STORY OF REBELLION

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 55, 8 March 1929, Page 9

STORY OF REBELLION

TOLD BY EYE-WITNESS

HOW. AMANULLAH ESCAPED

Austt»ll»D freii AnocUtlon.

LONDON, 7th March

The horrors of the Afghan rebellion are described by Colonel Ghulam Nabi 1 Khan, once an officer in. King Amanullah's army, in a letter from Kabul published in the "Daily Express."

The colonel tells how he was sitting with, a companion in the forenoon when suddenly he heard the rattle of chains and the sound of a procession of soldiers shouting to "Make way for the unfaithful. Make way for the disloyal." The chained prisoners were priests en route for execution. "When we learned what their fate was, our blood froze in our veins. These were tlie Mullahs, who had excited the Shinwaris against the • King. They were taken outside' the city, buried in tho oarth to their necks, and then a troop of cavalry was ordered to gallop over them. In bygone days I witnessed many gruesome punishments, suchr: as leaving a. robber to die of starvation in a cage, yet I could ace that even the populace of the capital -would stand it no longer. Shops w«re closed in protest, while praying crowds filled the mosques and only the wailing of Afghan women, who do not cry easily, broke the silence of the city of mourning." . ' . .

The colonel depicts the final scene of King Anvanullah's reign as follows: "Troopers of his bodyguard revolted. Bread riots broke out, while the roar of guns, the whirring of aeroplanes, and the click-clack of bullets came nearer, and nearer. Then in the darkness the people piled up and set fire to European hats and clothing before the Royal palace, shouting like madmen and denouncing foreign dress and all that it meant. Suddenly a motor-car was seen throading its way through the crowd. There was a rush to attack it, but someone shouted that it contained only women, so it passed safely, containing Amanullah. Thus ended the first act. The curtain will rise on the second when the. spring sun melts- the snow. ■ v ■ ■ . ...'■.