... Fighting ... for Peace ...

Q & A with Teri McLuhan

In the Q&A that went with the screening of The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace, the question I asked Teri McLuhan, (producer of the film), was, "Is there any revivalist non-violent movement amongst the Pashtoons today?"

She said that a new generation of Pashtoon peace was essential, "We've tried everything else". I managed to talk in person after the sreening in a more relaxed atmosphere - she came across as a strong believer in peace and a supporter of the Pashtoon people. She was hopeful - the Khudai Khidmatgars were active - and there were educated professionals amongst the Pashtoons who supported peace.

The film, she explained, was 21 years in the making and that she had travelled across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to make this happen. This had been a life's passion and that presently she needs to get financiers to produce the DVD. The message of Bacha Khan, is perhaps, too important to not be heard. She also said something that stuck in my mind. Standing behind the microphone, addressing the attendees in the theatre, she said that she didn't really believe in coincidence (basically having a belief that things happen because they are meant to).

Anyway, it seems that the my recent reading on Adventure Learning & Peace, the Nobel Prize going to Obama and the film that she has made come together at the same time and are all connected by a common theme of peace. I guess I am meant to be thinking about these things at this time.

I mentioned my MA programme and she said that she would visit this blog, so with this I extend my invitation with a personal هر کله راشه.

Her production company, is appropriately enough, is named 'Peace On Earth'.

Badshah Khan: A Torch for Peace

Yesterday evening, I saw the film The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, A Torch for Peace, which played at the Marina Mall as part of the Middle East Film Festival, Abu Dhabi 2009. The film is an amazing documentary on the life of the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a towering giant of heart and stature who was, is and will always remain a Pashtoon King of Peace, known as Badshah/Bacha Khan. He was a key figure in the Free India movement and this of course, invited the wrath of the British, even towards his peaceful cause.

As a Pashtoon, Bacha Khan showed the people that he loved a very different way - he challenged the opinion that Pashtoons could only be known for the gun and as a result could only remain backward. Bacha Khan was a good friend of Mahatma Gandhi and, like Gandhi, managed to mobilise the masses to resist injustice through peace. His movement of Khudai Khidmatgars (Allah's helpers) were taught to stand on their feet and bring about a positive change in themselves and their society through peace and social work. In the film, his daughter talks about his 'love for the poor people'.

Peace: Long live the King

His peace movement invited trouble and for a third of his time on earth, Bacha Khan was prisoner of conscience - in 1962 he was named by Amnesty International as Prisoner of the Year - overall for every three days of his life, he spent one day in British or Pakistani jails, often in solitary confinement. He continually challenged the validity of the British laid-down borders and later found sanctuary in Afghanistan - a natural home for the Pashtoons, travelling extensively and asking to be buried in Jalalabad when he was dying. When Bacha Khan's family said it would be difficult to arrange visas to cross the border, his reply to his family was "One day all this will be one".