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'''Amir Chand Bombwal''' (8 August 1893 – 10 February 1972){{citation needed|date=April 2014}} was born in [[Punjab]]. He was a journalist, a freedom fighter in the [[Indian independence movement]], a [[Khudai Khidmatgar]] and a political leader of the [[Indian National Congress Party]] from [[Peshawar]], [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]] (NWFP) of [[British India]]. He was the founder, editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper called ''[[The Frontier Mail]]'' and a close associate of [[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]]<ref>{{cite book |title=History of the Indian revolutionary movement |first=Manmath Nath |last=Gupta |publisher=Somaiya Publications |year=1972 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12660/page/n47 33]–34 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12660}}</ref> whom it has been claimed he named ‘Frontier Gandhi’.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/uttarakhand/community/uttarakhand-journalist-gave-frontier-gandhi-title-to-abdul-gaffar-khan-claims-book/174496.html |work=The Tribune |date=24 December 2015 |title=Uttarakhand journalist gave Frontier Gandhi title to Abdul Gaffar Khan, claims book |accessdate=1 May 2018}}</ref>

Bombwal was the last editor of the short-lived [[Urdu]]-language ''Swarajya'' weekly newspaper, published between 1907 and 1911 by the [[Bharat Mata Society]] in [[Allahabad]]. This newspaper pursued a scathing campaign against [[British Raj]] rule,<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Petition, Protest and REvolt: The Changing Face of the Anti-Imperialist Press in India, 1857-1947 |first=Gautam |last=Chattopadhyay |title=La presse de la liberté: Journée d'études organisée par le Groupe de Travail IFLA sur les Journaux, Paris, le 24 août 1989 |editor-first=Eve |editor-last=Johansson |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=1991 |isbn=9783111357300 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PR4jAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |page=49}}</ref> An active member of the [[Indian National Congress]] party, he was jailed for participation in the first [[Non-Cooperation Movement]] in 1921-23.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

[[File:Prisoner Amir Chand Bombwal.jpg| thumb| This photograph of Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal was taken after transfer from [[Peshawar]] Central Jail to [[Multan]] Central Jail while undergoing three years rigorous imprisonment under Section 40 [[Frontier Crimes Regulations]], in connection with the [[Non-Cooperation Movement]] in the North-West Frontier Province of [[British India]] in 1921-23. Wooden identification tablet with the steel ring around the neck indicates the serial number of the prisoner in jail "884", the Section under which punished "40", and the period of imprisonment "3Y", showing from "22.2.21 to 21.2.24"]]

Upon release from jail, he worked to rehabilitate the refugees and victims of the [[1924 Kohat riots]]. [[Mahatma Gandhi]] commended him for the service he provided to the riot victims.<ref>{{cite web | title=Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 29, page 347, letter to Amirchand C. Bombwal | url=http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL029.PDF}}</ref>

[[File:Amir Chand Bombwal Passport.jpg|thumb| [[British India]] passport photo of Pandit Amir Chand Bombwal, Peshawar, 1946]]

After the [[Partition of India]], he was arrested without charges, along with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and [[Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan]] (known as Khan Sahib) by the founder of Pakistan, [[Mohammed Ali Jinnah]] who suspected them of undermining the accession of NWFP to Pakistan. They were jailed in [[Peshawar]] Central Jail and there was little hope for their release. Upon the death of Jinnah, [[Liaquat Ali Khan]], who was on friendly terms with them, assumed the reins of power in Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan facilitated their release from jail, and transferred Bombwal to India in 1948, where he arrived on a flight carrying the ceasefire delegation of the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]] from Pakistan.

After Partition, he settled down in [[Dehradun]], India and continued to publish ''The Frontier Mail'' from there. He gave the Indian people a floor-to-ceiling height oil painting of [[Vithalbhai Patel]] that now hangs on right side of the dais in Central Hall of the [[Indian Parliament]].

He died in [[Delhi]] of natural causes. Upon his death, fifteen trunks containing his documents were transferred to the [[National Archives of India]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bombwal, Amir Chand}}
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Pakistan]]
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Peshawar]]
[[Category:Indian people imprisoned abroad]]

Amir Chand Bombwal - Revision history

>InternetArchiveBot at 09:10, 22 February 2020