FACTS ARE SACRED BY: KHAN ABDUL WALI KHAN REPRODUCED BY SANI H. PANHWAR Facts are Sacred By: Khan Abdul Wali Khan Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar CONTENTS Preface .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Chapter 1 Communal politics & theBritish;The tilt towards MuslimLeague 6 Chapter 2 DivideandRule .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 12 Chapter 3 Quest for LoyalAlly .. .. .. .. .. .. 17 Chapter 4 Muslim LeaguePlaysinto BritishHands .. .. .. 24 Chapter 5 The Proposals forPakistan .. .. .. .. .. 29 Chapter 6 Using theLeague toBeat the Congress .. .. .. .. 35 Chapter 7 BritishClampdown on Congress .. .. .. .. .. 43 Chapter 8 Confusion over Pakistan .. .. .. .. .. .. 50 Chapter 9 NWFP &the ‘MilitaryCrescent’ .. .. .. .. .. 55 Chapter 10 The Priceof the Mullah .. .. .. .. .. .. 61 Chapter 11 The Purveyors ofFaith .. .. .. .. .. .. 67 Chapter 12 LendingLeague aHand .. .. .. .. .. .. 71 Chapter 13 Search for aSolution .. .. .. .. .. .. 76 Chapter 14 FederationDefeated .. .. .. .. .. .. 82 Chapter 15 Wavell’sBid for‘ABitof India’ .. .. .. .. .. 98 Chapter 16 Subduing Punjab andNWFP .. .. .. .. .. 103 Chapter 17 Mountbatten Gets to Work .. .. .. .. .. 109 Chapter 18 Groundwork forPakistan .. .. .. .. .. .. 115 Chapter 19 The Referendum .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 119 Chapter 21 The Choice of Governors General .. .. .. .. 126 Chapter 22 Road to Pakistan .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 131 Chapter 23 The Loss ofKashmir .. .. .. .. .. .. 136 Chapter 24 The Disinherited Ones .. .. .. .. .. .. 141 Chapter 25 Muslim League’sContradiction .. .. .. .. 145 Chapter 26 Famous First Words .. .. .. .. .. .. 149 Chapter 27 Legacy ofColonialInterests .. .. .. .. .. 154 Chapter 28 Inheriting theBritish Mantle .. .. .. .. .. 158 PREFACE MUCH of this book was written during two spells in Jail, one under Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub khan in 1969 and next during the time of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1973. I was handicapped by the fact that I could not obtain the reference books I needed. During the second term especially, I regretted the time wasted. Iwas mostly in solitary confinement, and could have wholly devoted myself to writing. But under Bhutto, even pen and paper were often not available, leavingalonebooks. However, with what references I could get, I have tried to present the other side ofthe pictureof the people. How unfortunate it is for a nation that it is always given the rulers accounts of events and is barred form all other versions. The rulers in Pakistan have brought up people on their own understanding of history. In fact, just in order to justify their political acts they haven't hesitated to distort history. They have prevented the people from getting to know true facts. They do not report history, they manufactureit. It appeared to me then, and still appears now, as if a case were being tried in a court of law, and only the prosecution could offer arguments and evidences against the accused. The accused was not allowed to say a word in his defence. He just stood there bound hand and foot, his mouth sealed, his pen snatched away. Who would call that a court? Who would expect justice in such circumstances? So I thought even if I can not personally reach out to people, I should at least leave behind some account of the past so that history does not stand permanently distorted. The present generation may remain oblivious of the truth, but at least the coming generations would get to know it. My main concern was to convey the spirit of our own political struggle; to place before posterity the true story of Bacha khan's Khidmatgar movement. I too had been a member of that caravan. In writing the account, I like other writers, have made full use of the diaries and memories of concerned British officials, especially in relation to their attitude and policies towards our movement. Besides that material I have used my own knowledge of facts and political experiences, as also the principles of induction and deduction of offer certain conclusion. We have a saying in Pushto that if we say round, yellow and sour,wise men immediately know that we arereferringto orange. Similarwas myquest for clues. Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg. 1 After release from Mr. Bhutto's jail when I went to London and had some free time from medical treatment I came to know about the classified government document in the India Office Library which had now been thrown open to public. They could now be read on the premises and even photocopies of any portion could be obtained. According to British rules all secret official documents are declassified and made available to scholars after a lap of 30 years. Iwas keen on collecting all possible historical material on our movement. Readers of this book will see that Bacha khan's politics and the khudai khidmatgar movement became red rags for the colonials for two reasons. First, the British were determined to squash any movement that aimed at