The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15,1924. FATAL DIVISIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 219, 15 September 1924, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15,1924. FATAL DIVISIONS.

For the caute that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The latest trouble in India—Hindus 'and Mohammedans in conflict in a frontier town and the riff-raff burning j and "plundering—is a grim epitome of j the clash of races and creeds in that i country and of# the chaos that would | result if the British withdrew. Kohat J is an important place in that turbulent land, the north-west frontier. It is one of the military bases north of the | Indue, and it watches an "Important j stretch of hill country south of Peshawur, where at any moment trouble, ranging from a raid to a war, may blaze out. Those who have read Maud Diver's interesting novel of Anglo-Indian life, i "Captain Desmond," will remember , Kohat and its atmosphere of prepara- | tion and uncertainty. It is by means of j such posts that the government keeps j peace along the border and prevents the fierce hilbnen from harrying the Punjab and Bengal. In this town during the past week Mohammedans and Hindus have, met in riots so serious, that the entire Hindu population- has had to be sent away under esco?t, and the town ) has been burned by incendiaries. It is not clear from our reports whether the tribesmen of- the district held" entirely r hloof, but one qan be certain that they itched to take advantage of this glorious "opportunity to loot, and that if they abstained i,t was because the British head of the district had sufficient influence with them. 'Mr. Kipling .has shown us what a strong head of a dis- | trict can do. What has happened at Kohat has happened in other places lately. The j demand for "Swaraj," or home rule, has ( been accompanied by serious conflicts between the two creeds that would have to live together in peace if India were to fulfil all the hopes of the Swarajists. "Hindu-Moslem riote attended by bloodshed and pillage have only just died down after raging for days in Imperial Delhi," says the "Times" of July 24. "Calcutta, where similar tumults broke out this spring, was last month the scene of murderous Moslem assaults upon members of the Sikh community. From - Nagpur, where the adherents of Islam form but a seventh of the population, comes news of similar, if fortunately less serious, disturbances; and the approach of the Feast of Moharrem, jvhich has so often been marked in India by sanguinary conflicts between Shia and Sunni Moslem and between Moslem and Hindu," justifies some anxiety lest further outbreaks should mark the next weeks that precede that critical period." According to the "Times," "any wild tale or trifling incident suffices j when sectarian hostility runs in! flood," but the-true causes of conflict lie deeper. The Moslem fears that, because the Hindu is better educated, Home Rule will mean Hindu, rule, and the power of the Hindu money-lender does not soften his' feelings. Resentment against Britain's treatment of Turkey brought many Mohammedans into alliance with Hindu extremists, but the discovery that the Turkish Republicans are the Teal enemies of the Khalif has seriously weakened this combination. In the Punjab, too, the Akali Sikhs, who have been a grave problem to the Government for some time, are making the Mohammedan anxious. An attempt at Sikh domination over what is the chief Indian" stronghold of Islam is" feared. "The rival ambitions and rival militancy of powerful Sikh, Hindu, and Mohammedan elements / in the Punjab," says the "Times," "deserve the attention of those who maintain that we shall simplify our Imperial task in India by giving a largely Hindu 'i»telligentsia' practically every concession which they demand." One may imagine a Hindu' Government dealing with such problems. It would certainly be prejudiced in favour of Hindus, and at the same time it would be weak : when strength was needed. The British, are in the position of a referee, with the strength to enforce their decisions. If they went, there would be chaos.