Khan Abdus Samad Khan

KHAN ABDUS SAMAD KHAN

Date of Birth: 7^th July, 1907 and Date of Death: 2^nd December, 1973

            Khan Abdus Samad Khan, who was famous as ‘Baluchi Gandhi’ on par with Khan Abdul Gafar Khan who was a pure Gandhian to the core and was internationally acclaimed as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, was born on 7^th July, 1907 at Gulistan, nearby city of Quetta in Pakistan.  At the young age of 13, he took part in the anti-imperialism campaign organised in his area.  He was a strong opponent of the foreign rulers and the superstitions among the fellow country people.  He started ‘Anjuman-e-Watan’ (The Society for the Motherland) for the liberation of the nation from the British yoke.  Later, he merged it with the Indian National Congress.  Though he was initially attracted towards the Non-Violence ideology of Gandhi during 1920, he also maintained close relations with the revolutionary organisations.  He utilised the Indian National Congress as a forum to bring out the woes of the Baluchi people into limelight and to criticize the misrule of the British.  He was a powerful orator.  The British government could not tolerate his powerful and punching speeches exposing their misdeeds.  As such, British rulers imprisoned him along with his brothers.  He campaigned for the Pashtun Autonomy in a united secular India, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the North-West Frontier Province.  Abdus Samad participated in the anti-war campaign in response to the call given by the Indian National Congress and spread the movement in various areas of Baluchistan.  He played an active role in the Quit India Movement, for which he was imprisoned for three years.  When there was an ideological war between the Congress and the Muslim League, he supported the Congress and strongly opposed the two-nation theory of the League.  This caused ire among the Muslim League leaders.  When Pakistan was formed in 1947, the ruling party harassed him with frequent arrests.  He spent 35 years in different jails both in the British India and in Pakistan.  But, Khan Abdus Samad Khan never stepped back from his ideology and fought for the rights of the Baluchi people till to his end.  While he was continuing the movement for the autonomy for Baluchistan, he was assassinated on 2^nd December, 1973.