Bacha Khan: Drama
By Gul Muhammad Betab
Aaraf Printers, Peshawar
104pp.

Writing on or about Abdul Ghaffar Khan — also known as Fakhr-i-Afghan and, more popularly, as Bacha (Badshah) Khan — requires extraordinary perseverance and understanding, as his eventful life was spread over nearly a century. Khan’s struggle for the rights of his people goes beyond words and space; words become scant and space gets squeezed.

Still, the output has been considerable, with more than 150 books having been written in English, Urdu and Pashto on several aspects of Khan’s life. A recent contribution is a play titled Bacha Khan: Drama by noted Pashto poet and playwright Gul Mohammad Betab, under review here.

To appreciate the significance of these works, a summary of Khan’s life is in order. Born in 1890 in Utmanzai, Charsadda District, to Abdul Bahram Khan, a prosperous landlord belonging to the Mohammadzai Pakhtun tribe, Bacha Khan initially received a religious education from the village mosque. He later studied at the Municipal Board High School, Peshawar, the Edwardes Mission High School, Peshawar, and graduated from Aligarh Muslim University.

Khan started his career as an academic, joining hands with noted social reformer Haji Fazle Wahid, aka Haji Sahib of Turangzai, to establish a madressah in Utmanzai and in Gudar, Mardan, in 1910. As well as receiving a religious education, students at these establishments were encouraged to exhibit the spirit of patriotism through learning about local literature, culture and heroes.

A play by a noted Pashto poet and playwright is a tribute to a soul who enlightened Pakhtuns with the light of political consciousness, the love of their land and people, linguistic diversity, art and culture

However, the British government of the time feared the schools would fan anti-British sentiment. The madressahs were shut down and many of the teachers imprisoned. In 1919, the government imposed the Rowlatt Acts to bring under control any public agitation against it and Khan was arrested for staging a protest against the said act. In the early 1920s, in support of the Khilafat Movement, Khan and his companions migrated to Afghanistan as a protest against the British Indian government’s betrayal of the Muslims of the Subcontinent.

On his return after about six months, Khan concluded that the Quit India movement was a fiasco. He argued that, instead, steps should be taken to overcome the problems of the masses and launched the reformative movement Anjuman-i-Islahul Afaghina to root out the poverty, ignorance and other social ills prevalent among Pakhtuns.

Khan wanted to raise awareness among his people regarding the importance of modern education and, at the same time, the value of the Pashto language. The main objectives of his reformative movement included advocacy for the mother tongue and promoting education, unity and collective efforts for economic uplift and against the proliferate use of drugs, tribal feuds and outdated customs and traditions.

To educate Pakhtuns, Khan, with the help of his devoted comrades, opened the first Azad School in Utmanzai in April 1921. More were set up across the region and the chain ultimately came to comprise 135 schools. Operating expenses were borne by donations from members of the reformative movement and the quality of education was so impressive that many elite families sent their children to study with the galaxy of intellectuals and scholars Khan had gathered.

In 1927, Khan founded the Khudai Khidmatgaar organisation, the main objective of which was to unite Pakhtuns and spread the spirit of nonviolence, mutual respect and harmony. The organisation quickly became popular among the masses because of its volunteer services. A year later, he launched the journal Pakhtun — which is still in circulation — to amplify the voices of his backward people and fight for their rights through the might of the pen instead of the gun. A large number of poets and writers have had the honour of contributing to it.

A man of the people, Khan knew the strength, force and significance of popular media. He introduced the concept of live theatre to his hometown of Utmanzai with the staging of a Pashto play titled Dray Yatemaan [Three Orphans]. His sons Ghani and Wali performed the roles of two of the orphans and it is said that Wali acted his part so effectively that a man from the audience walked on to the stage to console the child. He even gave the boy some money, thinking he really was a poor, destitute orphan.

This brings us to Betab’s play under review here. It opens in the precincts of Khan’s mausoleum in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where two young boys visiting the grave cry out to Khan to help resolve their issues. Khan comes alive and the people celebrate his presence with jubilant gunfire, which displeases him.

Over the course of 21 scenes, the story sheds light on various modern-day problems engulfing the Pakhtun belt — poverty, extremism, ignorance, suppression of women, internecine feuds and militancy — with Khan advising the people on nonviolence and maintaining unity in rank and file to come up with peaceful resolutions. The big principle of Khan’s philosophy is to defy tribal prejudices and adopt an inclusive approach towards all God’s creatures, irrespective of gender, caste, creed and colour.

Written in fluent Pashto, the play unfolds in flashbacks to show the journey of a man whose struggles matched mountains. It is a humble tribute to a soul who enlightened Pakhtuns with the light of political consciousness, the love of their land and people, linguistic diversity, art and culture. These encompass the spiritual, moral and physical strength of his people, for whose freedom he spent 33 years of his life behind bars.

The reviewer is a Peshawar-based contributor on Pashto literature and culture.

He tweets @Shinwari_9

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, May 7th, 2023