Mirzali Khan

Haji Mirzali Khan
حاجي ميرزالي خان
Mirzali Khan or the "Faqir of Ipi"
Born 1897
Shankai Kirta, near Khajuri, in Tochi Valley, North Waziristan (in modern-day Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan)
Died 16 April 1960
Gurwek, North Waziristan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan
Resting place Gurwek
Other names Faqir Ipi
Known for Pashtun nationalism
Pashtunistan movement
Indian independence movement
Children Gulzar Ali
Mir Zaman
Parent(s) Sheikh Arsala Khan

Haji Mirzali Khan (Pashto: حاجي ميرزالي خان‎; b. 1897, d. 16 April 1960), also known as Faqir Ipi (فقير ايپي), was a Pashtun tribal leader and freedom fighter from Waziristan in today's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. After performing his Hajj pilgrimage in 1923, Mirzali Khan settled in Ipi, a village located near Mirali in North Waziristan, from where he started his campaign of guerrilla warfare against the British Empire. In 1938, Mirzali Khan shifted from Ipi to Gurwek, a remote village in North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan, where he declared an independent state and continued the raids against the British Empire, from bases in Afghanistan,[1] with the support of Nazi Germany.[2][3]

On 21 June 1947, Mirzali Khan, along with his allies including the Khudai Khidmatgars and members of the Provincial Assembly, declared the Bannu Resolution. The resolution demanded that the Pashtuns be given a third choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan, composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join only either India or Pakistan. The British refused to comply with the demand of this resolution,[4][5] and no other group in British India was granted a third option. After the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, Mirzali Khan and his followers refused to recognise Pakistani rule and launched a campaign against the Pakistani state with support from Afghanistan.[6] They continued their guerilla warfare against the new nation’s government.[7] In January 1950, a Pashtun loya jirga was held in Razmak, Waziristan, which symbolically announced the creation of Pashtunistan as an independent nation and appointed Mirzali Khan as the first president of the National Assembly for Pashtunistan. In that capacity, Mirzali Khan demanded the withdrawal of the Pakistan Armed Forces from Pashtun majority territories. He didn't surrender to the government of Pakistan throughout his life, until his death in 1960 in Gurwek.[8]

Early life

Mirzali Khan was born in 1901 at Shankai Kirta, a village near Khajuri in the Tochi Valley of North Waziristan, present day Pakistan to Sheikh Arsala Khan.[9] He belonged to the Torikhel branch of the Utmanzai Wazir tribe.[10] His father died when he was twelve. Mirzali Khan studied till fourth grade at a government school and later pursued religious studies at Bannu. He built a mosque and a house at Spalga, further south in North Waziristan agency in 1922. He went to perform Hajj at Mecca and later moved to Ipi in mid 1920s. He became a religious figure among the locals and was called "Haji Sahab". The British intelligence records regarded him an influential figure of the tribal agency who had a following of armed men. In 1933, Mirzali Khan went to Afghanistan to fight against the Afghan King at Khost that furthered him as a resistance leader.[9]

Battles

Battle against the Bannu Brigade in Khaisora

In 1936, a British Indian court ruled against the marriage of a Hindu-converted Muslim girl at Bannu, after the girl's family filed case of abduction and forced conversion. The ruling was based on the fact that the girl was a minor and was asked to make her decision of conversion and marriage after she reaches the age of majority, till then she was asked to live with a third party.[11] The verdict 'enraged' the Muslims - especially the Dawar tribesmen, Mirzali Khan's kinsmen, the Dawar Maliks and mullahs left the Tochi far the Khaisora Valley to the south to rouse the Torikhel Waziris. The enraged tribesmen mustered two large lashkars 10,000 strong and battled the Bannu Brigade, with heavy casualties on both sides. Widespread lawlessness erupted as tribesmen blocked roads, overran outposts and ambushed convoys. The British retaliated by sending two columns converging in the Khaisora river valley. They suppressed the agitation by imposing fines and by destroying the houses of the ringleaders, including that of Mirzali Khan. However, the pyrrhic nature of the victory and the subsequent withdrawal of the troops was credited by the Wazirs to be a manifestation of Mirzali Khan's miraculous powers. He succeeded in inducing a semblance of tribal unity, as the British noticed with dismay, among various sections of Tori Khel Wazirs, the Mahsuds and the Bhittannis. He cemented his position as religious leader by declaring a Jihad against the British. This move also helped rally support from Pashtun tribesman across the border.

