BRITISH OFFICERS IN WAZIRISTAN.
[To THZ Emma 07 1177 -srzerzroa.-] Sxa,—The reference in your issue of May 16th to the murder of British officers at Tank recalls the similar murders in February, 1905. of Lieut.-Colonel Harman, D.S.O., Com- mandant of the Southern Waziristan Militia, and, in September, 1904, of Captain Bowring, Political Agent in that country. As in the present case, the assassin was a Mahsud recruit, and the motive was apparently religious fanaticism. When Colonel Harman first took up his com- mand there was a garrison of Sikhs in the country, and British officers had the protection of a bodyguard of these faithful men; but some little time before 1905 the Indian Government thought fit to withdraw this garrison, and left the British officers alone among the wild and fanatical Mahsuds. Colonel Harman, who was a brave and fearless man, used to say that his life was in peril every hour. Not long after his death, Sir Edward Grey, then in opposition, put a question in the House of Commons, drawing attention to these murders, and asking what precautions were being taken (Question No. 64, May 29th, 1905). In a printed answer it was stated that a number of the Mabsuds had been disarmed, that selected men were being recruited for whom the tribe undertook to be responsible, and that " the state of these frontier forces will be closely observed." Since then assassina- tions of British officers on this frontier have from time to time occurred, culminating in the terrible tragedy to which you refer. Sir Edward Grey's question more than ever calla for an answer. " What precautions are being taken to prevent other valuable lives from being sacrificed in the same way?" Is the attitude of the Indian Government still one of obser- vation, and are the lives of our officers on this frontier to continue to be sacrificed for the sake of the theory that native levies ought to be sufficient without outside assistance P—I
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