18/06/2023
The Sartor Faqir (bareheaded) also known as "Mullah Mastan , Mullah Mastana,Lewanai Faqir" in Pashto and by the British as "The Great Fakir" or "Mad Faqir", "Mad Faqir of Swat" or the "Mad Mullah". Sartor Faqir was a notable figure who played a significant role in the struggle against the British Empire in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sartor faqir real name was saidullah khan , he was born in the village of Rega Buner in the Buner Valley and was a member of a branch of the Yousafzai tribe of Pashtuns. In order to further his religious education, he lived and travelled throughout India and Central Asia, before setting in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan for a period of ten years. In 1895, he returned to Buner.
In response to the British occupation of the North West Frontier Province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and the division of Pashtun lands by the Durand Line, the Faqir declared a jihad against the British Empire. He gathered more than 12,000 Pashtun tribesmen tribesmen of the regional Yusufzai, Mohmand, Uthmankhel, Bunerwal, Swati tribes among others against british empire and started attacks on british garrisons in malakand and dir. He claimed that the British would not only be expelled from Malakand but also from Peshawar.
He claimed to have been visited by all the deceased faqirs, who told him that the mouths of their (British) guns and rifles would be closed and that their (British) bullets would be turned to water; that he had only to throw stones into the Swat river, and each stone he threw would have on them (British troop) the effect of a gun. He proclaimed that he had an invisible army from heaven at his side to assit him. Thats why British used to call him Mad faqir and pashtuns as Lewanai faqir for his different relgious ideas.
Sartor Faqir started marching from Landakay to Malakand and Chakdara. People from Upper Swat, Buner, Utman Khel and the adjacent areas joined him in thousands. Under his command more than 8,000 pashtuns tribesmen attacked british in Chakdara in which according to british they lost 28 soldiers and 178 injured but according to local Pashtuns more than 100 of british soldiers were killed. As soon as the Government of India became aware that the attacks on the Malakand and Chakdara garrisons were not merely the result of a small local disturbance, but that a deliberate attempt was being made by the combined tribesmen to turn our troops out of the country, The british took immediate steps to reinforce the Malakand; orders were issued for the formation of a field force, consisting of two brigades with divisional troops, for the purpose of crushing the rising of Pashtun tribesmen under sartor faqir command.
In this fighting a lot of fighters were killed from both sides. The severe nature of the fighting at Kotah and Naway Kalay, near Landakay, at the time of the punitive expedition in the valley, and its significance to the British can be judged from the fact that the British government awarded the highest military medal, the Victoria Cross, to Lieutenant-Colonel Adams and Viscount Fincastle. Five others were awarded the Order of Merit. The siege of Malakand was Winston Churchill's first experience of actual combat, he writes articles about in british newspaper these articles were eventually compiled into his first published book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force, beginning his career as a writer and politician.
Later the dir of nawab under Abdullah khan of robat turned against sartor faqir and attacked his forces and made his movement weak. This made sartor faqir upset. British used the divide and rule strategy against him and to stop further attacks from his they made agreements with Nawwab of dir to never allow faqir to enter these areas.
According to British officers McMahin and Ramsay admit that "the sartor faqir provided some of the hardest and sternest fighting we have known on the North-Western Frontiers. It may be said that his movement kept the urge for freedom and jihadi alive among the hardy warriors of this region.
Faqir's primary objective was to protect the autonomy and independence of the tribal communities living in the region. He fiercely opposed the British Empire's encroachment on their lands and sought to unite the various tribal groups against the British forces. He became a symbol of hope for the tribal communities, inspiring them to stand up against British imperialism.
sartor faqir died in 1917 burried in fatehpur swat.
This picture was made by admin of using AI software.
