Pakhtoon leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's great-granddaughter today urged the Indian government to set up a university in the country in his name to preserve the ideology of the leader who stood for non-violence.
The demand from Yasmin Khan, who is the great-granddaughter of Ghaffar Khan, came during the inauguration of an exhibition on Pakhtoon leader which was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma here today.
"There has been attack on Bacha Khan University (in Pakistan). People want to wipe out the name of Ghaffar Khan and the university (named after him) in Pakistan. We appeal to Indian government to set up a university in his name in Kolkata and Delhi," she said.
She said that the initiative would preserve the leader's "name and his ideology such as non-violence" and would be a "tribute" to him.
Earlier Sharma inaugurated the exhibition - titled 'Frontier Gandhi and the Indian Freedom Movement' - being organised by Culture Ministry to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Ghaffar Khan, who is popularly known as Badshah Khan or the Frontier Gandhi.
Addressing on the occasion, Sharma said that Ghaffar Khan was a great person who was devoted to the freedom of India and Hindu-Muslim unity.
"Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Gandhi ji were complementary to each other and we will keep his memories alive for the decades to come," he said while calling for exploration of his "life of sacrifice, commitment and achievement".
The Minister said Ghaffar Khan was a staunch nationalist and a pluralist to the core and never accepted the two nation theory and strongly opposed the partition of India.
Badshah Khan was awarded Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 1987.
The Minister also honoured the descendants of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan -- his great-granddaughters Yasmin Khan and Tanzeem Khan, and great-grandson Danish Khan by presenting shawls to them on the occasion.
Ambassador of Afghanistan in India Shaida Mohammad Abdali, among others, was present on the occasion.
