PUKHTOONS

Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as the servants of God. It represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns of the North West Frontier Province(Pukhtunistan). The movement was led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan/Badshah Khan).

Conditions prior to the movement

At the turn of the last century Pakhtuns ociety was colonized, stagnant, and violent,worn down by feuds, inequalities, factionalism, poor social cooperation, andplain ignorance. Education opportunities were strictly limited. Pukhtuns are Muslim; Mullahs were known to have told parents that if their children went to school, they would go to hell. Bacha Khan stated that “the real purpose of this propaganda”was to keep Pakhtuns “illiterate and uneducated”, and hence his people “were the most backward in India” with regard to education.