Is 70 Years Far Enough Away Now?

On August 12, 1948, activists of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement protested against the arrest of their leaders and the new ordinance enforced by the government. The unarmed protesters marched peacefully from Charsadda to Babrra ground. However, when they reached Babrra ground, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri ordered the police and militia forces to open fire on the protesters. They were killed in hundreds. Some females from the nearby homes rushed to Babrra ground, holding the Quran above their heads intending to stop the police and militia from mass shooting, but even these females were shot. Many dead bodies and some of the injured people were thrown into the Kabul River by the police and militia. Some of the injured drowned in the river. When the police and militia left, the bodies were recovered from the river by their loved ones and taken to Charsadda Bazar, although some dead bodies could never be recovered. About 600 or more Pashtuns were killed in the massacre, while more than a thousand of them were injured. Later on, those who were injured and those whose loved ones were killed in the massacre were fined by the government for the price of the bullets that the government had used in the massacre.

—Babrra