Bazar Valley campaign
The Bazar Valley campaign of 1908 was a punitive expedition against the Zakka Khel clan of the Afridi, a Pakhtun tribe inhabiting the mountains on the Peshawar border of the North West Frontier province of British India.
It was undertaken by the Bazar Valley Field Force, under the command of General Sir James Willcocks. The campaign began on 12 February 1908, and was concluded by a jirga and peace in March 1908. The satirical magazine Punch characterised the campaign as Willcocks' Weekend War. The main British Army elements were the Seaforth Highlanders and the 37th Lancers. Regiments of the British Indian Army included sections of the 45th and 53rd Sikhs, the Madras Sappers and 5 Gorkha Rifles. Archibald Percival, 1st Earl Wavell took part in this campaign as a junior officer.
Background
Situation on the North West Frontier (1897–1907)
In the Tirah campaign of 1897-98 the forces of the British Government had effectively dispelled the cloud of mystery that had been spread over Tirah for many centuries. The country had been explored from end to end. The Afridi tribes had learnt at last, that their secluded villages and mountain fastnesses, nestling along the base of the Safed Koh, could no longer be regarded as inaccessible if the country were invaded by a determined and well-equipped force.The settlement concluded at the end of the operations proved satisfactory to both parties. The lenient and liberal terms granted by the Government were appreciated by the tribesmen whose resources were temporarily exhausted from the effects of the invasion. Recruiting in the Indian Army and Frontier Militias became as brisk as ever.
It may confidently be asserted that the stability of the peace would have been more permanent, had it not been for the existence of certain sinister influences, which continually threatened to undermine the loyalty of the border tribesmen towards the British Government. The mullahs dwelling in tribal territory as well as in Afghanistan were, by reason of their fanatical inclinations, ever prone to stir up strife against a foreign Government, while the presence of an anti-British party in Kabul afforded a sure guarantee that disaffected tribesmen could obtain encouragement and support from that centre. In the year 1904 a large body of Afridis visited Kabul. They were well received and dismissed with substantial presents of cash; they were also permitted to purchase arms and ammunition. In consequence an unusually large number of rifles, mostly Martinis, and cartridges were imported into Tirah during that year. The reception accorded in 1904 to the Afridis who went to Kabul emboldened the tribes as a whole and the Zakka Khel in particular to adopt a contumacious attitude towards the British Government. On the night of 3 September 1904 a daring raid on the village of Darshi Khel near Bahadur Khel was made by a band of 15 Afridis and two Orakzais. As a consequence of this raid the well disposed among the tribal maliks were induced to attempt the coercion of the offending section, but with no definite result. The maliks confessed that the tribesmen owing to the favour shown to them at Kabul had got beyond control. The stoppage of the whole of the allowances due to the Afridis for 1904 again induced the remainder of the tribes to take concerted action against the Zakka Khel. Their endeavors produced no lasting results, but it was recognized that they had done all that could be expected to coerce the recalcitrants, and early in 1905 the allowances of all except the Zakka Khel were paid.
During the years 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1907 the Zakka Khel maintained an attitude of open defiance to Government. Bands of the tribe so harried the borders of the Kohat and Peshawar districts that security of life and property was seriously menaced. The other Afridis behaved well in so far as they restrained members of their own clans from joining in these raids, but they confessed their inability to restrain the Zakka Khel and indeed recommended to Government the occupation of the Bazar Valley, as the only effective means of dealing with the situation.
In June 1907 the Zakka Khel on finding that there was no intention of calling in their jirga along with other Afridi sections to receive allowances, sent a jirga uninvited to Landi Kotal and announced that they had come to make peace with Government, to hear the charges against the section and to settle the cases. On being informed of the claims against them they said that they were absurd and could not be entertained. They were prepared to restore any stolen property which accused men might acknowledge to be in their possession, and to return three of the six rifles taken in a raid from the Pabbi Police Station. They said that the system of deducting fines from allowances must be stopped; that their oath must be accepted in all cases; that they would accept no responsibility for raiders passing through their country to and from British territory; that in no circumstances would they surrender offenders for punishment; and that all restrictions on members of the tribe going to Kabul, or receiving allowances from the Amir must be removed. Their attitude in short showed that they had no real desire to come to a settlement, and they returned to Bazar without matters being in any way advanced. However the uncompromising reception of this jirga had so excellent an effect that the borders enjoyed an immunity from their raids during the summer months. As time passed without the long expected punishment being inflicted, so the fear of punishment passed with it. In October raiding recommenced when the leaders, the chief of whom were Dadai, Usman and Multan, returned from a visit to Kabul.
