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ThePakPolitics A leading World Political Forum- ThePakPolitics.com International Politics Forum in PK Politics, Pakistan 2013-11-06T09:28:17+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/feed.php?f=24 2013-11-06T09:28:17+03:00 2013-11-06T09:28:17+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=1751&p=7733#p7733 <![CDATA[HISTORY • Karachi's 'Yahoodi Masjid']]>
Akhtar Balouch
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Akhtar Balouch, also known as the Kiranchi Wala, ventures out to bring back to Dawn.com’s readers the long forgotten heritage of Karachi.

After Pakistan’s independence, we changed the names of the buildings, streets and roads named after prominent personalities from the days of the British Raj, who played a vital role in Karachi’s development. The practice has not ended yet.

Similar was the fate of the Jewish and Hindu communities of Pakistan. There were some fortunate failures in erasing the archeological and developmental traces of the Raj from Karachi. However, when it came to ridding Karachi of the traces of Hindus and Jews, no stone was left unturned. Our hatred for the Jews goes a long way into the past. The Jews knew it, too. That is why they left the country for good and chose to make Israel their home.

In her book ‘Malika-e-Mashriq’ (Queen of the East), Mehmooda Rizwiya has written about the Jewish presence in Karachi. On page 146 of the said book, the author tells us that the Jews are settled in Lawrence Quarters… That a majority of them belong to the working class… That they are commonly known as ‘Bani Israel’ (the tribe of Israel)… Their ways of butchering edible, kosher animals is different. She also tells us that they have a cemetery and a haikal (synagogue), and that they are very few in numbers, and are mostly educated and well off.

In the Sindh Gazetteer of 1907, Edward H. Aitken mentions that according to the 1901 census, the total population of Jews [in Sindh] was 482 and almost all of them live in Karachi. They are mostly from the Bani Israel community, it further states.

In his book ‘Karachi Tareekh Ke Aaeene Mein’ (Karachi in the Mirror of History), Muhammad Usman Damohi writes on page 652 that the Jews only had one cemetery in Karachi, located south-east of the Haji Camp area. It was called the Bani Israel Cemetery.

Mehmooda Rizwiya writes that the Old Jewish Cemetery is adjacent to Usmanabad and is in the south-east of the Haji Camp. She has also mentioned two synagogues in Karachi. Before we move to the two synagogues, we should be aware of how the migrant Pakistani Jews dwelling in Israel are doing and what they think of Karachi.

Daniel of Soldier Bazar

Renowned author, journalist and columnist, Muhammad Hanif once had the opportunity to visit Israel. Associated with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Hanif’s travelogue of this tour was broadcast from the BBC. It was later published in the renowned literato Ajmal Kamal’s monthly Aaj magazine in 2001 (edition no. 35).

In his travelogue, Hanif writes of an event that he attended during his visit to Israel. He says at the end of the event, the organisers suddenly remembered that Hanif had not delivered his speech, so they grabbed his arm and brought him on stage. Hanif writes, “I spoke and told them that I was not from India but Karachi, I said and I had come on account of some business. And then I went on to say how glad I was to see them etcetera… Upon hearing of my origins, a man sitting in the first row began sobbing. As soon as I stepped off stage, this man, probably in his later 40s then, obese in outlook and dark in complexion, came to me and took me to a corner where he embraced me like a long lost brother. This man was Daniel from Karachi’s Soldier Bazar. “I have not seen anyone from Karachi since 1968,” Daniel, still sobbing, told me. “I used to study there in an English medium school. We had our own mosque. Ayoub Khan (the then President of Pakistan) even sent police for its protection during the war of ‘67.”

Hand on his chest, Daniel then said, “We had no problems there (in Pakistan). No one ever said a bad thing to us. We just saw all the Jews were going to Israel and we followed. Do you know Zafar Khan of Soldier Bazar?”

Daniel is a factory worker in Israel. He is married to an Indian Jewish girl and is a father of two. He says it is his wish to visit Karachi once before he dies. “We hear there is another military government in Pakistan?” Daniel said, in a tone suggesting he already knows the answer, adding; “Only they can run the country.””

