MORE SERMONS ON NON-VIOLENCE
abwabs or Illegal exactions and Instances of chicanery,
fraud and oppression resorted to by the landlords against
the cultivators. All that Gandhiji could say about these
revelations was that even if a fraction of them were true,
they constituted a disgraceful anachronism which ought
not to continue any longer, especially when there was a
Congress Ministry.
The address on behalf of the general public of Man-
shera was perhaps the most remarkable presented to
Gandhiji throughout his tour. It contained among other
things the following significant words: " You will
understand and allow for a little pardonable pride
011 our part for the way in which we, of the Frontier
Province, have taken up and translated into practice your
gospel of non-violence. Violence used to be our main
preoccupation in life till Badshah Khan, the pride of the
Afghans, weaned us from it. Non-violence may have no
special significance for those who are born into that creed.
But for us Pathans it has provided the specific which we
so badly needed for our ills. The Pathan is therefore
particularly fitted to understand and appreciate its worth.
Islam promulgated peace, i.e., non-violence as the rule of
life and permitted the use of force only as an exception.
But the Pathan, like the rest of the Mussulmans, had
allowed the exception to usurp the place of the central
principle and almost forgotten the central teaching. It
was for you, sir, to take us back to this central doctrine
wrhich we had nearly lost sight of. We assure you that
in a very short time the Pathans of the North-West
Frontier Province will, without distinction of caste, creed
or religion, come to constitute the spear-head of India's
non-violent fight for freedom."
Gandhiji replying assured them that he set great
store by what they had already achieved in the field of
non-violence. But believing as he did in the old adage,
that from him who has, much more is expected, he warn-
ed them that he would not rest satisfied till they had
fulfilled their mission of achieving through their non-
violence not only their own freedom but the freedom of