Indian independence and thus constituted a threat to their rule. Secondly, they were resolved to crush any activity which in their view would help a hostile outside power against them. It is known that the independence movement with in India was being spearheaded by the Indian National congress which was representative of all the religious and other creeds, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, parsi-no matter what the persuasion, the party was open to all. The British strategy, as it soon developed, was to somehow weaken the Congress and to aid and abet bodies functioning inopposition to it. Secondly, Indian was geographically so placed that it had oceans on three sides and a rampart of a mighty range of mountains on the forth. There were also a few mountain passes in the north-west and the only danger from a hostile foreign power could come through them. Russia was of course considered the main source of that danger. The Khudai Khidmatgars could not become instruments in either of the two thrusts of British policies, so they became an object of harassment fromthe verystart. In the India office library I set about looking for documents relating to the external aspects of the British rule in India. I wished to find out the point of time and exact factors that saw basic changes in British policies towards Moscow - the steps if adopted to confront the first ideological state to emerge on the worldmapin 1917. The viceroy of India used to send a weekly report addressed to the secretary of state for India in London. The latter replied outlining the government's policy issues of the moment. I decided that I only needed to carefully study this weekly correspondence to get all the material wanted. I began from the time immediately followingLenin's death. Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg.2 What I saw and read was beyond anything I had imagined. My object was the Britishforeign policyin relation to India,but as a bonus I got a close view of how with all looked on the internal affairs of India. Our elders used to tell us about how Britain intrigued to get its way in the subcontinent. Their stories, their doubts and suspicions had seemed hard to believe. I used to think that Bacha khan had become unduly embittered with the colonial rulers because of the agonies he and his followers had suffered at their hands. I was particularly skeptical about the Congress charges that the British were responsible for fanning communal passions within the country to further their imperialistic designs. I used to think that such accusations were exercises in finding scapegoat. It is a common human failing to blame others for the consequences of one's own follies. Not that I regarded the Congress' and Bacha khan's charges as wholly without basis. But I had not imagined that the truth was infinitely uglier than their portrayal of it. The evidences were there in black and white, written and signed by the guilty ones themselves, secured for posterity in their own official library - the communications highest British dignitary in India, the viceroy, and the minister concerned with Indian affairs in Whitehall. Given such authoritative sources where was the room for disbelief? Indeed, when I was going through these documents there were moments when my mind would get boggled. I would take out my glasses and hold my head in my hands bewildered at what I had read. Unable to continue, I would put away the books and go out fora cup of coffee. It will be unfair not to give full credit to the British. They did whatever good or bad they thought was necessary for their people- they did not hesitate to put all that down with total can dour. There wasno hypocrisy to oneself, no pulling of veils for anyone else. Everyone is here bared to the last stitch. No friend or relative or colleague is spared. All participants in all conspiracies are named. Even the Indians who played the British game have been exposing with out regard to how their compatriots would be shocked when they would come to know of the secretdoingsof theidolsthey had worshipped. Studying this correspondence of over 20 years, between 1922 and 1942, I realised that all my preceding labour in collecting material from diaries and memories had gone waste. The conclusions that I was collecting the evidence for were all given there as explicitly as one could wish. The government of India's policies against the Soviet Unionwasdown incolddetails. Those policieswereof course no surprise. What did come as arevelationwas the shameful role played by certain eminent leaders of India in Indian affairs. The worst was the conduct of certain Muslim leaders. It was an embarrassment Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg.3 reading about them. The accusation of the Congress and Bacha khan were not a fraction ofwhat the highestBritish officialshad unblushinglylaiddownhere. What pains I had taken to prove that the thing was an orange. I went through hundreds of papers, pursued the trail of countless books to collect the evidence of roundness, yellowness, sourness. All that