On the North West Frontier.

Abstract

There had been many political changes before my trip to Pakistan in January 1980, the most important being the invasion of Afghanistan by the Russians in December 1979. Thousands of refugees were now spilling over the border and the political outcome was uncertain. I was to spend my elective in Peshawar, North-west Frontier Province, about 25 km from the Khyber Pass and only 50 km from the Afghan border. I arrived in Rawal? pindi at dawn on a cold, rainy day. The airport was dirty and teeming with Pakistani soldiers, who were there to greet the foreign ministers attending an all-Islamic conference. It was a taste of the military strength I noticed as I travelled along the Af ghanistan Pakistan border. I also sampled the administrative dis? array when I was told my flight to Peshawar was fully booked and after much persuasion got a ticket to find the plane only half full. In the four hours I had to wait I experienced the difficulties that an un? accompanied woman faces in Islamic culture.