BANGASH—ZAIMUKHTS—CHAMKANNIS—TURIS.[132]
Since the territories of the above-mentioned tribes are either situated
in, or are most easily approached from, the Miranzai and Kurram, the
account of these peoples had better be prefaced by some description of
those valleys.
During the days of Sikh rule on the frontier, Miranzai remained under
the Governor of Kohat, but not much interference was attempted. On the
annexation of the Punjab by the Government of India, Miranzai, being an
outlying territory, was overlooked when possession was taken of the rest
of Kohat; the Kabul Government, accordingly, made arrangements to occupy
Miranzai, the Amir’s son, Sirdar Muhammad Azim, who was then Governor of
Kurram, sending in 1851 some cavalry to hold the villages of Bilandkhel,
Thal and Torawari. The people of Miranzai, thereupon, appealed to the
Indian Government, and petitioned that their country might be included
in British territory, offering to pay a yearly revenue of Rs. 7500.
Their request was acceded to, and in August 1861, a proclamation was
issued declaring Miranzai to be a portion of the Kohat district.
This country has been thus described by Oliver in his book _Across the
Border_: “The Miranzai Valley, perhaps the pleasantest part of the Kohat
district, has been arbitrarily divided into an Upper and a Lower, though
the river which runs east, down the latter, is a feeder of the Kohat
_toi_, or stream, and goes thence to the Indus, while the Ishkali, which
runs west along the Upper, is a branch of the Kurram. Both Upper and
Lower Miranzai, equally with the Kurram, lie along the base of the great
Safed Koh Range, the white peaks of which tower over everything else, a
gigantic barrier between this and the still more famous Khyber route to
Kabul.... It is a land of mountains, small and great, of rocks and of
stones. The rivers that rush down the steep slopes are at one time
dangerous torrents, at others yielding with difficulty a little water
from the holes dug in their beds, with small and circumscribed, but
well-cultivated valleys, where grain and fruit flourish abundantly,
varied with raviney wastes, growing little beyond the dwarf palm which
affords materials for one of the few staple industries the country
possesses. These, again, are interspersed by grassy tracts, on which are
pastured abnormally small cattle and exceptionally fat-tailed sheep.”
The Miranzai Valley is about forty miles in length, and its width varies
from three to seven miles; it extends from Thal to Raisan—where the
Khanki River breaks through the hills into the valley—and from the
Zaimukht and Orakzai hills to those of the Khattaks.
[Sidenote: The Kurram Valley]
Up to the time of the second Afghan war the Kurram Valley was ruled by
the Afghans, but it came under our influence during the campaign, and
was finally occupied by us in the autumn of 1893. The country is now
administered by the Indian Government, and is ruled by a political
officer, the valley being to all intents and purposes British territory.
“Once past Thal,” says Oliver, “and the banks of the Kurram River
reached—more or less all along are cornfields and fruit gardens,
mulberry groves and fertile glades, passing up to ridges crested by oak
and olive, yew trees and pines; the range behind again culminating in
the snow-capped peak of Sika Ram, which rises over 15,000 feet high.
Some parts of the valley have the reputation of being unhealthy, for the
same reason as Bannu, but there are few more fertile spots along the
Afghan Border than the Kurram.” The valley is about sixty miles long and
in some parts not more than ten miles broad; it is bounded on the west
by Afghanistan, on the east by the country of the Chamkannis, Zaimukhts
and Orakzais, on the south by Waziristan, while on the north Kurram is
separated from the country of the Shinwaris by the Safed Koh Range.
“Dark pine forests cover the lower ranges, and naked cliffs and snowy
peaks rise high above them. The chain is so situated that the rays of
the setting sun fall full upon it, and the effect on a chill winter
evening, when the pale snows flush scarlet and crimson, while darkness
is already gathering in the valley below, is very fine.”
Enriquez, from whose work, _The Pathan Borderland_, quotation has
already been made, tells us that “Lower Kurram,[133] that is as far as
Alizai, differs very essentially from the Upper Kurram and in appearance
resembles the Miranzai. The villages are built of rough and irregular
blocks of stone interspersed with layers of brushwood. Towers and
defensive walls are the exception, and the inhabitants are but poorly
armed. The fodder is collected in ricks inside the hamlets, and great
stacks of hay and ‘johwar’ are also grouped together in large numbers on
rising ground near by. The valley is narrow, and there is little room
for cultivation. The trees are few and stunted, and the general
appearance of the country is of low hills and broken nullahs, where the
usual ‘palosa,’ bera, seneta and mazarai form a thin scrub jungle. Upper
Kurram, on the other hand, is wider, and the mountains containing it are
more imposing. There is a good deal of cultivation; the villages are
larger and far more prosperous looking, and are built chiefly of mud.
