Passing It On

SHORT TALKS ON TRIBAL FIGHTING ON THE NORTH WEST FRONTIER OF INDIA
By GENERAL SIR ANDREW SKEEN, K.C.B., K.C.I.E., C.M.G


By GENERAL SIR ANDREW SKEEN, K.C.B., K.C.I.E., C.M.G.

Introduction

   Sir Andrew Skeen was well qualified to write the series of lectures that were incorporated into his little book, Passing It On.  Much of his career was spent within Pashtun tribal territory along India’s western border with Afghanistan.  By the time Skeen arrived in the region, British forces had fought four or five major punitive campaigns against these unruly tribes.  He saw his first real combat during the fighting that was also experienced by Winston Churchill and recorded in his book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War.

    All insurgencies begin with a central grievance felt by a single population and if a charismatic leader emerges to lead them, active combat soon results.  For the local Pashtuns, their grievance involved the recent creation of the Durand Line, a boundary established between British India and Afghanistan that split Pashtun lands into two separate countries. Soon afterward, a large force of warriors attacked the British forces at their camp at Malakand and at their small fort at Chakdara.  

    A reporter for “The Times” reported on an abrupt change in the attitude of the local Pashtun tribes:

“Yesterday, without the least warning, the attitude of the population of the Lower Swat Valley underwent a sudden change.  The first news which reached Malakand was that a disturbance had taken place at Thana, near Chakdara bridge.  A few hours later further news was received that the “mad mullah,” a priest who is apparently known locally, had gathered about him a number of armed men with the view of raising a jehad.”

    The reporter concluded:  “Malakand, which is a fortified position, is too strong to be stormed, but the garrison must be reinforced in order that the Swat Valley may be kept clear and that Chakdara may be relieved.  Unless this be done, the rising may spread among the neighboring clans.  The news of the attack quickly became known along the frontier, and it may possibly have an effect in Waziristan, stimulating the tribesmen there to action….”1

1. Edwards, David B., Heroes of the Age, pp. 173-175.