Up to the year 1855 the Orakzais, though occasionally committing petty depredations on the border, and known to be capable of mischief if so inclined, gave no positive trouble to the British authorities; but in the spring of that year many of the tribe were concerned in the demonstrations and attacks upon posts and parties in the Miranzai Valley, mention of which will be found in Chapter XVI. Divisions of the Ismailzai clan had been especially aggressive; the Akhel division had attacked a village (Baliamin) in British territory and carried off 156 head of cattle; and on the 30th April of that year the Orakzais, made up by Afridis and Zaimukhts to a strength of between 1500 and 2000 men, attacked our camp, but were driven off with heavy loss. After the withdrawal of the troops, the Orakzais continued to commit depredations upon the Bangash living in the Kohat district, making no fewer than fifteen raids, carrying off many hundred head of cattle and killing several British subjects. In these affairs the tribesmen of the two hamsaya clans, the 364Sheikhan and the Mishti, were concerned, but the Rabia Khel division of the Ismailzai was also conspicuous; and finally, a feud having commenced between the Orakzais and the people of Hangu, a village in the neighbourhood was raided and 660 head of cattle were carried off. At this Major J. Coke, commanding the 1st Punjab Infantry, and also Deputy-Commissioner of Kohat, reinforced Hangu with two guns and 300 bayonets, and, the raids continuing, reported that he proposed to attack the Rabia Khel village of Nasin,[129] assisted by Bangash and other levies. Coke’s proposals were, however, vetoed both by the Brigadier-General commanding the Punjab Frontier Force, and by Mr. John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner—chiefly on the ground of the difficulty and danger of moving troops at that season of the year—July—and defensive measures only were for the present sanctioned. During the next few weeks the tribesmen became more unsettled; the Rabia Khel, Mamazai and Ali Khel held a jirgah, at which it was agreed that, provided the Ali Khel and Akhel would join, the combined four divisions should make an attack upon British territory somewhere about the date of the Eed (the 25th August). There was, moreover, no doubt that the rest of the hill clans were in a most excited state, and were trying to foment a jehad. Brigadier Chamberlain, commanding the Frontier Force, had by this time arrived at Kohat, reinforcements were called up, the border villages were put in a state of defence, communications were 365improved, supplies collected, and friendly chiefs were called upon to collect armed levies.
Expedition of 1855
Expedition against the Rabia Khel (Ismailzai), 1855.—By the 25th August a force of nine guns, one regiment of cavalry, and three battalions of Punjab Infantry had been assembled at Hangu, and on the 1st September arrangements were made to attack early the following morning the villages of Nasin and Sangar, the one on the summit, the other on the slopes of the Samana Range, and that of Katsa on the northern side of the Samana and on the left bank of the Khanki River. The two first-named villages were so situated, both in regard to position and approach, that any attack, during daylight and with the tribesmen prepared to meet our troops, would have entailed serious loss of life. Success depended almost entirely upon the simultaneous surprise of both Nasin and Sangar; and since any preliminary approach would have excited suspicion, it was necessary to start from Hangu, thus involving a march of fourteen miles before the commencement of the ascent of the Samana; while even if the range were ascended opposite camp, the same distance would have to be marched along the ridge before reaching Sangar. It was determined to attack the villages both from above and below, and the following dispositions were made. The 1st Punjab Infantry and three companies of the 2nd Punjab Infantry were detailed, under Major Coke, to attack the village of Sangar, leaving camp at 10 p.m., climbing the range near Hangu, and, moving along 366the crest, to reach and rush Sangar before daybreak.
The second column, composed of three companies of the 3rd Punjab Infantry, was to move at 9 p.m. on Nasin, taking up such a position above and near the village as to command it. If in difficulties, this column was to be reinforced by Major Coke, who was further, after capturing and destroying Sangar, to move the whole of his party down the hill to aid in the attack on Nasin. Katsa, with its rice crops and mills, and which was reported to be almost undefended, was to be attacked and destroyed by a party of levies, who were to move in rear of Major Coke’s column. The remainder of the force, under the Brigadier, was to leave camp shortly after 10 p.m. and, climbing the same spur as the second party, was to move on Nasin in readiness to support any one of the three columns. A reserve, with field guns, came behind the main body, timed to reach the foot of the spur by dawn, so as to cover the retirement.
