This book deals with the complex political and ideological developments in the North-West Frontier Province during the last decade of colonial rule. By focusing on the Khudai Khidmatgar movement it examines the emergence of modern styles of agitational and democratic politics among the NWFP Muslims, the majority of whom were Pshtoons. The issue of Pashtoon ethnicity, its interaction with subcontinental Muslim identity and Indian nationalism, are central themes of this study. This tripolar relationship had its ambiguities, especially in relating Pashtoon ethno-regionalism with Muslim nationalism as articulated by the All-India Muslim League.

This study focuses on the politics of the North West Frontier Province of undivided India between 1937 and 1947, the only Muslim majority province which supported the Indian National Congress in its struggle against the British Raj.

It also explores the rise of the Khudai Khidmatgars, the Congress 'desertion' of the Frontier people on the eve of Partition, the dismissal of the provincial Congress ministry by M.A. Jinnah, and the ambiguous position of the Khudai Khidmatgars in the context of the new nation of Pakistan.

Born in January 1961 at Ziarat Kaka Sahib, Nowshera (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Professor (Dr.) Sayed Wiqar Ali Shah's areas of specialisation include Modern South Asia, Afghanistan, Political Leadership in Pakistan, Tribal Areas of Pakhtunkhwa, Pashto Language and Literature and Gender Studies. Dr. Shah has a D. Phil in History from the University of Oxford (1997); M. Phil and M. A in History from the University of Peshawar and M. A in Pashto from the same University. From 2006 to 2009 Dr. Shah remained the Chairman of the History Department at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. From 2009 to 2014 he served on the prestigious Pakistan Chair as Allama Iqbal Professor at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany. He has worked in the Department of History since 1990, as an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor and currently holds the position of Professor of History at Quaid-i-Azam University. In 1999 he was awarded Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and since then is a regular visitor of the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany.

 

In his academic career up to now Dr. Shah has supervised fifty M.Phil and sixteen Ph.D dissertations on the History and Politics of Modern South Asia, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Tribal Areas of Pakistan and regional history of Pakistan. He is a member of the various academic bodies of the Universities of the Heidelberg, Punjab, Peshawar, Karachi and Islamabad. He has authored eleven books in English, Pashto and Urdu including Pakhtaney Khazay au Da Qaam Khidmat (Pashto) (2012); Muslim League in the NWFP (1992), Khushal Khan Khattak Au Tarikh Nawisi (Pashto) (1992), and Pir of Manki Sharif Syed Amin al Hasanat Aur Unki Siyasi Jaddo Jehad (Urdu) (1990). He has also edited Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province (1993) and translated works into Pashto and from the Pashto into Urdu which include Pushtaney (2006), Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Speeches and Statements 1947-1948 (1992), Iqbal Au Afghanistan (1991), and Azadi Ki Talash (1989). He has published extensively in the reputed international and national journals and gave many seminars/talks in the universities of UK, Germany, India, Middle East and Sri Lanka on the various aspects of society, culture and political history of South Asia.