Qissa Khawani massacre remembered

Remembering the victims of the Qissa Khawani massacre of 1930, leaders of the Awami National Party-Wali (ANP-W) on Monday said that the tragedy was an enlightening chapter of history, when a handful of Khudai Khidmatgar Movement’s (KKM) activists in Peshawar stood against the injustices of British Raj.

They were speaking to a gathering organised in Da Silva Town of Nazimabad to remember the sacrifices of the Bacha Khan-led anti-colonial KKM, whose workers were killed on April 23, 1930 in Peshawar’s Qissa Khawani area. On that day, British forces gunned down 400 unarmed civilians who were protesting the arrest of their leader.

Qasim Jan, the ANP-W Sindh chapter’s secretary general, said the ANP-W were genuine heirs of Bacha Khan and the KKM, as they continue to pursue a non-violent approach in current politics.

The history of the independence movement was incomplete without mentioning the countless sacrifices rendered by the colleagues of Bacha Khan, he added. “We also demand the government to include an essay regarding the Qissa Khawani massacre in text-books so that our next generation should know about their sacrifices,” said Jan.

Urging the audience to remember the KKM’s glorious sacrifices, he said that the ANP-W would continue to organize gatherings to inform the current generation of the sacrifices their fore-fathers rendered for freedom. Idrees Dishan, Advocate Qadir Khan, Zarbali Syed Hasan Zai, Dr Fazalur Rehman, Naeem Khan and Saleem Khan Khattak were the prominent ANP-W leaders who spoke to the gathering.