Ajab Khan Afridi was a criminal, murderer

[Samandri]

He is always portrayed as a Hero .......but he broke into a house , murdered an innocent British woman and kidnapped her teenage daughter for certain demands and ransom........there must be some thing wrong with minds of us Pashtuns that we have declared him to be a heroic figure, even Pashto movies are made on him....you will come across pages like "Ajab Khan Afridi - the pride of Dara Adam Khel" etc.....In Afghanistan he is very respected and loved as he and his brother fled to that country and were supporting Pashtunistan cause after 1947.....

The fact is, Ajab Khan Afridi was a criminal outlaw involved in robberies. He was part of a criminal gang that included his brother Shahzada.....On the night of April 13, 1923, Ajab along with some accomplices entered the house of Major Archibald Jenner Ellis. Major Ellis was not at home that night and in the ensuing struggle Shahzada stabbed to death Ellis's wife Ellen Mary and the gang abducted seventeen year old Mollie Ellis. The gang travelled by night avoiding all contact and ended up in Khanki Bazaar in Tirah on April 19.........

The abduction of a girl is considered to be an achievement of his while its actually a very lowly act ........his brother performed a great feat of bravery by stabbing a woman to the death.

[mungojerry]

He is always portrayed as a Hero .......but he broke into a house , murdered an innocent British woman and kidnapped her teenage daughter for certain demands and ransom........there must be some thing wrong with minds of us Pashtuns that we have declared him to be a heroic figure, even Pashto movies are made on him....you will come across pages like "Ajab Khan Afridi - the pride of Dara Adam Khel" etc.....In Afghanistan he is very respected and loved as he and his brother fled to that country and were supporting Pashtunistan cause after 1947.....

The fact is, Ajab Khan Afridi was a criminal outlaw involved in robberies. He was part of a criminal gang that included his brother Shahzada.....On the night of April 13, 1923, Ajab along with some accomplices entered the house of Major Archibald Jenner Ellis. Major Ellis was not at home that night and in the ensuing struggle Shahzada stabbed to death Ellis's wife Ellen Mary and the gang abducted seventeen year old Mollie Ellis. The gang travelled by night avoiding all contact and ended up in Khanki Bazaar in Tirah on April 19.........

The abduction of a girl is considered to be an achievement of his while its actually a very lowly act ........his brother performed a great feat of bravery by stabbing a woman to the death.

are you sure pashtune man did this things? everyday i reading here pashtune mans not do such things to womans. it means pashtune members not telling truths about pashtunes.

[marwat]

Those woman came 1000 miles far from their home to our territory to enjoy a privileged life and enslaved the local. What makes you think they should be spared. Just because they are woman does not mean they are not enemy.

[khushal]

She was kidnapped to free his men that the brits had imprisoned. The kidnapped Mollie Ellis was let go with no harm with the help of Afridi Tribal leaders.

People consider the enemy of their enemies as heros. the muj of the 80's were heros in america since they fought the soviets but those same people are now terrorists in todays american perception.

[Samandri]

Those woman came 1000 miles far from their home to our territory to enjoy a privileged life and enslaved the local. What makes you think they should be spared. Just because they are woman does not mean they are not enemy.

Islam clearly instruct us not to harm women of the enemy. Moreover 'Pashto' also has same stance, thats why women of the enemy households are spared in our Pashtun society in case of enmities.

Its not that there were not any opportunities to kill ferangi men elsewhere outside their homes.........

[Samandri]

She was kidnapped to free his men that the brits had imprisoned. The kidnapped Mollie Ellis was let go with no harm with the help of Afridi Tribal leaders.

People consider the enemy of their enemies as heros. the muj of the 80's were heros in america since they fought the soviets but those same people are now terrorists in todays american perception.

About the Afridi style of Badal, this will be interesting read for you.....

[mungojerry]

About the Afridi style of Badal, this will be interesting read for you.....

^ another silly barberic customs of Pathans. this why desis shuld expells pathans from pakistan and all south asia countries. you can do barberic customs in afghanistan, that for pashtunes to decide what they does in afghanistan.

[khushal]

About the Afridi style of Badal, this will be interesting read for you.....

You asked the question of why Ajab Khan is considered a hero in Afghanistan.