The more important ones have from eight to ten fortified towers, and are
besides protected by high loop-holed walls. A very successful attempt is
made to decorate these forts by means of patterns in the brickwork and
of crenelations along the upper parapets. They are, moreover, neatly
built and kept in good repair. Chenar trees abound and grow to as fine a
size as they do in Kashmir. To judge by their girth, many of them must
be very old. There are willows, mulberries and ‘palosa’ in the valley
and the walnuts of Kurram rival those of Tirah.” The valley is said,
with pride, to produce four remarkable and marketable commodities—the
stone of Malana, the rice of Karman, the wood of Peiwar, and the women
of Shalozan—the last a village from which ladies have always been
supplied for the Royal zenana in Kabul. The grandmother of the late
Amir, Abdur Rahman Khan, was a daughter of the Turi Malik of Shalozan in
Kurram.
[Sidenote: Value of the Kurram]
The Miranzai and Kurram Valleys are of importance as providing an
alternative route, practically wholly through friendly territory, from
our frontiers to the borders of Afghanistan. A narrow-gauge railway runs
from Kohat to Thal, and is eventually, it is stated, to be extended to
Parachinar—fifty-six miles further up the Kurram Valley. The Peiwar
Kotal is only fifteen miles further west from Parachinar, and is of an
elevation of 9200 feet, the onward road then crossing the Shutargardan,
or Camel’s Neck Pass, at a height of 11,900 feet, into the Logar Valley
leading to Kabul. The route affords a subsidiary line for part of the
year, but its closing by snow, and the great altitudes at which the
several passes have to be crossed, forbid its being classed as a
principal line of communication. During the second Afghan war it was
used as a line of advance mainly because Lord Lytton firmly believed in
the value of Kurram, being influenced in this, as in many other matters,
by his Military Secretary, Colonel, afterwards Sir George, Colley, who
wrote: “Personally my hobby is the Kurram—I had long ago come to the
conclusion that the possession of the Peiwar held the most commanding
military position, short of Kabul, in Afghanistan.... The Kurram Valley
is mainly fairly open and inhabited by a peaceful agricultural
population, so that our communications there will never be troublesome
or uncertain.”
Lord Roberts, however, has on the other hand described the Kurram route
as no more than a “byroad”; and on its final evacuation at the close of
the last phase of the second Afghan war, Sir Frederick Haines, who was
then Commander-in-Chief in India, wrote that: “As a line of military
communication experience has condemned it, and I abandon it as such
without the slightest regret.”
_The Bangash._—Of this tribe something has already been said—of their
battle near Kohat with the Orakzais, and of the final issue resulting in
their holding to the plain country, while the Orakzais remained in the
hills. Tradition has it that the Bangash are of Arab origin, and that,
pressed by the Ghilzais, they moved eastward about the end of the
fourteenth century. Settling then in the Kurram Valley, and expanding
further eastward, they drove the Orakzais into the mountains. Dr.
Bellew, however, is inclined to think that they are in the main of
Scythian origin, and that they came into India with the Central Asian
hordes which followed Sabuktagin and Timur. But at the present day it
will probably be enough to describe them as a tribe of Pathans who
inhabit the Kurram and Miranzai Valleys down to Kohat. Bangash families
are also settled in Persia and in some parts of India, notably in
Farakhabad, the Nawab of which place, who was banished from India for
his conduct during the Mutiny, being descended from a Bangash family.
They are Gar in politics and partly Shiah and partly Sunni. They enlist
readily in the Indian Army and Border Militia, and are thought well of,
being quieter than most Pathans.
[Sidenote: The Bangash Tribe]
“The Kohat, Miranzai and southern part of the Kurram Valley,” Oliver
tells us, “are mainly Bangash; those towards Kohat mostly Sunnis, the
bulk of the remainder Shiahs. The Westerns wear their beards long, with
a few short Jewish ringlets on either side of the face, shaving the rest
of the head; the Easterns clip them short; otherwise there is not much
difference. Physically they are quite up to the average Pathans, though
they are not generally credited with great fighting qualities. A few
deal in salt, but they are eminently an agricultural rather than a
pastoral people. Reported hospitable, many of them are undoubtedly
treacherous and cruel, not specially disposed to wanton violence, but
much addicted to thieving. They are rather the victims of raids by their
neighbours than raiders themselves”—the Orakzais, in their barren
mountains, regretting their old-time homes and occasionally indulging in
a foray into Miranzai—“and have generally behaved well from an
administrative point of view. Their situation is such, they have had the
good sense to see that in this lay their best chance of security.”
