The Afghan Martyrs — Page 106
and notify them of the location of their present residence. The government official of the locality kept a watch on the family who spent five years in those conditions. At about that time Fazal. Kareem of Gujrat, a Punjabi, came to Kabul and was arrested for being an Ahmadi. When asked if he knew of any other Ahmadis he named the family of the martyr. Thereupon all five brothers and a relation were arrested, chained and bound and sent to a jail where they were tortured. At about that time their mother died and they were not even permitted to see her face for the last time. They petitioned that apart from them there was no one who could attend to the burial rites and so the eldest brother was given permission to bury her but the others were not even permitted to see her face. They were kept continuously bound and shackled for eight months, they were not even fed and so had to buy their own food and meet other personal expenses. Finally a secretary of Amaanulla Khan gave them Rs. 300 and he interceded with the King and had them released. The hardship inflicted on them during this period of eight months imprisonment was so great that a brother, Mohammad Omar fell sick and died. Abu! Hasan also fell sick but after a month of freedom recovered from the ailment. Syed Mohammad Omar died a year after being released from prison and Ameer Habeebulla Khan was assassinated within a fortnight of his passing away. When Ameer Amaanulla became King, once again some prominent residents of the Khost region, headed by a well known person named Babrak Khan, submitted a petition on the same lines as had been submitted during their exile to Turkistan. Thereupon Ameer Amaanulla Khan freed them and ordered the Governor of Khost to restore their lands to them. 106