About the above story. It seemed like the family had a change of heart or they just took the money in a scheme. (I beleive in the latter since it does not make sense for a city girl to live up in the hills because it is very rough and primitive. Unless you grew up there, it would be very difficult to adjust.) The tribesmen couldn't get to the family so they wanted the authorities to get involved and put pressure on the family which they did.

But his is very common.
A kaliwal of mine who lives in Pakistan has a dispute about money with a person of a neighboring kalia who lives in Kabul. The guy in Kabul is demanding his money and the one in Pakistan is just ignoring him and says he owes him nothing and did not want to arbitrate. So the guy in Kabul kidnapped the other guys nephew and demanded his money in exchange for his nephew. My kaliwal asked the whole kalia to rally around him and support him to free his nephew. The people in our kalia responded by telling him you should have arbitrated the dispute at the beginning so just give him the money. He refused and responded by kidnapping 6 people from the other kalia who had no relations with the person who has a dispute with him.

What he is trying to do is make his problem a problem between two kali instead of a problem between two individuals because he does not have the "zor" of the guy in Kabul which is what the afridi tribesman was doing in your story above. He turned his dispute with the family in peshawar into a dispute between his tribe and the authorities.

I have hundreds of stories like this from our own area.

[marwat]

Islam clearly instruct us not to harm women of the enemy. Moreover 'Pashto' also has same stance, thats why women of the enemy households are spared in our Pashtun society in case of enmities.

Its not that there were not any opportunities to kill ferangi men elsewhere outside their homes.........

that is why she was never harmed never raped, the other old woman must have resisted that's why got stabbed. beside islam tells us to make woman of enemy as sex slaves. they were mature woman not children, they came here through their consent.

[Elite Pakhtun]

About the Afridi style of Badal, this will be interesting read for you.....

The sad part is the kidnapped student got stuck left holding his **** in his hand. Hopefully he smoked some opium when he was up there.

[khushal]

that is why she was never harmed never raped, the other old woman must have resisted that's why got stabbed. beside islam tells us to make woman of enemy as sex slaves. they were mature woman not children, they came here through their consent.

Molly Ellis"s father sent an English woman who was a nurse to negotiate her release which was smart of him because he wanted to make it clear he is not using force. If he had sent troops out there, the outcome would have been different.

che habara zor te larra she, beya morg artse

[Charsi Malang]

What do you know about Ajab Khan Afridi?

Ajab Khan Afridi was a Bosti Khel Afridi. His village borders the suburbs where my family come from and a lot of intermarriages have taken place between us and the Bosti Khel. He is hailed as hero and a legend in our mountains and I happen to personally know one of his descendants.


The Molly Ellis affair is perhaps his most famous raid, but he was also involved in the murders of other British officers. After the whole Molly Ellis affair, he again with the help of his brother Shahzada entered the home of a Col. Watts and shot him through the mouth. If you ever go to Kohat and try to enter Darra Adam Khel you will come across a small gate in memory of a character named Eric Charles Handyside from the North West Frontier constabulary. The plaque on this gate reads that he was killed whilst fighting tribal outlaws. These "tribal outlaws" were the very same Ajab Khan and his gang.

Rumour has it that initially the British entered his home while he was not there in search of some rifles that were stolen in Kohat. During this search, an officer struck his mother, and this is what prompted him to commit this act. Ajab and his brother initially went with the intention of killing the Deputy Commissioner in Kohat, but as we know, he was not at home. His wife however, was at home asleep and she happened to be quite large in stature, and in the darkness the brothers weren`t sure whether it was a man or a woman, and was making a lot of noise. In order to save themselves and escape, Shahzada had to cut her throat-it was either that, or she would have raised the alarm they would have been caught. They did not go with the intention of killing a woman.

It seems you do not understand why he is hailed as a hero. Ajab had Molly in his possession and the authorities could not free her by force. Ajab Khan showed the British Raj that if they entered his home, he could do the same to them. Whilst he held the young girl in captivity, it was a well known fact that she was not molested or harmed in any way when she could have been so easily raped or killed. Ajab Khan proved a point by kidnapping the girl but not harming her, and that is what makes this story so famous.