The three main clans of the tribe, now recognised, are as under:
1. Miranzai.
2. Samilzai.
3. Baizai.
The first-named live for the most part in Upper Miranzai—that is to say,
west of Kai, but some of them inhabit villages nearer to Kohat, and a
few, again, live in the Kurram. The Samilzai are to be found some in the
Kurram and some in Lower Miranzai; while the Baizai live chiefly in the
Kohat Valley proper. The Baizai claim that in the days of the Mogul
emperors they received an allowance for holding the crest of the Kotal
of the Kohat Pass; and as a solution of the difficulties about the pass
in 1853, to which allusion is made elsewhere, they petitioned to be
allowed to resume their ancient responsibilities. Their request was
granted, but they proved unable to hold the position against Afridi
attack, and an arrangement was come to under which four different clans,
the Baizai Bangash included, received grants for keeping open the pass.
These they still retain, and up to 1882, when the management of the pass
was transferred to the Deputy-Commissioner, the chief of the Baizai was
in charge of the Kohat Pass arrangements. The Bangash have themselves
given us little or no trouble, but have suffered much by being unusually
exposed to the raids of neighbouring tribes.
_The Zaimukhts._—This tribe are also known as Zwaimukht and Zaimusht;
they are of Afghan stock and live on the southern slopes of the Zawa
Ghar Range, having for their neighbours, on the north-west the Turis, on
the north and east the Orakzais, and on the south and south-west the
Bangash. With every one of these the Zaimukhts are at feud. Their
country is very fertile, and they own, too, a number of villages in the
Kurram and Miranzai valleys in British territory. They are strong,
well-built men with pleasing features, and can muster some 2300 armed
men, who appear to possess good fighting qualities, but so far none of
the tribesmen have taken service either in the Indian Army or in the
local militia. They are all Sunni in religion and Samil in politics.
[Sidenote: The Zaimukht Tribe]
The country of the Zaimukhts may be described as a triangle, with the
Zawa Ghar Range as its base, and the village of Thal as the apex; this
includes a tract of country on its western side, occupied by the
Alisherzai Orakzais. The northern range rises to a height of over 9000
feet above the village of Zawo, and from 7000 to 8000 feet elsewhere.
The crest is in some parts covered with pine forests, in others it is
bare of trees. From this main range several streams run southward
between precipitous and rocky spurs whose sides are quite inaccessible;
from the crests, here and there, rise steep, craggy peaks, which render
the ridges also very difficult, if not impracticable. Among these glens
lie many hamlets of small size, the village of Zawo being composed of
several hamlets. This village was considered the chief stronghold of the
Zaimukhts, and, from its position, impregnable, nestling close under the
mountain range, and from the south only approachable up a ravine several
miles in length, hemmed in by precipitous spurs rising to 8000 feet in
elevation. The spurs of the Zawa Ghar Range are steep and rugged for
about six to seven miles; as they run southward they fall away, and form
a succession of small plateaux, intersected by ravines, 4000 to 5000
feet in elevation. Across these runs the route from Torawari, in Upper
Miranzai, to Balish Khel, near the junction of the Kharmana River with
the Kurram—a route formerly used by kafilas. The drainage divides into
three parts—one running westward into the Kharmana and Kurram, near
Balish Khel and Sadda; a second, collecting below Chinarak, forms the
Sangroba, which falls into the Kurram near Thal; while the remainder
runs eastward into the Ishkali which drains into the Kurram River.
Dividing these are two passes at the villages of Manatu (5200 feet) and
Urmegi (4300 feet), which also form the connecting links between the
Zawa Ghar hill, and a second series of hills, that rise abruptly from
4000 feet to 8000 feet in two groups—one round the peak of Dingsar west
of the Sangroba, the other round Dondo Ghar, east of that stream. The
crests and spurs of these two groups are rugged, rocky and almost
treeless. Amongst them lie several secluded glens, in which are other
hamlets of the Zaimukhts, very difficult of access. The country is, as a
rule, devoid of timber trees; water is plentiful; the soil is fertile
and there are large numbers of cattle, sheep, goats and poultry.
The tribe is divided into two main branches, each at bitter feud with
the other:
1. The Mamuzai or Western Zaimukhts.
2. The Khoidad Khel or Eastern Zaimukhts.
[Sidenote: Expedition of 1879]
In the early days of the annexation of Miranzai the Zaimukhts gave
little trouble to the Indian Government, but in the year 1855 they
assumed a hostile attitude, and, among other acts of hostility, they
took part in the affair near Darsamand (see Turis). From 1856 to 1878
the Zaimukhts kept quiet. The outbreak of the second Afghan war, and the
long British line of communications through Miranzai and Kurram,
provided an opportunity of raiding which the Zaimukhts found it
impossible to resist. From December 1878, to August of the year
following, the Zaimukhts, chiefly of the Khoidad Khel clan of the tribe,
committed a number of offences, cutting off grazing pack animals,
kidnapping British subjects, raiding the post, culminating in the murder
of two British officers passing along the road. Besides these, there
were also a number of petty thefts and such offences as cutting the
telegraph wire; and in October 1879, the bill for damages against the
tribe amounting to Rs. 25,000, a force under Brigadier-General Tytler,
V.C., C.B., was ordered into the Zaimukht country. The objects of the
expedition were:
1. To punish the tribe.
2. To punish, if convenient and desirable, the Lashkarzai Orakzais,
who had equally been guilty of misbehaviour.
