Military Report on Dir , Swat and Bajour (First Edition) was compiled by the Intelligence Branch, Division of the Chief of Staff, India, Shimla, in the year 1906. This report was compiled by Major A.C.M, Waterfield, M.V.O., D.A.Q.M.G. Further it covered the geography, communications, climates, resources, ethnography, history, administration, military and political aspects of Dir, Swat and Bajour areas. Those parts which are related to Swat are produced here for the interest of readers. Part 12 of this series is given below. This part deals with the events in Swat from 1902 to 1906.
…In July (1902) there was heavy factional fighting in Upper Swat…During the following year (1903) there were constant disputes between the Nawab of Dir and his sons, Aurangzeb, commonly called Badshah Khan, and Miangul Jan. Badshah Khan, the eldest son, became reconciled to his father, while Mian Gul Jan remained in disfavor and was deprived of his rule in Adinzai. In December Said Badshah, the eldest Mian Gul, was murdered and fighting ensued in Upper Swat between Amir Badshah and Gul Badshah, the surviving Mian Guls (descendents of Saidu Baba) who contested the inheritance. During the spring of the year (1904) the state of affairs between the Nawab of Dir and the Swat clans on the right bank of the river gave cause for some anxiety. The danger lay in the Swatis being driven to revolt at the continued oppression and tyranny they were subjected to by the Nawab and of the fear of their calling to their aid the “Mad Fakir ” from Upper Swat and their kinsmen from across the river, the result of which might be to endanger our communications with Chitral. The Adinzai in particular represented their state of affairs as intolerable and again referred to their petition of 1895 to be taken over by Government. After strong representation by the Political Agent that any aggressive action against the Swat tribes would meet with the disapproval of Government, the Nawab was induced to withdraw his forces, and by June a settlement was effected… On the 15th April (1905), the Chief Commissioner, North-West-Frontier Province, held a durbar for the installation ceremony of Badshah Khan, Khan of Dir…The durbar was attended by all the notables of Dir and Upper Swat. The Mian Guls were also present, this being the first occasion on which the descendants of the late Akhund had attended any Government public ceremony…Early in May the Political Agent at the Malakand accepted an invitation from the Upper Swat Jirgas to visit their country. Travelling via Thana and Kotah and after visiting the Akhund’s grave at Saidu the Political Agent proceeded to Manglaor and Charbagh, the return journey being made by water…The inhabitants of Swat Kohistan are practically independent, but pay at irregular intervals a small nominal tribute to the Khushwakht ruling family in Yasin and Mastuj. The Akozai Yusufzai tribes on the left bank of the Swat river are independent and pay no regular tribute to anyone. Among them a pure democratic form of government prevails. The Khan are in reality little more than the influential Maliks and have no great influence beyond that which there position in their party jirgas gives them. The principal Khans in Swat… in Upper Swat are Habib-ullah Khan of Paitai, Mirdad Khan and Jamroz Khan (sons of Taj Nur), Khans of Mingaora; in Lower Swat, Inayat Khan and Bahram Khan (son of Aslam Khan) of Thana, Sharif Khan (son of Sherdil Khan) and Sargand Khan (son of Saadat Khan), Khans of Dheri and Alladand. There are many other minor Khans of varying importance. Some are hereditary Khans representing the ruling family, so to speak, of a whole tribe, others only of a portion of a tribe, while others are only Khans of a village. There are often two rival Khans of the same place as at Alladand and Mingaora. These Khans are mere leaders of their political parties. In Thana the democratic form of government is still stronger illustrated. The Thana Khan Khel Jirga representing in its most perfect form the party system of government on constitutional lines. Nearly all the members of this jirga are Khans, of whom two are hereditary leaders of the two rival parties, and the rest merely hereditary members of the jirga.
Military Report on Dir , Swat and Bajour (First Edition), Intelligence Branch , Division of the Chief of Staff, India, Shimla (1906), Pages 33-47.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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