Word: waziristan
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Said Sir Denys Bray, British Foreign Secretary, in 1923: "Come what may, civilization must be made to penetrate these inaccessible mountains or we must admit that there is no solution to the Waziristan problem...
Technically, Waziristan is a country. It is also the scene of one of Britain's most dogged (and futile) essays in civilization. A ragged parallelogram of 5,200 square miles of barren territory, it is tucked away at the southwest corner of the North West Frontier, at a point where the Punjab and Kashmir reach out toward Afghanistan and Baluchistan. It is inhabited by various tribes who, finding their land too poor for a decent standard of living, have for years supported themselves by raids on their less impoverished neighbors...
...Firebrand,"kept a holy war going against the British. Every year, when the tribesmen drove their sheep into Kashmir to graze, the British actually induced them to check their weapons at collection centers. Theoretically, the new state of Pakistan was to take over Fort Ramzak and the Waziristan problem. Pakistan had neither the money nor the enlightened stubbornness to cope with them. Tribesmen had already passed armed into Kashmir, killed hundreds there (TIME...
...premises: 1) never meet the British at a conference table (they are too good at it); 2) do your arguing with a gun in the mountains (he is good at it). Result is that whereas the humble Fakir used to be No. 40 on the British list of Waziristan's chieftains, he has now become Troublemaker...
...Fakir of Ipi has not popped up now for over a year, but last week the British reported that Waziristan tribesmen were again shooting at stray Indian soldiers. At New Delhi it was quickly concluded that the Fakir had gone on the warpath once more. Matters became so serious that regular Army communiqués were issued. "Our casualties were light," read one which might well have described the Western Front. "The second of two columns encountered considerable opposition...