Hanif writes further that Daniel told him he was not happy in Israel, especially in Ramallah. When asked why by Hanif, Daniel replies, “You know how we, Pakistanis and Indians, are different from one another. They can never like us, nor we like them. We are only a couple of families here. My wife is an Indian, but it is just not that thing, you know.” Hanif tells him, “But these are your Jewish brethren,” to which Daniel instantly replies, “Yes, yes, but in the end they are Indians.”

The Bani Israel Trust

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We were about to explore the Jewish synagogues of Karachi. The most famous among these was the building of the Magain Shalome Synagogue of the Bani Israel Trust. It is still known to the people of Karachi as the 'Israeli Masjid' or the 'Yahoodi Masjid'.

An old friend and senior journalist, Mr. Zarrar Khan, who used to live in the Ranchore Line area up until the 70s related an eyewitness account that the synagogue was situated at the central square of Ranchore Line, where now in its place stands a tall building called the Madiha Square. Zarrar also said that the official name of the street then was 'Synagogue Street'.

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My friend, Qazi Khizr Habib was of much help in this regard. He told me that the last trustee of the Bani Israel Trust was Rachel Joseph who transferred the power of attorney of the building to a Mr. Ahmed Ilahi, son of Meher Ilahi. There was an agreement that a commercial building was to replace the synagogue. Furthermore, the ground floor of the new building would have shops and businesses, while the first floor was to become the new synagogue. The agreement was duly followed initially, and the synagogue was constructed. However, after a while, the synagogue was replaced by residential apartments. This resulted into litigation between Rachel Joseph and some other people representing the second party. The case was won by Rachel and her attorney.

I spoke with a lawyer friend of mine, Mr. Younas Shad, and through him I approached Rachel Joseph’s lawyer. He told me Rachel had moved to London quite some time ago.

In her piece on the Bani Israel graveyard, published in Dawn on the 6th of May, 2007, Reema Abbasi refers to her conversation with Rachel Joseph. They talked about the cemetery, of which Rachel was the last custodian. This proves that Rachel was in Karachi till the year 2007. Later, she chose the Bani Israel path of migration.

The Jewish Cemetery

Our next stop was the Jewish cemetery. I asked for help in this regard from my journalist friend Ishaq Baloch. He lives in the Golimar area. He told me the graveyard is looked after by a Baloch family. He further told me he had visited the place once, but the guarding Baloch family allowed him to enter the graveyard only after so much of cajoling; and that, too, without a camera. This was frustrating for me. Ishaq suggested that I speak to the young journalist, Abu Bakar Baloch. Ishaq sahib said that Abu Bakar’s family was on good terms with the Baloch family guarding the cemetery.

I went straight to Abu Bakar and told him how desperate I was to get into the graveyard. He said, “We will go there on Sunday and see what we can do.”

On the decided day, I went to Abu Bakar’s place in Lyari’s Nawa Lane area, whence we went to the Mewa Shah graveyard. There, Abu Bakar pointed out a woman who was selling flower petals at the gate of the Cutchi-Memon graveyard. As soon I went forward and greeted her, she gave me a disgruntled look, sensing immediately that I was not there to buy petals. She said in Urdu, “You cannot go inside.” I looked at Abu Bakar’s face. He spoke in Balochi and told her with whose reference we had come.

Cleaning the branches of a Niazbo (Holy basil), the woman looked at us in disbelief. She then repeated her previous answer in Urdu. However, now her tone was not as hard as it was before. I felt it was the right moment for me to utilise my lifeline of the Balochi language. So, I started talking to her in both our mother tongue, requesting her to let us visit the cemetery.

Her replies, now in Balochi, were directed at me. Almost completely ridding her tone of the sourness she earlier welcomed us with, she said,

“People came before you as well. They only took pictures. They had told us they will fix the graveyard; that its boundary wall will be raised. Nothing happened.”

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The elderly woman told us that the cemetery had more than 500 graves. She also told us that her family had guarded the cemetery for over a century now.