The troops were warned only one hour before starting.
Each of the three columns effected its purpose without loss, the enemy being completely surprised and making no stand; a large number of sheep and cattle was seized, the towers of the villages were blown up and the crops destroyed; but, on the retirement commencing, the enemy followed up with great determination, and, as the skirmishers of the 2nd Punjab Infantry evacuated a commanding position, they were attacked and driven back by a sudden rush of swordsmen, 367when a native doctor and seven men were hacked to pieces. The enemy did not leave the hill in pursuit, and the whole force reached the camp, one mile south-west of Hangu, by sunset, having suffered a loss of eleven men killed and four wounded. The enemy sustained casualties to the number of twenty-four killed and wounded, among the former being four maliks. The troops had been under arms for over seventeen hours, had marched some twenty-eight miles, and had ascended and descended a rugged mountain nearly 4000 feet in height.
Trouble in 1865–8
Within a few days of the close of these operations the Mishtis came to terms and gave hostages; the Rabia Khel then came in and submitted, bringing back many of the plundered cattle and promising payment for those not forthcoming; the Sheikhans also made submission, and the force was back in Kohat by the 7th October, when it was broken up.
After this the Orakzais did not again trouble our border until 1868, when complications arose with the Bizoti division of the Daulatzais. This being a small and insignificant branch with its chief settlements in Tirah, its members had hitherto been able to avoid punishment for any misdeeds of which they had been guilty. From the commencement of British rule beyond the Indus, the Bizotis were constantly engaged in cattle-lifting on our border, and had attacked and robbed travellers and others at every opportunity. In 1865–67 they continued to give trouble, plundered cattle, and made demonstrations against our police 368posts in the Ublan Pass, about six miles from Kohat. The representatives of the offending divisions—Bizotis, Utman Khels and Sipaias (the last of the Muhammad Khel clan) were summoned to Kohat, were informed that they were debarred from trade with British territory, and the Bizotis were further deprived of certain allowances which had been granted them some years previously. Finally, in March 1868, it was reported that the Bizotis intended attacking the village of Muhammadzai, at the southern foot of the Ublan Pass, and accordingly, during the night of the 10th and early morning of the 11th, Lieutenant Cavagnari, Deputy-Commissioner, occupied the hills on the left of the gorge with police and levies.
Operations against the Bizotis (Daulatzai), 1868.—There appearing to be no doubt that a raid was intended, 100 bayonets were sent out from Kohat to reinforce the levies at Muhammadzai, and about 11.30 a.m. the enemy collected to the number of some 200 about the Ublan Kotal, beating drums, and occupying the right of the Pass. Major Jones, 3rd Punjab Cavalry, commanding at Kohat, now ordered out two guns, eighty sabres, and 480 infantry, and the enemy were at once driven from the positions they had first taken up, and fell back upon a high peak where they had erected a breastwork. Three attempts to take this position were defeated, and as it was then 4.30 p.m., it was decided to retire, covered by the guns. Our retirement was in no way pressed, from which it may be assumed that the enemy had suffered considerably, but our own casualties were not slight—eleven 369killed (one British officer), and forty-four wounded.
“A Pathan Surprise”
After this affair the blockade against the Bizotis and other offending divisions was made more stringent, but this measure was comparatively ineffective, as these tribesmen soon departed to their summer quarters in Tirah. As the time again approached when they would return to their winter settlements, it was determined to put pressure on the Orakzais generally by extending the blockade so as to include the whole clan; there seemed some prospect of this measure resulting in the submission of the Daulatzais, when, on the 13th February, 1869, a raiding party of the Utman Khel surprised our police post at the foot of the Kohat Kotal, killed one policeman and carried off three others. As it seemed certain that the well-disposed divisions did not possess the power necessary to coerce the offending parties, it was determined by Lieutenant-Colonel Keyes, then commanding at Kohat, and by Lieutenant Cavagnari, Deputy-Commissioner, to make a counter-raid into the territory of the Bizotis and Utman Khels. This raid is admirably described in Chapter XIX., “A Pathan Surprise,” in Oliver’s Across the Border, and appears, in all the preliminary arrangements and the actual conduct of the operations, to be a model of how a petty border expedition of this kind should be projected and carried out.
