THE FRONTIER WAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 254, 26 October 1937, Page 8

THE FRONTIER WAR

POSITION IN INDIA A COSTLY STRUGGLE On the North-West Frontier of India there is being fought out among rugged heights and sparsely-wooded, rock-strewn valleys, over an area of sixty square miles in North Waziristan, a war between British troops and rebellious tribesmen, says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald. Already, it is estimated, the campaign has cost Britain £1,000,000. Because of the noise of the wc in Spain, the hostilities between China and Japan, and lhe disturbing and mystifying submarine piracy in the Mediterranean, little has been heard of the Indian frontier trouble, yet it is occupying the close attention of the British authorities. As a military operation, it is employing several of the most important branches of the British military forces, which were recently reinforced by squadrons representative of all branches of the Royal Air Force. It has cost approximately 1000 lives including 170 Britons and Indians, and slightly more than 1000 wounded, including 450 Britons and Indians, apart from the personnel evacuated because of sickness. It was stated officially in a White Paper issued in June that there are under arms on the frontier 32,000 regular troops and 5000 irregulars (Tochi and South Waziristan Scouts). It is known that these are supported by light tanks and army road builders and 760 R.A.F. officers and men. Complete peace has not been secured. Although to-day, after months of bitter fighting, the Gove .nment of India is making known generally in the Wazir territory the terms of the peace settlement recently concluded which it is imposing on the Waziristan tribes, the incitement of the tribesmen by notorious fanatics hostile to the Government continues, and the troops are being sniped. Settlement Terms. The settlement is designed, broadly, in two parts. The first part provides for the punishment of tribes which have been in open hostility by demanding the surrender of approximately 2000 rifles and the payment of fines equivalent to £5250. The second part is designed to make disturbances less likely in the future, and to improve conditions in tribal territory, a step toward which was taken by the authorities when they declined to declare certain areas near Wana and Razmak protected areas. The effect of this is that the existing so-called

"protected zone,” including Kurram, the Upper Tochi Valley, and the Wana plani, is widened, and the inhabitants fall under the watchful eye of a political agent, e who, in collaboration with tribal gatherings, will settle internal and external disputes according to customs or religious law. The area is also protected against outside aggression.

It is believed that the present large outside military force will be maintained in the area for the time being. It is expected that the military roads laid down during the campaign will facilitate the work of pacification.

It is believed that there will be no radical changes in the existing frontier policy, which is being intensified rather than modified. Whether this indication that tl.e authorities intend to try their sphere of influence across the frontier, but are not prepared to undertake a bold general plan of transfrontier disarmament, remaining content merely to ask warlike raiders to hand over cnly a quota of their arms, that will prove warranted by the avoidance of recurrent expenditure remains to be seen. Some believe that ihe frontier policy is ineffective. Certainly there is no unanimity about the effectiveness of the policy, and it is likely to be criticised in certain quarters if, despite the cost in lives and money, the unrest continues.

On the other hand, the enforcement of disarmament upon the Waziris and Mahsuds, who have harried the frontier for more than a century, would involve considerable expense, additional to that which will be necessary to enforce the present peace terms. It can be said that it is unlikely that the ultimate expense of the maintenance of peace would be less than the

immediate expenditure if a general disarmament plan were pursued. So far, 200 rifles have been handed over by the Mahsuds. Meanwhile, the followers of Khonia Khel and Din Fakir have ben sniping troops and cutting communications while the elusive Fakir Impi, who was the ringleader of the rebellion in the first instance in 1936, is still at large in the Shawai area, west of Razmak. Apart from the Fakir of Ipi’s powerful Influence, there is a feeling among lhe tribesmen that the constitutional changes in India have indicated a weakness on the part of the Government. An official of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, Ltd., said that the Royal Air Force had proved in the Waziristan campaign that aerial support and co-operation was essential to the success of warfare on the NorthWest Frontier. “Its activities,” he said, “have included punitive bombing and machinegun attacks against ground targets after warnings of the raids have been given to the natives, and evacuation of the wounded and sick and the maintenance of essential supplies. It is the first time that Indian pilots attached to No. 1 Squadron of the Indian Royal Air Force have taken part in the frontier struggle. Supplies have been dropped from the air on a scale never previously attempted. The latest information is that Royal Air Force pilots have flown considerably more than 10,000 hours during the operations. About 100 aeroplanes are engaged. Three pilots have been killed and two injured.”