Abstract
The research paperanalyzes resistance of the colonized (Pashtuns) to the British rulers in India. Two Pashtun leaders, Haji Sahib Taurangzai and Ghaffar Khan, are prominent names in the movement of freedom. Both the men resisted the British rulers together but then parted their ways. Haji Taurangzai aimed at reforming society through education. He reformed madressahs in order to educate people. Fighting battles was not his first option. Increasing popularity of his movement earned him hostility of the British rulers who made a plan to push him to tribal area (the present day FATA) so that he could not continue his struggle successfully. Kamila Sahmsie (2015) portrays him in A God in Every Stone as a man fighting battles against the British rulers in tribal areas (the present day FATA). He is disqualified through Ghaffar Khan who did not believe in battles. He resisted the Raj through ant-British movement based on non-violence. But the author devalues his political movement as well because she is of the view that social change is more important than the political movements. Freedom for such people meant freedom of men only. The author belittles importance of the movements of resistance and indirectly justifies the British colonizers’ claim of being civilized who wanted to civilize the Indians. Resistance of the natives also indicates that the natives being colonized are not mute.
Waheed Ahmad Khan, Abdul Hameed Khan, Ayaz Afsar. (2017) A Critique of Resistance Shown by Pashtun Leaders to British Raj in Kamila Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone, The Dialogue, Volume 12, Issue 3.
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