Rich tributes paid to Qissa Khwani martyrs

PESHAWAR: Continuing with the past practice, Gandhara Hindko Board, a literacy and cultural organization, on Tuesday remembered scores of citizens who lost lives when the British troops had opened fire at peaceful citizens at Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar on April 23, 1930.

A delegation of the organization visited Chowk Shaheedaan at the historic bazaar. They placed a floral wreath at the Martyrs Memorial erected to pay tributes to those 400 people who died when the British troops opened fire on the peaceful citizens 94 years back.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Waseem Shahid, Dr Khadim Ibrahim, Sikandar Hayat, Ali Awais, Nauman Qayyum, Muslim Javed, and people from other walks of life were present on the occasion.The speakers said the Qissa Khwani massacre was an important part of the Independence Movement which happened in the heart of Peshawar.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi and others said the Gandhara Hindko Board had been marking this day since its launch last 31 years ago to pay tributes to the sons of the soil who laid down their lives at Qissa Khwani almost a century ago.

They lamented that this important incident of the Independence Movement had not been highlighted properly. “This is why Gandhara Hindko Board arranged conferences, walks photographic exhibitions and published two research-based books - “Qissa Khwani Firing” and “Tragedy at a glance” to highlight the sacrifice offered for freedom in Peshawar,” said Ali Awais Khayal, referring to the publications authored by Muhammad Ziauddin, research scholar of Hindko language.

The speakers repeated the earlier demand to make the Qissa Khwani Massacre part of the course of studies for the students and mark the day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the official level to tell the young generations of the great sacrifices offered by the people to win freedom.