on the annexation of the punjab in 1849 by the indian government, and our consequent occupation of kohat, the inhabitants of waziristan became our neighbours for one hundred and forty miles along the boundary line—from the north-west corner of the kohat district to the gomal pass west of dera ismail khan. waziristan, the frontier switzerland, is in shape a rough parallelogram, averaging one hundred miles in length from north to south, with a general breadth of sixty miles from east to west; at the north-west corner a wedge of hilly country juts into the kohat and bannu districts. it is bounded on the west and north-west by afghanistan; on the north-east and east by the british districts of kurram, kohat, bannu and dera ismail khan; and on the south by baluchistan.
the chief inhabitants of waziristan are:
1.
the darwesh khels.
2.
the mahsuds.
3.
the batannis.
4.
the dawaris.
419the two first named are the only wazirs proper, and all four have but little in common with each other, and for many generations have been in a perpetual state of feud.
origin of the wazirs
bellew and ibbetson are inclined to think that the wazirs are a tribe of rajput origin, and it is probable that ethnologically they are an indian race with a large admixture of scythian or tartar blood. their own traditions, however, represent them to be the descendants of wazir, who was the son of suleiman, who was the son of kakai, himself the son of karlan and grandson of ghurghusht, so that they are usually described as being a tribe of karlanri or ghurghusht pathans. from this common origin come the wazirs, a title which properly includes both darwesh khel and mahsuds, but the name wazir has now been practically appropriated by the former. the ancient home of the wazirs appears to have been in birmal, in afghanistan, whence they began to move eastward at the close of the fourteenth century, ousting the khattaks from shawal and the kohat border north of the tochi. in process of time they took possession of the mountainous region about shuidar, and the whole country as far as the gomal river, south of which but few of their settlements are to be found. the darwesh khel and mahsuds differ greatly in habits and characteristics, and are practically separate tribes; but despite the enmity existing between them, their villages are much mixed up, and many of the leading men of each are connected by marriage.
waziristan has been described by oliver as “a land 420of high and difficult hills, deep and rugged defiles, brave and hardy people, in their way as independent and patriotic, and, in the presence of the common enemy, hardly less united, than the famous compatriots of tell. geographically and politically the two have several points in common; and as regards the mass of hills that lie between the gomal and the tochi, or dawar valley, of which kaniguram is about the centre, this is more especially true. the east front is protected by the bare hills, held by the batannis; beyond which are ravines, flanked by precipitous cliffs, which occasionally widen out to enclose small valleys fairly fertile, from one hundred to one thousand yards wide, but narrowing again as they ascend. not unfrequently the mouth is a mere gorge or tangi (waist), where the water forces its way through a range crossing it at right angles and forming a colossal natural barrier. in these valleys, and the small strips of alluvial land which border the base of the higher mountains, locally called kaches—which are quite a distinctive feature of the whole range—there is often a good deal of cultivation, the whole carefully terraced, and irrigated by means of channels cut out of the hill sides, a great deal of ingenuity and skill being expended in leading the water from field to field.”
the principal rivers in waziristan are the kurram, kaitu, tochi and gomal; the valley of the last-named is particularly barren, there being hardly any cultivation to be seen between murtaza and khajuri kach, and no villages along the river itself. the 421tributaries of the gomal in southern waziristan flow through the wide and open, but stony and barren plains of wana, spin and zarmelan. indeed, waziristan answers to the description pathans give of their country when they tell us, that “when god made the world there were a lot of stones and rocks and lumber left over, which were all dumped down on this frontier, and that this accounts for its unattractive appearance.”
