Ashfaqulla Khan Biography 
Ashfaqulla Khan was a freedom fighter and revolutionary who lost his life at a very young age in the Indian freedom struggle. Khan was the first Muslim to be hanged in a conspiracy against British Raj from India. He was a close associative of Ram Prasad Bismil and both were known as patriotic poets as well. Khan wrote poems with the pen names, Warsi and Hasrat and both these friends were hanged to death on the same day by British, though at different jails. He was one among the nine other revolutionaries looted the train under the leadership of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and the incident is known as Kakori train robbery. His elder brother Riyasat Ullah Khan was a class mate of Bismil.
Ashfaq ullah Khan was born on 22 October 1900 in Shahjahanpur. His father was a pathan with a strong military background. Many of his relatives from maternal side belonged to police and administrative services of British India. Since Mainpuri Conspiracy, Khan heard a lot about Bismil and got attracted to his personality. Poetry was another criteria which brough Bismil and Khan together. He met Bismil for the first time in 1922 during the meetings held for Non-co-operative movement. Bismil too liked Khan’s Urdu poetry and that’s how both became friends. He was introduced to Bismil by his elder brother Riyasat Ullah Khan.
Following withdrew of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922 he decided to join revolutionary movement. Thus he got associated with Bismil and Arya Samaj. When their new revolutionary ideas was deficit of money to make bombs, the group decided to loot British which has been plundering India for a long time. It resulted in Kakori train robbery and Khan was one among the 10 who did this in 8-Down Saharanpur - Lucknow passenger train. Even while Bismil and others were arrested by the police from Shahjahanpur they couldn’t trace Khan.
Though he escaped from police for more than one year, staying at different places, a Pathan friend betrayed him and he got caught by police at Delhi. He was detained in the Faizabad jail and got hanged on the same day Ram Prasad Bismil was hanged.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 21, 2014
