WAZIRISTAN AND ITS TRIBES.[134]
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.
The 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.
[Sidenote: 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 of 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 tributaries 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.”
[Sidenote: 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) between 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 restricted 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 which 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.”
[Sidenote: 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 race, 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.
[Sidenote: 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.”
“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 in
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.
[Sidenote: 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 own, 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 recent 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.
[Sidenote: 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 all 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 Sikh
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.
[Sidenote: 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 and 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 of 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.
[Sidenote: 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, and 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.