Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan - The Partition

The Partition

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the partition of India. While many Pashtuns (particularly the Red Shirts) were willing to work with Indian politicians, many other Pashtuns were sympathetic to the idea of a separate homeland for India's Muslims following the departure of the British. Targeted with being Anti-Muslim, Ghaffar Khan was attacked in 1946, leading to his hospitalization in Peshawar.

The Congress party refused last-ditch compromises to prevent the partition, like the Cabinet Mission plan and Gandhi's suggestion to offer the Prime Ministership to Jinnah. As a result Badshah Khan and his followers felt a sense of betrayal by both Pakistan and India. Badshah Khan's last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: "You have thrown us to the wolves."

When the referendum over accession to Pakistan was held, Badshah Khan and the Indian National Congress Party boycotted the referendum. As a result, in 1947 the accession of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Pakistan was made possible by a slight majority of the 50.1% votes cast. A loya jirga in the Tribal Areas also garnered a similar result as most preferred to become part of Pakistan. Ghaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgars, however, chose to boycott the polls along with other nationalistic Pakhtuns. Some have argued that a segment of the population voted was barred from voting,.