'THIM DAYS IS GONE' [‎77r] (153/248)

78
i ncredib1e.
story gave me
Chief Justice
exceptionally
They were, in fact perfectly true! My friend's
f Pa h r 1 ' h cu . ar P'easure as I had always regarded that
(who had reversed a decision of mine in Multan ) as
ignorant of local customs and conditions ’
One always remembers cases in which one feels on re-consideration
that one may have given the wrong decision, and forgets those
cases inwhicb one is satisfied that the decision was right and
one particular one, which has always stuck in my memory is’that
of two Wazirs who were charged in my court with highway y robbery.
The evidence rested mainly on identification, and indeed thev
were striking.Poking men - tall, thin, saturnine, with bin nosls
eyes close together - and I convicted them. Later I
occasion to visit their village and was dismayed to find that all
elucVant^r 5 l0 ° ke t d eX3Ctly aHke! Ever "since I have been
reluctant to convict on evidence of identification. However
perhaps it was not so bad as I felt, as it is a we 1 1 - under s tnnd
principle on the Frontier that, if you cannot arrest the Ictlll
wenl' S ’ 0thers fronl the,r tribe or community will do almost as
It was amusing to find amongst the Khattaks of Bahadur Khel one
r hose factional divisions which seem to split peoples who have
nothing to disagree about, but would like to find some?hina
GMheMi mean 'u? eSS (c ' f ’ Mont agues and Capulets, Guelphs and
Ghibel ines, Hinawis and Ghafiris (in Oman), and - dare I
• ~ Democrats and Republicans in the U.S A )
ahadur Khel the disagreement which split the inhabitants
two violently opposed parties was over the pronounciation of
times a° dTv It thl^h 0Pen ' n9 Ve f rSe of the Q° ran . repeated
times a day at the beginning of the ritual prayers- and
Ar1bfc en both r0 r fr0m the . fact that * to anyone with a knowledge of
Arabic, both pronounciations were wrong! y
After barely 3 months in Kohat, when I was just beqinnina tr
appreciate how little I knew of administration orders camr
s1rar1nha me PoHtica, Agent, South Waz i r i s t an,
bararogha. This was welcome, as Waziristan was very much where
orne to’°Koh W a a t Vn the / 1m !- a , nd 1 sen t for a Mahsud tribesman M
1?1?ect of Pashtu ° ^ t0 learn fr ° m him the peculiar Mahs od
sa^
Ir
i n t c
the
five
the
I was amused when he told me
importance in Waziristan, as he
understand what my predecessor
Pashtu!
that he was a person of some
was the only man there who could
was saying when trying to speak
However it was not
instead to Bushire
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
Cunningham, wrote a
of India, but was
hotting up in the Gulf
to be : further orders came through posting me
on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. as Under-Secretary to the
and Consul-General. The Governor, Sir George
vigorous letter of protest to the Government
over-ruled on the grounds that things were
Persian speakers were urgently needed.
and