![]() ![]() The history of modern South Asia has been incomplete without a better understanding of how and why the fierce Pashtun tribes embraced the Gandhian ideology of non-violent defiance. The autobiography of Bacha Khan in English, for the first time in a lucid translation from the original Pakhto by Imtiaz Ahmad Sahizada, is a landmark publication. “The life story of a man of peace and non-violence, born amidst mayhem and conflict across the Sub-continent, still carries a powerful message in the turbulent times we live in. Mukulika Banerjee, Author of The Pathan Unarmed, 2001 Readers will be enthralled and inspired.” Bacha Khan’s tireless struggle against oppression and division was non-violent and uncompromising, principled and creative. “This compelling story is more relevant now than ever. The publication of English translation of his Pakhto autobiography is coming out at a time when younger generations are rediscovering Bacha Khan’s life and struggle.”Īfrasiab Khattak, Former Provincial President of Awami National Party, former senator, writer and analyst of regional affairs He would insist on walking long distances even in old age to reach the marginalised to help them or to at least express solidarity with them. “As a student activist, what struck me the most about working with Bacha Khan was the strength of his compassion and his disarming humility. ![]() ![]() Malala Yousafzai, Youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital RM92.“Bacha Khan’s message of the power of peaceful protest for liberty, equality and justice changed our culture and customs forever and inspires me every day in my activism for girls’ education and women’s empowerment.”.Partition will bring to life this terrible era for the Indian Sub Continent. Illustrating the story of 1947 with their experiences and what independence and partition meant to the farmers of the Punjab, those living in Lahore and Calcutta, or what it felt like to be a soldier in a divided and largely passive army, makes the story real. Although most were, predictably, only children, there are still some in their late eighties and nineties who have a clear recollection of the excitement and the horror. Many of those ordinary people who witnessed the events of that year are still alive. Yet it is not only the national players whose stories fascinate. The British cast, from Churchill to Attlee and Mountbatten, find their contribution praised and damned in equal measure. Gandhi and Nehru enjoyed almost saint like status in India, and still do, whilst Jinnah is lionized in Pakistan. Not only were those decisions controversial but the people who made them were themselves to become some of the most enduring characters of the twentieth century. The roots of much of the violence in the region today, and worldwide, are in the decisions taken that year. The events of those months would dictate the history of South Asia for the next seventy years, leading to three wars, countless acts of terrorism, polarization around the Cold War powers and to two nations with millions living in poverty spending disproportionate amounts on their military. They also witnessed the rushed creation of Pakistan as a country in two halves whose capitals were two thousand kilometers apart.įrom September to December 1947 the euphoria surrounding the realization of the dream of independence dissipated into shame and incrimination nearly 1 million people died and countless more lost their homes and their livelihoods as partition was realized. Those months saw the end of ninety years of the British Raj, and the effective power of the Maharajahs, as the Congress Party established itself commanding a democratic government in Delhi. ’ Times Literary Reviewīetween January and August 1947 the conflicting political, religious and social tensions in India culminated in independence from Britain and the creation of Pakistan. ‘This book is at its most powerful in its month-by-month narrative of how Partition tore apart northern and eastern India, with the new state of Pakistan carved out of communities who had lived together for the past millennium.’ Zareer Masani BBC History Magazine
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