The Postcard
A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name. The card, which has a divided back, was printed in Germany.
Peshawar
Peshawar was originally known as Puruṣapura in Sanskrit, meaning "City of Men". It is an ancient city, and Peshawar has for centuries been a center of trade between West Asia, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest. The partition of India saw the departure of many Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who had held key positions in the economy of Peshawar.
Edwardes Gate and the British
(a) Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes
The Kabuli Gate was the most famous of the sixteen gates that used to lead into Peshawar. Under British rule the gate was renamed the Edwardes Memorial Gate, after Peshawar's second Commissioner, Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes, who was born in Shropshire on the 12th. November 1819.
Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes KCB KCSI DCL was a British administrator, soldier, and statesman active in the Punjab region of British India. He is best known as the "Hero of Multan" for his pivotal role in securing British victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.
Sir Herbert was not a well man in his latter years, having suffered from pleurisy, and he died in London at the young age of 49 on the 23rd. December 1868 after a severe haemorrhage.
He was buried in the Meadow on the western side of Highgate Cemetery, and is commemorated by a mural tablet in Westminster Abbey and a stained glass window in the chapel of his alma mater, King's College London.
(b) The British Presence in the Punjab
Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1849, territories in the Punjab were also captured by British East India company.
During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the 40,000 members of the native garrison were disarmed without bloodshed; the absence of brutality meant that Peshawar was not affected by the widespread devastation that was experienced throughout the rest of British India, and local chieftains sided with the British after the incident.
However British control remained confined within the city walls, as vast regions of the Frontier province outside the city were claimed by the Kingdom of Afghanistan.
The vast mountainous areas outside of the city were only mapped out for the first time in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British Indian government. He collaboratively demarcated the boundary of British-controlled areas with the Afghan ruler at the time, Abdur Rahman Khan.
The British laid out the vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city in 1868, and made the city its frontier headquarters. Additionally, several projects were initiated in Peshawar, including linkage of the city by railway to the rest of British India, and renovation of the Mohabbat Khan mosque that had been desecrated by the Sikhs.
The British also constructed Cunningham clock tower, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and, in 1906, constructed Victoria Hall (now home of the Peshawar Museum) in memory of Queen Victoria.
The British greatly contributed to the establishment of Western-style education in Peshawar with the establishment of Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913, respectively - these were established in addition to numerous other schools, many of which were run by the Anglican Church.
For better administration of the region, Peshawar and the adjoining districts were separated from Punjab Province in 1901.
Communal riots broke out in the old city of Peshawar during the spring of 1910, when the annual Hindu festival of Holi coincided with Barawafat, the annual Muslim day of mourning, resulting in a considerable loss of life.
A month prior, in February 1910, prominent community religious leaders had met with officials, and agreed that Holi would be solely celebrated in predominantly Hindu neighbourhoods of the city, notably in Andar Shehr and Karim Pura.
However on the 21st. March 1910, rumors were spread of musicians from Amritsar and a dancing boy from Haripur being brought into the city for Holi celebrations. These led to a group of individuals who were marking Barawafat into forming a mob with the intention of stopping the procession.
Despite both Muslim and Hindu community leaders calling for calm, both parties ultimately clashed at the Asamai Gate, with a Hindu procession member stabbing a Muslim individual in the mob.
Riots ensued for the following three days, involving individuals from outlying tribal regions who had entered the city, with a mob at Bara Bazar allegedly chanting “Maro Hindu Ko” (Kill the Hindus).
The riots resulted in a total of 451 damaged shops and homes, primarily belonging to members of the Hindu community, while at least 4 Muslims and 6 Hindus were killed, alongside hundreds of injuries and widespread looting.
Peshawar emerged as a centre for both Hindko and Pashtun intellectuals. Hindko speakers were responsible for the dominant culture for most of the time that Peshawar was under British rule.
Peshawar was the scene of a non-violent resistance movement that was led by Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mohandas Gandhi. In April 1930, Khan led a large group of locals in a peaceful protest in Qissa Khawani Bazaar, against discriminatory laws that had been enacted by the colonial government.
Hundreds were killed when a detachment of the British Indian Army opened fire on the demonstrators.
Post-Independence History of Peshawar
After the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, Peshawar served as a political centre for anti-Soviet Mujahideen, and was surrounded by huge camps of Afghan refugees.
Many of the refugees remained there through the civil war which broke out after the Soviets were defeated in 1989, the rule of the Taliban, and the invasion by allied forces in late 2001.
Peshawar replaced Kabul and Qandahar as the centre of Pakhtun cultural development during this tumultuous period. Additionally, Peshawar managed to assimilate many of the Pakhtun Afghan refugees with relative ease, while many other Afghan refugees remained in camps awaiting a possible return to Afghanistan.
Peshawar continues to be a city that links Pakistan to Afghanistan, and has emerged as an important regional city in Pakistan while remaining a focal point for Pakhtun culture.
