PUNJAB PROBLEMS

Evening Star, Issue 18160, 28 December 1922, Page 7

PUNJAB PROBLEMS

BUEVEY OF SITUATION. -UGLY INCIDENTS. <i The Sikhs are In a thoroughly_ dangerous temper both, in th-e towns and in tho vv* lages (wrote a special correspondent of the 'Manchester Guardian 1 from Amritsar on October 17). The other villages pay little attention to politics, least of all the Mohammedans, who arc numerous, ill-educated, and poor. Thoir villages have now become the best recruiting ground for the Indian army. But, though the villagers are not politicians, they can’t be left out of account by the politicians who set about framing a new constitution for the Punjab. They have their own activities. A young Sikh landholder took me to see a village inhabited by a primitive Mohammedan tribe. They were a cautious people, and we did not got much out of them, as they suspected mo of being a settlement officer come to raise their land tax. But they did make one iUuminatmg remark: “If the Sikhs and the iSirkar begin to fight, then will be the time for us to go out to loot," From all sides I hoar that the badmash (ruffianly) element in the villages is still a powerful factor in the situation. Here, as elsewhere, the town mob end the small shopkeepers are strongly antiGovcmment. These classes are exposed to the full blast of i Nationalist propaganda, end they are easily parried away by it The argument from high prices appeals to them with overwhelming force. The attitude of the educated Punjabi differs perceptibly from that of the educated Indian in Gujarat. I am not speaking of the political leaders, but of the professional l men, whether they are Mohammedans, Hindus, or ,Sikhs. The extremists here readily admit that the policy of non-violence is only a matter of tactics and expediency, not of principle. They hold that for some years to coma violence would be ruinous to the cause.' But they hold, too, that violence will ultimately be necessary, > and they are prepared to have recourse to it when opportunity arises—e.g., when the Indian army becomes infected with Nationalism, On tie other hand, they recognise the risks attending Swaraj more clearly than do their brothers in other provinces. The nearer you get to the North-west frontier the clearer the recognition becomes. The presence of warlike and- restless tribes and of a warlike and restless Mohammedan power on the other side of a neighboring frontier, the badmash element in the villages; -and the communal differences throughout the province unite to warn- them that self-government is not going to be an easy business.' The result is that X find moderate doctrines accepted in Eawal Pindi by men who would, I am sure, be advanced Nationalists in another part of India. Further, I hear Non-Co-operators making admissions about India’s unfitness for complete and Immediate Swaraj which would surprise me if they came from a Madras Moderate. Again, the local Non-Co-operators a-nft Moderates are alike insistent on the need for retaining a considerable English element in the services for some time to come, and they both seem to regard a permanent connection with the British Empire as desirable, if not essential, for external defence and as a precaution against -internal sime. It may. puzzle you to understand how/ men who make these admissions can believe in Non-Go-operation. Yet the percentage of Co-operators is, I believe,’ smaller in the Punjab than in Gujerat. The explanation is that relations between the British official and the educated Indian are worse in the Punjab than iu the South of India. This is the result of the troubles of 1919 and of the cause that underlay those troubles; the presence of a. highly-sensitive educated class m the midst, of a simple-minded but spirited, not to ( say turbulent, population, simpleminded and educated alike being governed by a bureaucracy, one section of which holds that sedition in towns can and must bo damped out by methods which are appropriate in dealing with a village full of daooits. Of course, the. deliberate policy of the Sikhs and the Non-Co-operators .is to undermine the Government’s -authority by showing that it is afraid to enforce the law in the teeth of public opinion, whether that opinion is reasonable or not. Every allowance should ba made for the difficulties of the officials who have to meet this policy. Especially ticklish is the task of dealing with the Sikhs, who, under the protest of religion, carry defiance to its extreme limit 1 and show very little respect for the rights of third parties.

But the Non-Go-operalors and the Sikhs have two strings to their bow. If they gain something when the Government shirks a conflict, they gain far more when the Government accepts a challenge, if the action which it takes'ean be made to appear cruel, excessive, unreasonable, or illegal. They therefore v do their best to bring’ about ugly incidents, and I am afraid some of the officials, European and Indian, herein cooperate with the Non-Co-operators by allowing themselves to be drawn into rash or indefensible 'action. 1 have already said somethin? about the mistakes alleged to have been, committed in Sialkot. Tn B-awa.l Pukl Non-Co-operators supplied mo with a very convincing indictment of (he handling of the temperance, campaign . and of tAie riot wh-ieb. arose -out of it. Inquiries In other quarters suggested that the indictment had substantial grounds to go on. 1 will give pant of the story told as it illustrates the methods used on either side. The Non-Co-operators in Rawal Pindi began a vigorous temperance campaignNow a.. temperance campaign presents the Government with an awkward ailermna. It must cither sacrifice revenue which it canill afford to lose, or it must appear as the champion of a traffic which is condemned by the Hindu and _ Mohammedan. religions. Hence the enthusiasm of the Non-Co-opera-tor for this cause. Well, -after certain other steps had bean taken, the Non-Co-opera!ore began to send peaceful pickets to stand outside the public-houses: and dissuade the I drinkers from entering in. These men were arrested and sentenced, • not for picketing, which is no offence, but for being Congress Volunteers. This -w.as an offence, but no volunteers except pickets were then being arrested. Relays of volunteers were Immediately forthcoming to replace the arrested pickets. The authorities grew tired of sending the men to gaol, and the police, instead of arresting the pickets, began to beat them and drive them away. So I-was told by men whore word I felt bound to accept. This method of making a man move on may or may not bo legal, hut imagine its effect on the prestige of the British Raj! _ Even when imprisonment is necessary, public sympathy is invariably on the side of the prisoners, and any tale of ill-treatment in gaol turn men’s minds against co-opera-tion with the bureaucracy.