The frontier gandhi: Badshah khan, a torch for peace

[Toramana]

Twenty-one years in the making, THE FRONTIER GANDHI: BADSHAH KHAN, A TORCH FOR PEACE (a feature length documentary – 92 minutes) launches into orbit the epic story of a remarkable Muslim peacemaker born into Pashtun warrior society of the strategic North-West Frontier Province of the Indian subcontinent .................


http://www.thefrontiergandhi.com/about.html

[eyeliner]

^ where is the doumentary?

[Toramana]

eyeliner, i don't know...someone sent this link to me.

[eyeliner]

^ oh ok.........

[Shayesta]

There was a gathering today for Badshah Khan's legacy and it was great too see so many people in Kabul still admire him because the audience was absolutely packed.

[PFgulalai]

This a brilliant piece of work by Teri McLuhan who spent 23 years of her life on making this documentary film. The documentary was screened at MIACC festival Indo-American Arts Council New York. Last year, it was screened at the New York City's first Muslim Arts Festival in Brooklyn. It was also screened at Santa Fe complex (New Mexico) last month.Besides, this documentary film has also received the 2009 Black Pearl Award in the Middle Eastern Film Festival.In 2008, the documentary was screened at Fronteir house in Pashtunkhwa. All Pashtuns should be grateful to Teri McLuhan for making this masterpiece. The khudai khidmatgar poem, the music, the rare footage of old khudai khidmatgars, the commentators (barring Musharraf), and everything about this documentary is absolutely amazing!
I am anxiously waiting for its DVD release which seems to be taking long time.

[PFgulalai]

T.C McLuhan interview with Pashto TV

YouTube - Frontier Gandhi Badshah Khan a torch for peace

[PFgulalai]

November 03, 2009
Peter Howell

Badshah Khan


In archival photos of Badshah Khan standing next to his fellow peace advocate Mahatma Gandhi, it would easy to mistake Khan for a bodyguard.
Standing an imposing 6-foot-6 and with eyes that held every gaze, Khan towered over Gandhi and seemed fearsome in comparison. Yet both men were devoted to religious harmony and the non-violent quest for freedom from British rule in India early in the 20th century.
Khan was Muslim and Gandhi Hindu, but the two were so much in synch Khan was nicknamed the "Frontier Gandhi." They each received multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet Khan is almost unknown outside of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan while Gandhi is revered the world over.
The reason for this is explored in Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, A Torch for Peace, the award-winning documentary by Teri McLuhan screening Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Innis Town Hall Theatre. It receives its Canadian premiere as the opening gala of the International Diaspora Film Festival, with a repeat screening at 1 p.m. Saturday.
A labour of love by McLuhan, the daughter of the late Toronto media visionary Marshall McLuhan, Frontier Gandhi makes a strong case that the world has unjustly neglected Khan, who died in 1988 at the age of 98. It also argues convincingly that Khan's messages are more timely now than ever.
Khan was from the Pashtun region (also known as Pashtunistan), a rugged area straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan that has long been one of the most violent hotspots on the globe. It's the home of the Khyber Pass, rendered in verse by Rudyard Kipling, where some of the most pitched battles of history have been fought – including the current American-led fight against the Taliban.
Yet Khan believed violence wasn't the answer to anything, and that included the British rule he and Gandhi joined forces to oppose. Khan created a non-violent army of more than 100,000 followers known as Khudai Khidmatgars ("Servants of God") whose red garb indicated their devotion to sacrifice.
From his youth in the 1920s up to his death in the late 1980s, Khan fought not only to free the Indian subcontinent from British control, but also to maintain unity and religious harmony amongst its fractious peoples. He succeeded in just one of these goals, sadly watching as India was violently partitioned in 1947 into two countries: a Muslim Pakistan split into fragments west and east (later a new nation called Bangladesh) and a Hindu India.
Khan's resistance to partition caused him to break with Gandhi (he accused his former ally of "throwing us to the wolves") and he was repeatedly thrown in jail, first by the British and later by the Pakistani government. Khan spent 35 years of his life in jail, much of that time in solitary confinement.
The world outside his homeland may have forgotten him, the film suggests, because he was overshadowed by the more charismatic Gandhi. "Even history becomes an exercise in brand building," says Indian journalist M.J. Akbar, one of many people McLuhan interviewed for her film.
But Khan never stopped believing that peace and non-violent resistance were the only paths to a happy life, and he warned of what could happen if extremism took hold – a point McLuhan underlines with images of the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
McLuhan devoted 21 years to making Frontier Gandhi. She travelled to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and the U.S. to track down rare historical footage and to interview Khan's relatives and admirers, the latter including Afghan President Hamid Karzai. She'll attend both screenings at Innis and answer questions afterwards.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...article/720117