3. To secure a right-of-way through the Zaimukht country, between
Torawari and Balish Khel.
4. To secure the safety of communications on the Thal-Kurram road.
The expedition was delayed owing to the renewal of active operations in
Afghanistan, consequent upon the murder at Kabul of Sir Louis Cavagnari
and the members of his Mission, and it was not until the end of November
that General Tytler was able to commence operations. In the interval,
however, the tribesmen had continued their raids upon a larger scale
than before, 3000 of the Lashkarzai Orakzais having concentrated for
that purpose at Balish Khel, and a mixed force of Zaimukhts and
Orakzais, in numbers about 1000, having assembled close to the post at
Chupri in the Kurram Valley. Both these hostile concentrations were
dispersed by small British columns collected on the spot, and which
suffered but small loss.
While General Tytler was pushing on his preparations, several
reconnaissances were made into Zaimukht country from Balish Khel, where
the headquarters of the expedition was established on the 28th November.
A party, numbering 500 infantry and two mountain guns, under Colonel J.
J. H. Gordon, C.B., 29th Punjab Infantry, ascended the Drabzai Mountain,
7300 feet high, seven miles from Balish Khel, and commanding the whole
southern Alisherzai (Lashkarzai Orakzai) Valley, with the passes leading
to the northern Alisherzai and Massuzai country.
Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Low, 13th Bengal Lancers, taking with him 400
infantry, 100 cavalry and two mountain guns, passed round the foot of
the Drabzai Mountain, through Tindoh, as far as the entrance to the
Krumb defile.
400 infantry, 50 cavalry and two mountain guns under Lieutenant-Colonel
R. G. Rogers, C.B., 20th Punjab Infantry, explored the Tatang defile and
the Abasikor Pass, the latter about thirteen miles from camp and 7700
feet in height. A mile beyond Tatang village, the road enters the Tatang
defile, narrow, about forty or fifty yards long, and with precipitous,
rocky sides overhanging the roadway. The road was rough and difficult
for any but lightly laden baggage animals. From the crest of the pass a
good view was obtained of the Massuzai (Orakzai) Valley.
A small party of the 13th Bengal Lancers, under Major C. R. Pennington,
reconnoitred the country in the direction of the old Kafila road from
Durani to Gawakki, which was found to be fairly good, and was
consequently selected as that by which the main force should advance.
The party under Colonel Rogers was the only one of the four which
experienced any, and that but an altogether insignificant, opposition.
[Sidenote: General Tytler’s Operations]
On the 8th December, Brigadier-General Tytler moved to Gawakki, in the
Zaimukht country, with the undermentioned force:
Total strength.
1–8th Royal Artillery, four guns (screw), 195
No. 1 Kohat Mountain Battery, two guns, 78
2nd Battalion 8th Regiment, 41
85th Regiment, 733
1st Bengal Cavalry, 57
13th Bengal Cavalry, 155
18th Bengal Cavalry, 55
8th Company Sappers and Miners, 57
13th Native Infantry, 323
4th Punjab Infantry, 557
20th Punjab Native Infantry, 399
29th Punjab Native Infantry, 568
During the next ten days the country was thoroughly explored, and every
village of any importance was visited. On the 9th, Manatu was reached
without opposition, and from here three columns were despatched into the
Wattizai Valley, the inhabitants of which had been largely implicated in
the offences on the Thal-Kurram road, and there, in spite of some
opposition, the villages of Kandali and Katokomela were burnt to the
ground; at the same time some other villages in this valley were
attacked from Kurram by a party of Turi levies and were also destroyed.
The Wattizai Valley is about six miles long, well cultivated and
watered. On the 12th the column marched five miles to Chinarak, distant
about eight miles from the stronghold of Zawo, the objective of the
expedition. Chinarak is situated on a fairly open and level plateau,
surrounded by terraced fields, through which ran numerous water
channels, and was almost at the foot of the defile leading to Zawo. At
Chinarak the three main routes into the Zaimukht country converge, viz.
from Balish Khel, from Torawari, and from Thal by the Sangroba defile,
and it may therefore be looked upon as the most important strategical
point of the whole valley.
