THE SITUATION ON THE INDIAN" FRONTIER S LR WILLIAM LOCKHART, Commander-in-Chief
designate of the Indian forces, assumes command as soon as he can get to Peshawur of about sixty thousand men, spread over a front which begins about fifty miles north of Peshawur at the Malakand, and extends to one hundred and fifty miles to the south-west at Sheranni, having a considerable reserve at Raaval Pindi. He will direct, that is to say, the most extensive military operations which we have undertaken in India since the Mutiny. It is worth while to see precisely what Sir William Lockhart is asked to do with this extraordinary muster, and how it has come to be needed. Put in the briefest possible way, it is this,—he has to repress a general rising of the Pathan hillmen which may have been preconcerteil among the tribes, or may simply have spread like an infection. Facts seem to indicate that though the rising has been general, it was not organised in advance, but merely has spread as fire will spread through a line of explosive material wherever the match may be applied. As a matter of fact, the revolt has run inwards from two points two hundred miles distant. On June 9th a body of Sikhs and Punj +1 in- fantry was treacherously attacked at Ma.izar iu the Tochi Valley, and out of six officers with the troops only one is now alive. A punitive expedition was at once despatched up the valley, which burnt villages, but, as usual, could not reach the inhabitants, who scattered like a herd of chamois over the hills. On July 25th the natives of the Swat Valley attacked the Malakaud Port and Chakdara, where we bad about fifteen hundred men. A large force under Sir Bindon Blood was sent to the rescue, and on August 2nd an advanced guard under Colonel Meiklejohn relieved the besieged troops. Now a map will show that a straight line drawn north-east from Maizar to Chakdara, measuring about two hundred miles, passes almost exactly through Peshawur, which is about fifty miles from the latter post. This line is crossed almost at right angles by the Cabul River, and that makes a dividing limit between the operations of the northern and the south-western forces. On August 9th, a week after the Malaka.nd Fort was relieved, Shabkadr, about sixteen miles due north of Peshawar, was attacked by the Mohmands. Then followed the only engagement which has taken place in the open so far, and Colonel Woon, reinforced by General Elles, defeated the enemy after a brilliant cavalry charge. Reinforcements continued to pour up to the front, and before August 15th we had over thirty thousand men on the frontier,—seven thousand five hundred reducing the Tochi Valley to submission, twelve thousand more doing the like for the Swatis, and twelve thousand at Peshawur. Yet reports came in that the great tribe of Afridis who held the Khyber meant to rise, and rise they did on August 21st ;, and by August 27th they had taken the three forts, Lundi Kotal, Ali Musjid, and Fort Maude, which lined the pass. At the same time trouble threatened far to the south- west round Quetta, and wires were cut in the Bolan Pass, but this never came to a bead, and lies entirely out of the region of operations. By the end of August the Tochi Valley at the south-western, and the Swat Valley at the northern, extremity of the disturbed line of frontier were fairly quiet. But the flame was spreading inwards. In the Kurram Valley, at the head of which is Fort Parachinar, immediately north of the Tochi region, the fort of Balesh Khel was attacked. The garrison held their ground, but that was all, and on September 17th there was renewed fighting at Sadda against the Masazais and Chamkanis. Meanwhile a second base was being formed at Kohat, but the Orakzais, a short distance to the west of it, joined the Afridis, and attacked our out- posts in the Samana Range. On September 6th Sir William Lockhart was recalled from Europe to take the supreme command.
War had broken out, then, at"four distinct points south of the Cabul River,—in the Tochi Valley, in the Khyber, in the Kurram Valley, and in the Khanki Valley by the Samana forts. The Tochi Valley was quieted, but needed to be held in force, and on September 21st disturbance recurred there. In the Kurram Valley our posts could merely maintain themselves, and in no way undertake reprisals. In the Khyber the Afridis were in possession. Against the Orakzais alone active steps were taken. General Yeatman Biggs advanced from Hangu and had a sharp encounter with the hillmen, who, taking full advantage of the country, attacked his rearguard. He was only just in time to relieve Forts Lockhart and Gulistan, while at the small outpost of Saraghari twenty-one Sikhs, after a heroic defence, were killed to the last man. Even when he had occupied the forts and patrolled the top of the Samana Range, affairs were not much advanced ; the enemy withdrew westwards up the Khanki Valley, and it was not found advisable to follow.
