NEW DELHI: Dr Khan Sahib and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan have lost all their popularity in the Frontier, said Major Khurshid Anver, Naib Salar-e-Ala, All-India Muslim National Guards, in an interview… .

… Describing the incidents in the Peshawar Central Jail on May 19 and 20, he said, for the last two months, the Khan brothers were planning an attack on political prisoners. In spite of the worst kind of provocations by their agents, including Col. Smith, the Inspector-General of Police, and senior officers of the Police Department, the prisoners remained peaceful. Col Smith entered the jail on May 19 and asked the political prisoners to quit the jail, as otherwise they would be deprived of all privileges and treated as “C” class prisoners. On their refusal, Col Smith ordered the League flag to be removed from the jail building. This also brought about no favourable response. Later in the evening, a jail lambardar [along with] some jail employees burnt the gallows of the jail, shouting League slogans. They … later released 5 convicts sentenced to death and along with them set fire to a jail godown.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2022