[PFgulalai]

Shlombay, that is true so far my experience is concerned. Not only Bacha Khan Baba, but ANP is also considered "da India agentaan",lolz. The fact that Bacha Khan Baba desired to be buried in Jalalabad rather than Pakistan is quoted oftentimes by the patriotic Pakistanis to prove that he was not a Pakistani patriot.Most of the Pashtuns of my generation know little about Bacha Khan Baba since he is not glorified in Pakistan studies.Instead, the Muslim league stalwarts like Sarda Abdur Rab Nishtar and others are covered in full-length chapters in Pakistan studies books.

[PFgulalai]

په کابل کې د پاچاخان نړیوال سمینار پرانست&#160

خان عبدالفغارخان چې د پاچاخان او فخرافغان لقبونه یې هم ګټلي دي د ګاندي نژدې ملګری او د عدم تشدد په مبارزه کې دهغه په څنګ کې ولاړ و. پاچاخان د پښتنو مشر و او په بره او کوزه پښتونخوا کې یې د پښتنو په یووالي کې ډېر زیات نفوذ لاره. ده به په خپلو ویناوو کې پښتانه یووالي ته رابلل او تل یې سپارښتنه کوله چې په خپلو کې له جګړې او نفاق څخه لاس واخلي.

په دې سمینار کې د افغانستان، پاکستان او د هند په لسګونه څیړونکي راټول شوي او د باچان خان د عدم تشدد د مبارزې په بیلابیلو اړخونو علمي بحثونه کوي.

د سمینار پرانستونکې غونډې ته افغان ولسمشر حامد کرزي هم وینا وکړه او د باچا خان د مبارزې په بیلابیلو اړخونو، چې د عدام تشدد له نظریې یی سرچینه اخستله رڼا واچوله.

ښاغلي کرزي وویل: «نن په هغه اور کې پاکستان او افغانستان سوځي هغه اور چې ده د هغه په خلاف هلې ځلې کړي دي او د هغه لپاره یې بندیخانه تیره کړې په هغه اور کې پاکستان او افغانستان سوځي که دده د وینا چا احترام کړی وای نو نن به دا ولسونه د افغانستان او پاکستان په دې اور کې نه سوځیدلای.»

د سیمینار څو تنو برخوالو تاند ته وویل چې دوی ډېر ناوخته، یوازې دوې ورځې وړاندې خبر کړای شول چې دولت د داسي یوه نړیوال سمینار تابیا کړې ده.

دا سمینار د افغانستان د اطلاعاتو او کلتور وزارت په نوښت جوړ شوی.

د افغانستان د اطلاعاتو او کلتور وزیر داکټر سیدمخدوم رهین وویل ، چې په دې سیمینار کې به لیکوالان او څیړونکي د خان عبدالغفارخان د شخصیت په اړه خپلې څېړنیزې مقالې ولولي.

ارواښاد خان عبدالغفار خان د خپلواکۍ او پښتنو ته د شعور ورکولو لپاره له سوله ییزې لارې مبارزه کوله.ده د خپل عمر دېرش کلونه د انګرېزانو په بند کې تېر کړي.

http://taand.com/index.php?mod=artic...&article=22886

[sahil112]

was the guy joking at the end where he said he has never heard of him? or isit because it looked like a tajik populated area and so they have no need to no about him and don't want to either?