North of the Cahill River affairs went better. Sir Bindon Blood by the end of August was done with the Swatis, and could afford to join the operations against the Mohmands, who lay due north of Peshawur and west of him. He accordingly moved westward from Malakand and crossed the Panjkora River at Sado, seizing the bridge just before the Bajaoris, into whose country he was moving, had time to destroy it. Thence he proceeded to Miankalai, a point due north of the Mohmands, who were also threatened by a force under General Elles moving from Shabkadr, some forty miles south of General Blood's position. General Blood was 'o march southward by way of Nawagai, General Elles northward over the Krappa and Nabs.ki Passes, and the two forces were to join hands in the plain of Karnali. That has been effected, and the two divisions are now at Lakarai. But it must be remembered that the country is such a country as is described in Kipling's "Ballad of East and West ;" it was from Peshawur that Kemal "lifted the Colonel's mare." Everywhere there is— "Rock to the left and rock to the right and low lean thorn between,
And you may hear a breech-bolt snick when never a man is seen."
Moreover, between the two columns were ranges running east and west, and the columns marched north and south, in a country where the only trace of water is generally the dry beds of torrents, a hard, bony soil off which water runs as if off a slate roof, and the mountains have never a tarn in them. Consequently progress was slow and supplies were hard to pro- cure, and General Blood's force had to advance in three brigades,—his own pointing direct on Nawagai, a rear- guard under General 1Vodehouse keeping clear the communications with the Panjkora and so with the Malakand, and a second brigade under General Jeffreys detailed to reach the plain of Karnali by a different route. This latter force was on September 11th attacked by Mamunds, who live in the Bajaor country as it began to scale one of the innumerable passes, and on Slptember 17th General Jeffreys turned back to inflict punishments on this tribe for their hostility. He misjudged his time, had to return towards camp in the dark, was sharply attacked, and became himself separated from the main body. Since then his column has been solely occupied with operations against the Mamunds. General Blood's brigade has joined with General Elles at Lakarai ; bat the third brigade, which has moved up in the rear of him to Nawagai, has been sharply attacked there on succeeding days in this week, and General Wodehouse was wounded. General Blood proposes to join General Jeffreys, and operate with him against the Mamunils, leaving General Elles to crush the Mob mand s.
Our affairs, therefore, to the north of the Cabal River seem tolerably satisfactory. Our forces are concentrated, and probably the tribes will be put down—though at immense outlay of money and no little cost of valuable life—within a week or two. But south of the river we have still to strike at the insurgents in their centre, the district of Tirah, which lies round the sources of the Bara River. It is the home of the Afridi tribe, connected with the Khyber Pass by side valleys which run into the pass; and to it the Afridis withdraw for a stronghold, and probably for a more clement abode in winter. This region is fairly hemmed in by our forces. East of it is Peshawur, and eight miles up the Bara Valley is Fort Bara, where a strong post protects the water-supply of Peshawur. South of it is the Samana Range, where is General Yeatman Biggs at Hangu, with outposts at Forts Gulis- tan and Lockhart. Further to the south and west is the Kurro in Valley, where troops are at Sadda and Para- chinar. North of it lies the Khyber, north of that again the Cabul River, and beyond that the divisions of General Elles and General Blood should soon be free to act. The Tirah country is the heart of the Afridis and Orakzais, who are our most redoubtable foes, numbering, it is said, one hundred thousand fighting men, and men who will fight. Against them Sir William Lockhart will direct an tdvance from Peshawur. His object probably is to push ap the Bazar Valley, and by reaching Tirah, to force the Khyber, which he will then attack from the east. Presumably General Biggs will strike up from the south into the same region by the Khanki Valley, while our posts at the Kurram Fort and at Sadda should enable us to get between the enemy and the Afghan border. It seems probable, then, that the Tirah district will be attacked from the east, south, and. south-east. The war north of the Cabal River is entirely distinct, and may probably be over before Sir William Lockhart is ready to advance, in which case an attempt may be made to turn the Khyber from the north. But however over- powering our force may be, much powder will yet have to he burnt, and many mothers in this country have bitter tidings to endure for the s.afcty of our prestige and the peace of the border.
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