HUNZA NAGAR.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9159, 17 July 1895, Page 2

HUNZA NAGAR.

The Hunza Nagars, whose Thum or chieftain offered the services of 700 men to assist in the relief of Chitral, are Inhabitants of one of the neighbouring states. They have the reputation of being amongst the moat warlike of all the Northern Indian tribes. Their territory comprises tbe valleys draining the upper portion of the Kanjut or Hunza tiver. They were subdued by the Bri.ish troops in 1£' 1 -, after a magnlflt.7. resistance. TL_ir country was until th.it time co_.-ider«=d virtually invulnerable, but by means of rope ladders the British troops, under Captain Colin Mackenzie, descended the cliffs and outflanked the defenders. The English, after subduing them, adopted their usual system of allowing the state its independence, on the same terms as Kashmir and other states. Lieut. Gordon was tbe British Resident, and it was doubtless owing to his influence that the offer of help was made. Surgeon Boberts, whilst in London recently, speaking of this offer

says:—" I must say ft wafrd about Hunza Nngar and those 700 volunteers who arrived at Gllgit the other day offering their help to us now that we are hard preased-if that inci-lent i» due to any man, that man is Liout. Gurdon. He did no end of good in Hunza Nagar by his open-handed English ways. Think of thi*. that three years tince we were fighting these brave fellows, and that now the Thum of Hunza and his very astute Wazir aro offering to lead us a hand. They are devoted to our interests, and the loyalty of the people is equally remarkable. The reason for this happy state of thing, may be found in the wise policy wo have adopted. We have asked for no supplies for our troops, but have arranged for food from India. We have recognised the fact that the country Is populated up to its food supply. We have only put 200 men and two officer- in the country; we have left; local customs as they were; wo have no new settlement of the land. You cannot help liking these frank-faced mountaineers. Quite handsome, many of the men are. Honest fallows; no treachery. What they promise, that they will do." CSILQIT. Gilgit, from which Colonel Kelly with his 32nd Pioneers made such a wonderful march, is situated about 220 mile, from Chitral, and the road is chrough soma of the highest passes in even this mountainous district. Gilgit is the furthest outpost or British India, and is situated on the plateau of Jutial. The town is garrisoned by Indian troops, whilst the Kashmir army have also a detachment there. The town is approached by precipitous passes and mountain gorges, some of which are as much as 12,000 ft high, and are open to traffic only a few months during the year, being blocked for the rest of the year with snow. Gilgit has been attacked by the surrounding native tribes on more than one occasion, but the garrison have each time successfully resisted them. It has been called the gateway of India, and a few years back it seemed as though the Russians were determined to test its strength, as a reconnoitring party of Cossacks advanced over the Hindu Kooah Mountains and up the Chitral Valley, but although the affair created some little stir at the time, ib all ended In nothing. THE CAUSE OF THR TROUBLE. And now as to the trouble. I. or a long time past we have been trying, in friendly concert with the Amir of Afghanistan, to define our mutual frontiers, and to decide finally what districts and tribes shall be within the sphere of our influence, and have their foreign policy regulated and dominated by us. The row with the Waziri. was one consequence of this attempt at delimitation, and the disturbance in Chitral is indirectly another. The country of thab name ia ruled by a prince who is dexignated the Amir-ul Mtilk. His predecessor on the throne, the Nizara-ul-Mulk, his own half-brother, was assassinated on January Ist last, and the deed was done, if not by the Amlr-ul-Mulk's own hand, at least by his instigation and in his presence. His character Is sullen, weak and craf •y, and he has not yet been formally recognised by the British Government. Feeling hiras.lf on the whole not very secure on his seat, he invited his »tcp-brother, one Urara Khan, the ruler of the adjacent province of Bajaur, to come to his assistance. Umra Khan is a soldier, and a skilful and courageous general; hi» men are well armed, and devoted to him; he has always cast longing eyes on Chitral, and he re .paneled promptly to the invitation scut to him by crossing without lost, of time, attended by a considerable body of troop., from Dir to Darosh. At this place there is a fort, In which he established himself with trifling opposition, and it soon became evident that he ** had come to stay."

lii the meantime, a third " Pretender '• had appsared upon, the scone, one Afaul Khan, uncle to the' youth on the throne who hitherto had been living "inretirement" in Afghanistan. Sniffing the strife from afar off, and judging the time had come when he might hare a look in too and make a bid for supreme power himself, he arrived at As mar, and took up hi. residence quickly in the Afghan camp at that place. He, and Umra Khan at once combined forces, and, under instructions, no doubt from the latter, Afzul Khan adopted an aggre .sive and insolent tone towards Dr Robertson, our political agent ab Chitral, ordering him to clear out of the country. As an example of tbe daring of Dr. Robertson, as well as to show bow he came to be in Chitral at this time, it is necessary to explain that when news of the murder of the Nizam-ul-Mulk reached the British Agency at Gilgit, Dr. Robertson, taking with him about 320 o the 4th Kashmir Rifles and 100 of the 14th Sikhs, and accompanied by Captains Campbell end Townshend, Lieutenant's Gou«h and Harley, and Surgeon-Captain Whitechurch, .et out at once for Chitral, and, after toilsome marches over frozen passes in midwinter, reached that place about January 27th, much to the relief of Lieu l . Gurdon, the young political agent in charge, who with a body guard of only a dozen Sikhs, had been having an anxious time of it since the assassination of the NiZ-m-ul-Mulk. Dr. Robertson's arrival, with this little force at his back, had the effect of restoring confidence in the immediate neighbourhood of Chitral itself, but everyone knew that the Amir-ul-Mulk was a fatuous youth with no authority or influence -ouUide his palace gates; while Umra Khan was a leader of men who has made a name for himself all over that wild border, and far beyond it. However, there was no getting over the fact that he had raided into a "protected" Stake, and refused to leave, and it was on this ground alone that the machinery of war was set in motion against him and he was signally defeated. But in addition to this, there were wild rumours flying about that a disaster had occurred to the Asmar Boundary Commission. PERILS Of, TH* B-tONTHBRS. The definition of our mutual frontiers had for some time past been the subject of friendly negotiation- between ourselves and the Amir of X ibul. One section of the frontier that is being delimitated now (the work has been going on for some months past) is roughly, Jellalabad, Aamar, Chitral and Maatuj. The officer in charge of It on our side is Mr Udny, the Commissioner of Peshawar, and with him for survey work, &c, are Colonel Holdich (Riyal Engiaeers), Lieutenant Coldstream (Royal Engineers), and other officers. The whole are under the escort and protection of Afghan troops, none of our own. and these constitute the "Afghan Camp," in which Afzul Khan located himself. The "disaster," which rumour, with its thousand tongues, so persistently spread abroad, was that Mr Udny, Colonel Holdioh and others, had been murdered. (To be continued)