During the conversation, she kept on giving us reason to be disheartened, not once flinching from her stance that we were not to enter the graveyard. I, on the other hand, kept on trying. Finally, teased to her toes, she told us to come by on Monday and meet her son. We were about to take leave, when a man riding a motorcycle entered the scene. It was the woman’s son, Arif. He gave us a quizzical look. His mother told him who we were and the purpose of our visit.

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Arif was his mother all over again in the beginning, stating firmly, and repeating, that we were not to enter the cemetery. The only difference was that he was way less sour than his mother. I started talking to him in Balochi, trying to convince him. As soon as I noticed traces of wonder and acceptance in his eyes, I reiterated how important it was for me to visit the graveyard. After some reasoning, he finally agreed. He did lay down a condition, however, that only one man could go with him. I accepted without a second thought.

At last, I was standing in the premises of the graveyard. The next round was that of clicking some photos. The graveyard was buried under untamed, thorny vegetation. I slowly took the camera out of my pocket and started taking pictures. Arif saw this and, to my relief, allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted, since I was his Baloch brother. Meanwhile, he was repeating what his mother had earlier informed us about, adding that he used to clean the graveyard himself. However, last year he had a motorbike accident in which he broke his leg, so the task had become too arduous for him now.
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Arif told me that about a year ago, a man called on him, informing him that some people wanted to meet him at the Sheraton Hotel. Arif went there and met four persons who inquired about the graveyard’s state in detail. They did not visit the place, Arif added. He says some people come by sometime, mostly for photography, while making big, hollow promises. In the end, Arif concludes, nothing happens as usual.

I wondered if the people of Bani Israel should be thankful that the graves of their beloveds in Pakistan were being watched over by a group of Baloch people. Otherwise, it too, would probably meet the same fate as the 'Yahoodi Masjid'.

-Translated by Aadarsh Ayaz Laghari / Photos by Akhtar Balouch


http://www.dawn.com/news/1046956/karach ... i-masjid/2

Statistics: Posted by semirza — Wed Nov 06, 2013 9:28 am


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2013-05-30T16:52:46+03:00 2013-05-30T16:52:46+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=1479&p=6804#p6804 <![CDATA[HISTORY • The Pathans by Ghani Khan]]> Ghani Khan
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THE most difficult part of writing is to know where to begin, just as the most difficult part of speaking is to know where to stop. Nothing is more irritating than a blank sheet of paper staring stupidly into your face when you are bursting to write but cannot make up your mind how to set about it.

I want to talk about the Pathans, the people I love, which makes may task harder than ever. I want you to love them as I do. But the Pathan is not easy to love. He takes a lot of knowing. His is a most complicated simplicity. I want to bring him down from the peaks of Khyber and the fields of Hashtnager face to face with you in his torn clothes and grass shoes, his eyes full of manliness, laughter and the devil, and his head full of a childish and noble pride - the chief camouflage he uses to hide his poverty and want. Yes, I want to bring him to you and make him talk to you - of his struggle and his dreams, of love and feuds, his field and his watch-tower, his new rifle and his old wife.

The undertaking, you will admit, is difficult. No wonder I did not know where to begin. But I have a scheme. I shall make him sing his love-songs to you, so that you may feel the throb of his heart. He will tell you a Pathan fairy tale so ^hat you may listen to what he tells his child. He will tell you a story of an incident in his village so that you may see how he lives. He will talk to you about the moon so that you may know how he loves. He will talk to you about his customs so that you may understand his laws. He will talk of dacoities, raids and duels so that you may know the power that drives him. He will talk to you of priests and magic and charms so that you may know the darkness in his heart. He will talk to you of life and death and right and wrong, and I hope by that time you will know him and after you get to know him I shall butt in and try to talk about him, of his relation to you and his connection with your future. For whether you like it or not he is your neighbour. And on the most unfortunate side of your house - the side that faces Russia. You must know him because Russia will have a lot to say about the shape of things to come. They will come to the Pathan before they come to you.

May I then introduce you to your neighbour! He has a fine turban and intriguing trousers. Let's have a look at him. But before we do that we might as well know something of his race and his origin.

