SEEKING NOTORIOUS FAKIR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1937, Page 7

SEEKING NOTORIOUS FAKIR.

BRITISH TROOPS MOVE ON. OPERATIONS BEGIN IN EARNEST (By Telegraph-Press Assn.-CopyrigM") Received Sunday, 7.30 p.m. SIMLA, April 24. With the concentration of 33,000 troops, five companies of light tanks, two squadrons of the Royal Air Force and the assumption of political control of Waziristan and the neighbouring tribal areas by General .Sir John Coleridge, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Command, operations against the notorious Fakir of Ipi have begun in earnest. The first division from Rawalpindi has already moved two infantry bri gades, establishing themselves at a bridgehead south of the Tochi river and occupying an advanced camp at Tochi and neighbouring strategical points. The opposition was slight. The casualtie? were two Sepoys killed and eight wounded. An air squadron bombed an assemblage of tribesmen near Tochi. The Lashkar (a tribal force) 200 or 300 sarong which the Fakir of Ipi led in the early stages raided a border vil lage and carried off Hindus and looted and burned shops.

Somewhere in the wild, barren JiilJa of India's North-West Frontier a tall man of 36, with dyed red hair and beard, flowing coat and baggy trousers, lies in hiding, said the Sunday Express in a recent issue. He knows that 6000 British soldiers are on their way not only to reinforce garrisons which his exploilts have endangered, but also to start a man-hunt—with himself ni. quarry. The tall, picturesque fugitive is Mirga Ali Khan, the Fakir of Ipi, who for 12 years has fomented and led tribal outbursts, against British authority. The fakir is an amazing character. He is a humbly born man of the people, yet at 24 he had become, by sheet force of personality, a fakir, high religious leader. This combination of religious power over his followers anr 4 daring as a warrior has made the fakir the terror of the frontier country. H<"> is an expert horseman, using small ponies than can dash up the side of » mountain. He is an uncanny shot, using, wherever he can, a powerful rifle stolen from the British stores in India.. No one knows where he lives. Secret Service men have sought him high artd low, but without success. He travels with incredible speed, and commands fanatical loyalty. No one will give him away. He works his followers up to « pitch of frenzy, in which they are prepared for anything. He plays on their religious prejudices, tells them that this or that action by the British is a blow at Islam. Last November British soldiers were shot by his men. British reinforcement* were rushed up. Quiet was re-stored. The fakir lay low. The British were withdrawn in January. The fakJT reappeared. No one knew where he had been. Murder gangs began their outrages again. Everywhere, the red beard of the fakir, his flashing eyes, his sur* aim, encouraged his followers. Two British officers were murdered as they motored through the fakir's territory All efforts to find the murderers ha v a failed. A column of British Indian troops was attacked. Last spring a man of his following abducted a Hindu girl, forcibly married her, made her a Mohammedan. The man was punished by the British. It was enough —the fakir played on the feelings of his followers, and made them a menace to the British. Now the ■command has gone forth that the fakir must be captured.