North-West Frontier Research Articles

International Conflict, Border Security, and State Capacity: Case of British India

Abstract The dominant approach to war and state-building attributes state development to wartime growth of extractive capacity. Yet we know little about the administrative foundation through which extractive capacity is increased spatially, beyond the central policy level. Using railways as an example of a state-building asset, I revisit the role of external threat on state-building, with evidence drawing upon detailed historical data from nineteenth-century India during a crucial period of Anglo–Russo rivalry. I find that conflict with Russia led to expansion of railways in the Northwest Frontier bordering Afghanistan, the buffer between British India and Russia, which led to improved performance of local tax administrators. The findings suggest that external conflict promotes state development through provision of logistical networks enabling greater administrative efficiency in geographically distant frontiers.

Six Pioneer Accounts of Life on the Old North-West American Frontier, 1790–1850: A Critical Reading

Six Pioneer Accounts of Life on the Old North-West American Frontier, 1790–1850: A Critical Reading

Colonial policing and police administration in erstwhile Northwest Frontier Province and tribal areas of British India

Colonial policing and police administration in erstwhile Northwest Frontier Province and tribal areas of British India

CME providers’ experiences and practices in Pakistan: a case study

BackgroundPakistan has made numerous attempts to establish and implement a national mandatory CME program which currently do not exist. The purpose of this study is to explore the views of major CME providers in order to identify possible strengths and weaknesses in the current program, and offer evidence-based recommendations to help further enhance the national CME program in Pakistan.MethodsAn exploratory study design using a case study approach through in depth interviews was conducted to examine CME providers’ experiences and perceptions. The study was conducted in Pakistan between August and November 2019 with CME providers from Sindh, Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, and the Federal Capital Territory. Thirty-six providers recognised by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council who were involved in providing CME activities at the national level and whose contact information was publicly available on their websites, were selected for the study. Of the 36 providers invited, 22 participated in this study.ResultsThe results generated several organising themes grouped into three major themes: (1) CME current practices, (2) CME past experiences, and (3) Future developments.ConclusionParticipants recommended needs-based educational activities for physicians, a well-structured central regulatory CME body collaborating with existing providers, involving experienced providers for rural CME, accrediting diverse local providers, limiting commercial entities’ role, and implementing CME with proper preparation and a phased approach.

Preserving the Bannuwal Identity: Post-Partition Bannu Refugees

This paper deals with Partition refugees from Bannu who identified as Bannuwals and continue to do so. It aims to examine the microhistory of post-Partition Bannu refugees resettled across North India and focuses on their preservation of their Bannuwal identity. The role of language, proverbs and songs, cuisine and rituals in identity preservation by Bannuwals has been examined. Qualitative methodology using oral history interviews to record the memories and post-memories of Bannuwals has been used to identify a distinctive Bannuwal identity. Data for the qualitative research was collected through fieldwork in cities in India where the Bannu community is primarily resettled. Secondary sources such as books and essays on Bannu and the North-West Frontier Province and archival documents were consulted to obtain an informed perspective on Bannu’s historical background. Seventeen people were interviewed using unstructured interviews.