Click Next for "History"

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http://pakhtun.com/index.php/about-pash ... ghani-khan

Statistics: Posted by Mirza Ghalib — Thu May 30, 2013 4:52 pm


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2013-05-03T22:16:51+03:00 2013-05-03T22:16:51+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=927&p=6454#p6454 <![CDATA[HISTORY • Re: British Colonial War Crimes]]>

First Afghan War
August to October 1842.


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British Hussar

Combatants: British and Indian troops against Afghan levies and tribesmen.
Generals: General George Pollock and Brigadier Nott against Akbhar Khan and a number of leaders and tribal chiefs.

Size of the armies: General Pollock’s army numbered 8,000. Brigadier Nott’s force numbered around 3,000. Afghan numbers varied widely across the country. In the advance up the Jugdulluk Pass Akhbar Khan faced Pollock with some 15,000 men.

Uniforms, arms and equipment:
The British infantry, wearing cut away red coats, white trousers and shako hats, carried the old Brown Bess musket and bayonet. The Indian infantry were similarly armed and uniformed.
The Light Dragoons (Hussars) wore the standard hussar uniform of pelisse, dolman and shako rather than a busby, and were armed with swords and carbines.

The Afghan soldiers were dressed as they saw fit and carried an assortment of weapons, including muskets and swords. The Ghilzai tribesmen carried swords and jezails, long barrelled muskets.

[ing]Winner: The British and Indians. http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afg ... 42/map.gif[/img]

Afghanistan showing the routes to Kabul from Punjab and the South
British and Indian Regiments:

General Pollock’s army:
British:
3rd HM Light Dragoons (Hussars) now Queen’s Royal Hussars
9th HM Foot, later Norfolk Regiment and now the Royal Anglian Regiment
13th HM Foot, later Somerset Light Infantry and now the Light Infantry
31st HM Foot, later East Surrey Regiment and now the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment
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3rd (King's Own) Light Dragoons

Indian:
1st Bengal Light Cavalry
10th Bengal Light Cavalry
2 Regiments of Irregular Horse
6th Bengal Infantry
26th Bengal Infantry
30th Bengal Infantry
33rd Bengal Infantry
35th Bengal Light Infantry
53rd Bengal Infantry
60th Bengal Infantry
64th Bengal Infantry
2 batteries of Horse Artillery
3 batteries of Field Artillery
1 battery of Mountain Artillery
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HM Regiment of Foot
Brigadier Nott’s army:

British:
40th HM Foot, later South Lancashire Regiment and now the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment
41st HM Foot, later the Welch Regiment and now the Royal Regiment of Wales
Indian:

3rd Bombay Cavalry
Skinner’s Horse
Regiment of Irregular Horse
16th Bengal Infantry
38th Bengal Infantry
42nd Bengal Infantry, later 5th Jat Light Infantry
43rd Bengal Infantry, later 6th Jat Light Infantry
12th Khelat-i-Ghilzai Regiment (of Shah Shujah)
2 batteries of Horse Artillery
2 batteries of Field Artillery

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Royal Artillery 6 pounder in action
The War:

The British colonies in India in the early 19th Century were held by the Honourable East India Company, a powerful trading corporation based in London, answerable to its shareholders and to the British Parliament.

In the first half of the century France as the British bogeyman gave way to Russia, leading finally to the Crimean War in 1854. In 1839 the obsession in British India was that the Russians, extending the Tsar’s empire east into Asia, would invade India through Afghanistan.

This widely held obsession led Lord Auckland, the British governor general in India, to enter into the First Afghan War, one of Britain’s most ill-advised and disastrous wars.

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Skinner's Horse on March
Until the First Afghan War the Sirkar (the Indian colloquial name for the East India Company) had an overwhelming reputation for efficiency and good luck. The British were considered to be unconquerable and omnipotent. The Afghan War severely undermined this view. The retreat from Kabul in January 1842 and the annihilation of Elphinstone’s Kabul garrison dealt a mortal blow to British prestige in the East only rivaled by the fall of Singapore 100 years later.

The causes of the disaster are easily stated: the difficulties of campaigning in Afghanistan’s inhospitable mountainous terrain with its extremes of weather, the turbulent politics of the country and its armed and refractory population and finally the failure of the British authorities to appoint senior officers capable of conducting the campaign competently and decisively.

