A towering figure of the Indian subcontinent's independence movement, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai's political career spanned the colonial and post-colonial eras. His progressive politics were national-democratic, anti-imperialist and anti-feudal. He advocated for democracy, civil rights and the rule of law and envisioned a single Pashtun province, which would incorporate all the contiguous Pashtun-inhabited areas east of the Durand Line with Pashto as the working language and medium of instruction. Altogether, he was sentenced to imprisonment for 40 of his 66 year life, a time he used to gain academic credentials and pen most of this autobiography.

He is reverentially remembered as "Khan Shaheed" - the Martyr Khan.