CHAPTER XVI.
BANGASH—ZAIMUKHTS—CHAMKANNIS—TURIS.[[132]]
Since the territories of the above-mentioned tribes are either situated in, or are most easily approached from, the Miranzai and Kurram, the account of these peoples had better be prefaced by some description of those valleys.
During the days of Sikh rule on the frontier, Miranzai remained under the Governor of Kohat, but not much interference was attempted. On the annexation of the Punjab by the Government of India, Miranzai, being an outlying territory, was overlooked when possession was taken of the rest of Kohat; the Kabul Government, accordingly, made arrangements to occupy Miranzai, the Amir’s son, Sirdar Muhammad Azim, who was then Governor of Kurram, sending in 1851 some cavalry to hold the villages of Bilandkhel, Thal and Torawari. The people of Miranzai, thereupon, appealed to the Indian Government, and petitioned that their country might be included in British territory, offering to pay a yearly revenue of Rs. 7500. Their request was acceded to, and in August 1861, a proclamation was issued declaring Miranzai to be a portion of the Kohat district.
This country has been thus described by Oliver in his book Across the Border: “The Miranzai Valley, perhaps the pleasantest part of the Kohat district, has been arbitrarily divided into an Upper and a Lower, though the river which runs east, down the latter, is a feeder of the Kohat toi, or stream, and goes thence to the Indus, while the Ishkali, which runs west along the Upper, is a branch of the Kurram. Both Upper and Lower Miranzai, equally with the Kurram, lie along the base of the great Safed Koh Range, the white peaks of which tower over everything else, a gigantic barrier between this and the still more famous Khyber route to Kabul.... It is a land of mountains, small and great, of rocks and of stones. The rivers that rush down the steep slopes are at one time dangerous torrents, at others yielding with difficulty a little water from the holes dug in their beds, with small and circumscribed, but well-cultivated valleys, where grain and fruit flourish abundantly, varied with raviney wastes, growing little beyond the dwarf palm which affords materials for one of the few staple industries the country possesses. These, again, are interspersed by grassy tracts, on which are pastured abnormally small cattle and exceptionally fat-tailed sheep.” The Miranzai Valley is about forty miles in length, and its width varies from three to seven miles; it extends from Thal to Raisan—where the Khanki River breaks through the hills into the valley—and from the Zaimukht and Orakzai hills to those of the Khattaks.
The Kurram Valley
Up to the time of the second Afghan war the Kurram Valley was ruled by the Afghans, but it came under our influence during the campaign, and was finally occupied by us in the autumn of 1893. The country is now administered by the Indian Government, and is ruled by a political officer, the valley being to all intents and purposes British territory.
“Once past Thal,” says Oliver, “and the banks of the Kurram River reached—more or less all along are cornfields and fruit gardens, mulberry groves and fertile glades, passing up to ridges crested by oak and olive, yew trees and pines; the range behind again culminating in the snow-capped peak of Sika Ram, which rises over 15,000 feet high. Some parts of the valley have the reputation of being unhealthy, for the same reason as Bannu, but there are few more fertile spots along the Afghan Border than the Kurram.” The valley is about sixty miles long and in some parts not more than ten miles broad; it is bounded on the west by Afghanistan, on the east by the country of the Chamkannis, Zaimukhts and Orakzais, on the south by Waziristan, while on the north Kurram is separated from the country of the Shinwaris by the Safed Koh Range. “Dark pine forests cover the lower ranges, and naked cliffs and snowy peaks rise high above them. The chain is so situated that the rays of the setting sun fall full upon it, and the effect on a chill winter evening, when the pale snows flush scarlet and crimson, while darkness is already gathering in the valley below, is very fine.”
Enriquez, from whose work, The Pathan Borderland, quotation has already been made, tells us that “Lower Kurram,[[133]] that is as far as Alizai, differs very essentially from the Upper Kurram and in appearance resembles the Miranzai. The villages are built of rough and irregular blocks of stone interspersed with layers of brushwood. Towers and defensive walls are the exception, and the inhabitants are but poorly armed. The fodder is collected in ricks inside the hamlets, and great stacks of hay and ‘johwar’ are also grouped together in large numbers on rising ground near by. The valley is narrow, and there is little room for cultivation. The trees are few and stunted, and the general appearance of the country is of low hills and broken nullahs, where the usual ‘palosa,’ bera, seneta and mazarai form a thin scrub jungle. Upper Kurram, on the other hand, is wider, and the mountains containing it are more imposing. There is a good deal of cultivation; the villages are larger and far more prosperous looking, and are built chiefly of mud. The more important ones have from eight to ten fortified towers, and are besides protected by high loop-holed walls. A very successful attempt is made to decorate these forts by means of patterns in the brickwork and of crenelations along the upper parapets. They are, moreover, neatly built and kept in good repair. Chenar trees abound and grow to as fine a size as they do in Kashmir. To judge by their girth, many of them must be very old. There are willows, mulberries and ‘palosa’ in the valley and the walnuts of Kurram rival those of Tirah.” The valley is said, with pride, to produce four remarkable and marketable commodities—the stone of Malana, the rice of Karman, the wood of Peiwar, and the women of Shalozan—the last a village from which ladies have always been supplied for the Royal zenana in Kabul. The grandmother of the late Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, was a daughter of the Turi Malik of Shalozan in Kurram.
Value of the Kurram
The Miranzai and Kurram Valleys are of importance as providing an alternative route, practically wholly through friendly territory, from our frontiers to the borders of Afghanistan. A narrow-gauge railway runs from Kohat to Thal, and is eventually, it is stated, to be extended to Parachinar—fifty-six miles further up the Kurram Valley. The Peiwar Kotal is only fifteen miles further west from Parachinar, and is of an elevation of 9200 feet, the onward road then crossing the Shutargardan, or Camel’s Neck Pass, at a height of 11,900 feet, into the Logar Valley leading to Kabul. The route affords a subsidiary line for part of the year, but its closing by snow, and the great altitudes at which the several passes have to be crossed, forbid its being classed as a principal line of communication. During the second Afghan war it was used as a line of advance mainly because Lord Lytton firmly believed in the value of Kurram, being influenced in this, as in many other matters, by his Military Secretary, Colonel, afterwards Sir George, Colley, who wrote: “Personally my hobby is the Kurram—I had long ago come to the conclusion that the possession of the Peiwar held the most commanding military position, short of Kabul, in Afghanistan.... The Kurram Valley is mainly fairly open and inhabited by a peaceful agricultural population, so that our communications there will never be troublesome or uncertain.”