Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890 – 20 January 1988) (Pashto: خان عبدالغفار خان‎) was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in what is now Pakistan and India. A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim, and a close friend of Mohandas Gandhi, he was also known as Fakhr-e-Afghan ("The Afghan pride"), Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Pashto: lit‎., "King Khan") and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., "Frontier Gandhi").

His family encouraged him to join the British Indian Army, but a British Raj officer's mistreatment of a countryman offended him. A family decision for him to study in England was put off after his mother's intervention.

Having witnessed the repeated failure of revolts against the British Raj, he decided social activism and reform would be more beneficial for Pashtuns. This ultimately led to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement (Servants of God). The movement's success triggered a harsh crackdown against him and his supporters and he was sent into exile. It was at this stage in the late 1920s that he formed an alliance with Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. This alliance was to last till the 1947 partition of India.

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the Muslim League's demand for the partition of India. When the Indian National Congress accepted the partition plan, he told them "You have thrown us to the wolves."

After partition, Ghaffar Khan was frequently arrested by the Pakistani government in part because of his association with India and his opposition to authoritarian moves by the government. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s either in jail or in exile.

In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first person without Indian citizenship to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. Upon his death in 1988, following his wishes, he was buried in Jalalabad. Despite the heavy fighting at the time, both sides in the Afghan war declared a ceasefire to allow his burial.