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HM 9th Foot entering Allahabad after the march from Kabul
The substantially Hindu East India Company army crossed the Indus with trepidation, fearing to lose caste by leaving Hindustan and appalled by the country they were entering. The troops died of heat, disease and lack of supplies on the desolate route to Kandahar, subject, in the mountain passes, to constant attack by the Afghan tribes. Once in Kabul the army was reduced to a perilously small force and left in the command of incompetents.
As Sita Ram in his memoirs complained: “If only the army had been commanded by the memsahibs all might have been well."

The disaster of the First Afghan War was a substantial contributing factor to the outbreak of the Great Mutiny in the Bengal Army in 1857.

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Bengal Native Infantry
The successful defence of Jellalabad and the progress of the Army of Retribution in 1842 could do only a little in retrieving the loss of the East India Company’s reputation.

Account:
Learning of the massacre of the British and Indian Army retreating from Kabul in January 1842, the Governor General in Calcutta, Lord Auckland, rushed reinforcements across India to Peshawar and appointed General George Pollock commander in chief of the relieving force, the first artillery officer to hold high command in a British Army.

Pollock reached Peshawar on 6th February 1842 to find the 2 brigades of Indian sepoys in a state of neardisintegrated morale. It took months of encouragement and training to restore the regiments to a condition of battle readiness, all the while receiving pleas for help from Brigadier Sale, besieged in Jellalabad beyond the Khyber Pass.

In March 1842 a third brigade consisting of cavalry reached the army, a reinforcement that completed the restoration of the sepoys’ morale.

On 5th April 1842 Pollock’s army of 8 infantry regiments, 3 cavalry regiments and 2 batteries of artillery, 8,000 in all, marched out for the Khyber.

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The British Army marching out of the mountains into Central Afghanistan

Afridi tribesmen blocked the pass with a barricade of wood and thorns. Columns of infantry infiltrated along the peaks on either side of the barricade while the artillery blasted grape shot into the thicket and the Afridis abandoned the barricade without a fight. That night the army encamped beneath the recaptured strongpoint of Ali Masjid, the iconic feature at the top of the pass.

At about this time the Ameer left in Kabul by the British, Shah Shujah, was murdered by the Sirdars in his capital city and his son Futteh Jung reluctantly and fearfully took the throne for a short time before escaping to the British camp and surrendering to Pollock.

In the South of Afghanistan Brigadier Nott resolutely held Kandahar with a force maintained at a high level of efficiency and morale, in sharp contrast to the state of the dispirited and finally annihilated troops that marched from Kabul in January 1842.

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An Afghan village in the Khyber Pass

In December 1841 Elphinstone despairing called for Brigadier Maclaren’s brigade to march from Kandahar to Kabul, but the Afghanistan winter had balked the journey and forced Maclaren to return to Kandahar, leaving Nott with a powerful and self-confident force.

In January 1842 Nott received the same message that Shah Shujah sent to Sale in Jellalabad directing him to retreat to Indian. In marked contrast to Sale’s vacillations Nott refused point blank.

In March 1842 news reached Kandahar of the surrender of the garrison in Ghuznee to the Afghans. In spite of a guarantee of safe conduct the Afghans massacred the sepoys and took the British officers prisoners, among them John Nicholson, later to earn fame at the Siege of Delhi during the Indian Mutiny.

Also in March 1842 Pollock’s force reached Jellalabad, where the garrison was found to have fought off the besieging Afghans. Pollock and Nott awaited instructions from the new Governor General in Calcutta, Lord Ellenborough, Pollock’s primary concern being to secure the release of the British prisoners from the Kabul garrison still held by the Afghans.

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Indian sepoys picketing a gorge surprise Afghan tribesmen

Ellenborough’s initial order sent in mid-May 1842 was for both forces to retreat to India, with the implication that the prisoners would be abandoned.

Before either force was ready to begin the withdrawal Ellenborough, on 4th July 1842, varied his orders by permitting Nott to withdraw to India via Kabul and Jellalabad and Pollock to withdraw via Kabul.

