INDIA’S FRONTIERS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3938, 11 August 1937, Page 3

INDIA’S FRONTIERS

COMBATING THE MULLAS. VERY HEAVY COST IN BLOOD AND MONEY. I wonder whether aijy living man knows what the Mullas have cost the Government of India in blood and treasure. Another fanatical outbreak came some months ago and lives have been lost and money poured out. A blue book sums up one little expedition—

Cost, £207,000, approximately. Killed or died from wounds, disease, &c., 52 British and 45 native forces.

The tribes on the other side lost villages, winter grains and many more lives. This was so small an affair that it will never find a place in ordinary history. It was instigated and led by Mullas, For 86 years of British rule on the frontier of India this sort or thing has been going on. An expedition occurs on an average every five years—and by no means always small. The curious thing is the Mulla is rarely ever caught. When he is, he is treated with amazing leniency. For instance, in the expedition just mentioned, the blue book says:—Five prisoners were taken and released, with the exception of two Mullas and one man long wanted for crimes in Peshawar district. The Mullas will also shortly be released.” A HOLY WAR. It is not generally known that in the early part of the Great War the Mullas made the attack on Turkey an admirable text for preaching a Jehad (Holy War) on the frontier. I was in India at the time. In Bajaur, the Babra Mulla and Sarkarni, the Saint of Asmar, started an agitation. The Chaknawar priest— Mulla —invaded British territory at the head if 4000 men. Then, again, the Babra Mulla. He was joined oy an old and respected Haje Sahid —a Mulla who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca and later the Sandaki Mulla, together with the Faqir implicated in the recent rising—the Cartor Faqir (bare-headed Faqir) moved against us. This ts not at all the end of the list, but it grows tedious. They made our tasks harder during the Great War. And still the expeditions go on. Certainly men may come and go, but expeditions of this kind on the frontier go on for ever. WHAT THE ARMY COULD DO. A colonel commanding one of the Sikh regiments that had suffered frequently in frontier warfare, said to me, “If the civil authorities would hand this frontier over to the army for five years, there would never be another expedition—we would put the fear of God into them for ever—and in the long run it would be the most merciful treatment.” Maybe he was right—but it is not the British way. If ycu look at the map of the northwest frontier of India you will see the importance of defending it. Ever since Peter the Great of Russia commenced his Eastern movement, Russia has crept towards that frontier, and now it has a rail head just north of Herat, in Afghanistan, and we have one south of Herat, at Chaman, on the edge of Afghanistan, and there are rolling stock and lines ready to span the intervening 400 miles. As soon as we can shake hands with Russia with uttermost good will, those two rail heads can be linked and then a tourist could go by train from Charing Cross all over Europe and Asia, as far as Chanchatka or Tuticonn, with only the Channel to cross on water. Then. Afghanistan and these troublesome independent tribes would be crushed between these two arms of the great nutcracker, and brought out of their present superlative ignorance But such a hope of complete good will between these two great Powers seems very remote—more is the P'tyMeantime the independent tribes and Afghans dwell in amazing ignorance, and have a political importance out of all proportion to their powrn and status. *

MILITARY POLICY. Apart from the military policy of partial extermination, the only hop. cf permanent peace is intellectual enlightenment. This is the present policy of the Government. It is wha is called the “New Policy in tan.” In the Legislative Assembly the Secretary to the Viceroy said:- The solution has been found. It « bne ly to destroy the frontier problem by civilising the people whose lack Civilisation has hitherto provided tl e hardest part of the Problem-Thi. policy was commenced at once y making. “A big step forward on the long and laborious road towards paci b o 2 r 1 , 1 ’ x & “ d therefor the most j , „ aggressive, trives on our bo,d . If the truth were probably the root ®^ US^, h Mullas are Hsings in Wazinstan. The M genuinely fana ica ■ The to them infidels to b Quran is explicit "he roads maliks or chiefs; independenc o. mean the loss or , . e , At The shrewd Mullas play tQ g to incite them Cabul sali “Holy” war. ex jXosition and Aman Ullah was a fool to yake wads

in Afghanistan. “He says it is for his motor.cars. He employs British engineers. The roads will be used for British soldiers ” The Mullas managed to make the people think so, too, and the result the world knows. AMAZING IGNORANCE. The fact that for nearly 90 yeais the Mullas have not had one single success in their campaigns has not destroyed their power, which is due to the people’s amazing ignorance. Years ago the Bareheaded Faqir (Sartor) suddenly gained notoriety as a miracle worker and raised an army. He promised that the English would be driven out of India in eight days. And now, again, with the Ipi Faqir, he is in the lead—still believed.

A young fellow stung almost all over the body by bees when robbing a hive, rushed to me for help. A Mulla was with me at the time. He turned to the young fellow and said, “Why trouble the Sahib? I will cure you.” He leaned over him, and blew his warm breath on the body and muttered some verses of the Quran, then said, “New you are well!” “Yes, Mulla Sahib,” the boy said, and went away. But bee poison is painful and stubborn. The Mulla has scarcely left me before the boy was back. I suspect he had no faith in this case, and watched for the Mulla’s departure. Still, he had not the courage to contradict him. One common remark of the people when in the company of the Mulla is, “We are animals. He knows.” As a rule the only thing he knows is the Quran, and often that only in Arabic, the meaning of which he knows little or nothing. Still, the Mulla often travels. On his return he tells the most extraordinary lies. One said, when arousing the tribesmen, that the British had been driven out of Aden, and the Suez Canal was in the hands of Russia, and so the British army could not reach India for six months !

CREDULOUS NATIVES. Each tribe generally has a leading Mulla, and numerous others of less importance. The notorious Mullas are often rivals. The greatest miracle worker gains the ascendancy. A Mulla miracle is a piece of gross humbug. On the way to the Malakand Pass is a huge shrine, called the “For;y Foot Saint.” It was a miracle. The Faqir made the saint to grow after he was dead. I narrowly escaped being attacked by a whole village for inadvertantly flouting the sanctity and power of the dead saint. Nobody, of course, had the temerity to dig to verify the miracle; probably nobody was critical enough. The uncritical faith of these uneducated children of nature is an endless source of surprise to the Britisher in India. But, given such shrewd, unscrupulous leaders, plus fanaticism, plus power of arms, five to ten thousand of them are dangerous. The Govern - ment of India is right to take the long view. The only hope is civilisation—with it the Mullas’ power fades out. But then the wasted treasure and blood flows on both sides meanwhile .