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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
British policy toward the tribal peoples on the
northwest
frontier vacillated between caution and adventurism during
the
latter half of the nineteenth century. Some viceroys
opposed
extending direct administration or defense beyond the
Indus
River. Others favored a more assertive posture, or
"forward
policy." The latters' view prevailed, partly because
Russian
advances in Central Asia gave their arguments credence. In
1874
Sir Robert Sandeman was sent to improve British relations
with
the Baloch tribes and the khan of Kalat. In 1876 Sandeman
concluded a treaty with the khan that brought his
territories--including Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela--under British
suzerainty. The Second Afghan War was fought in 1878-80,
sparked
by Britain's demands that Afghan foreign policy come
completely
under its control. In the Treaty of Gandamak concluded in
May
1879, the Afghan amir ceded his districts of Pishin, Sibi,
Harnai, and Thal Chotiali to the British. During
succeeding
years, other tribal areas were forcibly occupied by the
British.
In 1883 the British leased the Bolan Pass, southeast of
Quetta,
from the khan of Kalat on a permanent basis, and in 1887
some
areas of Balochistan were declared British territory.
A similar forward policy was pursued farther north. A
British
political agent was stationed in Gilgit in 1876 to report
on
Russian activities as well as on developments in the
nearby
states of Hunza and Nagar. In 1889 the Gilgit Agency was
made
permanent. A British expedition was sent against Hunza and
Nagar,
which submitted to British control. A new mir from
the
ruling family of Hunza was appointed by the British.
British
garrisons were established in Hunza and Chitral in 1892. A
formal
protectorate was declared over Chitral and Gilgit in 1893.
Also in 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand negotiated an
agreement
with Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan to fix an only
partially surveyed line (the Durand Line) running from
Chitral to
Balochistan to designate the areas of influence for the
Afghans
and the British. Each party pledged not to interfere in
each
other's lands. This agreement brought under British
domination
territory and peoples that had not yet been conquered and
would
become the source of much difficulty between Pakistan and
Afghanistan in the future
(see Boundaries
, ch. 2;
Foreign Policy
, ch. 4).
The establishment of British hegemony in the northwest
frontier regions did not lead to direct administration
similar to
that in other parts of India. Local customary law
continued, as
did the traditional lines of authority and social customs
upheld
by the maliks (tribal chiefs). To a large extent,
the
frontier was little more than a vast buffer zone with
Afghanistan
between the British and Russian empires in Asia and a
training
ground for the British Indian Army.
Data as of April 1994
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