THE FIGHTING AFRIDIS

Evening Star, Issue 20582, 6 September 1930, Page 2

THE FIGHTING AFRIDIS

INDIAN NORTH-WEST FRONTIER Owing to its remoteness few people -in Australia are likely to appreciate the significance of the present trouble in the Peshawar district, of the Indian North-West Frontier. Almost every day reports are being received of raids being made by Afridi tribesmen (writes Captain Lester Shaw in the Sydney ‘ Morning Herald’). The North-West Frontier of India is bounded by independent tribal territory, which acts as a buffer between Afghanistan and British India. Through this territory runs the famous Khyber . Pass, known to history as “ The Gateway to India.” AU the conquerors of olden times, including Alexander the. Great, used this path into India, and to-day, as throughout the ages, the famous camel trains from far--away Persia and. Bokhara come down the Pass with their valuable cargo of carpets and other merchandise. At the very mouth of the pass- is the Fort of Jamrud, while Peshawar, the administrative centre and headquarters of the District Commissioner, lies some-ten miles, out on the plain. Peshawar* like, all Indian military centres (of which it is the most , iriipori tant), is made up of two distinct sections—the city- and the cantonments, and is the headquarters of the first line of Britain’s defence of India. The Khyber Pass, which is hold by outpost forts manned by British and Indian : troops up as far as Landi Khana, actually passes through the country of the Afridi tribe. The members of -this, tribe, which’ is split into, eight clans, six in the Khyber Pass district, and two near the Kohat Pass, are - among the most famous of tho Indian Pathans. Said to have descended from Khalid-ihn-Walid, a Jew who embraced Islamism, and whoso clescend : ants owned great tracts of. land in the Western portion of Afghanistan in the tenth century, they are a tall, athletic, and muscular type of highlander, with long, gaunt faces, high noses and cheekbones, and rather fair complexions —many of the boys having perfectly blue eyes. . . • . The Afridi country being bleak and sterile and tho rainfall small, agriculture is only scantily pursued, but they raise a coarse type of rice, most of which finds its way to Peshawar city, while certain sections of them cut and market timber for firewood. Many of the clans possess great stocks of cattle, sheep, and goats, and go in for the breeding of mules and donkeys. Their chief manufactures are coarse mats amd cloth, while at Maiclan. Ilmgudar, near Fort Bara, and in tho Kohat Pass they manufacture rifles. MURDEROUS BY NATURE.

In common with all Pathans—pronounced Patarn—the , Afridi is a treacherous and bloodthirsty murderer by nature and upbringing.’ In .fact,’ the majority of historians class him as the worst of them all; yet in some unfathomable way he manages to make himself a very likeable fellow. Many enlist in the Indian Arriiy, and make excellent soldiers; but, owing to their restless dispositions, their term of service is shorter than that of other Indian troops. . The very nature of their barren, mountainous country makes the Pathau a born fighting for he has to fight and raid the rich plains of British India : occasionally in order to live. Blobd feuds- : are the . rule rather than the exception, and are. waged with great gusto arid determination, often resulting in the complete annihilation of-largo villages. . Most of the-frontier wars are started by raids carried out by the young hotheads eager tfc show their prowess as warriors, .and egged on by tho local : “ Mad Mullah ” —for there are nearly as many “ Mad-Mul-lahs ” among . the Pathan tribes, as there were ■“ Mad Majors ” during the Great, War.