Trends in childhood vaccination in Pakistan and associated factors; 2006–2018

IntroductionPakistan still has ongoing transmission of wild type polio virus. This study aims to determine changes in full vaccination with recommended Expanded Program on Immunization vaccines, including polio, by several socio-economic and demographic factors. MethodsWe used three waves of Pakistan’s Demographic and Health Survey, a population-based cross-sectional study from 2006–07 (N = 1471), 2012–13 (N = 1706), and 2017–18 (N = 1549), analyzed by residence, wealth, and sociodemographic factors. Analysis was limited to children aged 12–23 months in Punjab, Sindh, Northwest Frontier Province/Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Full vaccination was measured as receipt of one Bacillus Calmette–Guérin dose, one measles dose, 3 polio doses, and 3 Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis doses. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) from logistic regression were used to determine associations between undervaccination and demographic variables. ResultsFull vaccination coverage was 50.6 % in 2006–07, 54.7 % in 2012–13, and 68.3 % in 2017–18. In 2006–07, the odds of undervaccination were significantly higher in Sindh (OR: 1.74, 95 % CI: 1.30, 2.31) than Punjab, and disparities across province changed over time (P < 0.0001); notably, undervaccination was significantly higher in Sindh, KPK, and Balochistan than Punjab in 2017. Compared to the middle wealth quintile, the poorest had significantly higher odds of undervaccination in 2006–07 (OR: 2.58, 95 % CI: 1.76, 3.78), and this did not significantly change over time (P = 0.2168). The proportion of those with a polio birth dose increased across waves from 56.3 % in 2006–07 to 83.7 % in 2017–18; receiving three or more polio vaccine doses remained unchanged. ConclusionThis study showed that the proportion of fully vaccinated children in Pakistan increased across three waves. Full vaccination and administration of polio vaccine birth doses have increased recently in Pakistan. The association between undervaccination with province differed significantly across the waves, with vaccination disparities between provinces increasing. Those in the poorest wealth quintile had the greatest odds of undervaccination.

Satellite derived mixing ratio profile, a resourceful indicator of heat waves: INSAT-3DR sounder based analysis

India, being a tropical country, frequently experiences a natural hazard called heat waves especially during the hot summer season. During the summer months of 2022, India experienced moderate to severe heat waves spanning March to the third week of May. This adverse weather situation severely affects the northwest and the central Indian regions, causing loss of human lives, crop damage, and a scarcity of water. The present study is the first attempt to assess the meteorological situations favoring heat waves using Indian National Satellite (INSAT)-3DR sounder data. Such studies using satellite based sounder data have seldom happened. The study is conducted during March-May 2022 using the mixing ratio data derived from the INSAT-3DR sounder at 500 hPa, 620 hPa, 700 hPa, 850 hPa, and 950 hPa pressure levels of the atmosphere. From the present study, it is observed that the INSAT-3DR derived mixing ratio profile gives clear signatures of an impending heat wave condition. The weather signal can be observed as an apparent dryness representing the low mixing ratio values (<6 g/kg) percolating from upper layers (600 hPa) to lower levels (850 hPa). These percolations (seeping) happen prior to the surface layers actually show the effects of the heat wave. The study verifies the prior studies of heat wave strike over northwest frontiers of Indian land mass and its further expansion to eastern and southern regions. During strong heat wave conditions surface temperatures reaching maximum of 46 ͦ C at northwest regions, 41 ͦ C at eastern regions and 40 ͦ C at southern regions. The corresponding mixing ratio values at 950 hPa diminishes to 2–4 g/kg for northwest regions and 4–6 g/kg at eastern and southern regions. The study also gives hints to locate signals of heat waves regarding their origin, possible expanding directions, and geographical extent from the satellite-derived mixing ratio. The observations from the analysis give scope for further enhancing the study in the future to devise efficient forecasting methodologies to predict heat wave conditions using satellite derived mixing ratio profiles.

From ‘Butcher and Bolt’ to ‘Bugsplat’: Race, Counterinsurgency, and International Politics

Beginning in the early 2000s, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan revived interest among security studies scholars in counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare. Yet most studies of COIN in mainstream security studies have not explored the role of race, despite the fact that the principles of COIN warfare were developed during the colonial period when racialized visions dominated world politics. We argue that mainstream security scholars tend to overlook race for two interconnected reasons: first, they treat race as an emotional and interpersonal phenomenon, and second, they assume that racial hostility will manifest in intense and indiscriminate violence. We argue instead that race should be understood as a particular kind of social ontology, one that places human communities into socially reductionist hierarchies based on assumed bio-cultural traits. We then examine how different kinds of racial ontologies were used in the colonial period to develop different kinds of COIN doctrines, whether punitive or paternalistic in character. We demonstrate how these different racialized COIN frameworks informed state practices on the battlefield through a comparative illustration of two COIN campaigns: Britain on the “North-West frontier” of India in the late nineteenth century and the United States along the “Af-Pak border” in the early twenty-first century.

