Abdur Rahman Peshawari

Family background Abdur Rahman Peshawari was born in 1886 in Peshawar, in what was then the Punjab Province – but in 1901 became part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) – of British India (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan) to the city's prominent Samdani family. According to Faiz Ahmed, Peshawari also had Waziri origins and was an ethnic Pashtun. Peshawari's father worked as a contractor for the government and military of British India, and was one of Peshawar's wealthiest individuals. The Qasim Ali Khan Mosque located within this bazaar was renovated and expanded by his father in the 1920s. The graves of his father and three of Peshawari's brothers are interred in the precincts of the mosque. The family's haveli was located in the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar's old city. He first joined the London Muslim League during his student days, and then led the Frontier Muslim League as its first president until it was dissolved. In 1917, he went to Delhi, and would eventually become the president of the AIML itself in 1933. In 1934, he abdicated his position in deference to Jinnah, ultimately unifying the various AIML factions under the latter's leadership. Peshawari's other siblings included Mohammed Yahya (1901–1990), and Mohammad Yunus (1916–2001), an Indian independence movement activist who remained in India after the partition of British India, and served as the country's ambassador to Indonesia, Iraq, Turkey and Algeria – as well as becoming a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha in 1989. Due to his association with Turkey in later life, he became known amongst his family members as Chacha Turkey ("Uncle Turkey") or Lala Turkey ("Brother Turkey"). Education Peshawari studied at the Edwards High School in Peshawar, and excelled at sports. He then proceeded to Aligarh to pursue his higher education at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), which would later become the famed Aligarh Muslim University. During its initial years when it was facing financial difficulties, his father funded the institution on the request of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. ==Medical mission==

While Peshawari was studying at Aligarh, the Balkan Wars broke out in Europe in 1912, in which the Turkish Ottoman Empire faced a revolt from a group of allied Balkan states. As expressed by viceroy Lord Hardinge in a communiqué sent to Lord Crewe, the Secretary for India, he did not think the "Foreign Office in London sufficiently appreciated the difficulties" which the government in British India was facing with its Muslim subjects over Turkey. Peshawari, who himself was a passionate Muslim nationalist, This trend continued across stations in India wherever the team stopped and traveled throughout the first two weeks of December. The mission was hailed by notable Muslim figures like Shibli Nomani, Mohammad Ali Jauhar and Abul Kalam Azad. The sentiments of the people were appropriately encapsulated by Ansari thus: "It was the first time that the Muslims of India had collectively sent a mission for helping Muslims abroad during the British rule." It docked at Aden and Suez, where the team were greeted with cheering crowds, before changing ships at Alexandria, and arriving at Istanbul two weeks later. During the course of their assignment in Turkey which lasted six months, the activities of the medical mission received press coverage and the Ottoman Sultan reportedly invited the team to his palace to thank them for their contributions. Peshawari also joined the Ottoman Red Crescent Society, which brought financial aid from Muslims in British India and provided medical equipment and relief to Ottoman soldiers engaged in the Balkans. The mission was covered positively back home by Indian newspapers, especially Al-Hilal. When the delegation returned to British India, a meeting was held in Bombay to welcome its members. It was attended by eminent Muslim leaders, including Altaf Hussain Hali. ==Military career==

Following the end of the Balkans conflict, the members of the medical delegation had returned to the subcontinent by 4 July 1913. He joined the Ottoman Army as a lieutenant. Another colleague of Peshawari's from the medical mission, Mirza Abdul Qayyum, also joined the Turkish forces; Abdul Qayyum would later be killed during World War I. Peshawari was trained closely by Rauf Orbay, whom he is said to have regarded as a "younger brother". He received military training first in Istanbul and then in Beirut, until World War I started. Eventually, he witnessed the establishment of an independent Turkish Republic. ==Journalism==

Peshawari had a brief career in journalism. He became one of the earliest reporters of Turkey's Anadolu Agency, shortly after it was founded in 1920 during the war of independence. He was the news agency's first foreign affairs officer. Working alongside its renowned founders Halide Edib Adıvar and Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, Peshawari was based in a small office where he covered news stories on wartime events in Anatolia as a correspondent. As described impressionably in Abalıoğlu's memoirs, he would work with only one finger "flying" over a typewriter. ==Diplomatic career==

In 1920, Peshawari was appointed by the Turkish government as its first ever Peshawari was personally chosen by Kemal Atatürk due to his knowledge of the region (especially the Indo-Afghan frontier) and because he was well known in the Turkish Army. During his tenure in Kabul, he promoted bilateral relations by financing various development projects, particularly in the field of education. He was succeeded by Fakhri Pasha. ==Political views==

Described as a "revolutionary" in early Turkish sources, Peshawari neither married nor ever returned home to Peshawar, refusing to abandon Turkey until the time that it was fully liberated from foreign occupation. Later when he became the Turkish envoy in Afghanistan, he maintained close contacts with members of the Provisional Government of India based in exile in Kabul, who sought to achieve the Indian subcontinent's independence from the British Empire, a cause that he fully supported. He was such a staunch supporter of the independence movement that he reportedly declined an offer from the British authorities to visit his hometown of Peshawar, vowing not to set foot on the subcontinent so long as it remained part of the British Raj – despite the fact that Peshawar, located just across the border, was the closest city of British India to Kabul. He extended his support to independence activists like Ubaidullah Sindhi. ==Assassination==

In 1925, Peshawari was shot in the back during an assassination attempt in Istanbul. He remained hospitalised for a month but died from his injuries. His death was mourned in Turkey, British India and Afghanistan. Peshawari's assassination is supposed to have been a case of mistaken identity; Rauf Orbay, the politician and naval commander who served as Turkey's first prime minister after the independence war, had been the intended target of the Armenian shooter. Peshawari reportedly bore a close physical resemblance to Orbay, whom he was also acquainted with personally, and was mistaken for him by the killer. He is buried in Istanbul. His material possessions, which included his medals, uniform, and personal diary were handed over to his brother Abdul Aziz, but were confiscated by the British authorities in India. ==Legacy==

In 1979, Peshawari's younger brother, Muhammad Yusuf, published a book called Ghazi Abdur Rehman Peshawari Shaheed, chronicling the elder brother's life. The younger brother had collected materials documenting the elder brother's life over a number of years. He had originally requested Sir Abdul Qadir to author the book, who gave the project to his student Hafeez Hoshiarpuri. Hoshiarpuri completed a partial manuscript, before passing the task to Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri who finally completed the book. During a state visit to Pakistan in 2016, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly acknowledged Peshawari's legacy and services to his adopted nation during a speech to a joint session of the Pakistani parliament. In January 2021, it was reported that Pakistan and Turkey would jointly produce a historical television series titled Lala Turki based on Peshawari's life. The series would also depict the contribution that Muslims from the subcontinent had in Turkey's independence struggles. Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan discussed the project with leading Turkish director Kemal Tekden. The series will be a joint venture between Tekden Films and Pakistan's Ansari Films. ==See also==