Covid-19 pandemic: Elders to hold corner meetings to pay tributes to martyrs of Takkar

TAKHTBHAI: Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Awami National Party (ANP)’s local elders and other nationalists are holding corner meetings today to pay tributes to the martyrs of Takkar, who were massacred by British forces on May 28, 1930.

In the past, a big gathering used to be arranged at the monument of Shuhada-e-Takkar to remember the martyrs who were massacred on the orders of the British colonial rulers. They British were enraged after the killing of one of their police officers, Murphy, by a mob of Pakhtuns of Takkar. The local elders said they cannot forget the sacrifices of the martyrs of Takkar, who were freedom-fighters and fought for the Pakhtun cause during the British rule.They said that their sacrifices and the movement of Khudai Khidmatgars played a great role in independence of Pakistan. They said that sacrifices of the Pakhtuns forced the British rulers to leave the subcontinent.

According to local elders, on April 23, 1930 a violent incident took place in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar in which nearly 100 people were martyred when British security forces opened fire on protesting citizens.

“The British colonialists were angry because the movement of the freedom-loving Khudai Khidmatgars was in full swing at the time. After Peshawar and Utmanzai, Takkar was the stronghold of the movement and the British establishment was arresting its leaders to crush it. On May 26, 1930 a British police officer Murphy arrived in Takkar along with his force to make arrests,” said an elder. Murphy had come to arrest Malik Masim Khan, Salar Shamroz Khan, Malik Khan Badshah, Pir Shahzada and Malik Hameed of Fazalabad. They were asked to surrender and an exchange of hot words took place between the police and Malik Masim.

Ultimately, the village elders decided to surrender to the British the next day in Mardan. On May 27, the five men set off to Mardan in the form of a procession. The British forces did not allow them to reach Mardan in a procession and asked them to surrender. It triggered a clash between the two sides. Murphy on horseback forced his way into the procession. Suddenly gunshots were heard and Murphy fell down from his horse. The women in the procession started throwing pitchers full of water at him and this led to Murphy’s death. On May 28, the revengeful British soldiers laid siege to Takkar and its villagers witnessed the brutality of the worst kind. There was violence everywhere. Women and children were beaten up. The British even fired at the trees to scare away the villagers from the surroundings who were rushing to Takkar to assist those under siege.

Takkar was commemorated and folksongs were written to remember the tragedy. “Pa Takkar Jang Di” is still a popular and sorrowful folksong that portrays the village scene on that unfortunate day.

According to a Pashto book titled ‘Da Khpal Wakai Taroon’, published in Afghanistan, 70 people were martyred and 150 wounded in the violence unleashed by British forces in Takkar village in Takhtbhai tehsil in Mardan.