Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- The state of Pakistan, adjacent to Afghanistan, which is today called ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’, came into Pakistan’s lap, because of Nehru. This state is the star of Pakistan’s fortunes, because of which America had showered money on Pakistan to take iron from the Russian soldiers of Afghanistan.
Then its official name was not ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’. It was known as North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This region of Pashtuns, or Pathans, was still Muslim-dominated. Pashtuni or ‘Hindko’ language used to run here. Our famous film faces, Pran, Rajkpur, Devanand, etc. knew and spoke the ‘Hindko’ language in those days. Peshawar was the major center of this state. Of business, education, and to some extent of cultural activities too.
The universal leader of this entire region was Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. A heavy name and an equally heavy personality. Pashtun or Pathani people used to call him by this name ‘Badshah Khan’. His supporters were called ‘Khudai Khidmatgar’. India knew him by the name of ‘Frontier Gandhi’. He was the exclusive ordinary devotee of Gandhiji. Fully living Gandhian life.
Moreover, he had shown the magic of bringing even Pathans, who were considered to be dreaded, to the shelter of Gandhiji. His leadership was accepted by almost all the Pathans. That is why, when the British conducted state elections in 1945/46, Congress got an absolute majority in the North West Frontier Province. It was a surprise. Because by 1946, almost the nature of the partition of the country had become clear.
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In states where Muslims are in the majority, Muslim League came to power there and in states where Hindus are in the majority, Congress came to power. In such a situation, it was a surprise that the Congress won 30 out of 50 seats in the Muslim-majority North West Frontier Province. This was done by Badshah Khan, that is, Frontier Gandhi and his Khidmatgars.
Now that it was clear that India was about to be partitioned, the question arose before the Pathans, which way should they go? The enmity between the Pathans and the Punjabis of Pakistan was very old. For this reason, all the Pathans of this province had a desire to merge with India. The majority in the provincial assembly was also in this favor.
There was only a question of geographical proximity, but the argument was given that there is a distance of thousands of miles between East and West Pakistan. The second thing was also that if the princely state of Kashmir merges with India, then this question will also be solved because the area south of Gilgit is adjacent to the North West Frontier.
But in the midst of all this, Nehru put an obstacle. He said that ‘we should take a decision there through a referendum’. This issue also heated up in the Congress executive and Sardar Patel fiercely opposed this alleged consensus. Sardar Patel said, ‘The provincial assemblies will decide which country they want to join.
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We have done the same in other parts of the country as well. That is why all the provinces where Muslim League is in the majority are going to join Pakistan. And wherever Congress has the majority, those states are being merged in India. On the basis of this justice, the North West Frontier State must be merged with India, because the Congress has a majority there.
But Nehru remained adamant on his point. Nehru said that ‘I am a Democrat. That’s why the residents there should be allowed to take whatever decision they feel like. Badshah Khan came to know only through radio and newspapers that a unanimous decision has been taken in his province. Nehru didn’t even consider the person who had made the whole state Congress.
In spite of this very difficult environment and being a Muslim-majority area, to discuss such a very important question. That is why as soon as he received this news, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan said in a sad voice, “The Congress has given this province to the Muslim League on a platter…!”
In this province, the process of referendum started on July 2, 1947. Voting began on 6 July. Which lasted for about ten days. Prior to the plebiscite and during the course of the plebiscite, the Muslim League incited religious sentiments on a large scale. Seeing this, the Congress boycotted this referendum.
Here, when Badshah Khan came to know that there is no synonym for the separate country of Pakhtunistan in this consensus, he also boycotted the consensus. This was the first option for him to go to India. In the absence of that option, he wanted an independent Pakhtoonistan.
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But this option was not kept by the British government. Badshah Khan of the Khudai-Khidmatgar Party was worrying about ‘how much and what kind of punishment we will have to face for Nehru’s mistakes’. This poll was just a hoax. The six tribal tribes on whom Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan had a strong influence were barred from participating in the voting.
Out of thirty-five lakh people, only five lakh seventy-two thousand people were considered eligible to vote. Voting did not take place in Savat, Dir, Amb, and Chitral tehsils. Only 51% of the eligible voters voted. Green boxes were kept for those who supported the merger with Pakistan, while those who wanted to merge with India had red boxes.
2,89,244 votes were cast in Pakistan’s ballot box and 2,874 votes were cast in favor of the merger in India despite the boycott of Congress. That is out of thirty-five lakh people, only around three lakh votes were cast in favor of Pakistan. Badshah Khan was angry about this thing. ‘Nehru and Gandhiji left us unclaimed. And that too in front of these Pakistani wolves…’ Such a feeling was constantly haunting his mind.
(An article by author Pratibha Ranade, who has been a frequent contributor on the subject of Afghanistan, in the 2018 Diwali issue of ‘Antarnad’ – ‘Holiday of Rage’. In this article, in the eighties (when she was in Afghanistan), Badshah Khan In this meeting, Khan Sahib had told Pratibha Ranade, “Actually we had to stay in India only… Gandhiji had given such a promise too, but later he betrayed us. Gandhi-Nehru achieved independence but threw us people in front of dogs (Pakistan). I can never forget this sorrow. Gandhi-Nehru betrayed us.”)
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That’s why their workers from Peshawar, Kohat, Banu, and Swat areas were asking them ‘Should we migrate to India’? At that time, Frontier Gandhi had no answer to these questions. They were not able to understand what to answer…!
That’s why, for a few days after the partition, this North West Frontier Province was witnessing a very bizarre scene of displaced persons. The Muslims of this province were going towards the divided India as refugees. Their number was less. But in the initial days, this reverse order of displacement was fast. The number of Muslim migrants coming from partitioned India in this province was negligible.
Pakistan got this state by luck despite not having the majority of the Muslim League. Strategically and tactically this province is very important. Its borders meet with the provinces of Afghanistan, Gilgit, Punjab, Kashmir, etc. To date, all the invaders who came to attack India had come from this province. Hindukush Mountain connects this province and Afghanistan. The invaders used to come to India by crossing the valley which is famous as ‘Khyber Pass’.
It was its luck to get such territory to Pakistan.
But Pakistan did not make any special efforts to adopt this region. Badshah Khan was kept in jail many times by the Government of Pakistan. He was under house arrest even at the time of his death. At the age of 98, the government of Pakistan forced him to die by suffocation in 1988..!
How did this North West Frontier Province become ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ and when did it happen in the next episode of this series…
(respectively)
Author– Prashant Pol
Courtesy: vsktamilnadu.org, This article was originally published on vsktamilnadu.org