Quagmire

Soon after the Khaisora campaign a general uprising broke out throughout Waziristan campaign, realising the futility of confronting the British Army directly especially with their advantage of air power, tribesmen switched to guerrilla warfare. Squadrons of the two air forces (RAF and RIAF) tried many tactics including scorched earth retaliation involving the burning of standing crops with jerry can petrol bombs and the killing of cattle with strafing attacks.

Both of Mirzali Khan's sons, Gulzar Ali and Mir Zaman, were killed fighting British forces.[8]

Death

Mirzali Khan died at night on April 16, 1960. A long term sufferer of asthma during his last days, he became so sick that it was not possible for him to walk for a few steps. People from far away often used to come and see him and ask for his blessing. His funeral prayers or Namaz-I-Janaza was held at Gurwek led by Maulavi Pir Rehman. Thousands of people came for his Namaz-I-Janaza. He was buried at Gurwek. Faqir Aipee Road, a main artery connecting I.J.P. Road to the Kashmir Highway in the federal capital of Pakistan, Islamabad; is named after him.

See also

References

  • Dr. Shah, Syed Wiqar Ali German Activities in the North-West Frontier Province War Years 1914-1945. Quaid-e-Azam University. Available online at . Last accessed on 22/03/06
  • Government of Pakistan: The Frontier Corps (NWFP) Pakistan and its headquarters. Available online at Last accessed on 22/03/06
  • Siddiqui A. R. Faqir of Ipi's Cross Border Nexus. Available online . Last accessed on 22/03/06.
  • Hauner, Milan (Jan., 1981) One Man against the Empire: The Faqir of Ipi and the British in Central Asia on the Eve of and during the Second World War. Available online at . Last accessed on 22/03/06.
  • Shah, Idries, Destination Mecca, Chapter XXIII Contains interview with and the only photograph ever taken of Fakir of Ipi (London 1957). Possibly confirms the Fakir's dervish or Sufi status.
  • Batl-i-Hurriyet: Fakir of Ipi—Iman-Parwar Jihad By Dr Fazal-ur-Rehman Kitab Saraay, First Floor, Alhamd Market, Ghazni Street, Urdu Bazar, Lahore
  1. ↑ Stewart, Jules (2007-02-22). Savage Border: The Story of the North-West Frontier. The History Press. ISBN 9780752496078.
  2. ↑ Motadel, David (2014-11-30). Islam and Nazi Germany's War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674724600.
  3. ↑ Bose, Mihir (2017-01-20). Silver: The Spy Who Fooled the Nazis: The Most Remarkable Agent of the Second World War (in Arabic). Fonthill Media.
  4. ↑ Ali Shah, Sayyid Vaqar (1993). Marwat, Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan, ed. Afghanistan and the Frontier. University of Michigan: Emjay Books International. p. 256.
  5. ↑ H Johnson, Thomas; Zellen, Barry (2014). Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency. Stanford University Press. p. 154. ISBN 9780804789219.
  6. ↑ Malik, Hafeez (2016-07-27). Soviet-Pakistan Relations and Post-Soviet Dynamics, 1947–92. Springer. ISBN 9781349105731.
  7. ↑ The Faqir of Ipi of North Waziristan. The Express Tribune. November 15, 2010.
  8. 1 2 The legendary guerilla Faqir of Ipi unremembered on his 115th anniversary. The Express Tribune. April 18, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Alan Warren (2000). Waziristan, the Faqir of Ipi, and the Indian Army: The North West Frontier Revolt of 1936-37. Oxford University Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0195790160.
  10. ↑ Rob Johnson (2011). The Afghan Way of War: How and Why They Fight. Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-19-979856-8.
  11. ↑ Yousef Aboul-Enein; Basil Aboul-Enein (2013). The Secret War for the Middle East. Naval Institute Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-1612513096.
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