The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then N.-W.F.) province Gazetteer, traveller Lowell Thomas and Peshawar's British commissioner Herbert Edwardes called it "the Piccadilly of Central Asia". Indian film actor Dilip Kumar was born in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on or about 11 December 1922 and he belongs to Awan family. Actor Raj Kapoor was also born in the area. Also, Actor Shah Rukh Khan's family still lives in the area. On 23 April 1930, nearly 400 unarmed protesters were shot dead by soldiers of the British colonial government in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre. The massacre triggered protests across British India and catapulted the newly formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement into prominence. In 2010, 25 people died in a bomb attack at a protest against electricity shortages. The market was again targeted by militants in 2013, who used a 220 kg bomb to carry out an attack that killed 41 people, and damaged a nearby mosque as well as set fire to several historic wooden buildings.