[Shehbaz Khan]

Is it true our love Bacha Khan is treated and considered a traitor in Pakistan? What is his current status?

Though this question was not directed towards me but I would like to say something about the matter.

"Six years ago, I announced on the floor of this House that Pakistan is our country and its solidarity and protection is our duty and that any program that will be submitted by any party for its progress and its reconstruction shall have my fullest cooperation. I repeat those words of mine even today. But still there are some persons who suspect my loyalty. I therefore think that it would be advisable to set up a tribunal to enquire not only into the question of loyalty or treason but also into the general massacre, arson and loot and the dishonouring of women and children and old men at Charsadda and the oppressive treatment meted out to us in jail."
Badshah Khan, Budget session of Assembly on March 20, 1954.

He declared himself a Pakistani on the floor of the house so one cannot say that he was a traitor. The reason people think of him as a traitor is because we never highlighted the above statements from him? How many times ANP itself promoted this? Laka what Asfandyar Khan did for the name of his legendary grand father and what we Pakhtuns did in order to answer all these theories against him? Instead we are usually all happy with it and we tell our fellow Pakhtuns from Pakhtunkhwa 'See they are calling your politician our bacha khan a traitor'? Like copy the above statement of Bacha Khan and throw it to every person who say that he is a traitor how dare they say so?

His current status is that the beloved party of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who was supposed to help Pakhtuns is sucking the blood of Pakhtuns, selling their blood and his grand son Asfandyar Wali Khan is enjoying dollars in Islamabad and London.

Got some words for Asfandyar Khan if someone could send these to him

Islamabad pregda rasha pa Charsaddah ki kena,
Da yar zameen ashna sara pa muqbara ki kena,
Ta kho ba wayal che pukhtana da marga na yaregi,
Da pukhtano ledara wos warta hujra ki kena,
Yawazi mong ba talibano bandi ma dobawa,
Ta rasara hum pa jarga aao marakaa ki kena,
Da namwar fakhr-e-afghan da bacha khan bachiya,
Marg ba neeta day laka da nar warta kosa ki kena..!!

What has ANP delivered in the past 2 years to the common man of KPK except for the name of the province and closing the file of Kalabagh Dam.
In these two Kalabagh Dam file would have never approved by anyone. And the name of the province was never the issue of the common Pakhtun.

Nothing is delivered by the party/grand-son of Bacha Khan so what you think his current status could be?

[Shehbaz Khan]

And this documentry is really awesome watched a few parts of it .. Waiting for the DVD's

[Shehbaz Khan]

Bacha Khan Baba desired to be buried in Jalalabad rather than Pakistan is quoted oftentimes by the patriotic Pakistanis to prove that he was not a Pakistani patriot.

Even this could be easily answered that he was a Pakhtun Nationalist. He wanted a united pakhtun nation even after his death thats he choose to be buried in afghanistan and he never accepted this imaginary durand line which have divide a nation into two, it has divided a nation, a tribe, a family and brothers.... just like now u and i have different opinions and thinking and somehow hate each others,,, the same goes to others,,, so i think he decided to unite this divided nation, families and brothers and sisters.


His desire of burial in Afghanistan means that he love the Pakhtun of Afghanistan as much as he love the Pakhtun of KPK, Pakistan.

[BLS_1919v2.0]

Shehbaz don't whitewash history. It is a fact that he accepted Pakistan as a state, but tell everyone what happened right after. They got rid of the government of the KK and then brought in Qayyum Khan, the Babara massacre, the jailing of Khudai Khidmathgars, etc. If you don't believe me, go ask people from charsadda and Swabai, many people who had members in Khudai Khidmathgaar were tortured and jailed. Then he was jailed by Pakistani authorities and he is on record saying that the treatment of the British was better than Pakistan.

About ANP, yeh they have their problems and corruption is at the top of it. However they are not to blame for the destruction of Pashtuns, this has to do with the policy of US and Pakistan for the past 30 years and some donkey Pashtuns who followed it. Asfandyaar may be taking some dollars but it is childs play to what others are getting and have gotten.