Faqir Ipi


Ghazi Mirzali Khan Wazir, commonly known as Faqir Ipi, was a Pashtun tribal leader from Waziristan in today's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. After performing his Hajj pilgrimage in 1923, Mirzali Khan settled in Ipi, a village located near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, from where he started his campaign of guerrilla warfare against the British Empire. In 1938, he shifted from Ipi to Gurwek, a remote village in North Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan, where he declared an independent state and continued the raids against the British Empire, using bases in Afghanistan, with the support of Nazi Germany.
On 21 June 1947, Faqir Ipi, along with his allies including the Khudai Khidmatgars and members of the Provincial Assembly, declared the Bannu Resolution. The resolution demanded that the Pashtuns be given a third choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan, composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join only either India or Pakistan. The British Raj, however, refused to comply with the demand of this resolution, and no other group in British India was granted a third option. After the creation of Pakistan in August 1947, Afghanistan and India financially sponsored the Pashtunistan movement under the leadership of Faqir Ipi. He continued the guerilla warfare against the new nation’s government. He didn't surrender to the government of Pakistan and died a natural death in 1960 in Gurwek.

Early life

Mirzali Khan was born in 1897 at Shankai Kirta, a village near Khajuri in the Tochi Valley of North Waziristan, present day Pakistan to Sheikh Arsala Khan Wazir. He belonged to the Torikhel branch of the Utmanzai Wazir tribe. His father died when he was twelve. He studied till fourth grade at a government school and later pursued religious studies at Bannu. He built a mosque and a house at Spalga, further south in North Waziristan agency in 1922. He went to perform Hajj at Mecca and later moved to Ipi in mid 1920s. He became a religious figure among the locals and was called "Haji Sahab".

Restoration of King Amanullah Khan

In 1933, Faqir Ipi went to Afghanistan to fight against the Mohammadzai Afghan King at Khost to support the restoration of King Amanullah Khan. In 1944, Faqir Ipi joined his fellow Loya Paktia tribesmen again to support the restoration of Amanullah Khan in the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947. Until his death, Faqir Ipi remained involved in Afghan politics as he did not recognize Pakistan.

Ram Kori case

In March 1936, a British Indian court ruled against the marriage of Islam Bibi, née Ram Kori, a Hindu-converted Muslim girl at Jandikhel, Bannu, after the girl's family filed case of abduction and forced conversion. The ruling was based on the fact that the girl was a minor and was asked to make her decision of conversion and marriage after she reaches the age of majority, till then she was asked to live with a third party. The verdict enraged the Pashtuns, and further mobilized Faqir Ipi for a guerrilla war against the British Empire. The Dawar Maliks and mullahs left the Tochi for the Khaisor Valley to the south to rouse the Torikhel Wazirs. A month after the incident, Faqir Ipi called a tribal jirga in the village of Ipi near Mir Ali to declare war against the British imperialists.

Freedom movement against the British Raj

Faqir's decision to declare war against the British was endorsed by the local Pashtun tribes, who mustered two large lashkars 10,000 strong to battle the British. Interestingly, many Pashtun women also took part in the freedom movement, who not only actively participated in the war but also sung landai to inspire the Pashtun fighters. Widespread lawlessness erupted as the Pashtuns blocked roads, overran outposts and ambushed convoys. In November 1936, the British sent two columns to the Khaisor river valley to crush the freedom movement, but suffered heavy casualties.
Soon after the Khaisor campaign a general uprising broke out throughout Waziristan campaign, realising the futility of confronting the British Army directly especially with their advantage of air power, tribesmen switched to guerrilla warfare. Squadrons of the two air forces tried many tactics including scorched earth retaliation involving the burning of standing crops with jerry can petrol bombs and the killing of cattle with strafing attacks.
In 1937, the British sent over 40,000 British-Indian troops, mostly Sikhs from the Punjab, to crush the freedom movement in Waziristan. This was in response to an ambush by Waziristani tribesmen in which they had killed over 50 British soldiers. However, the British operation failed and by December، the troops were sent back to cantonments. In 1939, the British claimed that the war capacity of Faqir Ipi's forces was enhanced by support from Nazi Germany and Italy, alleging that the Italian diplomat Pietro Quaroni drove the Italian policy for involvement in Waziristan, although the British could not find any valid evidence for Pietro Quaroni's involvement.
The British suppressed the agitation by imposing fines and by destroying the houses of their leaders, including that of Faqir Ipi. However, the pyrrhic nature of the victory and the subsequent withdrawal of the troops was credited by the Wazirs to be a manifestation of Faqir Ipi's miraculous powers. He succeeded in inducing a semblance of tribal unity, as the British noticed with dismay, among various sections of Wazirs, Dawar, Mahsuds and Bettanis. He cemented his position as religious leader by declaring a Jihad against the British. This move also helped rally support from Pashtun tribesman across the border. In 1946, the British again attempted to crush Faqir Ipi's movement but failed.

Jirga in Bannu

On 21 June 1947, Faqir Ipi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and other Khudai Khidmatgars held a jirga in Bannu during which they declared the Bannu Resolution, demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join the new dominions of India or Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of the Bannu Resolution and only the options for Pakistan and India were given. In response, Faqir Ipi and the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum on joining India or Pakistan, citing that it did not have the options for the province to become independent or join Afghanistan.

Pashtunistan movement

Faqir Ipi rejected the creation of Pakistan after the partition of India, considering Pakistan to be a continuation of British imperialism. In 1948, Faqir Ipi took control of North Waziristan's Datta Khel area and declared the establishment of an independent Pashtunistan, forming ties with regional leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Prince Mohammed Daoud Khan. On 29 May 1949, Faqir Ipi called a tribal jirga in his headquarters of Gurwek and asked Pakistan to accept Pashtunistan as an independent state. He published a Pashto-language newspaper, Ghāzī, from Gurwek to promote his ideas. In January 1950, a Pashtun loya jirga in Razmak symbolically appointed Faqir Ipi as the first president of the "National Assembly for Pashtunistan". In 1953-54, the Pakistan Air Force led an operation from Miramshah airbase and heavily bombarded Faqir Ipi's compound in Gurwek. Although Faqir Ipi himself never surrendered to Pakistan until his death, his movement diminished in importance after 1954 as some of his commanders surrendered and became loyal to the state of Pakistan.

Death

Faqir Ipi died at night on April 16, 1960. A long term sufferer of asthma during his last days, he became so sick that it was not possible for him to walk for a few steps. People from far away often used to come and see him and ask for his blessing. His funeral prayers or Namaz-I-Janaza was held at Gurwek led by Maulavi Pir Rehman. Thousands of people came for his Namaz-I-Janaza. He was buried at Gurwek.
, a main artery connecting I.J.P. Road to the Kashmir Highway in the federal capital of Pakistan, Islamabad; is named after him.