Raids on British Indian towns (1907)
The Zakka Khel who visited Kabul had been favourably received bv Sardar Nasrulla Khan, those who were in receipt of annual allowances from the Amir were paid, many allowances were augmented and new ones granted. Every facility was again allowed to the tribesmen to purchase rifles, of which a large number were available from the Persian Gulf source of supply. In the mind of the Afridi the fact of receiving an allowance from the Afghan Government and joining the "Kabul party" is equivalent to pledging himself to unequivocal hostility to the British Government, so that the resumption of raiding on their return was a natural sequel to this visit to Kabul. Early in October five separate raiding gangs, whose numbers were augmented by outlaws from other tribes, were organised in the following manner:| Leader name | Tribe |
| Dadai | Anai Zakka Khel |
| Multan | Unknown |
| Gul Baz | Unknown |
| Muhammad Afzal Ziauddin | Zakka Khel |
| Usman Khusrogi | Zakka Khel |
These set to work at once and offences, of which the following were the most important, now began to be reported with unceasing regularity.
5 October 1907
A gang of some 30 Zakka Khel under Dadai raided the village of Sumari in the Kohat district, killing one Muhammadan and carrying off two Hindus and property for the value of Rs. 600.28 October
A gang of 30 Afridis, mainly Zakka Khel, attacked Pabbi in the Peshawar district and seized five Hindus. They fired on a party of troops at the station seriously wounding a sepoy and a zamindar. At Tarnab they attacked and wounded the Revenue Assistant in camp and carried off his Chuprassi and horses. En route they robbed ten cartmen. Near Peshawar they encountered a party of police and fired on them, wounding two constables. Here they had to abandon most of their heavy booty and retreated into tribal territory.13 November
The village of Lachi in the Kohat district was attacked by 22 men, mainly Zakka Khel. The Post Office was looted and one villager killed and three wounded. The raiders met a party of Border Military Police and fired on them, killing two and wounding two others. They carried off four rifles, jewels and other property.20 November
A similar gang under Dadai fired on a village near the Bara Fort. The garrison of Border Military Police turned out and were at once attacked, two men being killed and two wounded at the first discharge.24 November
A large gang of Zakka Khel attacked the Marai village in Kohat, but were driven off by the troops and villagers with a loss of two men killed and three wounded, all Zakka Khel. One of the men killed was Rokhan, Karigar, Khusrogi, a well-known raider of the Dadai faction.25 November
Multan, with some 35 Zakka Khel, carried off 400 goats from Matanni and attacked a police post, where they were repulsed.5 December
The village of Masho Khel in the Peshawar district was attacked and a bania's shop looted and the owner killed by a gang of 16 persons, mainly Zakka Khel, and on the same day 12 mules working on the Khaibar Road near Jamrud were carried off to Bazar by the Zakka Khel.Attempts to avoid armed conflict (January 1908)
These raids were not mere border affairs such as might reasonably, in the circumstances of the frontier, be passed over without serious notice. Many of them, and those the most important, were organised raids by large and well armed bodies of men on peaceful villages far in the interior of British administered districts, or direct attacks upon Government posts and property. It was evident by this time that those hostile acts of the Zakka Khel had now rendered military operations indispensable. In a dispatch, dated 9 January 1908, to the Secretary of State for India, the Government proposed that, before having recourse to punitive methods themselves, in order to exhaust every possible alternative, Sir H. Deane, the Chief Commissioner and Agent to the Governor General in the North-West Frontier Province, should call in a jirga of the Afridi clans and announce to them that unless they put an end to the present state of affairs created by the Zakka Khel, the Government had decided to punish this section at once.This action, it was pointed out, might obviate the necessity for taking punitive methods themselves, and at the same time if the Afridis expressed their inability or unwillingness to coerce the Zakka Khel it would be tantamount to a public admission of the British Indian authorities' right to adopt coercive measures themselves and would deprive them of any excuse for joining the Zakka Khel. The attitude of the Afridis at this time showed no disposition on the part of other sections to identify themselves with the Zakka Khel and there was little reason to anticipate that they would join in opposing the British advance into Bazar.
In the same despatch, it was explained that a punitive expedition on the old lines was not contemplated, but that the action proposed included the following measures:
- The recovery of a fine and the disarmament of the section.
- The capture and trial of the ringleaders and those implicated in the recent raids.
- The construction of a road which would in the future contain this section and prevent their escape into the inaccessible regions to which they now resort. The road would be maintained on lines similar to those prevailing with regard to the Khaibar, so far as they are applicable.
- The actual offenders in the recent raids and their supporters, if captured, would be dealt with by suitable tribunals locally assembled.
On the night of 24 January some 30 raiders attacked the Kacha Garhi Railway Station between Peshawar and Jamrud, with the object of luring out the Border Military Police garrison and then attacking them. In this they were unsuccessful.
On the night of 28 January another raid was undertaken. A gang of 60 to 80 men raided Peshawar City, killing one policeman, and wounding two others and two chowkidars. Property said to be worth one lakh of rupees was carried away. The Khaibar rifles spent 15 hours trying to cut them off, but owing to a telephone being out of order they were informed too late and the raiders got clear away. The situation was now so acute that immediate action was necessary.