The plan was to cross the Ublan Pass, and if not opposed at the village of Gara to pass on to and destroy that of Dana Khula; if, however, opposed at 370Gara, then no further advance was to be made, as the delay would preclude the surprise of Dana Khula, where the enemy would be able to make preparations, while to reach it the troops would have to fight their way for two miles. The jirgah of the Kohat Pass Afridis happened then to be in Kohat, and to prevent any information leaking out through them to the Daulatzais, the jirgah was detained in Kohat on some pretext while the troops were absent. It was clear that the complete success of the whole operation depended upon the sudden and surprise seizure of the Ublan Kotal, and, consequently, not even commanding officers were informed of what was in view until a few hours prior to a start being made. At midnight on the 24th February, the 4th Punjab Cavalry[130] moved out and formed a complete cordon round the town of Kohat, so as to prevent anybody from entering, and, still more, from leaving it; police picquets were posted also at all places where a footman might seek to enter the hills. At the same hour the mountain guns were got ready for service, half an hour later the native gunners were warned, and the 1st and 4th Punjab Infantry were turned out; at 1 a.m. the 2nd Punjab Infantry was paraded, and at that hour two guns and two infantry battalions left Kohat; all without bugle sound.
The Kotal was found undefended, but the enemy made some stand at Gara, which was taken with a loss on our side of one killed and nineteen wounded, and the surprise of Dana Khula was consequently impracticable. 371Gara, however, was completely destroyed, cattle and other live stock were driven off, and the retirement commenced. The descent was steep and difficult, and the retreat, harassed by the enemy, was necessarily slow, but the troops were withdrawn from the hill with great coolness and steadiness, incurring, however, a further loss of two killed and fourteen wounded.
Continued Trouble
While these operations were being carried on from Kohat, a strong column had moved out from Peshawar, and had materially assisted the movements of Colonel Keyes’ force by distracting the attention of the Utman Khel Orakzais and a division of the Aka Khel Afridis.
The Bizotis and their neighbours had learnt a lesson, and early in April the jirgahs of the Bizotis, Utman Khels and Sipaia (Muhammad Khel) divisions came into Kohat, made submission, paid a fine of Rs. 1200, and gave up nine of their principal headmen as hostages for their future good behaviour; the long-standing blockade was then removed.
For the next three years this part of our border remained tolerably quiet, but thereafter there was a constant succession of petty raids and disturbances—not individually, perhaps, of much account, but forming, in the aggregate, sufficient reason for undertaking at no distant date punitive measures against the Orakzais as a whole. In 1873 the Sipaia division of the Muhammad Khel gave trouble on the Kohat border. In 1878 the Massuzai and Lashkarzai evinced hostility towards us, both in Upper Miranzai and in the Kurram; during the Afghan War emissaries from 372the Amir, aided by the preachings of the mullahs, disquieted all the Sunni Orakzai clans; and although there was no concerted action undertaken by these tribesmen, the Ali Khels, and the Alisherzai and Mamuzai divisions of the Lashkarzai, committed many outrages and raids between Hangu and Thal, attacking posts, carrying off cattle, cutting up unarmed parties and coolies, and increasing generally the difficulties of our communications between India and Afghanistan. Despite, too, the fact that only two clans of Orakzais were actively engaged in these raids, the men appeared to have been accorded free passage through the country of the Ismailzai and Malla Khel, both in proceeding to the scenes of their outrages, and when returning home with the plunder obtained. Fines had been imposed by Government, whose hands were at the time too full for embarking upon the military expedition necessary for their collection, and already by the end of 1880 the indebtedness of the Orakzais in fines amounted to upwards of Rs. 15,000.