[Sidenote: Advance on Zawo]
On the 13th, the force, less a small party remaining to guard the camp
at Chinarak, moved out to attack Zawo; to this fastness there are three
approaches—one by a difficult ravine about seven miles long and ten feet
wide, one to the left over a steep spur on the west of the ravine, one
to the right over high hills west of the valley of Surmai. The plan
adopted was to hold the commanding ground on the right, while the main
advance was made by the ravine. There was a certain amount of
opposition—the enemy at one place fighting hand-to-hand with the
29th—the advance was much delayed by the ground, and the bed of the
defile was found to be excessively difficult; so that when by 4 p.m. the
Brigadier-General found himself in possession of the village of Bagh,
three and a half miles from Chinarak and four and a half from Zawo, he
decided to postpone any further advance till the following day and
bivouac at Bagh for the night. Early on the 14th, while Colonel Gordon,
with three companies of the 85th, three companies of his own regiment,
and two guns, occupied the high ground to the north, flanking the
approach to Zawo from Bagh, the main force under General Tytler advanced
up the gorge, over increasing difficulties for about a mile, and gained,
under a heavy fire, the summit of the pass overlooking the village, or
cluster of eight or ten villages, of Zawo, situated amongst terraced
fields in a horse-shoe shaped valley. The villages were destroyed, and
the force returned that night to Bagh, and thence on the 15th to
Chinarak, the retirement having been entirely unmolested.
In these operations the loss of the enemy was estimated at over forty
killed and one hundred wounded, the British casualties being one officer
and one sepoy killed, one native officer and one noncommissioned officer
wounded. The result of the Zawo expedition was the complete destruction
of the settlements of the Khudu Khel sub-division. The Zaimukhts had for
this occasion been aided by from 2000 to 3000 of the Lashkarzai
Orakzais, and so confident were they of the natural strength of the
position and of their capability to defend it with the numbers at their
disposal, that they hardly commenced to desert the village until the
ridge above Zawo had been taken by our troops. Their losses in
retirement were consequently unusually heavy, and may account for the
unmolested withdrawal of Brigadier-General Tytler’s force.
The subsequent operations were of the nature of a military promenade,
portions of the force visiting Nawakila and Sparkhwait; the latter place
is a small open valley at the foot of the Mandatti Pass, the mouth of
which is in Zaimukht country, but which leads into the settlements of
the Alisherzais (Lashkarzai Orakzais). Yasta was also visited, as was
the village of Sangroba, through the difficult and narrow defile of the
same name. Sangroba is at the head of a valley containing three other
villages.
The operations were happily concluded, and all the offending tribesmen
brought to terms, just as orders were received that all movements
against the Zaimukhts were to cease, with a view of releasing General
Tytler’s column for a demonstration in the direction of the
Shutargardan, so as to assist Lieutenant-General Sir F. Roberts,
reported hard pressed at Kabul. Fortunately, no news from Afghanistan
had reached the enemy, and it was possible at once to bring the
expedition to a satisfactory conclusion. All the four objects mentioned
on p. 399 had been fulfilled; the Zaimukhts had been severely punished,
their country traversed from end to end, and their strong places had
been captured. They paid up their fines in full, surrendered 500
matchlocks and an equal number of swords, and gave hostages for the
fulfilment of these terms. The Lashkarzai Orakzais had also made their
submission and paid their fines. The construction of the Torawari-Balish
Khel road was assured, should such be necessary, but it was found that
the line of country it would traverse was extremely difficult, the
saving in actual length was only seven miles, while it would be much
exposed to raiders. The last object of the expedition was fully
obtained, and the Thal-Kurram road henceforth enjoyed an immunity from
outrages which it had not previously known since the commencement of the
operations in Afghanistan.
[Sidenote: Submission of Zaimukhts]
Since 1879 the Zaimukhts have given no trouble on our border.
_The Chamkannis._—This tribe—known also as Chakmannis—is traditionally
supposed to belong to the Ghoria Khel section of the Sarbani Pathans—one
of the two divisions of the Gandhari section of the Pactiyan nation,
said by Herodotus to have been in existence when Alexander invaded India
in B.C. 327.
Other authorities assign them a Persian origin. By their Sarbani descent
they are related to the Mohmands, Daudzais and Khalils; the major
portion of the tribe appears to have joined forces with the Khattaks,
who were settled on our western border in the fourteenth century; and
when these moved into the Kohat district, the Chamkannis remained in
Waziristan, going later into the Kharmana Valley to the north-east of
the Kurram Valley. The tribe is at present located in the Thabai and Awi
Darras, in the Kharmana Valley, and in the Karman Darra on the northern
slopes of the Sika Ram Range. Their neighbours are the Afridis on the
east, the Orakzais on the east and south-east, the Turis on the west and
south-west, while the Safed Koh Range is the boundary on the north,
beyond which lies the country of the Shinwaris.
With few exceptions the Chamkannis are all Sunnis; the tribe is poor,
but fairly united, can turn out rather over 3000 fighting men, and is at
feud with the Turis, and with the Massuzai clan of Orakzais who border
them on the east.
