Afghanistan

by A. Hamilton

“No tribesmen from my territories can do such an act in an open manner. Some of them, however, have great faith in Mullah Hadda, and it is possible that they may have joined him during the night, travelling like thieves by unfrequented roads. How is it possible to keep watch on thieves during nights along such an extensive frontier?

“Your Excellency writes that guards should be appointed along the Kabul River and on other roads, so that no one might be allowed to cross over to the other side.

“My kind friend, such an arrangement could only be possible by posting about ten thousand soldiers on all the mountain tops and at all the fords in that district. Then they will be able to execute properly such an arrangement, otherwise how would it be possible to stop the people who are familiar with the country? If the well-known roads be guarded against them, they can, owing to their knowledge of the country, find paths, over mountains and through desert tracts, to cross the frontier. As far as possible, however, the local officials have been watching and will watch any open movements of the tribesmen.

“As regards the dead and the wounded whom your Excellency writes that the tribesmen carried away with them after the fight at Shabkaddar, I beg to state that, if they have brought back their dead secretly, they have already, according to their custom, buried them, and now no trace can be obtained of them. As to the wounded, if questions be asked, they explain that they are always engaged in tribal feuds with one another, and they often kill and wound one another, and that the wounded men have received their wounds in such tribal feuds; and, as the witnesses belong to the people concerned, it is difficult to prove anything contrary to what they allege.

“Your Excellency has kindly informed me that the disturbances which have broken out on the frontiers of India have been wholly unprovoked; that a force of troops was detailed to punish the tribesmen concerned in the attack upon Malakand and Chakdarra; that the force visited the Upper Swat Valley and received the submission of the tribesmen there; that the Afridis, who have had engagements for many years’ standing with the British Government, have been stirred to hostility; that the men who are responsible for this were Mullah Saiyid Akbar, Aka Khel, and Mir Bashir, Malikdin Khel; that they have burned some of the posts in the Khyber; that the road was undefended and closed to the passage of kafilas; that in the present state the carriage of valuable goods, and especially of warlike stores, must necessarily be for the time discontinued; and that the Afridis and other tribes, who have attacked British Government posts, would be dealt with in a manner to make clear the supremacy of the British Government.

“I have understood the facts of the circumstances which your Excellency has detailed, and I feel certain that the tribesmen, who have stirred up disturbances and who, without possessing any warlike materials and appliances, commenced hostilities against the Government, will be put to flight and dispersed.

“I saw some of these people, and asked them by way of advice why they were disobeying the illustrious British Government, and exposing themselves to slaughter and loss. They said that their proceedings were undertaken owing to the hopeless circumstances in which they were involved, and they gave the particulars as stated below, i.e., that during former years a firm promise was given, on behalf of the illustrious British Government, to the frontier tribesmen that they would always be exempted from the restrictions of Government laws, and would remain independent in their own country; that when they received such orders from the great Government, they lived with perfect assurance of mind, and never paid any taxes to any one; that subsequently the frontier British officials, disregarding the orders of the Government of India issued to them (tribesmen), began to make roads in their country, and subsequently asked them for revenue and inflicted fines, &c., upon them and generally treated them in the same way as the old inhabitants of India were treated.

“That the people inhabiting hilly tracts are generally poor and possess no property; that they have, therefore, exposed themselves to destruction, and they desire that the frontier officials should act in accordance with the promise which the Government of India had given them.

“I then asked them to produce any Government ‘Sanad’ in support of their statements, and they produced several printed notifications, declaring the independence of those tribesmen, issued by the Exalted Government of India.

“As I have heard the above-mentioned particulars from some of the said tribesmen, and as I saw the notifications also which they had in their possession, I have communicated the above as a piece of information to your Excellency. Apparently the complaints of these people are against the local frontier officers of India. It is possible that your Excellency may have received similar accounts.