page_title: Abdul Ghaffar Khan
section_title: The Partition
hierarchical_section_title: Abdul Ghaffar Khan / The Partition
caption_attribution_description: Cropped version of File:Gandhi and Abdul Ghaffar Khan during prayer.jpg. Plus, I increased the brightness and contrast a bit.
context_page_description: Abdul Ghaffār Khān, nicknamed Fakhr-e-Afghan, "Pride of Pashtuns", Bādshāh Khān, or Bāchā Khān, "king of chiefs", was a Pashtun independence activist who worked to end the rule of the British Raj in colonial India. He was a political and spiritual leader known for his nonviolent opposition; he was a lifelong pacifist and devout Muslim. A close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, Bacha Khan was nicknamed Sarhadi Gandhi in British India by his close associate Amir Chand Bombwal. Bacha Khan founded the Khudai Khidmatgar movement in 1929. Its success triggered a harsh crackdown by the British Raj against him and his supporters, and they suffered some of the most severe repression of the Indian independence movement.
  Bacha Khan 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 reluctantly declared its acceptance of the partition plan without consulting the Khudai Khidmatgar leaders, he felt deeply betrayed and hurt by this, telling the Congress, "you have thrown us to the wolves."
context_section_description: Khan strongly opposed the partition of India. Accused as being anti-Muslim by some politicians, Khan was physically assaulted in 1946, leading to his hospitalisation in Peshawar. On 21 June 1947, in Bannu, a loya jirga was held consisting of Bacha Khan, the Khudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), and other tribal chiefs, just seven weeks before the partition. The loya jirga declared the Bannu Resolution, which demanded 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 either India or Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution.
  The congress party refused last-ditch compromises to prevent the partition, like the Cabinet Mission plan and Gandhi's suggestion to offer the position of Prime Minister to Jinnah. As a result, Bacha Khan and his followers felt a sense of betrayal by both Pakistan and India. Bacha Khan's last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: "You have thrown us to the wolves."
  When the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum over accession to Pakistan was held, Bacha Khan, the Khudai Khidmatgars, the then Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, and the Indian National Congress Party boycotted the referendum. Some have argued that a segment of the population voted was barred from voting.
caption: Bacha Khan with Gandhi.
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