their country
“waziristan,” writes holdich, “the land of the waziris or wazirs, constitutes a little independent mountain state, geographically apart from the larger mountain systems to the north and south. no roads through waziristan lead to afghanistan—at least no roads that are better than mere mountain footpaths. of these there is no lack at any part of the frontier. north of waziristan the tochi valley affords a through route about which we know little; and south of it the gomal valley leads to ghazni; but at the back of waziristan, between it and the plateau or high-land of afghanistan, there is a band of rough hills packed in more or less parallel lines across the path from india, which shuts off the head of the tochi from the ghazni plains, and forms the barrier through which the gomal breaks ere it reaches the open stony plain of wana. wana lies to the south-west of waziristan. from the gomal river southward commences the true suleimani mountain system, presenting a band of rugged, serrated ridges, facing the indus, and preserving the attitude of an impenetrable barrier (an attitude which is, after all, only a magnificent assumption) 422between the plains of the indus and afghanistan.... waziristan is sufficiently far north to partake rather of the characteristics of the mountains of the kurram and safed koh than of the suleiman hills to the south. there are pine trees and grand deodars on the far slopes of waziristan to the west; there are magnificent ilex (oak) trees, which throw broad square spaces of solid shade. the young ilex sprouts all over the lower slopes of the hills, imitating holly in its early stages. the spreading poplar is the glory of many a village, and the ubiquitous bher, or jujube, is in every low-lying nullah. and waziristan possesses a glorious group of mountains, culminating in two giant peaks—shuidar, or sheikh haidar, to the north, pirghal to the south—each of them rising 11,000 feet above the plains of the indus, and standing like twin sentinels, guardians of the western passes of the country. from shuidar, looking northward, one may see the flat, white back of the safed koh, which divides the khyber from the kurram, culminating in sika ram (16,000 feet), and from pirghal, the craggy outline of kaisarghar, the highest peak of the mountain called the takht-i-suleiman, bars further view to the south. from both peaks westward there stretches a boundless vista of ridge and hazy plain, a diapason of tender distances fainting to lighter tints of blue, till it is only against the yellowing evening sky that the pale silhouette of the hills that stand about ghazni can be detected.... the wide cultivated ramp formed by the valley of the tochi to the north of waziristan, as well as the more 423restricted valley of the gomal to the south, are both of them highroads to ghazni. they figure in history, though no modern force has ever made use of them. tradition points to the former as the route sometimes selected by that arch-raider of the indian frontier, mahmud of ghazni, early in the eleventh century, who is said to have swept down with hordes of irregular cavalry through the band of hills which heads the tochi valley with a rapidity that seems incredible in these days, and to have laid waste the indus valley from bannu to multan.... the tochi,[135] moreover, dominates much of the northern hills of waziristan. we have not yet shut off waziristan from afghanistan, and the wazirs will be as ripe for mischief in the future as in the past. but waziristan is now dovetailed in between the gomal and the tochi, and the influence of our military pressure north and south, as well as east, cannot fail to make for peace and good order.... if there is so much to be said for the occupation of the tochi (a more or less isolated valley) surely there is yet more to be said for the occupation of the gomal. the tochi valley leads nowhere, so far as we are concerned at present.... the gomal is the most important pass between the khyber and the bolan. it gives access to the very centre of afghanistan from india. it is the regular highway for thousands of trading and fighting people who bring their kafilas yearly to india.... from wana we not only dominate the southern waziri valleys, but we round off the line of frontier outposts 424which hold all the wild people of the suleiman mountains in check from quetta to waziristan. it secures the end of the chain, and can itself be supported and fed either from india by the gomal pass, or from quetta by the zhob valley.”
the tochi and the gomal
some explanation of this last sentence is necessary; at khajuri kach—“the plain of palms,” trees which, by the way, are here said to be conspicuous by their absence—the zhob river flows into the gomal, and here the road bifurcates, that along the zhob valley leading to quetta, the other continuing north-west along the gomal to ghazni. further on again, at domandi, the gomal is joined by a river called the kundar, the valley route of which leads directly to kandahar.
