Quotes of Fakhr-e-Afghan Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
I have one great desire.
I want to rescue these gentle, brave, patriotic people from the tyranny of the foreigners who have disgraced and dishonored them.
I want to creat for them a world of freedom, where they can live in peace, where they can laugh and be happy.
I want to kiss the ground where their ruined homes once stood, before they were destroyed by savage strangers.
I want to take a broom and sweep the alleys and the lanes, I want to clean their houses with my own hands.
I want to wash away the stains of blood from their garments.
I want to show the world how beautiful they are, these people from the hills and then I want to proclaim: "Show me, if you can, any gentler, more courteous, more cultured people than these."
O Pakhtuns! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it--and remember to what race you belong.
The history of my people is full of victories and tales of heroism, but there are drawbacks too. Internal fueds and personal jealousies have always snatched away the gains achieved through vast sacrifices. They were dispossessed only because of their own inherent defects, never by any outside power--for who cloud oppose them in battlefield?
I have one great dream, one great longing.
Like the flowers in the desert, my people are born, bloom for a while with nobody to look after them, wither, and return to the dust they came from.
I want to see them share each other's sorrow and happiness. I want to see them work together as equal partners. I want to see them play their national role and take their rightful place among the nations of the world, for the service of God and humanity.
One day a lioness attacked a flock of sheep. She was pregnant, and during the attack she gave birth to a cub. In the course of birth the lioness died, and her cub was left to grow up with the flock of sheep. It learned to graze and even bleat.
One day a lion from the forrest attacked the flock and was suprised to see a lion cub running away from him, terrified and bleating like a sheep. Outraged, he managed to catch the cub and draw it away from the flock, down to a nearby river.
"Look in the water!" he commanded the cub. "You are not a sheep, you are a lion! You have nothing to fear. Stop bleating like a sheep and roar!"
O Pakhtuns! So also I (Bacha Khan) say to you. You are lions, but have been brought up in slavery. Stop bleating like sheep. Roar like lions!"
Ghani Khan: (written at the age of 15)
If I a slave lied buried in the grave,
under a dazzling tombstone,
respect it not, spit on it!
O mother, with what face will you wail for me.
If I am not torn to pieces by British(enemy) guns?
Either I turn this wretched land of mine
into a Garden of Eden
or I wipeout the lanes and homes of Pakhtuns!
Khushal Khan Khattak:
The young men have dyed red their hands,
As the falcon dyes his talons in the blood of his prey!
They have reddened their pale swords with blood:
They have made the tulip-bed blossom
in the middle of the summer.
Khudai Khidmatgars:
We are the army of God,
By death or wealth unmoved.
We march, our leader and we,
Ready to die.
We serve and we love,
our people and our cause.
Freedom is our goal, our lives the price we pay.
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