It is unfortunate that many people like yourself consider him a criminal. Indeed the Pakistani government today also officially recognise him as a criminal whilst the Afghan government respect him even now gave him the title of ghazi as well as Afghan citizenship and land. I suppose this highlights one of the major differences in the Pakistani and Afghan psyche.

So no my friend this was not a lowly act, and there is nothing wrong with the minds of us Pashtuns, but in the midst of the circumstances it shows a very raw and primitive chivalry as he proved the lengths he was willing to go to redeem his honour and yet at the same time not tarnish his character by committing any base acts.

Allah de Ajab Khan ta janatoona werka.

[khushal]

Samandri reads too much British version of events.

There are always two or more sides to a story.

The paki state goes with the british version of events instead of their own people.

[Samandri]

What do you know about Ajab Khan Afridi?

Ajab Khan Afridi was a Bosti Khel Afridi. His village borders the suburbs where my family come from and a lot of intermarriages have taken place between us and the Bosti Khel. He is hailed as hero and a legend in our mountains and I happen to personally know one of his descendants.


The Molly Ellis affair is perhaps his most famous raid, but he was also involved in the murders of other British officers. After the whole Molly Ellis affair, he again with the help of his brother Shahzada entered the home of a Col. Watts and shot him through the mouth. If you ever go to Kohat and try to enter Darra Adam Khel you will come across a small gate in memory of a character named Eric Charles Handyside from the North West Frontier constabulary. The plaque on this gate reads that he was killed whilst fighting tribal outlaws. These "tribal outlaws" were the very same Ajab Khan and his gang.

Rumour has it that initially the British entered his home while he was not there in search of some rifles that were stolen in Kohat. During this search, an officer struck his mother, and this is what prompted him to commit this act. Ajab and his brother initially went with the intention of killing the Deputy Commissioner in Kohat, but as we know, he was not at home. His wife however, was at home asleep and she happened to be quite large in stature, and in the darkness the brothers weren`t sure whether it was a man or a woman, and was making a lot of noise. In order to save themselves and escape, Shahzada had to cut her throat-it was either that, or she would have raised the alarm they would have been caught. They did not go with the intention of killing a woman.

It seems you do not understand why he is hailed as a hero. Ajab had Molly in his possession and the authorities could not free her by force. Ajab Khan showed the British Raj that if they entered his home, he could do the same to them. Whilst he held the young girl in captivity, it was a well known fact that she was not molested or harmed in any way when she could have been so easily raped or killed. Ajab Khan proved a point by kidnapping the girl but not harming her, and that is what makes this story so famous.

It is unfortunate that many people like yourself consider him a criminal. Indeed the Pakistani government today also officially recognise him as a criminal whilst the Afghan government respect him even now gave him the title of ghazi as well as Afghan citizenship and land. I suppose this highlights one of the major differences in the Pakistani and Afghan psyche.

So no my friend this was not a lowly act, and there is nothing wrong with the minds of us Pashtuns, but in the midst of the circumstances it shows a very raw and primitive chivalry as he proved the lengths he was willing to go to redeem his honour and yet at the same time not tarnish his character by committing any base acts.

Allah de Ajab Khan ta janatoona werka.

Stop making excuses for your criminal women-killer notable......Actually British had searched the homes of Afridis , as some of his men attempted to escape in women garb.....the striking of Ajab's mother by British, is a made up story....Afridis actually felt insulted when their houses were searched....

The murder of Mrs.Ellis was not unintentional and accidental......previously Ajab Khan had murdered Mrs.Foulkes.....and when he sought refuge in Tirah , he was not given respect there as he had murdered a woman.......Moreover the Afridi tribesmen agreed with British to track down Ajab Khan, as they accepted that murder of women is lowly and dishonorable act by Ajab Khan. Ajab Khan and his gang had no choice but to escape to Afghanistan.

The notion that Ajab Khan is a chivalrous hero, was propagated by Afghan government........

[Samandri]

Samandri reads too much British version of events.

There are always two or more sides to a story.

The paki state goes with the british version of events instead of their own people.

@khushal i dont know what kind of Pashto you people follow........but in our areas abduction of woman or any harm to them , is considered against the traditions and norms of the Pashtuns.......and this was not taught to us by British