From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the pastWylly, H. C. (Harold Carmichael)
History
From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past
In regard to the circumstances attending the partition of the Mohmand
country, the author of _Afghanistan_ wrote as follows in the _United
Service Magazine_ of April, 1908: “At the period of the Durand Mission
the Government of India laid claim to the entire region—Bulund Khel,
Mohmandstan, Asmar and Yaghistan, the latter embracing Chitral, Bajaur,
Swat, Buner, Dir, Chilas and Waziristan. The Amir put forward a demand
for Chageh in Baluchistan and the Asmar Valley, which he had previously
occupied, and objected to the British pretensions. In point of fact, the
rights of the Government of India had been already established by
conquest and by moral superiority, since this zone, the home of border
ruffians, had always required the watchful initiative of a strong
Government.... Ultimately, after long discussion, the negotiations
concluded, when it was revealed that at needless sacrifice the Asmar
Valley, commanding the approach to the Pamir-Chitral region and
south-eastern Afghanistan, and of great importance to strategic
considerations on the Indian frontier, had been surrendered to the Amir,
the Birmal tract separated from Waziristan, and an ethnic absurdity
perpetrated where the Mohmands’ country had been divided by the
watershed of the Kunar and Panjkora Rivers.”
[Sidenote: The Mohmand Boundary]
On the 12th June, 1894, Mr. Udny, the Commissioner of Peshawar, who had
been nominated as chief of the Mohmand Boundary Delimitation Commission,
issued a proclamation to “all Bajauri, Mohmand and other tribes
inhabiting the country towards the Indian Empire from the Kabul River to
the southern limit of Chitral,” giving what he called “a brief sketch of
the boundary.” He stated that “whereas the kingdom of Great Britain has
agreed that his Highness the Amir should retain in his possession the
country of Asmar on the north of Chanak, situated on the Kunar River, or
the River of Kashkar, the boundary demarcation will commence from Chanak
in a south-westerly direction up to Kunar, and at a distance of a few
English miles from the bank of the Kunar River towards Bajaur. From
Kunar the boundary line goes southwards, and, taking a bend, ascends the
hills close to Satala Sar, which hills divide the watershed between the
Kunar and Panjkora rivers. From Satala Sar the boundary passes over the
crest of the hill, on one side of which the waters flowing from the Dag
Hills fall into the Panjkora River, whilst the waters on the other side
passing through the Satala Valley, fall into the Kabul River. And in the
centre of this hill lies the kotal of Satala. The extreme end of the
boundary touches the Kabul River, in the vicinity of Palosi. From a
review of the above details, you will understand that, in addition to
the countries watered by the Kunar River which lie towards the limits of
the Indian dominions, his Highness the Amir has agreed not to interfere
in all that country, the eastern waters of which fall into the Panjkora
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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