PESHAWAR – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that the incident of August 12, 1948 at Babarra, Charsadda, was the blackest chapter of the history of the province and every race of Pakhtun nation in every time would condemn it, as 600 innocent people became victim of colonial rule.
In a statement on the eve of ‘Yaum-e-Shuhada-e-Babarra’, the Information Minister said that history bears testimony to the fact that Pukhtuns always waged peaceful struggle for the attainment of their rights and peaceful Babarra protest rally was a part of it which was led by famous Khudai Khidmatgar, Spin Mallang. But it is a matter of regret that usurpers of the time and power hungry ruling class sprayed the peaceful of Khudai Khidmatgaars with bullets, killing hundreds of innocent people.
He further recalled that doctors at the hospitals at that time had refused to treat the injured of the Babarra tragedy on the directives of the then government and consequently many of the wounded volunteers of the ‘Red Shirt’ movement succumbed to their injuries at the hospital. So much so the properties of the Khudai Khidmatgaars at that time were confiscated by the government at that time and put to auction while their houses were torched, Mian recalled.
He further explained the peaceful rally of the Khudai Khidmatgaar in 1948 were not demanding dismissal of a government but they were demanding the release of their leaders Bacha Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan who were put behind the bars by the government for their only sin of obtaining rights for the Pukhtuns and provincial autonomy.
Concluding, the Information Minister said, “today we are glad to tell the ‘Shuhada e Babarra’ that for the cause they rendered sacrifices and tortured at the hand of the ruling class has now been achieved under the able leadership of party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan.”