important role in the Indian independence movement . The cooperation between Muslim Khudai Khidmatgar and predominantly Hindu Indian National Congress concerned
7917-526: Was killed and his body burned. Two BIA armored cars drove into the square at high speed, killing several people. It is claimed that the crowd continued their commitment to non-violence, offering to disperse if they could gather their dead and injured, and if the British Indian Army left the square. The BIA refused to leave, so the protesters remained with the dead and injured. At that point, the BIA officers present ordered their troops to open fire with machine guns on
8008-579: Was officially renamed to Dari . The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto. In British India , prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP : Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended
8099-504: Was originally a social reform organisation focusing on education and the elimination of blood feuds. it was known as the Anjuman-e-Islah-e Afghania (society for the reformation of Afghans/Pashtoons). The movement was led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan , known locally as Bacha Khan, Badshah Khan, or Sarhadi Gandhi. It gradually became more political as its members were being targeted by the British Raj. By 1929 its leadership
8190-461: Was required and asked for their co-operation as peace-loving citizens and good Muslims. They agreed to do what they could and asked me to arrange for lorries, saying they would persuade the relatives to agree. I arranged for lorries through Shahji – one of C.C.’s orderlies – who is I believe a Peshawari and a Syed. During the night in this way we sent away seven or eight bodies in lorries. Some of them had no relatives and arrangements were made to pay for
8281-497: Was to charge them with cars and horses. In 1930, soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on non-violent protests led by Khudai Khidmatgars in Peshawar. By disobeying direct orders, the regiment sent a clear message to the colonial government that loyalty of India's armed forces could not be taken for granted when enacting repressive measures. However, by 1931, 5,000 members of the Khudai Khidmatgar and 2,000 members of
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