of the approach to ghazni by the tochi we know that it is easy enough, for we have made it so, as far as sheranni, and thence onward to the katanni kotal very difficult, steep and broken; but we know practically nothing of the road between the head of the katanni pass and ghazni. of the gomal route, so far as domandi and wana is familiar enough, but we would give much to know more than we do of the country beyond.
physically the wazirs are tall and muscular, and they are also courageous, while, though poor, they are hospitable. they raise a good breed of horses, said to have arab blood in them, derived from horses left behind him by nadir shah, but they are themselves bad riders for the most part, and are essentially footmen. they are a pastoral rather than an agricultural 425race, and possess herds of small black cattle and sheep in abundance. unlike most other independent border tribes, the wazirs have had the good sense to avoid, to a large extent, internal feuds, and their unity as a tribe is proverbial. their blood-feuds are consequently not so indiscriminate as those of some of their neighbours, it being ruled that the slaying of the actual murderer is sufficient. they are satisfied also with what they call “make-up money,” the price of a male adult being rs. 1300; a woman is only half-price, while the tariff for sword-cuts is on a graduated scale—some twelve rupees for the first half inch!
the wazirs are muhammadans of the sunni sect, but, like any other pathan tribe, they are not particularly strict in the performance of their religious duties. the mullahs have influence only so far as the observances of religion go, and are powerless in political matters, but the wazirs are an especially democratic and independent people, and even their own maliks have little real control over them.
general unpopularity
of the wazirs, enriquez tells us that they “are held in abomination by all their pathan neighbours, who have a common saying to the effect that ‘a wazir will murder you for the sake of your pugaree.’ ... to the poor of their own community they are said to be charitable, and they do not offer violence to the wives and children of their personal foes. their barbarity to all strangers, however, is such that every pathan sepoy in the indian army longs for nothing so keenly as a wazir war.”
426“of the wazir,” said edwardes, “it is literally true that his hand is against every man, and every man’s hand against him.”
the darwesh khel are divided into two main clans:
1.
the utmanzais.
2.
the ahmadzais.
the utmanzais live in the tochi valley, in shawal, and on the khaisora, kaitu and kurram rivers.
the ahmadzais live for the most part round wana, in shakai, and in the western part of the bannu district along the border.
thus the darwesh khel occupy by far the larger portion of waziristan—the southern, western and northern part of the country. the approximate fighting strength of the darwesh khel wazirs is rather over 25,000; there are barely one hundred of them serving in the regular indian army, but probably not far short of 800 are at the present moment in the border militia.
the mahsuds are equally wazirs with the darwesh khel, but are only so described by strangers to their country; they pronounce their name “mahsit.”
they inhabit the very centre of waziristan, being hemmed in on three sides by the darwesh khel, and being shut off by the batannis on the east from the derajat and bannu districts. chamberlain says of the mahsuds that it was their boast that, while kingdoms and dynasties had passed away, they alone, of all the afghan tribes, had remained free; that the armies of kings had never penetrated their strongholds; that 427in their intercourse with the rest of mankind they knew no law nor will but their own; and, lastly, that from generation to generation the plain country, within a night’s run to the hills, had been their hunting ground from which to enrich themselves.
under the sikh rule this state of things was even worse, for, through misgovernment, the chief of tank became a refugee in the mountains of waziristan, and his country was farmed out to multani or tiwana mercenaries, according as either class was for the time being in favour at the lahore court. the chief being expelled from his territory, his course was naturally to ally himself with the mahsuds (which he did by marriage), and to keep the country in so distracted a state that it became almost uninhabited; the town of tank at last contained nothing but its garrison and a few bunnias. on one occasion it was attacked and plundered by the mahsuds, who retained possession of it for three days. after the first sikh war the rightful owner was restored, and matters returned to pretty much their usual state, the mahsuds not causing uneasiness as a tribe, but raids being of constant occurrence.
