A few hundred yards away from the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office of Kolkata’s Park Circus is a tiny lane. No vehicles can enter as the road is too narrow to fit even a rickshaw. One has to walk a hundred metres to reach a big mosque, besides which is the biggest house of the locality—the residence of Yasmin Nigar Khan.
Yasmin, 50, is the chairperson of the All India Pakhtoon’s apex body—All India Pakhtoon Jigra E Hind—which is headquartered in Kolkata. Her father Khan Lalajan Khan was the adopted son of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan—the Pakhtoon freedom fighter called Frontier Gandhi and a Bharat Ratna awardee.
Yasmin thus calls herself the grandchild of Ghaffar Khan as she considers her father as the son of the "Frontier Gandhi".
Yasmin celebrates Afghanistan's independence day on August 19 with the raising of the country's flag, which only days before had been replaced by the Taliban after they re-captured Kabul after two decades.
“The US were outsiders, so were Russians. But they were not ruthless like the Taliban who have the agenda of torturing women. [With] Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, my father fought for Pashtun’s land. Today outsiders like the Taliban have reoccupied it,” said Yasmin.
A big picture of Khan Ghaffar Khan hangs from the wall of her office room in her residence. Though Indian by birth, she calls herself Afghan by origin, which led to her garnering much media attention after the Taliban completed their takeover of Afghanistan. She has been fielding calls from media houses across the world.
“Can you imagine that I am talking for 12-14 hours every day these days? I feel I would faint soon,” she said with a smile.
Calling the Taliban "Pakistani" outsiders who are not of Afghan origin, she says Afghanistan is primarily the land of Pashtuns, the tribe she belongs to.
“I need to talk to Prime Minister Modi. Modi-ji is the only leader in South Asia who is courageous and could do wonders. I am desperately wanting his appointment to save the land of Pashtuns,” Yasmin said, speaking to THE WEEK from her office.
On August 19 she raised several eyebrows of the people of Kolkata when she erected the national flag of Afghanistan near her house.
“British gave Afghanistan independence 102 years back on August 19. So, I have every right to celebrate the independence day of Afghanistan this day. Yes, I am Indian. But I celebrate the I-day of Afghanistan as the Taliban reoccupy Pashtun land. This is [the same] Kolkata where the rights of Pashtuns began in 1949 by Frontier Gandhi. Therefore, Kolkatans would not object,” said she.
She clenched her jaw as she lambasted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had hailed the Taliban takeover for giving Afghans "freedom from slavery".
“I want to tell Imran saab, please get your men out of Afghanistan. You have encroached on Afghanistan and put the people before real slavery and torture. People who are enjoying power in Afghanistan today are not Afghans at all,” said Yasmin.
According to estimates of the All India Pakhtoon Jigra E Hind, the total number of Afghans residing in India is around 32 lakh. While Yasmin could not give a figure of where such a huge number of Afghans are settled, the idea she gives instead is much more interesting.
“West Bengal has the largest number of Pashtuns who came from Afghanistan. Next is Assam. But I must say that Afghans living in India have no complaints. They enjoy all the rights,” she said.
While many Afghans have received citizenship, the others are living as refugees who have been given political asylum.
Yasmin is careful about Indian politics and would not comment on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). She also refuses to speak on the issue of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“I would not like to make any comment on POK. But Baluchistan should be carved out of Pakistan to make an independent country and the Pashtun area of Pakistan should be merged with Afghanistan as 65 per cent of Afghans are Pashtuns and they know Pakistan used the British to encroach parts of Afghanistan,” said she.
The rest of the population in Afghanistan are Hazaras, Uzbekis (Uzbekistan origin) and Tajiki tribe (originated from Tajikistan). The demand for the self-determination of Afghans was 75 years old, since the independence of British India and subsequent division of India. Yasmin said Frontier Gandhi met with the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Patel in 1949, who promised to work on the reorganisation of the boundary of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“And that is the reason why I would like to meet Modi-ji. The task is still unfinished. Prime Minister Modi is the biggest friend of Afghans,” said Yasmin.
Even when she fights for the rights of Pashtuns sitting in Kolkata, her office table has memorabilia from the Quit India movement of 1942. Her father received that from an organisation during 50 years of the Quit India Movement in 1992. Yasmin has preserved that very carefully.
A fighter for Pakhtoon’s rights in Afghanistan, Yasmin, however, visited Afghanistan only once in 1986. It was then under the rule of Mohd Nazibullah, who invited the delegation from India which she was part of. The Former Afghan president had kept her and others at Kabul Continental Hotel and they had a state-conducted tour across Afghanistan.
“I saw the Afghan women then used to wear jeans, pants and even skirts. Look at today’s Afghanistan. Yes, I also wear Hijab but on my own desire and at nobody’s instruction. The Taliban are preventing women from even going outside,” she said.
But wasn’t that an occupation even if it was by Soviet Russia then? Yasmin accepted this but said that the Russians were not tormentors.
“That time also I saw bombs were hurled and rocket launchers were used as fighting between Mujahedeen and government was going on. But then the people of Afghanistan wanted the Russians out and Russians had to leave Afghanistan. Mujahideen did that. But Pakistan used the opportunity and encroached Pashtun’s land using the Taliban,” said she.
While her father was born in Afghanistan, her mother was born in Lucknow. She has four sisters and two brothers. Except for Yasmin, all the brothers and sisters are married and well-off—her large house reflecting this affluence. Her sister’s husband even worked in the Indian Air Force as an officer.
Educated in an Urdu-medium school in Kolkata, Yasmin studied as a commerce student in Kolkata's Ram Mohan college and became a teacher. She quit her teacher’s job a few years back to take up the full-time task of handling her organisation.
When asked why she chose to remain unmarried, she replied, “Who will then look after the large family which includes the rights of Pashtuns? My father handed me the responsibilities of the organisation Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan had created. How could I let him down?”
Among the Pashtuns residing in India, Yashmin today is a loving Didi. Didi is not a common word in Pashtun or in Urdu. But Yasmin is called this because she is a resident of Kolkata.
Has she met with Bengal’s most famous Didi?
“Yes, a couple of times. I had approached her to build up a university for Afghans who are hardly educated. Kolkata could be a destination for such a world-famous university where students from Afghanistan could come and study. But she is yet to listen to me,” said Yasmin.
Rabindranath Tagore’s famous short story, "Kabuliwala", talks about the connection that Afghans have had with Kolkata since the 19th century. While Kabuliwalas may no longer be coming with mewa, kismish or nuts, they often work in Kolkata in money lending agencies and other local businesses. They have now mixed with the local Bengali Muslim community.
Yasmin said being a woman she expects more from Mamata than Modi in the field of education. But her endeavour for a university-led her to meet former cultural minister Mahesh Sharma in 2019. The occasion was to celebrate the life of Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
“I appealed to Sharma-ji for taking the initiative to build the university. As proper education can only save Afghanistan. She told me she would take the action. But he mentioned to me that land for that has to be given by the state government. But Didi is yet to give that land,” said Yasmin.
Education is now secondary as Afghanistan is burning again. When will the fire be doused?
“British could not rule Afghans. Russia had to quit, the US had to back out. So will the Taliban. They would have to leave Afghanistan one day. A group with such a devastating ideology cannot rule a country. Mark my words.”
Yasmin stood up and said the celebration for independence day had to start. But there were not many people around.
“So be it. I will celebrate today, even with only 10-12 people," she said.
August 19 is five days after Pakistan’s independence and four days after India’s. But only Kolkata knows it.