Declaration
Bannu Declaration and referendum boycott, 1947
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan demanded a Pashtunistan option in the 1947 referendum on the North-West Frontier Province's future, then boycotted the vote when it was denied.
What happened
In his Bannu Declaration of June 1947, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan demanded that Pashtuns be offered a choice between joining Pakistan and forming an independent Pashtunistan; the Khudai Khidmatgars subsequently boycotted the July 1947 referendum, which excluded these options.[1]
Following Pakistan's creation, Afghanistan has refused to recognize the Durand Line as a valid border, and a movement for Pashtun independence emerged on both sides of the line.[2]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan led the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar ("Red Shirts") movement among Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province; in his Bannu Declaration of June 1947, he demanded that Pashtuns be offered a choice between joining Pakistan and forming an independent Pashtunistan, rather than the binary choice between Pakistan and India offered by British authorities. The Khudai Khidmatgars subsequently boycotted the July 1947 referendum on the province's future, on the grounds that it excluded the options of independence or union with Afghanistan.
- Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Dispute: The Durand Line and Pashtunistan (PolSci Institute) link, Bannu Declaration and referendum boycott sections. Source record
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2.
Claim: Following Pakistan's 1947 creation and its inheritance of the Durand Line agreement, Afghanistan has refused to recognize the line as a valid international border, declaring it void as a boundary imposed by British colonial authorities; a movement for Pashtun independence and the establishment of a state of Pashtunistan emerged on both sides of the line in this context.
- Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Dispute: The Durand Line and Pashtunistan (PolSci Institute) link, Post-partition Afghan rejection section. Source record