ANP to pay tribute to martyrs of Takkar today

TAKHTBHAI: The Awami National Party (ANP) is organising a function to remember the martyrs of the Takkar village who were massacred by British soldiers on May 28, 1930.

ANP leaders, including Himayatullah Mayar and others would attend the event to pay tribute to the martyrs of Khudai Khidmatgars, or the “servants of Allah” as the freedom-fighters were known of Takkar village.

The massacre of Khudai Khidmatgars on May 28, 1930 immortalised the Takkar village in Pashto folklore. The Khudai Khidmatgar movement gained momentum after the massacre in Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar in April 1930.

The popularity and support among the masses for Khudai Khidmatgars frightened the British rulers and they started devising strategies to weaken the movement. The police started arresting activists of the movement. A police team led by an English officer Murphy reached Takkar village on May 26 to arrest the members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement.

The villagers resisted the police and told Murphy that they would bring their leaders to the police station tomorrow. On May 27, five leaders Malik Masam Khan, Salar Shamroz Khan, Malik Khan Badshah, Pir Shahzada and Malik Abdul Majeed accompanied by scores of villagers left their village to surrender at the police station in Mardan.

The police stopped the villagers near Gujjar Garhi and ordered them to hand over the wanted persons and return to their village. The villagers were insisting that they would hand over their leaders at the police station.

The villagers’ insistence infuriated Murphy who ordered the cops to disperse them at any cost. The cops started beating the villagers but someone from the villagers shot Murphy who fell from his horse and the women volunteers present at the site crushed his head with earthen pots.

After Murphy’s death, the British troops attacked Takkar village on May 28 and started killing people.

Around 70 villagers were killed and more than 150 wounded in the firing. The massacre is remembered in Pashto folk songs, including “Pa Takkar jang de, golai wareegi, ao wonay panray rajveena, pa Takkar jang de.