now was rendered unnecessary. The masters themselves here say: why all this effort; what need for proof; logic, reasoning, political sense to what purpose; we ourselves attest that it is an orange. Once I almost decided to abandon my book and just compile this correspondence into a book let to show to the nation the other side of the picture and let it decide itself who were really its well-wishes, and who wanted to consignit to perpetual slavery of the British. But after much thought I decided to stay with my earlier plan. Publishing only the documents, while it would expose Bacha khan's critics, it would not serve my original purpose of presenting the story of Bacha khan's political struggle and the khudai khidmatgar'sgreat endeavors. That would also check the course of disreputable politicking which only aims at misleading simpleminded Muslims and distorting the facts of history through loudmouthed falsehood and slanders. Truth emerges one day. Diamond shines forth even ina pile of ashes. To allow history to remain distorted is to betray a national trust. Coming to know of the facts I had not sufficiently known hurt me bitterly and made me hang my head in shame. I wondered how it would affect those honest and devoted workers who had rendered untold sacrifices for what they were told was an Islamic cause; how they would react when they would come to know that those they had regarded as champions of Islam, those who did not consider anyone apart from themselves and their loyal hangers-on as true Muslims or well-wishers of Muslims, had in fact been on the side of the enemy, working to strengthen his hands. I have my self nothing against there having supported the British; my objection is to their having used the fair name of Islam to backa usurping, and,worst ofall, ahereticalregime. It is important that the story is told so that the Muslims are not again stung from the same snake hole. They have to learn to be wary of again being misled in the name ofIslam. Truth is bitter. The present one is particularly so, I realise that this book will hurt many, but it should also open many eyes. As the Englishman says, it is just to put the record straight. Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg.4 I do not consider it necessary to emphasis that regardless of my political views, whatever I have written down here is based on sources that a re- available in the British Library. Whoever wants proof can satisfy him with the help of thereferences to the sources I havegiven in the text. As they,say,comment is free,but facts are sacred. Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg.5 Chapter1 CommunalpoliticsAndtheBritishThetilttowardsMuslim League ALTHOUGH they long consider themselves as of the ruling stock, the Muslims of Indiahadlost effective power to theBritish. Theywere crushedfollowing the 1857 national bid to put the aliens in their place. And neighbouring Afghanistan was brought under the heel through Amir Abdul Rehman. Thus,if externally the path of Russia's possible thrust had been blocked, internally no force had remained that could challenge the British. Some six hundred princely states had also through their rulers become subservient to them. Thus by the beginningthe 20th centuryLondon's gripover India had become unshakable. The British colonist was however an extremely canny, weather beaten, modern-day pirate. It was not enough merely to establish the grip; it was also necessary to maintain their firm holds. He was faced with a country the size of a sub-continent and a population that was numberless. He thought hard how he could keep these under his thumb. He had fought Nemours battles, and even, by fair means and foul, conquered countries. But he could not set a soldier on every Indian. He had therefore to find a way that the Indians remained divided amongst themselves. For if they joined hands the situation could become, like the one caricatured by a Hindu humourist who said that if all the Indians even pee' together these handful of British- hers would all be floodedaway. The Englishman had seized power from the Muslim. He had driven out the latter's delusion about his birth-right to rule. He also realised that although Muslims had ruling India for centuries, they were a minority of the population. So while earlier he was helping the non-Muslims and making them fight the Muslims on his behalf and himself benefiting from this mutual hostility, he decided that it might not be sound strategy to keep lending strength to the Hindus who were the country's preponderant majority. There was also another consideration. There were no Hindus in other countries around India whereas Muslims were spread in the four corners of the world from North Africa the Balkans, and from Turkey to Afghanistan, the whole hemisphere virtually belonged to them. Above everything else, the Ottoman Empire constituted the Muslim caliphate. Thus theMuslims were astrong and organisedworldforce. Against that herein south Asia thesituationwas as follows:- Facts are Sacred; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com pg.6