From 1884 until the end of 1890 increased and increasing trouble was given by parties belonging to divisions of almost every clan of Orakzais whose settlements are nearest to our frontier—Ismailzai, Sturi Khel, Mishtis and Malla Khel—fines remained unpaid, and new scores, though marked up, were ignored. The necessity for strong measures was urged by the Deputy-Commissioner again and again; one division committed forty-eight fresh offences in one year; the Sturi Khel made a partial payment of fines for past misconduct, and then commenced a fresh indebtedness 373by new outrages; the Samana boundary line, acknowledged and acquiesced in since 1865, was repudiated in 1888. A new frontier post was established at Shinawari, at the southern exit of the Chagru defile, and was promptly attacked by a mixed band of Malla Khel and Rabia Khel; and on the main road between Kai and Hangu, a police guard was attacked in open day, prisoners were rescued, and arms carried off. This lawless condition of the border abated somewhat at the beginning of 1890, when a punitive expedition appeared to the tribe to be imminent, and a portion of the outstanding fines was paid up; but the Rabia Khel continued to be aggressive, and in December of this year sent an insolent message to the Deputy-Commissioner, that they had no intention whatever of paying up any of the heavy arrears of fines due from them—an example which was promptly followed by the Sturi Khel.
First Miranzai Expedition
First Miranzai Expedition, 1891.—The patience of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab and of the Government of India was now exhausted, and an expedition was decided upon, having for its special object the punishment of the Rabia Khel (Ismailzai), Mamuzai (Lashkarzai), Sheikhan and Mishti divisions and clans, and also of the Sturi Khel, should these not submit on the occupation by our troops of the Khanki Valley.
The expeditionary force, under command of Brigadier-General Sir William Lockhart, K.C.B., C.S.I., was assembled at Kohat by the 12th January, the advance being arranged for the 19th, and on the 374former date a proclamation was issued to the four Samil clans, whose punishment was about to be undertaken, warning them not to resist, and to the remainder of the Orakzais informing them that they would be in no way interfered with provided they did not oppose us. The force was composed of—
 
Two Squadrons of Cavalry.
 
Two Mountain Batteries.
 
One Company Bengal Sappers and Miners.
 
Seven Infantry Battalions, each of a strength of 600.
No British troops formed part of the force, which was divided into three columns, rendezvousing respectively at Shahu Khel, Togh and Hangu. The start was delayed by heavy rain and snow, and the troops were not in position until the 21st January. On the advance commencing practically no opposition was experienced; the country of each one of the offending clans was visited by the different columns; and within a very short space of time each division had made its submission—the Rabia Khel standing out to the last. The Khanki Valley was traversed as far west as Ghuzghor; a reconnaissance was pushed up the Daradar Valley through Star Khel to the Kharai Kotal overlooking the Sheikhan country; Dran was visited; and a column marched from Shahu Khel and reached the Zera Pass via Bar Marai, sending reconnaissances through the Gudar defile to Sultanzai and Shirazgarhi on the Lower Mastura. The casualties were nil, but the troops suffered severely from the extreme cold. The following terms imposed were 375agreed upon: the establishment of three posts on the Samana connected by mule road with each other, and with Baliamin, Darband and Hangu; payment of outstanding fines; undesirables and outlaws not to be harboured by the tribes. The tribes had not agreed to the construction of the Samana forts—at Gulistan on the west, near Sangar, and on the east at Lakka—with an especially good grace, but their submission had been so complete that no further immediate trouble was anticipated.
Trouble on the Samana
The field force had barely broken up when it was rumoured that the clans concerned, egged on by the taunts of those tribesmen who had not been proceeded against, were trying to form a combination to prevent the construction of the Samana posts, and that the Rabia Khel were particularly truculent. Kohat was, as a precautionary measure, reinforced by a battery and a battalion, but nothing of the nature of an actual outbreak occurred until the 4th April. On this date an attack was made upon our working parties on the Samana by men of the Rabia Khel, who, having been taken on as labourers on the road, suddenly turned upon the covering party, and were then at once reinforced by large numbers of tribesmen who had been awaiting events on the north side of the Samana. Our troops were obliged to abandon the crest of the range and to fall back upon Baliamin, having suffered a loss of fourteen killed and seven wounded.
From subsequent enquiry it was elicited that the Rabia Khel had been joined in this outbreak by the 376Mamuzai, Sheikhans and Mishtis, and the temporary success of the movement at once swelled the numbers of the enemy, until it was computed that many thousand men were under arms; these included not only all the Orakzais of the Khanki Valley, but a certain number of Afridis under one Mir Bashar, a Malikdin............