Amir Chand Bombwal (Aged 79) was born on 8th August 1893 in Punjab. He was a journalist, freedom fighter, Khudai Khidmatgar, and political leader of the Indian National Congress Party from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India. Bombwal was the founder, editor, and publisher of a weekly newspaper called The Frontier Mail and a close associate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. It has been claimed that he named Ghaffar Khan “Frontier Gandhi.”
Bombwal was the last editor of the short-lived Urdu-language Swarajya weekly newspaper, published between 1907 and 1911 by the Bharat Mata Society in Allahabad. This newspaper pursued a scathing campaign against British Raj rule. He was jailed for participation in the first Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921-24, as an active member of the Indian National Congress party.
This photograph of Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal was taken after his transfer from Peshawar Central Jail to Multan Central Jail while undergoing three years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 40 Frontier Crimes Regulations in connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement in the North-West Frontier Province of British India in 1921-23. The wooden identification tablet with the steel ring around his neck indicated the serial number of the prisoner in jail, “884,” the Section under which he was punished, “40,” and the period of imprisonment, “3Y,” showing from “22.2.21 to 21.2.24.” Upon release from jail, he worked to rehabilitate the refugees and victims of the 1924 Kohat riots. Mahatma Gandhi commended him for the service he provided to the riot victims.
After the Partition of India, he was arrested without charges, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (known as Khan Sahib) by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who suspected them of undermining the accession of NWFP to Pakistan. They were jailed in Peshawar Central Jail, and there was little hope for their release. Upon Jinnah’s death, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was on friendly terms with them, assumed the reins of power in Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan facilitated their release from jail and transferred Bombwal to India in 1948, where he arrived on a flight carrying the ceasefire delegation of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 from Pakistan.
After Partition, Bombwal settled down in Dehradun, India, and continued to publish The Frontier Mail from there. He gave the Indian people a floor-to-ceiling height oil painting of Vithalbhai Patel that now hangs on the right side of the dais in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament. He passed away on 10th February 1972 in Delhi due to natural causes. Upon his death, fifteen trunks containing his documents were transferred to the National Archives of India.
Amir chand Bombwal
(1893 – 1972) – (Punjab)
Amir Chand Bombwal (Aged 79) was born on 8th August 1893 in Punjab. He was a journalist, freedom fighter, Khudai Khidmatgar, and political leader of the Indian National Congress Party from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India. Bombwal was the founder, editor, and publisher of a weekly newspaper called The Frontier Mail and a close associate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. It has been claimed that he named Ghaffar Khan “Frontier Gandhi.”
Bombwal was the last editor of the short-lived Urdu-language Swarajya weekly newspaper, published between 1907 and 1911 by the Bharat Mata Society in Allahabad. This newspaper pursued a scathing campaign against British Raj rule. He was jailed for participation in the first Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921-24, as an active member of the Indian National Congress party.
This photograph of Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal was taken after his transfer from Peshawar Central Jail to Multan Central Jail while undergoing three years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 40 Frontier Crimes Regulations in connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement in the North-West Frontier Province of British India in 1921-23. The wooden identification tablet with the steel ring around his neck indicated the serial number of the prisoner in jail, “884,” the Section under which he was punished, “40,” and the period of imprisonment, “3Y,” showing from “22.2.21 to 21.2.24.” Upon release from jail, he worked to rehabilitate the refugees and victims of the 1924 Kohat riots. Mahatma Gandhi commended him for the service he provided to the riot victims.
After the Partition of India, he was arrested without charges, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (known as Khan Sahib) by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who suspected them of undermining the accession of NWFP to Pakistan. They were jailed in Peshawar Central Jail, and there was little hope for their release. Upon Jinnah’s death, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was on friendly terms with them, assumed the reins of power in Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan facilitated their release from jail and transferred Bombwal to India in 1948, where he arrived on a flight carrying the ceasefire delegation of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 from Pakistan.
After Partition, Bombwal settled down in Dehradun, India, and continued to publish The Frontier Mail from there. He gave the Indian people a floor-to-ceiling height oil painting of Vithalbhai Patel that now hangs on the right side of the dais in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament. He passed away on 10th February 1972 in Delhi due to natural causes. Upon his death, fifteen trunks containing his documents were transferred to the National Archives of India.
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