TRAGEDIES (CARNAGE AT BABARA)

The killing fields of August 12,1948.

Babara is on the outskirts of Charsadda in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On August 12, 1948, unarmed Pashtuns holding a peaceful protest against the imprisonment of Bacha Khan were mowed down on the orders of the then Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum. More than 600 men, women and children were gunned down in a brutal display of savagery. Later, while referring to the incident, Mr. Qayyum was reported to have boasted that none of the protestors would have escaped if the authorities had not run short of bullets. Here a comparison could be drawn between Abdul Qayyum and General Dyer of the Indian British Army on whose orders far lesser number of people (379) had been massacred at the Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar on April 13, 1919. The carnage at Babara will keep resonating like those of Karbala, Jallianwala and scores of others till the end of Time. 

Laiqzada Laiq, a renowned Pashtun poet from Swat, has captured the barbarity unleashed in Babara in touching verse. 

 

لائق زاده لائق 

 Translation by: Nasser Yousaf 

 ګولې د ماشومانو په سرونو وریدې 

 Children had bullets raining on their heads 

 بابړه کر بلا وه هر خوا وینې بهیدې 

Babara was Karbala flowing with liquid thick and red 

قران په سر راوتې ننګیالې د اشنغر وې 

Hashnagar's maidens were out with Quran on their heads 

پُر امنه خوئیندې مئيندې د بادار سره په سر وې 

Peaceful women were up against rulers thirsting for blood 

په قید د باچا خان باندې پریشانه لیمه تر وې 

Their eyelashes were wet as Bacha Khan was imprisoned 

د امن فر ښتې په توده زمکه تړقېدې 

 Angels on a scorching earth were in agony untold 

سینې سورې کیدلې د کچه کچه ځوانانو Lads 

on the cusp of youth had their chests being pierced 

پراته وو هر خوامړې د سپین ګیرو بو‌‌‌‌‌‌ډاګانو 

All around dead bodies of older people lay sprawled 

لا خوا نه سړیده د فرنګي د دلانو 

But quisling agents of the enemy were not to be appeased 

د "خپلو " دې وحشت ته فرښتې حیرانیدې 

Their savagery was such that angels stood shell-shocked 

په هر کور کښ ماتم وو ساندې ساندې اشنغر وو 

Every house was struck with grief, and Hashnagar unconsoled 

سرونه شوکیدل بره اسمان په ژړا سروو 

Heavens were in tears as heads kept piling on the ground 

قیامت وو په بابړه ظلم جبر وو محشروو 

It was Apocalypse in Hashnagar, tyranny reigned no holds barred 

په مخ د امن مینې تودې شګې بادیدې 

 Gusts of hot sands kept slapping peace and love very hard 

 تر کومې چې نظام وې په دغه خاوره د فرنګ وي 

 Until the alien system from this land is uprooted and dispensed 

اورنګ د زمانې به مې د روح سره په جنګ وي 

Aurangzebs of every age would be free to hold my soul chained 

ګریوان به د پښتون د بې وسې په وینو رنګ وي  

The helpless Pashtun till then would remain drenched in blood