WHAT IS A GHAZI? (London Daily Telegraph)

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 10

WHAT IS A GHAZI? (London Daily Telegraph )

A recent Bombay telegram stated that another terrible murder had been committed in the Punjab by a Gliazi. An English telegraphist and his wife, walking in the streets of Lahore, had; been struck down as so many others have been in a similar way in the north-wtsb of India during tbe last few years, with the baro abatement ot fact that the crime is the work of one of these miscreants. A Ghazi is nob a tribesman of any special kind; his name ha? no local Rtguificancs, like Ghilzii, or Barakzu, or Yusufzai. Ha is simply a Mussulman fanatic, whom the fierce and distorted lervour of his religion has filled with, the lust of blood. In the caae of an anarchist in Europe, sicial ideas are put forward as a ciuss or a palliation of crime, and so religion is often the cloak that ibis species of criminal throws over his brutality and callousness as to human life. As a rule he is not a coward, for he sometimes gives himself up to justice, or jiiord pften does his devilish deed in such a w-iy tbafe immediate apprehension is made certain. Ti^e Ghszi is always a man of the north, a a Pathitn or a Baluchi. He plans a murder deliberately, with the view of making & glorious end by the sacrifice, if possible, of a sahib, or at worst a f.ikb. It is his belief that he gets a Ehoi't cut to heaven by the nearest way as his iev.ard for slaying a "feafllc" — a heathen (ha wotd properly signifies, but it is applied to all unbelitveis ulikp. Straightway he is receivel ii.to tbe aims ol the " houris " and the joys of Paradise. Doubtless the baser sort of "mull as," or Mohammedan friars, encuurago the notion, especially in the lees civilised par's of the frontier and beyond it. In some cases the Ghazi tries to make the best of both worlds — to perpetrate his murder, and then escape the hand of justice ; bub tbe ordinary type of criminal goes to work in the oper, caring nothing for tho penalty of death. Punishment is swift and *ure. Caught redhanded, the murderer, if he be not ihot down in self-defence by the gaard, is tried and executed without delay. Ifc was nol until lately (.he pract'eo to burn the body publicly, bub that; has been stopped by order of the Government; of India, and his remains are now pub in quicklime. This is, of course, an awful fate tor an oiihcdox Mohs-Eoraeclan, since it interferes sadly with his prospective joys in the company of the Prophet. Still, it is tho only consequence that has any deterrent r-fiteet. The question is asked, " Are these Ghaz s mad ? ' "When at Quetta the other day, two English officers were barbarously slain in the very promise of their manhood. The Ghazi who did tbe deed was himself a soldier, standing sentry over the mess-hnwe, and he fiied into the messroom where theefficers were assembled. Besides the two killed he wounded another. Rational motive he had none ; he was simply act : ng under a fierce access of piety and antiChristian fan&fc : citm. These men are only mad in tbe aerir?e that they are religious maniacs, who, like the agents of the luqaisition of old, believe thai the end justifies the means, and that in ridding the earth of the heretio they are doing a heavenly wotk. Lately, at Kohat, a captaiu of the Indian Stiff Corps was discussing with a friend the duiy that lay before him. "I am going," he said, "50 miles intp the Wezirifctan for six months. At the st&tioa where I am to be posted two of those who have had my bUlet have besn murdered, One was watering his horse, and was stabbed through the back with a long Afghan knife ; the fecond was shot in the dusk as he was riding back to eitnp. The political (fficerof the district is now at home invalided, in order to get cured of a foul wound. Ha was talkiug ever the wall to the headman of a disaffected village. For a moment he' turned his back, when, like lightning, a fellow sprang out of the crowd of tribesmen standing round abcut, and ran him through. This is a lively prospect for a married man with a family." All the men who committed these crimes were Wazirs, turned Qhtzi. As with them, so with many another branch of the fierce and zealous Pafchan race. Therefore, all you can sayof * Ghazi is that he is a Mussulman tribesman of the Indian frontier, who runs "amuck" in pon name of the Prophet, with " Deen Deen" ueth his lips.

Stubborn as a mule, and bo is your cough, - Oce day you fancy it's better ; the next it's just as bad. Some think coughs are best left alone, but it often proves a fatal mistake. A cough should never be allowed to get a firm hold of the system. Bonnington's Carbageen or InisH Moss, is the surest remedy, and should be taken without delay.— Advh,