Centre-Province Relations in Pakistan: A Case Study of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2008-2013)

Pakistan is a multi-ethnic state, and as such, there has been a federal structure since its creation in 1947 to address ethnic issues effectively. The center-province relations have, however, suffered many ups and downs on certain issues, such as provincial autonomy and distribution of financial resources. The study in hand aims to investigate the relations between the Provincial Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federal Government of Pakistan at the center from 2008 to 2013. The focus here is on the PPPP-led government at the center and the ANP-led government in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The study proves that there was a significant improvement in the center-province relations in the case of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the period under study. The introduction of the 18th Amendment to the constitution of Pakistan settled the longstanding issues of provincial autonomy and replaced the colonial name of the Province of North-West Frontier Province with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the financial sphere, the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award was a major achievement that enhanced the provincial share in financial resources. However, differences in the net-hydel profit could not be settled.

Politics of New Provinces in Pakistan: A Historical Analysis

Although provincial autonomy was given to provinces of Pakistan through the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010 to pacify the political unrest, yet this amendment did nothing for the true socio-political assimilation of various sub-national identities of different regions such as Saraikis in Punjab, Hazaras in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Mohajirs in Sindh and the Pashtoons in Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan as well. Therefore the demand for creation of new provinces in Pakistan by the afore-mentioned communities prevailed in their respective regions particularly after renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) as KP. The said demand has currently been discarded in other federating units of Pakistan, yet it is prevailing with full momentum in Punjab with respect to the creation of South Punjab province. In that background, the core objective of this study is to inquire about history of these demands for creating new provinces as well as to shed light over the role of various political parties and the constitutional procedure regarding the creation of new provinces. Qualitative method of reasoning is applied to conclude the results. The study finds that division of Punjab at least into two provinces would not only result in administrative convenience but governance and service delivery would also be improved for the general public residing in the province.

Lord Curzon's Tribal Policy: An Appraisal of its Aims of Securing Pacification and Contentment of Frontier Tribesmen

The British Empire, which encapsulated one-fourth of humanity, had few difficult frontiers, and the Northwest Frontier figured prominently among these. The Indian subcontinent was the most prized jewel of its coveted crown, and its preservation was considered vital given the influence and power of other European rivals, i.e., French and Russians in the region. Initially, the Inactive or Stationary Policy was pursued, and later in the 1870s, aggressive and penetrative Policy was adopted in the Tribal Belt. The aggressive Forward Policy alienated the tribespeople, which eventually resulted in the uprising of 1897. The British finally realized that only the Policy of contentment and pacification would ensure long-lasting peace and gain the loyalty of the tribe members. Lord Curzon, the expert on frontier affairs, was the main exponent of this Policy of conciliation to win the confidence of the inhabitants of the most sensitive Frontier of the empire.

Settling North West Frontier Province (NWFP) under British Rule

In this paper, it would be tried to analyse that what was the significance of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) for British colonial rule either that was a political asset or economic? How British became able to establish an order in this antagonistic and inflammatory territory? What were the strategic and tactical measures adapted by British to rule the “unruly” people of NWFP? Moreover, what were the counter measures adopted by the British to maintain peace and stability and to kept away Central Powers activities and propaganda in the region?&#x0D; British came in India for the sake of trade and commerce not for the purpose of ruling them. But when they seek that due to internal conflicts and political instabilities India is so weaker and unable to get benefited with its own resources. Then, they exploited the internal situation for their own interests. (To carry out enormous raw material from this resource rich region, through which natives were unable to get benefited properly). They assume that “we” are educated, rational, rich, strong and superior white people.