Dr. Bellew describes the Chamkannis as originating in a heretical sect
of Persian Islamites, who were driven out of their own country by
constant persecution on account of their peculiar religious ceremonies
and immoral proceedings. “One of the stories against them is not
altogether without a savour of the ‘Love Feast’ of more modern sects in
England,” says Oliver, “and consisted in putting out the lights at a
stage of the religious performances, in which both sexes joined
indiscriminately, and which was the signal for possible improprieties.
The Persians called it ‘_Chiragh-kush_ or lamp-extinguisher,’ and the
Pathans ‘_Or-mur_ or fire-extinguisher’; the Chamkannis, however, have
turned over a new leaf and become orthodox Muhammadans.”
[Sidenote: Chamkanni Clans]
The tribe is divided into four main clans—exclusive of a small band
called also Chamkannis, who, however, claim to be Ghilzais, and who live
at the head of the Kurram Valley above Karlachi:
1. Bada Khel.
2. Haji or Para Khel.
3. Khwajak Khel.
4. Khani Khel.
Up to 1897 the Chamkannis had never been conspicuously troublesome, or
what seems more probable is that while they may on occasion have leagued
with their more powerful neighbours against us, their own comparative
insignificance has helped to preserve them against the consequences.
When, however, in 1897 the long line of north-west frontier broke into
flames, and the several tribes evinced a quality of cohesion which had
not been expected of them, and the several points of our border had been
portioned out for attack, the general jirgah held on the 20th August had
arranged that the Chamkannis and their neighbours, the Massuzai
Orakzais, should move against the Kurram.
The Chamkannis remained, however, tolerably quiescent until the 16th
September, when a proportion of their fighting men are believed to have
been concerned in a sudden and hotly-pressed attack by night upon
Colonel Richardson’s camp at Sadda, at the junction of the Kharmana and
Kurram Rivers. To Sir William Lockhart’s proclamation of the 6th October
they returned insolent and defiant replies, offering peace upon their
own terms; they built a barrier right across the Kharmana Darra; and it
was probably only the presence in the neighbourhood of the Kurram
Moveable Column under Colonel Hill, which kept from other open acts of
hostility the large concentration of tribesmen known to be in this
neighbourhood. But even then it did not appear certain that the
Chamkannis _as a tribe_ had thrown in their lot with the remaining
firebrands of the frontier; and their complete and final implication was
probably due to the unfortunate result of a reconnaissance undertaken by
our troops on the 7th November. On that date the Commander of the Kurram
Moveable Column, taking advantage of a temporary suspension of
hostilities in the neighbourhood of Sadda, moved out into the Kharmana
defile. The resulting reconnaissance, successful enough in itself, was
marred by a heavy loss of life. The defile is seven miles long, and the
river bed is throughout commanded from both sides within short rifle
range, but the enemy was evidently taken by surprise by our advance,
which was undisputed, even the barrier erected across the defile not
being held. The villages of Hissar and Janikot were reached, and
although the final retirement to Sadda was followed up as usual, our
casualties were but few, while the enemy suffered heavy losses. It was
not until some time after arrival in camp, that a havildar and
thirty-five men of the Kapurthala Infantry were found to be missing.
Subsequent inquiries revealed the fact that this body had, during
retirement from a position, taken the wrong road, and being surrounded
in a ravine with further retreat cut off by a jungle fire, had there
been shot down by the Chamkannis. This comparative success of the
tribesmen naturally inflamed afresh the spirit of revolt on the northern
side of the Kurram Valley, the Chamkannis and Orakzais being reinforced
by other tribesmen who had hitherto held more or less aloof, and the
strength of the concentration near the village of Hissar, which Colonel
Hill had destroyed, being continually augmented.
[Sidenote: Coercion of Chamkannis]
As a punishment for their complicity in this resistance the Chamkannis
were ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 1000, to surrender thirty
breech-loading rifles, and to restore all Government property; but as
these demands were treated with contempt, it became necessary to march
through their country and inflict other punishment.
On the 26th November, therefore, the Kurram Moveable Column took part in
the operations alluded to on p. 388, entering the Khani Khel country of
the Chamkannis in two bodies, destroying Thabai and other villages, and
inflicting heavy loss upon them. In these operations another of the
famous family of the Battyes was killed; hardly a single frontier
expedition has closed but that a Battye has died for his country, and
has always fallen foremost in the fight.
Unlike the rest of the tribes in 1898, the Chamkannis failed to make
formal submission, and thus encouraged, they broke out again in 1899,
raiding two villages in the Kurram Valley, killing and wounding several
villagers, and carrying off a large number of cattle. A counter-raid,
however, quickly organised by Captain Roos-Keppel, and directed against
Chamkanni villages in the Kurram Darra, soon brought these tribesmen to
terms. Over a hundred prisoners were taken, several villages burned, and
large numbers of cattle and firearms were seized. Upon this the
Chamkannis at once paid up their fines, and since then have remained
tolerably quiet.