Of the eight clans of the Afridi tribe,'' six only are likely to be. embroiled in ,tho . present .trouble. These are the- Malikdin" Khel, who are the head dan, and can muster some; 6,000 fighting men; the Ivuki Khel, with abouts,soo fighting men; the Kambar Khel, the most numerous of-the clans, who could place at least 10,000 men-in- tho field; the Kainrai Khel,, wh6 aro very wreak, and could not muster more than 500 men; the Sipahs, with about 3,000; and the Zaka Khel, who could raise about 6,000 of the wildest and most turbulent spirits on the frontier. For, on account of the absolute unproductiveness of their land, they depend almost entirely _on raiding and blackmail for- their livelihood. These six elans, ■ if they combine, should have no difficulty in placing 30,000 -first-classhand thoroughly daring fighting men in the field—many of whom arc British-trained soldiers. The other two tribes tho Aka Khel and the Adam Khel, belong to tho Kohat sector, and are Afridi in origin, but not' particularly so in sympathy. A leading article in ‘ Tho Times ’ says that the Afridi raids show clearly that the former dissociation of frontier politics from Indian politics has ended. This m./ or may not be the case, but I am inclined to think that _if tho trouble is confined to the Airidis ,as is claimed, they _ have seized on tho Indian political situation as an excellent opportunity for a private “ Donnybrook ” that is likely to show handsome returns in the shape of loot. On the other hand, however, the trouble may be much more far-reaching; for, though the semi-official communiques from Peshawar and Simla treat the raids as a mere nothing, Calcutta says: “It is noteworthy that threequarters of the: strength of tho Royal Air Force has been mobilised to deal with these hotheads under the’ orders of tho Chief Commissioner ?of the North-West Frontier Province,” FRONTIER DIFFICULTIES.

It is always the policy jof the Chief Commissioner _ (for obvious; reasons) to bo as reticent as possible about trouble on the frontier, and it is probable that this policy is being strictly adhered to in the present instance. But should the Mohmads and Utmau Khcls in the north, and the Shinwaris, Grakzai, and Wazirs on the west and south-west, take up arms also, it is likely to require the whole of the Indian Army and the R.A.F. in India to quell the disturbance. The same leading article in ‘ The Times’ says: “A second lesson from these troubles, which deserves .the careful attention of the General Staff, is that punitive action by means of aircraft has lost its terrors to tire Pathans.”_ I wonder! How many of theold Diggers would once again care td; stand up to tho demoralising effect of air raids? Early '::i 1925. it was, found necessary to take action agaixist tho -Maksud Wazirs who' had captured and wore holding to ransom four fat Hindu merchants. General headquarters thought this;- a good opportunity to tost the ability of tho Royal Air Force to carry out and finalise’ such operations. ■ Four squadrons were detailed for this purpose, two operating from Tank and two, from Miran-Shah. The writer was with one of tho Miran-Shah squadrons. The method employed was to have at least three machines constantly over the hostile villages, where wo first of all dropped bombs, and then ilew low and used machine guns. It sufficed ere long to finally convince the tribe of tho error of its ways. Mr J. A. Molison,

of. Australian . National ..Airways, also took part in this-private air force war.One other, amusing experience that. I had with Pathans is probably worth- relating as showing the earnest- way that they regard their, blood - finds. Early in ■ 1926 the Razmak column of ■ British troops marched to Wana on tho periodic mission of “ showing the flag. My flight jvas'again ‘ stationed at MiranShah, and was detailed to co-operate with the column. On the arrival of the troops at Wana wo lauded on the aerodrome - that is maintained there and watched the meeting of"the 6.0.0. with tho Maliks (chiefs) of tho, Darwesh Khel Wazirs. After the meeting’the G.O.C. invited the Maliks to- have a “ joy ride ’’ in our machines, muchi to the annoyance of us thoroughly tired pilots and to the even greater annoyance of most of the Maliks. TTo Pathan is a very boastful and proud man, ‘who will never admit to feeling fear, and they, of course, all felt 'if necessary to accept the G-.O.Cfi’a offer." Their “ joy’ rides ” ■ (f); were of a far different order to those "given at' Maspassengers were in tlie back seat. The Maliks all got Into tire chines, put their heads between' their knees, and only came up for air wlffiri. quite assured that they were safe bn tho ground once except one fellow, who climbed, into the .machine and asked to bo taken oyer two villages close by. 1 Ho sat' up* and' directed' rrie whore to go, and on landing jumped out and ran straight to the G.0.C., to vthom he jabbered in great excitement. J interpreter f ally managed to explain tliat he wished to buy the .machine, thoi pilot, and plenty of Bombs, machine guns, and ammunition, and finish at one fell -swoop a .blood "feud that had been waging for 100 years or more by totally destroying all hit i enemies 1