INDIAN PROBLEMS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 76, Issue 6481, 23 February 1948, Page 6

INDIAN PROBLEMS

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES RELATED ,MISSIONARY’S ADDRESS TO ROTARY CLUB In view of the present position in India, personal experiences over a period of nine and a half years related by Mr W. J. Ringer, a missionary, to the Hamilton Rotary Club this week were keenly followed. Mr Ringer, who is visiting the Dominion for the first time on furlough, said that since August 15 violent repercussions had followed the division of India into seperate nations. In the intense communal strife blood had flowed like water and the peoples of both India and Pakistan had had a very trying time. One’of the repercussions had been the creation of a local war. Kashmir, one of the largest states, had had to face a great decision. It had to decide whether to join the Indian Union or Pakistan. Of the population of Kashmir 80 per cent were Muslims, but the ruler of the state, the Maharajah, was a Hindu.

Muslims in nearby states had warned the Maharajah that if he joined the Indian- Union action would be taken against him. Tribesmen had come down from the hills and. joined the so-called “Army of Liberation” and fighting was occurring on the borders. Real “He-Men”

He had been working among the Pathan peoples for over nine years, continued Mr Ringer. In spite of a lot of bad characteristics the Pathans had one good point in that they were real “he-men.” One read of them in newspapers as “raiders,” who called themselves “Crusaders for Islam.” They received no wages. Giving his listeners a background to show what type of people the Kashmir people were facing, Mr Ringer said that the North-West Frontier, formerly under British rule, was divided into two sections. First, the settled area and secondly the tribal area. In the settled area British law obtained, while the tribal area between Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier was under the jurisdiction of tribal chiefs. A rough, rude type of justice was administered by tribal councils. Punitive Expeditions

The tribesmen lived . high in the hills overlooking the plains and came down in raids on the settled areas. The British forces had had from time to time to send punitive expeditions to de£l with the raiders. The Pathans had a great respect for force, said Mr Ringer. Of latter years the British had exercised a considerable degree of mercy and the Pathans did not understand that. There was no difference between the Afghans and the Pathans. They had tTie same ideas, customs and religion. They were all Mohammedans of the most fanatical kind. It was possible that the Afghans might extend right down to the Indus, he said. The hills were a great fortress and the Indus was its ditch. It was possible that the North-West might become one nation under Afghanistan. The Muslim League was holding the reins of Government by force. There was a strong underground movement evident, one which was attached by religion to Afghanistan.

The Pathans were traditionally cruel and ignorant hut were very brave and treacherous-born fighters. They had many bad customs and some good ones. Things Europeans understood to be vices were virtues to them. Theft was one example given. Blood feuds were customs which threatened to annihilate many of the race. Pathans’ Hospitality

On the other hand the Pathans were most hospitable people. Mr Ringer used to live for three or four days a week among them. He took no money, food or arms, for to do this would have been an affront to his hosts. Mr Ringer told of one experience he had had in a Pathan village. A chief had been killed by his son. When questioned regarding the offence the son had said that he had intended to commit the crime some days before. However, at the crucial moment when he was aiming his rifle he had seen the missionary walking with his (the boy’s) father. Fie had not wished to harm the “sahib” so had waited until later.

Mr Ringer said that he hoped to return to India within the next few months. It was his aim to add a jeep to his vehicles, which included a caravan, so that a floating dispensary would be available to the Pathans that they might be shown the love of Christ through treatment with medicines.