[Sidenote: Turis or Torizais]
_The Turis._—The Turis, or Torizais as they are sometimes called, are a
tribe of whose origin little definite is known, but all authorities are
agreed that if Afghans at all they are not Afghans of pure descent.
Muhammad Hyat Khan says they are Karlanrai Afghans; Lumsden says they
are of Mogul extraction; Ibbetson regards them as being probably Tartar
tribes which accompanied Chengis Khan and Timur in their Indian raids;
Bonarjee calls them a tribe of mixed blood—Indian stock with a Tartar
admixture; while Edwardes and others say that they are a Hindki race,
some sixty families of whom, about four or five hundred years ago,
because of drought, migrated from their native country in the Punjab
(opposite Nilab on the Indus in the Kohat district) to the Kurram
Valley, or, as it was then called, the Bangash Valley, and became
hamsayas of its inhabitants. They themselves support this last
tradition, but say that the ancestor who originally settled at Nilab was
one Torghani Turk, who came from Persia. In his diary of the year 1506
the Emperor Baber mentions the presence of Turis in the Kurram Valley.
About the year 1700, owing to a quarrel arising out of insults offered
to Turi women, the Turis and Jajis, who were then united, attacked the
Bangash, and the Turis gradually made themselves masters of the Kurram
Valley, the Bangash remaining on in their turn as hamsayas. The Turis
were in the course of time conquered by the Afghans, though the exact
date is not known; but there was no actual attempt at occupation of
their country until 1850, the Afghans satisfying themselves with
periodical expeditions every five or six years to collect the revenue,
the soldiers living on the people. About 1850, however, the districts
both of Khost and Kurram, were occupied, and an Afghan governor was
appointed, a fort being built at Ahmadzai and a strong garrison
maintained in the valley. Until the outbreak of the second Afghan war in
1879, the Kurram Valley was ruled by a succession of Afghan governors,
and the Turis were so heavily oppressed at times that they rose in
rebellion, and on one occasion attacked the Afghan camp and slew 500
men.
Of the Turis, Oliver writes: “They are not very big nor very
good-looking, and have somewhat of the look of the savage about them,
but they are strong, hardy and compact, and are essentially horsemen, as
the Wazirs, in spite of their well-known breed of horses, are
essentially footmen. The Turi is a model moss-trooper. Profusely armed,
he has probably a couple of brass-bound carbines at his back, two or
three pistols in front, knives of many sizes and sorts in his
waist-belt, and a sword by his side. His mount, often a small, sorry
jade, is necessarily wiry and active; for, in addition to the Turi and
his armoury, it has to carry his entire wardrobe packed under the
saddle, certain wallets containing food for man and beast, some spare
shoes, nails and a hammer, an iron peg and a picket rope, all the
requisites to enable this distinguished highwayman to carry on distant
and daring raids, which is the Turi road to distinction. The local Dick
Turpin is honoured with the title of _Khlak_, a hard man, the Turi
equivalent for the hero of the hour. The newly-born Turi is introduced
to ordinary life by a number of shots fired over his head, to accustom
him to the sound and prevent him shrinking when his turn comes to be
shot at. Nor does he usually have to wait long for this, for he is at
feud with pretty well all his neighbours, Wazirs, Zaimukhts and Mangals,
and most bitterly with the Jajis; even a Bangash has to attach to
himself a Turi _badraga_, or safe-conduct—an excellent word for a most
ragged but faithful little ruffian, who protects him from all other
Turis.
“And to violate a safe-conduct once given, whatever form it takes, is as
exceptional on the Pathan border, as in the Scotch Highlands; no greater
insult could be put on the Khan or the clan giving it. Plowden tells of
a Turi Malik who gave his cap as a badraga to an Afridi Kafila, which
was plundered, and fell himself in avenging it. He is hospitable, this
moss-trooper, even to allowing the women of the house to wait upon
strangers, and in a way he is religious. He divides mankind into
straight and crooked. The Shiahs—and all Turis are Shiahs—are straight,
the rest are crooked. To a stranger the question takes a masonic form;
the Turi salute is a finger placed perpendicularly on the forehead for a
straight man, and a contorted one for a crooked man. If the stranger is
well-advised, he will give the countersign with a perpendicular finger.”
[Sidenote: Friendship for Englishmen]
Enriquez says, “The Turis are on the most friendly terms with the
Englishmen who live among them; and the heartiness of their salutation
when they meet a Sahib is quite refreshing to listen to. The Turis look
upon the British Government as their deliverer from the oppression of
their rapacious Sunni neighbours, and even consider that their Shiah
religion resembles, to a certain extent, Christianity. They are not
forgetful that Christians fought and died for them in their wars against
the Sunnis, and are even in a few cases buried in the most sacred Shiah
shrines.... Their dress is very distinctive.... The sleeves of their
shirts have blue cuffs, and there is a thin red piping, or an ornamental
border round the neck. In the cold weather they wear a coat made out of
a cloth called ‘sharai,’ which is woven from sheep’s wool.”
