August 12, 1948, a dark day in Pashtun history, the incident of Babrra village in Charsadda city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in which more than 600 peaceful protestors were massacred and 1200 seriously injured claimed by Khudai khudmatgar.

Khudai Khidmatgar

Actually, this violence was against peaceful and unarmed Khudai Khidmatgar protesters who were holding a protest rally against the arrest of their leader Bacha Khan. What happened was that on August 12, 1948, the peaceful members of Khudai Khidmatgar gathered at Babrra located in Charsadda, led by a man named Speen Malang. However, as soon as the rally of peaceful and unarmed Khudai Khidmatgar reached the Babrra ground, on order of Abdul Qayyum khan the state forces opened fire on peaceful protestors many people struck with bullets began to fall to the ground and many drowned in the Kabul River while trying to flee in the river because all another exit routes had been sealed by the state forces. After 45 minutes of continuous firing, when the firing stopped and the smoke cleared, it is said that as a result of this firing, according to the official announcement, 25 people were killed and 35 injured, but according to unofficial estimates, the casualties in this massacre was 600 and seriously injured were more than 1200.

Worst Barbarity and Cruelty

Seeing this worst barbarity and cruelty in history, a story was told that the brave women of the village came forward after seeing their men getting shot and falling, placing the Holy Quran on their heads and begging the state forces for mercy, but the indiscriminate firing continued till then till now the state forces have not run out of bullets.

Adding to the cruelty, doctors were forbidden to treat the wounded in hospitals and the properties of those Khudai Khidmatgar who had been massacred were confiscated.

The than Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Qayyum Khan who order the state forces to fire said about this incident that

“I had imposed Section 144 in Babrra, when people did not disperse, they were fired upon. They were lucky that the police had run out of bullets, otherwise not a single man would have escaped. This is the government of the Muslim League, not the British, and the name of this government is Qayyum Khan. Khudai khidmatgar members are traitors to the country. I will erase their name and mark.”