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Captain Colin Mackenzie, Madras Army,
after his release from captivity

This was the wide discretion each general sought and both rushed for Kabul. Pollock fought two vigorous skirmishes on the way, in one of which, at Huft Kotal, he inflicted a heavy reverse on Akhbar Khan and his army of 15,000 Afghan troops, before marching onto the old race course outside Kabul on 15th September 1842. For much of the route the troops were forced to trample over the bones of their colleagues and their families massacred and mutilated during the terrible retreat in January.

The progress of Pollock’s army was marked with the utmost savagery. Not for nothing was it named the “Army of Retribution.” In areas known to have taken part in the massacre of the Kabul garrison, whole populations were slaughtered and villages burnt.

On 9th August 1842 Nott sent the greater part of his force back to India from Kandahar via the southern route through Quetta while he marched for Kabul with his two British battalions, his “beautiful sepoy regiments” and his artillery.

On 28th August 1842 as Nott’s army approached Ghuznee his cavalry was badly mauled in a bungled attack on an Afghan force. On 30th August 1842 an army of 10,000 Afghans formed on the hills to the left of the Kabul road. Nott attacked and forced the Afghans off the battlefield with substantial losses.

Nott reached Ghuznee on 5th September 1842 and drove the Afghans out before pillaging the town in revenge for the massacre of the sepoy garrison and the ill-treatment of the British officers.

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The spurious Gates of Somnath carried from Ghuznee in Afghanistan back to India by the 43rd Bengal Native Infantry (now the 9th Jat Light Infantry) in 1842 on the orders of Lord Ellenborough, the Governor General).

It was the command of the new Governor General, Lord Ellenborough, that the army bring away a set of ornate gates, known as the Somnath Gates, looted from India by the Afghans and hung at the tomb of Sultan Mohammed in Ghuznee. A sepoy regiment, the 6th Jat Light Infantry, was required to carry the gates back to India.

On 17th September 1842 Nott’s army reached Kabul to find, to his chagrin, Pollock there before him.
It was known that the British prisoners from the Kabul garrison were being taken west towards Bamian. Nott on his march to Kabul had refused to comply with the urgings of his officers to dispatch a force to Bamian. Pollock sent a force of Kuzzilibash Horse under Sir Richmond Shakespear to Bamian. Brigadier Sale was sent with a force of infantry to support Shakespear, appropriately as Lady Sale was one of the prisoners.

Shakespear arrived at Bamian on 17th September 1842 to find the British prisoners had negotiated their own release and were in command of their prison and the surrounding area. Prisoners and escort arrived in Kabul on 21st September 1842 to a rapturous greeting. Before the British and Indian troops left Afghanistan for India there was still unfinished business.

The Kohistanees were known to have played a major part in the uprisings of December 1841 and January 1842 leading to the massacre of the Kabul garrison. A division from the “Army of Retribution” conducted a foray into Kohistan burning the capital Charikar to the ground and massacring much of the population.

In Kabul Pollock’s army destroyed the main bazaar on the basis that the heads of Macnaughten and Burnes had been carried through it after their murder in 1841.

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Skinner's Horse at exercise

On 12th October 1842 Pollock and Nott left Kabul with their troops and began the retreat to India via Gandamak, Jellalabad and Peshawar, destroying Jellalabad and Ali Masjid and many villages and towns on the way. Yet again the truth of Wellington’s words were demonstrated (“It is easy to get into Afghanistan. The problem is getting out again.”) The Afghans harried the retreating troops along the route, particularly through the gorges of Jugdulluk and the Khyber Pass. In the final fighting 60 of Nott’s force were killed before the British and Indians reached Peshawar.

Casualties: British and Indian casualties were around 500. Afghan casualties are unknown. Many thousands of Afghans were slaughtered in the reprisals.

Follow-up:
Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan has always been dramatic and destructive; never more so than in the First Afghan War.

Britain had enough of Afghanistan after the terrible events of 1839 to 1842. The policy of the Government of India, particularly that of the “masterful inactivity” of Lord Lawrence, kept the British out of Afghanistan for thirty years, until another lapse of good sense and restraint saw the outbreak of the Second Afghan War.