principal villages
the principal villages of the mahsuds are makin and kaniguram, the majority of the population being pastoral and living in tents, but caves are also used as habitations. during the winter the mahsuds move down to the lower valleys. kaniguram is inhabited principally by a people called urmar, whose origin is not thoroughly known, but who are believed to be of indian descent. they have a language of their 428own, muster about 1000 fighting men, and identify themselves with the mahsuds in all their quarrels. the mahsuds are said to be even more superstitious and under the influence of mullahs than are the darwesh khel. they are also more democratic, and any man who distinguishes himself in bravery or wisdom may rise to the position of malik. their physique and stamina are good, and judged from the limited extent to which they have hitherto enlisted with us, some rate their soldierly qualities even higher than those of the afridis.
the mahsuds are divided into three clans, all very much mixed as to locality; they number some 11,400 fighting men:
1.
the alizai.
2.
the bahlolzai.
3.
the shaman khel.
the batannis claim descent from baitan, the third son of kais, who was the founder of the pathan race. they live in the hill country on the borders of tank and bannu, from the gabar mountain on the north to the gomal valley on the south. they are the hereditary enemies of the mahsuds, but have on occasion aided and abetted them in their attacks upon and raids into british territory; usually, however, on these occasions they have played the part of jackal to their more powerful neighbours. though an insignificant tribe, numbering only 6000 fighting men, they have always been troublesome. they resemble the mahsuds in physique and appearance, but are cleaner and more civilised, and within comparatively 429recent years have practically identified themselves as a tribe with british interests; they are now responsible for the control of the passes through their country whereby alone the mahsuds can reach the plains.
batannis and dawaris
the batannis comprise three clans:
1. tatta, living at jandola and siraghar and in the dera ismail khan district.
2. dhana, on the gabar mountain and the bannu border.
3. uraspan, living in the dera ismail khan district and in the valleys between the first and second ranges of hills.
the batannis have only once been accorded an expedition to themselves—in 1880, when it was necessary to punish them for permitting the mahsuds passage through their country when proceeding to raid our border.
the dawaris or daurs are ghurghusht pathans of the kakai karlanri branch, descendants of shitak, and thus closely allied to the bannuchis. traditionally, however, they are not classed as true pathans, being supposed to be descended from one shah husain, who reigned in ghor at the commencement of the eighth century, by a mirasi wife. the original home of the dawaris appears to have been in shawal, whence they, in company with the bannuchis, were driven to their present holdings by the wazirs in the fourteenth century. these holdings comprise the open valleys—watered by the tochi river—called upper and lower dawar, which are surrounded on 430all sides by the darwesh khel, who also divide upper from lower dawar, one section of that tribe having villages in the taghrai tangi, a narrow pass some three miles in length.
they are a fanatical, priest-ridden race, numbering about 8000 fighting men, but with a very poor reputation for courage, and are not now enlisted in the local militia.
they still appear to suffer from the evil reputation they bore for many years. “the very name dawari,” says oliver, “is a byword of reproach.... an object of supreme contempt to his warlike neighbours, the wazirs, he is even looked upon as a bad character by a bannuchi. worse, probably, could not be said of him. to call him dirty would be almost a compliment; his clothes, usually black cotton to start with, are worn till they would be considered malodorous by a ghilzai.... his complexion naturally inclines to yellow. he is essentially a non-fighting man and an unenterprising man; he is ready for any robbery and to back up any villainy, but he has not energy or pluck enough to venture out of his valley to attempt it.... the fringe of warlike tribes by which the valley is surrounded has, however, really been its protection from annexation over and over again. it seems to have been included in the mogul empire during the time of aurangzebe, whose son, bahadur shah, is said to have levied in person some heavy arrears from the wealthy inhabitants. the durani lieutenants occasionally used their armies from khost to extort revenue; and there are stories of a shadowy 431sikh jurisdiction, but which really relate to mere forays. though dawar has at different times been nominally subject to the kabul authorities, practically it has been perfectly independent. in 1855 the government of india renounced any rights in favour of the amir, dost muhammad, though neither he nor his successors were ever strong enough to enter into possession, and the sovereign rights of kabul remained just as imaginary as before.”
the dawar country is entered from british territory by the valleys of the tochi, baran and khaisora rivers.
the tribe has the following clans:
1.
the tappizad.
