This is the story of a politician whose home saw three funeral processions of martyrs, and who himself survived several assassination attempts.

After the martyrdom of his own son, younger brother, and nephew, this brave politician’s back bent, but he still stands today as a symbol of courage and steadfastness in Pakistani politics.

I recently read his autobiography, in which he disclosed many historical secrets. Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour’s autobiography is titled “Main Kyun Nahi Toota?” (“Why Haven’t I Broken?”) — but this is not just the story of one individual; it is the story of democracy and the constitution in Pakistan, which has been attacked again and again.

People like Haji Bilour defended democracy and the constitution and made huge sacrifices. They were attacked not only by military dictators and the Taliban but also by the champions of democracy who became civilian dictators after coming to power. Today, this democracy’s back has also bent, but it is trying to move forward slowly, leaning on crutches.

Haji Bilour has been an eyewitness to the important events of the last half-century. He spent time in jail alongside important figures of Pakistani politics, including Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan — known as Bacha Khan in Pakistan and the Frontier Gandhi in India — Wali Khan, Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, and Khair Bakhsh Marri.

Dr Muhammad Sohail Khan recorded his recollections over two years, and after 36 hours of recording, compiled the manuscript of this book. Reading it, one repeatedly realises that our politicians and state institutions have learned no lesson from their past mistakes — indeed, they seem intent on repeating those mistakes in the name of national interest. They fail to understand that political vengeance and the use of force only breed further vengeance, making things worse than before.

Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour’s father, Bilour Din, was a well-known businessman in Peshawar. The famous Indian film actor Shah Rukh Khan’s father, Taj Muhammad Khan, and his brother Ghulam Muhammad Gama were close friends of Bilour Din.

This family was also very close to Haji Ghulam Samdani, a well-known Kashmiri businessman of Peshawar. The sons of Samdani and Taj Muhammad Khan were active workers of the Indian National Congress and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgar movement. Muhammad Younas, son of Haji Samdani, was very close to Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Muhammad Younas moved to India on Nehru’s advice after the partition.

After Pakistan’s creation, a Kashmiri migrant, Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, became Chief Minister of the then-NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Before joining the Muslim League, Khan Qayyum had been in the Congress and had even written a book titled “Gold and Guns” against the Muslim League and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Seeing which way the wind was blowing in 1946, he left Congress and joined the Muslim League. He was elected to the provincial assembly from Peshawar in 1946. After becoming Chief Minister in 1947, he banned his own book written against the Muslim League and began taking revenge against Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s associates.

Khan Qayyum imposed Section 144 in Peshawar in 1948; when this order was violated by some followers of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, police opened fire at Babra, killing many people. Arrests of Khudai Khidmatgars began. Repeated raids were carried out to arrest Taj Muhammad Khan, forcing him to leave Peshawar with his family for Delhi. His friend Muhammad Younas was already in Delhi and looked after Taj Muhammad Khan’s family. After reaching India, Taj Muhammad Khan stayed in touch with Haji Bilour, and once visited Haji Bilour’s home in Peshawar with his family.

Haji Bilour begins his book with the political victimisation of Shah Rukh Khan’s father, which he witnessed as a child. Haji Bilour states that Shah Rukh Khan’s father, Taj Muhammad Khan, actually left Pakistan because he was fed up with Khan Qayyum’s tyranny, having been repeatedly and unjustly arrested. Haji Bilour and his family initially stayed away from politics.

In 1964, military dictator General Ayub Khan announced presidential elections, and the opposition made Fatima Jinnah their joint presidential candidate. The young Haji Bilour used to serve water to people at Fatima Jinnah’s rallies in Peshawar. At one such rally at Jinnah Park in Peshawar, he was moved by a speech in support of Fatima Jinnah given by Wali Khan (branded a “traitor to the nation” by the dictator), and that was the moment Haji Bilour decided to enter politics. It was not only Wali Khan who was supporting the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman in Dhaka was also supporting her. Dictator Ayub Khan declared Fatima Jinnah an Indian agent, defeated her through rigging and use of brutal force.