Regimental anecdotes and traditions:
•The Gates of Somnath: In around 1025 Mahmud of Ghuznee pillaged the Hindu Temple of Somnath on the south western Indian coast. Tradition had it that the Afghans removed the sandalwood gates of the shrine and took them to Ghuznee where they were hung on Mahmud’s tomb. Lord Ellenborough, the Governor General, in a curiously smug attempt to gain the approval of his Hindu subjects ordered that the gates be recovered and brought to India. In obedience to Ellenborough’s order, Nott’s men, during the pillage of Ghuznee in revenge for the massacre of its garrison, removed the gates. On hearing that his orders had been complied with, Lord Ellenborough issued a sententious declaration that the British in recovering the gates had wiped out a disgrace of 800 years standing. The 6th Jats carried the Somnath Gates back to India where Ellenborough caused them to be paraded across India in a special ceremonial car, before being returned in triumph to the shrine at Somnath. On examination Hindu scholars rejected the idea that the gates were the originals taken from Somnath and they were relegated to the fort at Agra. No doubt there was unflattering comment made of the Governor General in the ranks of the 6th Jats.
•The Khelat-i-Ghilzai Regiment of the Shah Shujah’s service on its arrival in India was taken into the British service with that name and continues in the Indian Army.
•A battery of horse artillery in Shah Shujah’s army was also taken into the British Army and continues as T Battery of 14th Regiment, Royal Artillery, with the subsidiary name of Shah Shujah’s Battery; a reminder of Britain’s involvement in the First Afghan War.
References:
The Afghan Wars by Archibald Forbes
Afghanistan from Darius to Amanullah by General McMunn
History of the British Army by Fortescue.

Statistics: Posted by semirza — Fri May 03, 2013 10:16 pm


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2012-12-16T19:55:49+03:00 2012-12-16T19:55:49+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=927&p=4735#p4735 <![CDATA[HISTORY • Re: British Colonial War Crimes]]>
I'm impressed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's no section of thsi blog, where I don't find you playing an active role.
You remind me of old Greek philosopers, who were soldiers, wrestlers, physicians, astronomer, writers..........
A man of deep perception and Jack of all trade and yet master in control!
Greetings for being a man of Multiplt interests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Statistics: Posted by resurrected — Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:55 pm


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2012-12-13T13:06:29+03:00 2012-12-13T13:06:29+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=927&p=4679#p4679 <![CDATA[HISTORY • British Colonial War Crimes]]> Unpunished, unaccounted and awaiting apology

"We are not a young people with innocent record and a scanty inheritance. We have engrossed to ourselves an altogether disproportionate share of wealth and traffic of the world. We have got all we want in territory, and our claim to be left in the unmolested enjoyment of vast and splendid possessions, mainly acquired by violence, largely maintained by force, often seem less reasonable to others than to us."

Winston Churchill for once speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Churchill's words apply just as much to the power that displaced Great Britain following the two World Wars, namely the PaxAmericana-mad US.


http://futurefastforward.com/images/sto ... Crimes.pdf

http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afg ... l-1842.htm

http://www.britishbattles.com/first-afg ... l-1842.htm

Statistics: Posted by Mirza Ghalib — Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:06 pm


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2012-12-08T13:41:26+03:00 2012-12-08T13:41:26+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=703&p=4616#p4616 <![CDATA[HISTORY • Re: The Paolo Avitabile of Wazirabad]]> History keeps repeating itself, especially for those, who are so very devoid of understanding.
Do we know anything about those foreigners that roam about among us, with insatiable ambitions driving them?
How many are these individuals and what they work for, would surely be answered by history in remote future but is it wose to wait for other generations to know the truth, while we still have the possibility to write our own history and thus change fate.

Statistics: Posted by resurrected — Sat Dec 08, 2012 1:41 pm


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2012-11-24T22:27:57+03:00 2012-11-24T22:27:57+03:00 https://thepakpolitics.com/viewtopic.php?t=813&p=4402#p4402 <![CDATA[HISTORY • Re: Jamaluddin Afghani's prediction on unity of AfPak]]> The only problem with that is that one becomes reality blind. Not saying that you are such one. I wish I could see the glass half full and be happy with that.

Statistics: Posted by resurrected — Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:27 pm


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