2.
the idak.
3.
the mallizad.
trouble with the dawaris
after the annexation of the punjab, the first occasion on which we came into collision with the dawaris was in 1851, when they attacked a police guard in charge of camels belonging to the latammar post. they were quiet for twenty years, and then in 1870 they gave shelter and assistance to the muhammad khel wazirs, then in open rebellion against the british government; and subsequent inquiry revealed the fact that, while outwardly aiding the local civil authorities, they were advising the wazirs to oppose us. there was a general settlement in september 1871, when all those tribes who had assisted the muhammad khels were fined. the men of upper dawar paid their share of the tribal fine, but the men of lower dawar declined to do so, and insulted 432and assaulted our messengers. subsequently they sent a specially insulting letter to the district officer.
such conduct from a petty tribe could not, of course, be tolerated, and brigadier-general c. p. keyes, c.b., commanding the punjab frontier force, was directed to march to the tochi pass on the 6th march, 1872, taking with him all the troops available in garrison at bannu. the operations were not to be protracted over twenty-four hours. on the 6th, then, general keyes moved out towards the tochi pass with a force of two guns, 149 sabres and 1412 bayonets, having previously sent on 1000 friendly levies to seize and hold the shinkai kotal at the western end of the pass. these levies were, however, but indifferently armed, and being attacked by the hostile tribesmen, they abandoned the position before general keyes could send them any support. it was now expected that the dawaris would hold the pass against us, and the alternative of advancing by the longer route through the khaisora pass was considered; but fortunately it was resolved to keep to the original plan, for, when the advance was resumed, the crest of the pass was found to be unoccupied, and the shinkai kotal was gained on the morning of the 7th without opposition.
the guns were with difficulty dragged up the ascent, and then the general, pushing on with the cavalry, found himself, at the end of an hour’s ride up the rocky bed of the stream, at the edge of a broad plateau with the three refractory dawari villages—haidar khel, hassu khel and aipi—in front. some 433of the hassu khel maliks came forward to beg for terms, the nature of which was communicated to them; they agreed to our demands but asked for time; but while the amount of the fines was being collected, the men of haidar khel became very defiant in their demeanour and were evidently preparing for an attack upon the advanced troops. the infantry and guns now arrived and assurances of submission were repeated, but on the force advancing to destroy some of the towers—the destruction of which was part of our conditions of peace—the enemy suddenly opened fire on the troops from behind walls and houses. the 1st sikhs at once stormed the closed gates of the village of haidar khel, the 4th sikhs and 1st punjab infantry took the defenders on either flank, while the cavalry, moving round in rear, sabred the men who were now evacuating the village. the rest then surrendered, and all three villages yielded unconditionally to our demands, when the force retired, no opposition of any kind being encountered during the return march.
alarms and excursions
after this punishment the conduct of the dawaris was satisfactory up to 1876, when several serious offences were committed, and the dawaris evading surrender of the offenders, a blockade of lower dawar was instituted, and was kept up until the tribe submitted in june 1878. during the afghan war, the men of both upper and lower dawar were concerned in raids on the thal-bannu and thal-kurram roads. in april 1880 dawaris joined with the wazirs in an attack upon the baran militia post, 434and on the chapri post in the following month; and it was suggested that opportunity should be taken of the operations of 1881 against the mahsud wazirs, to visit the dawar valley and inflict punishment on its inhabitants. eventually these measures were not sanctioned by the government of india; the mere threat of coercion, however, appears to have been sufficient, and the conduct of the dawaris at once improved and has since remained very fairly satisfactory.
