The Afghan Martyrs — Page 131
The End of Amaanulla Khan the King of Afghanistan At the beginning of 1924 the Mengal tribe who lived in the south rose in a rebellion against Amaanulla Khan. They charged that: (a) He had become an apostate (b) His family had abandoned Purdah (c) He had become a Qadiani etc. etc. . As a counter-measure to the rebellion Ameer Amaanulla Khan organized a huge conference in Pushto known as 'Loey Jirga'. All divines were invited to participate in this gathering. Mulla Abdulla demanded that if the King did not subscribe to the Ahmadi doctrine, following in the footsteps of his ancestors he must put an end to the resident Ahmadi missionary Neymatulla Khan. This way, he assured the King, he could demonstrate that he did not subscribe to the Qadiani doctrine. Completely ignoring the edict that killing an innocent Muslim was a sin of the highest order and was in any case directly opposed to his proclamation concerning religious freedom, the cowardly King ordered the arrest of Neymatulla Khan. To quell the rebellion the King shed the blood of an Ahmadi without realizing that by this act he was in fact sealing the fate of his own reign. At about that time Amaanulla Khan toured Europe and during his holiday, discarding Purdah, his wife, while wearing European clothes, met many prominent Europeans. When the divines in Afghanistan learned of his conduct, a kind of lava of discontent began to bubble in opposition to the King. To make matters worse the King ordered that the ladies of royal and aristocratic families should discard Purdah and wear European clothes. He 131