Effect of Potash Fertilizer on Vegetative Growth and Pod Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea l.) in Semiarid Region

Groundnut (or peanut, earthnut, monkey nut) is taxonomically classified as Arachis hypogaea and it belongs to family Fabaceae (Leguminosae). In Pakistan, the groundnut is mainly cultivated in rain fed areas, mostly in Punjab, also in some areas of Sindh and North-West Frontier Province. A field experiment was carried out at the Horticultural Research area, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam during the year 2021. Two ground nut cultivarrs (“Golden” and “Bari-2011”) were used and sulphate of potash (SOP) was used @ 60, 80, 100 kg ha-1as treatments. Different growth and yield related parameters were studied in this experiment, such as days to flowering, plant height (cm), canopy width (cm), pods plant-1, kernels plant-1, 100 kernels weight, pod yield ha-1, edible portion (%) and non-edible portion (%). Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used with three replications. Results revealed that the potassium applied @ 80 kg ha-1 significantly affected for canopy width (1213.5 cm), pods plant-1 (52.27), kernels plant-1 (100.99), weight of 100 kernels (58.07 g), pod yield (1590.4 kg ha-1) and edible portion (63.50 %). To compare cultivars, Bari-2011 had superior results for early flowering (28.37 days), plant height (18.68 cm), canopy width (1102.9 cm), pods plant-1 (48.00), kernels plant-1 (94.43), weight of 100 kernels (55.26 g), yield (1543.6 kg ha-1) and edible portion (65.31%) as compared to Golden. The results revealed that potassium application at 80 kg ha-1 produced better results for growth and pod yield related attributes of the groundnut. Whereas, “Bari-2011” responded significantly better for growth and yield related parameters as compared to “Golden”

New insights into the subsistence strategies of the northwest frontier of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE) through pottery lipid analysis

New insights into the subsistence strategies of the northwest frontier of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE) through pottery lipid analysis

Colonial Governance System in Pakistan: A Case Study of South Waziristan, Newly Merged District

This paper discusses the former colonial governance system based on special set of laws known as Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the erstwhile FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas, present-day Newly Merged Tribal Districts). The main purpose of the research is to provide an argument that the colonial governance structure was not the only cause for the widespread militancy in South Waziristan, part of the Newly Merged District. From in-depth interviews with different stakeholders and literature review, it is found out that the FCR with all its inherent faults was deemed successful in the administration of the North West Frontier and it was not responsible for the militancy in the tribal district of South Waziristan. Thus, the paper analyzes the old governance system prior to the spillover of militants and it reaches to the conclusion that the FCR proved to be an effective tool for the political administration of the border area of South Waziristan in both the colonial and post-colonial periods. The study emphases that mismanagement, corruption and incompetency of bureaucracy has led to the weakening of FCR, traditional institutions of dispute resolution and the indigenous leadership model thereby creating leadership vacuum which was in turn filled by the militants. The study has employed ethnographic based data collection techniques to reach the findings that old administrative structure is not responsible for the chaos and militancy in South Waziristan.

Role of Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum Khan in constitutional reforms in the North-West Frontier Province of the British India

This paper analyses the services of Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum Khan in granting constitutional reform to North-West Frontier. Quaid-i-Azam of Sarhad, Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum, after his retirement from government service in 1919, started a struggle for constitutional reforms to the North-West Frontier. The constitutional reforms introduced in British India since its inception in 1901 were not extended timely to North-West Frontier, due to which it remained a Chief Commissioner's Province till 1932. Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum pleaded the case on all fronts, including the Bray Committee, Indian Legislative Assembly, Delhi Proposals, annual sessions of All India Muslim League, Simon Commission, Haig Committee, and Round Table Conferences held in London. After a long struggle, North-West Frontier was levelled from a Commissioner Province to a Governor Province, and a Legislative Council was formed in 1932. After the elections, Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum was elected as the Minster of the Transferred Departments of N-W.F.P. After five years, according to the Act of 1935, the Legislative Assembly was formed, and he was elected as the first Chief Minister of N-W.F.P. in 1937. The article reviewed primary and secondary data available in the provincial archives, Peshawar, National Documentation Centre, Islamabad, British Library, London, and other libraries.

