some early freedom fighters

for sameer:

Yes, history will continue to be re-written by victors.

It is always awkward and unpopular to de-pedestalise leaders, especially after they have been 'sainted' and blessed by subsequent leaders.

But not to trivialize the discussion, the points you have raised about these Indians must be put in context. Yes they were a force. But not much of a force because their numbers were small. And their support base was smaller.

Smaller in comparison with the powers that be on the Indian horizon. (Structured and supported by the colonial powers.)

Even Gandhiji would have been marginalized had he not returned to India to fight the battles.

You say, "Most of the people have never heard of names like, Lala Hardayal, Prem Chandra, Lala Lajpat Rai, Barkatullah (Maulawi Barakat Ullah of Tokyo University), Kartar Singh, Jatin Mukherjee, Vishnu Ganesh Pingley and Dasi Chinahiya."

To this I would add Sant Teja Singh of Harvard, Amar Singh and Gopal Singh, and Tarak Nath Das and Ram Nath Puri (they started AZADI KA CIRCULAR in Urdu from California) Bhai Bhag Singh Bhikkivind, Baba Sohna Sing, Bhai Harnam Singh, Dr. Mathura Singh, Hafiz Abdulla to name a few more. And Ismail Shaheed, though his aims were more limited.

With no lines of communication and support, the independence proclamation in Afghanistan was doomed from the start, even though they had the support of the Axis powers in 1915. Though with their defeat that support fizzled.

This left leaning shama-e-azaadi must be still there in early twenties on the west coast. I remember reading about Chaudhry Rehmat Ali (of the Now or Never pamphlet first coining the name PAKSTAN) visiting California for a couple of years at around that time. A digression: one of the signatories of that pamphlet was the President of Khyber Union then, Aslam Khattak. He is still alive, nearing nineties, an Uncle of "Zeejah".