In 1969, Haji Bilour formally joined the National Awami Party (NAP). In the 1970 elections, NAP won 15 seats in the province, while Khan Qayyum’s Muslim League won 12. JUI had four seats, and the Pakistan People’s Party had three.

Khan Qayyum tried to form a government with JUI’s help. JUI wanted the provincial finance ministry, but Khan Qayyum wanted to keep that portfolio for himself. To block Qayyum, NAP offered JUI the chief minister’s post instead.

JUI agreed, and Maulana Mufti Mahmood (father of Maulana Fazlur Rehman) became Chief Minister. In Balochistan too, NAP, with JUI’s support, made Ataullah Mengal Chief Minister and Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo Governor.

To counter NAP, the then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan federal Interior Minister and his brother Abdul Hameed Khan Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir; both brothers belonged to the Swati tribe of Baramulla.

Haji Bilour recounts that despite all their differences with Bhutto, they worked with the PPP to draft and approve the 1973 Constitution — yet men like Khan Qayyum remained consumed by a desire for revenge.

Haji Bilour said that Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan spent most of his time in prisons after the creation of Pakistan. He was now living in Afghanistan to avoid jail, as he was ill.

In 1972, Haji Bilour was given the task of visiting Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in Afghanistan to bring him back to Pakistan, since NAP was now in power at home.

When Haji Bilour met this great leader in Jalalabad, he learned that Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had made an offer to Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to move to India. Haji Bilour further claims that Indira Gandhi wanted Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to become President of India.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan humbly thanked her and said that he was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, who was never interested in high offices. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan quietly returned to Pakistan with Haji Bilour and never told anyone about the offer made by Indira Gandhi.

The two provincial governments of NAP and JUI made decisions in favour of making Urdu the official language, but their government in Balochistan was branded anti-state and dismissed by Bhutto’s federal government under pressure from army generals.

A joint opposition rally at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, came under gunfire in 1973. Many people were killed. According to Haji Bilour, they carried their workers’ dead bodies back to Peshawar but still did not speak against Pakistan.

After this incident, PPP minister Hayat Muhammad Khan Sherpao was killed in a bomb blast at Peshawar University. The Bhutto government arrested Haji Bilour, his two brothers, and other NAP leaders on charges related to this murder, and had NAP banned by the Supreme Court.

A former NAP leader, Jumma Khan Sufi, who was with Ajmal Khattak in Kabul at the time, wrote in his Urdu book Fareb-e-Natamaam that two young men, Anwar and Amjad, were responsible for Sherpao’s killing and fled to Kabul after the bombing. The ANP dismisses this book as a pack of lies, but what is certain is that NAP suffered the greatest damage from Sherpao’s assassination, as it led to the party’s ban.

In 1975, Haji Bilour became a senator for the first time. He needed five votes, and some of his own party’s MPAs were unwilling to vote for him, so he went to Maulana Mufti Mahmood for help. The saintly Maulana had two votes from his own party given to Haji Bilour, securing his election.

Haji Bilour says that JUI’s two MPAs never even asked him for a cup of tea in return — something unimaginable today.

After General Zia’s martial law, NAP’s imprisoned leadership was released. General Zia later offered Wali Khan the premiership through General Fazle Haq, hoping to use him against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. But Wali Khan set a condition: if General Zia removed his uniform and promised elections within six months, he would become Prime Minister.

Zia refused, and with the backing of certain forces and the United States, remained in power for eleven years. Bhutto was hanged, and NAP’s leaders continued their politics under a new party name, becoming part of the movement for the restoration of democracy (MRD) with the Pakistan People’s Party.

Haji Bilour says that if Bhutto had not dismissed NAP’s provincial government in Balochistan, he would neither have been hanged, nor would the constitution have been broken again and again — Bhutto could have tolerated them in two provinces and still ruled Punjab, Sindh, and the centre for twenty years.

The life story of Haji Bilour tells us why the family of Shah Rukh Khan moved from Pakistan to India, and why Bhutto was hanged. The final lesson is the most important one: political victimisation always weakens democracy. It is a sign of weakness, not strength.

The writer is a senior journalist, anchor, and columnist, associated with Geo News, who covered wars in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Ethiopia and Chechnya. He posts on X@HamidMirPAK