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RAUF, Abdul
North-West Frontier Province of British India and the Ottoman Khilafat
The British Imperial rule failed to extent the North West Frontier Province of India now known as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
(PK) smooth as to other parts of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent. Pakhtun resisted the British particularly in tribal
areas now known as FATA. At the end of 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century the Ottoman Khilafat remained
the most important external factor for mobilization of the people against the British. During the Balkan Wars people from
KP traveled to Turkey for their support. A plan to oust the British during the First World War also suggested this region
as center of the revolutionary activities. A Turkish emissary had visited Khyber Agency to enlist people support while one
of the ring leaders from KP traveled to Makkah to meet the Turkish governor for help. At the dawn of political activities,
Khilafat movement provided a platform to the people to express themselves politically against the British and in favor of
the Khilafat. When their plea was not accepted, about 0.25 million people migrated to Afghanistan in 1920. How people
affected by the events in Turkey and their struggle and how the leadership used Khilafat as an issue in their armed and political
struggle against the British is the focus of the paper, largely relied on archival material, local accounts in Pashtu and
Urdu. It will help to understand the historical perspective of the contemporary religious and political unrest in the region.
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