Allah Buksh Yusufi wrote a book called ‘The Frontier Tragedy’ following the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre. The book was smuggled in the diplomatic luggage of the Nawab of Bhophal, published, and eventually banned. Yusufi was arrested for the book’s content and what it revealed.

Yusufi notes that after the massacre, volunteers wearing Red Crescent badges were fired upon by British troops, medical help was denied to the dead and wounded on the streets, bodies were riddled with bullets, and the dead and wounded were “removed to some unknown place”.

He also notes that news of the incident was withheld by the government, barring a few distorted versions, and martial law was imposed which meant that communication was strictly censored, and visits between the province and other areas were restricted.

On 23rd of April the QKB massacre materialized as a consequence of British disbelief of Pashtun claims of non-violence, colonial vulnerability owing to dwindling legitimacy of British rule evident via nationalist resistance to it, & the Pashtun body existing outside the realm of

..legality. The dehumanization of the Pashtun body meant that it necessitated violence in order to control, tame and civilize it. The language of criminality, fanaticism, and militancy around Pashtun identity meant that repressive policies could be justified under the guise of

..maintaining law and order. The Pashtun body became the site for colonial authorities to project their fears, mistrust & violence. The semi-colonial state of Pakistan upheld this legacy,& mirrored the QKB by enacting the Babrra massacre in 1948 & the Khar Qamar massacre in 2019.

Pashtun struggle might be erased from national history, and consequently national imaginary, contemporary resistance might be subject to censorship and propaganda, but we will sing songs of the blood our forefathers shed and the fervour of our youth as we march for our freedom!