On their eastern border the Turis have the Chamkannis, Orakzais and
Zaimukhts; on the south the Wazirs, and on the west Afghanistan, or the
tribes within the sphere of influence of the Amir of that country. The
total male population of the Turi country is about 6000. Every Turi
considers himself to be the spiritual disciple (murid) of some Saiyid
(pir), and from this practice of pir-muridi four great families of
Saiyids have arisen. Of these one family composes one faction, the Mian
Murid, while the remaining three compose the Drewandi faction. The
first, while the weaker, is the most united, the other the more
patriotic, but since besides these there are also two political
factions, it results that there is no tribal combination, each Turi
being an absolute democrat who thinks himself as good as his neighbour,
and cannot bear to see anybody in authority over him.
In the middle of the last century the Kurram, and especially the
Miranzai Valley, was to the Deputy-Commissioner of Kohat a source of
endless trouble. Wazirs, Turis, Zaimukhts and Orakzais were constantly
assembling, either as tribal parties or in combination, to raid the
well-disposed villages on the Hangu and Khattak frontiers, and, yet,
whenever trouble threatened them from without, the people of Miranzai
were loud in their calls for aid. Small punitive expeditions were sent
into the valley in 1851, 1855 and 1856 to deal with these raiders, and
especially with the Turis, who, since the first annexation of the Kohat
district, had given much trouble—leaguing with other tribesmen to raid
the Miranzai Valley, harbouring fugitives, encouraging all to resist,
and frequently attacking Bangash and Khattak villages. In 1855 Darsamand
was thus raided. In 1856 the Kurram Valley was traversed right up to the
Peiwar Kotal, and the Turis, who had intended to refuse compliance with
our demands, thinking they could prevail on the surrounding tribes to
make common cause with them, very soon changed their language and
policy, and came to terms. Since those days the Turis have not merely
given no trouble, but have helped us on several occasions.
[Sidenote: We Occupy the Kurram]
The universal detestation of Afghan rule has, no doubt, greatly assisted
us to gain the confidence of the Turis. Our advance into the Kurram
Valley was hailed with delight. “There can be no doubt,” wrote Major
Collett, “that the people in the Kurram Valley were glad to see us, and
that, smarting, as they then were, under Sher Ali’s late exactions, they
regarded General Roberts’ troops as deliverers from an oppressive
Government.” During the operations in the valley the Turis furnished
transport and supplies, and a levy was raised among them of from 350 to
400 men under their own Maliks. Prior to our withdrawal in 1880 the
tribe made a formal petition to the Indian Government that they should
for the future be independent of Kabul. This request was granted, but
the experiment then instituted of managing, unaided, their own affairs
did not prove a success. Faction fighting broke out, and for a long
period complete anarchy prevailed, and, finally, in 1893 we occupied the
Kurram Valley. In the Turis we now possess a true and loyal race
occupying a country of great strategical advantages.
The Turis helped our troops against the Zaimukhts in 1879, and against
the Chamkannis, twenty years later. They stood by us, too, in the
troublous year of 1897, and their eagerness for the fray when
hostilities first broke out, is thus described in an Indian newspaper of
that date: “The road into Sadda, on the 3rd and 4th September, presented
a most extraordinary sight. On the 3rd, before the news of the advance
of reinforcements had been confirmed by letter, bands upon bands of
friendly Turis, horse and foot, could be seen making their way from
Upper Kurram to Sadda, and other points likely to be attacked in Lower
Kurram. The big attack was expected on the night of the 3rd September;
all these men were going down to help to beat off the common enemy; they
all gladly responded to the call of the Political Officer, and every
village sent a contingent, just as they would have done in the old days
before we took over the safe custody of the valley. Many an old raider’s
heart must have beat quicker as he thought of the past, when he had
ridden forth in just the same way on some foray far across the border.
Breech-loaders were very scarce, but two-thirds of the men had jazails,
and all of them had the long Pathan knife stuck through their
kummerbunds, while here and there was a revolver or pistol, the latter
generally of native workmanship. To look at their merry faces, one would
have imagined they were off to a wedding or other tamasha, and not going
to fight against odds for hearth and home. The Turi cavalry, especially,
took things with evident lightness of heart. Here and there a grass
_chupli_ would be stuck up in the middle of the road, and the next
minute it was to be seen at the end of a lance, high in the air.... The
following day they were to be seen returning to their homes; the arrival
of reinforcements in the very nick of time had made their presence no
longer necessary in Lower Kurram.”
[Sidenote: Loyalty of the Turis]
There are, at this date, some nine hundred Turis in the Kurram Militia.
So assured is their loyalty that a systematic effort is now being made
to arm them better. Their weapons are all registered, and means are
available on the spot for arming the Turi lashkar on emergency.