MR. ANDREWS AND THE " RED SHIRTS "
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sns,—I would be glad of a little space to draw attention to an amazing paragraph in the article contributed by Mr. C. F. Andrews in a recent issue of The Spectator. Referring to the " Frontier Gandhi " and his " Red Shirt " movement, we are instructed that " Abdul Gafar Khan " and his " Red Shirts " have been " misrepresented in the west," as a " dangerously violent Frontier movement akin to Russian communism." We are also assured that the name of the Khan's followers chosen by Khan Sahib himself " is Khudai IChitmagar " (Servants of God), and its basis and object are a return to a simple form of moslem religion such as the " Khan himself practises," and so forth.
Now on turning to the recent proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, I find that Sir Harry Haig, the then Home Member,
was asked to mention " specific acts of violence on the part of the Red Shirts." The Home Member said in reply to this pointed question, that " specific acts of violence on the part of the Red Shirts included the • murder of the Assistant Superintendent of Police by a mob of Red Shirts near Mardan, and an attempt to murder the Assistant COmMissioner of Charsadda, following upon the performance of a violently seditious drama containing direct incitement to murder." The Home Member also declared that the " Government policy was based on both speeches and the violent acts of the organizers of this movement which tended note towards peaceful revolution but towards violence." He further emphasized that this terrorist frontier movement " was not confined to the frontier but extended far beyond the border."
This " non-violent " movement, as we know from the records, cost India thousands of valuable lives and crores of rupees. The whole border was ablaze for a whole year. There is no reason at all to suppose the Home Member said in the Assembly that which is not true. The Khan Sahib has just been sentenced by a Parsi Magistrate of Bombay to two years' rigorous imprisonment for delivering a violently seditious speech to an assembly of Christians in Bombay during " Congress Week," last October. The Khan Sahib, in the course of his interesting speech, accused the Government of " butchering, on the Frontier, 250 innocent persons, men, women and children," just to " maintain their prestige." This is an extract from the Magistrate's judgement.—Yours, • .Poona.
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