The Government has announced its policy in regard to Chitral,
which is a sort of compromise between the views of the annexationists and those who were for retiring. Two native regiments, with two mountain guns and two Maxims, will hold Chitral and the country from Chitral to gala Darosh, which will be the headquarters of the force. From Kale Darosh to Dir the country will be under Chitral levies, the Khan of Dir providing them as far as Chakdara. At the same time three other native regiments will hold the Main- kand Pass, and a fourth the bridge over the Swat river. The retirement of the superfluous troops has at once been begun. The arrangement cannot but be an expensive one—the annual charge is put at twenty-five lakhs of rupees, or, say, 160,000—and we are still unpersuaded that the policy of evacuation would not have proved wiser. We admit, however, that the strong conviction entertained by the Indian Govern- ment that it was absolutely necessary to hold Chitral made it almost impossible for the Ministry to insist on evacution.
Previous page
