SITUATION IN INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20641, 13 August 1930, Page 11

SITUATION IN INDIA.

HOSTILITY OF AFRIDIS.

MENACE TO PESHAWAR. MILITARY PATROL AMBUSHED. RAILWAY DISORGANISATION. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received August 12, 11.25 p.m.) DELHI, August 12. Despite the issue of optimistic communiques tho situation at Peshawar is not too good. The telegraphic aijd railway services are disorganised and all the city and cantonment gates at Teshawar are closed! Tho Afridi tribesmen are deceiving Royal Air Force pilots by placing their turbans and white robes on the ground and rushing' to shelter when aeroplanes approach to bomb them. A party of Afridis'hid "in an orchard on the outskirts of the city and ambushed a patrol of tho 17th Poona Horse, several of whom were killed and injured. Some of the tribesmen 1 were killed.

It'is reported that a party of tribesmen intend to blow up a bridge which is an important link between the frontier and tho rest of India.

EARLIER REPORTS. ELUSIVE TRIBESMEN. ACTIVITIES OF. TROOPS. British Wireless. RUGBY, August 11. The measures taken by the Royal Air Forco have prevented ■ any large concentration of hostile tribesmen' in the neighbourhood of Peshawar, and those who are still in British territory are split into small and somewhat elusive parties .who occasionally have percolated tti the outskirts of tho city. When they are located they are promptly dealt with by the defending troops. It was .reported that the main body of the tribesmen intended to attack the city on the night of August 8, while detachments already in the districts created a diversion. However, no attack was made on the city or the cantonments.

Although the casualties among the Afridis are believed to have been severe the conditions make them difficult to estimate accurately/ No casualties have been reported among tho British troops and those among the Indian troops have been very slight.

There have been, serious communal disturbances in the Sind. The disorders commenced at the city of S'ukkur and spread to Rohri and adjacent villages. The origin is reported to have been a dispute between members of a Swarajist procession and a Mahommedan tonga driver.

Exaggerated accounts of this dispute gave rise to alarmist rumours followed by serious clashes between the two communities. The casualties were serious but the latest reports indicate that the situation is under complete control. Provincial reports describing the situation in the last fortnight of 'July are the most favourable received for some months. In Madras the decline in lawless activities is becoming more marked and in many districts attempts to defy the law are half-hearted and "readily abandoned.