11% A PILGRIMAGE FOR PEACE
in the south. Will the twain ever meet ? " Gandhiji's
reply %vas that whilst apparent difference was there, non-
violence was the golden bridge that united the ferocious
and Trsriike Pathan and the mild and intellectual South
Indian. The Khudai Khidmatgars who had accepted non-
violence as their creed ceased to be different, except in the
degree of their non-violent valour, from people in other
parts of India. In this question of fusion of various types,
as in many another knotty question, the moment we
adopt the non-violent approach all difficulties rneli away.
The cis-lndus District of Hazara, the last to be visited
during Gandhiji's tour, is the northernmost district of the
North-West Frontier Province and the only territory of
that province east of the Indus. It lies like a wedge of
British territory 120* miles in length, driven in between
Kashmir on the East and the independent hills on the
West.
Before entering it, however, Gandhiji paid a brief visit
to Bibhuti, in Chach Ilaqa. This territory, though political-
ly and geographically a part of the Punjab, is linguistically
and in respect of customs, habits and mode of life
of its people closely allied to the North-West Frontier
Province. They had requested that Pushtu-speaking peo-
ple of their Ilaqa should be permitted to join the Khudai
Khidmatgar movement in the Frontier Province. Gan-
dhiji told them that there could be no difficulty in their so
doing : " The Khudai Khidmatgars is an organization with
its headquarters at Utmanzai. Any one who signs their
pledge and can speak Pushtu can enrol himself as a
Khudai Khidmatgar. The only condition is that he can-
not simultaneously be on the register of any other organi-
zation. You are, therefore, absolutely free to enrol as
Khudai Khidmatgars if you like and no special permis-
sion is needed for it."
While driving to Bibhuti, Gandhiji's car had a slight
accident as a result of which a calf was knocked down
and partly run over. The local Congressmen accompany-
ing Badshah Khan did not hesitate to throw the whole
blame for the accident on opponents of the Congress