The Afghan Martyrs — Page 82
who was visiting the graveyard and together we took the coffin into the town and then beyond a hill named 'Bala Risar', There we buried it in a graveyard situated to the north of the town and then I stayed on in Kabul for a whole month in order to protect my family. I felt I had to be readily available for arrest. On my return I declared that I was going on ajourney. In the meantime someone reported to the authorities that although I was pretending that I was going for Raj, I was in fact going to Qadian to meet the 'Mirza' and the magistrate sent his men to arrest me. I pleaded that had I intended to proceed for Raj I would have had to sell some of my assets to finance the journey, I invited them to verify that my assets were intact and asked how, as I was just an ordinary farmer, I could possibly have enough cash to proceed for Raj without selling some of my assets. I remained in custody for four or five days as ordered by the magistrate. Some people offered to bail me out but I turned down their offer. . . . . . A whole year passed since the burial of the martyr in the graveyard and then Nero, one of his pupils, resolved to bury him in his own village. Secretly he moved the body to his own village and buried it there in a unadorned grave. When Khan Aj ab Khan the Tahseeldar found out, he insisted that the grave of the martyr should be given a presentable form. Quite possibly the Tahseeldar also made a financial contribution and some of the martyr's pupils had a proper grave raised above his body. Soon, the general public got to know and it was reported to the King that the body of the martyr had been brought there. People travelled long distances to pay homage and make offerings. Then Ameer N asrolla Khan, a brother of the King, ordered the Governor of Khost to exhume the body of the martyr and cremate it or throw it in a river. On receipt of these orders the Governor of Khost sent some government agents and had the bones of the martyr dug up. According to some they were thrown in a river and according to 82