afghanistanin establishing Afghanistan’s first Teacher Training Institute and played a
prominent part in the formation of national education policy. As for ‘Abd
al-Ra’uf ’s younger son, Maulawi ‘Abd al-Wasi‘, or Wa’is, he was a leading
light in the emerging Pushtu literary movement and an advocate of Pushtun
nationalism. ‘Abd al-Ra’uf, his sons and many of his family members spent
nearly a decade in prison and were only freed after ’Aman Allah Khan came
to power. ‘Abd al-Wa’is subsequently chaired the committee that drafted
the Nizam Namas that formed the basis of Afghanistan’s first Constitution.
Other prominent individuals arrested included: a relative of the Hazrat
of Chahar Bagh; a son of ‘Abd al-Quddus Khan; Na’ib Habib Allah Khan,
Mahmud Tarzi’s nephew; Ghulam Muhammad Mosawar Maimanagi, a
descendant of the Uzbek amirs of Maimana, who had studied in Paris
and taught at the School of Fine Art; and Faiz Muhammad Katib, author
of the Seraj al-Tawarikh.
Seven individuals were condemned to be blown from the muzzle of
a gun, including Nazir Muhammad Safir Khan, a Chitrali who had been
Amir ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan’s most confidential adviser, Keeper of the
Royal Seal and head of ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan’s feared internal security. As
Supervisor of the Royal Kitchen, Nazir Muhammad Safir was responsible
for ensuring no one introduced poison into the king’s food. However, at the
time the conspiracy was exposed Safir Khan was already in prison, having
been accused of the illegal use of the royal seal, after it was discovered he
had been covertly selling arms to the Mohmand and Afridi rebels. Safir
Khan’s eldest son, a student at Habibiyya, was also executed, along with
Maulawi Muhammad Sarwar Wasef, an Islamic scholar from Kandahar
and the author of the Seraj al-Ahkam, a Persian version of the Ottoman
Hanafi legal code commissioned by Amir Habib Allah Khan. At the time
of his arrest Wasef was employed as a scribe on the Seraj al-Akhbar. Under
torture, Wasef confessed to being the head of the movement and the author
of the shab nama, and before he was put to death he smuggled a note to an
associate declaring he was happy to sacrifice his life in the cause of freedom.
Despite all the arrests and executions, the official version of the
Mashruta Conspiracy, which claimed it was an attempt to assassinate and
depose Habib Allah Khan, does not stand up to close scrutiny. British
intelligence could make no sense of the conspiracy. 16 They initially thought
Nasr Allah Khan and ‘Abd al-Quddus Khan were behind the plot, though
the idea that either of these men would support a move to Constitutional
government is absurd, as is the allegation that Dr Ghani, a Gujarati Indian,
planned to set himself up as Amir of Afghanistan. As for Nasr Allah Khan,
he tried, but failed, to convince the Amir that the British were behind the