A contrastive analysis study between Arabic and Pashto languages vowels

This brief and intensive study explore the importance of vowels. It is a library research which is conducted to find out what will happen if we violet the vowels during speaking and writing. So we could not communicate the message accurately and we also cannot convey the sense of a source text to target text properly.This is a phonological study of Arabic and Pashto. The author has compared an Indo Iranian language with a Semitic language. The Pashto being spoken by the Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan and North West frontier and Baluchistan provinces of Pakhtonkhowa.The study however is limited to the standard variety of Arabic and Pashto.The study being with an introduction to the cardinal vowel scale.Arabic and Pashto vowels have been placed on this scale to prove scientifically their similarities and differences. The place and manner of articulation for each of the Arabic and Pashto vowels has been discussed. These have been placed in differed words initially medially and finally for comparison.

George White and the Victorian Army in India and Africa: Serving the Empire, by Stephen M. Miller

Reviewed by: George White and the Victorian Army in India and Africa: Serving the Empire by Stephen M. Miller M. C. Smith (bio) George White and the Victorian Army in India and Africa: Serving the Empire, by Stephen M. Miller; pp. ix + 323. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, $139.99, $139.99 paper, $109.00 ebook. Stephen M. Miller has produced a serviceable new biography of an eminent Victorian soldier, Field Marshal Sir George Stuart White, an understated yet important player in the shaping of the late-Victorian army. George White and the Victorian Army in India and Africa: Serving the Empire opens with a bit of historiography, making the valid point that White deserves an updated biography; the only substantial treatment of his life was written shortly after his death by a friend and colleague, Mortimer Durand. Although Durand’s work was no hagiography, he did treat his friend—and the upper command structure of the Victorian army—kindly. The result was an incomplete story of the life of an influential late-Victorian soldier and administrator. Miller has produced a biography with perhaps a greater degree of objectivity than Durand’s, with the added perspective of an additional century of hindsight to set the context of White’s life and his impact on Victorian military thought. White served during an era of major change as the British Army marched toward the twentieth century, and his opinions and observations provide insight to the effects of modernization, professionalization, and the upheaval of the Cardwell Reforms. [End Page 707] Miller provides but a brief sketch of White’s childhood, then picks up White’s military career with his education at Sandhurst in the early 1850s. He details the professional doldrums of a newly commissioned officer’s life and the frustrated quest for distinction in a series of desultory postings. Distinction came with a Victoria Cross earned during the Second Afghan War, along with notice by Frederick Sleigh Roberts, just as he was elevated as Lord Roberts of Kandahar. The intraservice rivalries between the partisans of Lord Roberts and the Ashanti Ring (a coterie of officers attached to another of Britain’s top soldiers, Sir Garnet Wolseley) formed a key theme in White’s life as he advanced in rank and honors. White was sometimes whipsawed between these polarities, and his experiences offer a glimpse of the factional and personal relationships/rivalries that so often determined the extension or withdrawal of a plum command appointment. Miller follows White’s career in high command from his experience as a brigadier in the conquest of Burma (1885–9) and service in Baluchistan (1889–92) through to his final posting as Governor of Gibraltar (1900–12). He pays particular attention to White’s tenure as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Establishment from 1893 to 1898. The two chapters that detail his actions as chief military administrator and commander explore (among other things) the concept of so-called martial races in the armies of the Raj and White’s thoughts on the validity of the notion. The latter of these two chapters devotes significant ink to the situation on the Northwest Frontier in 1897 and 1898, culminating in the controversial Tirah Campaign, from both military and political vantage points. It is rather well done. Miller develops a minor chord of race (as defined by nineteenth-century standards) relations through White’s position as an Anglo-Irish landowner and officer. Miller conducted thorough research in the production of this work. His primary sources range from an extensive collection of White’s private papers, journals, and letters, to unpublished official files from the Public Record Office in Kew, to a substantial array of published public documents. He recognizes the need to read what the Victorians had to say about themselves and then-current events as a key to deciphering their social views, mores, and expectations, and consulted a significant number of contemporary or near-contemporary publications. Miller’s use of contemporary secondary sources is balanced with a selection of modern Victorian scholarship. This allows him to paint a vivid picture of late-Victorian military life without merely appearing as a ventriloquist’s dummy seated on John Bull’s...

‘”A Damnable Blaze”: John Loader Maffey, the North-West Frontier and the Abduction of Mollie Ellis, 1919 – 1923’

ABSTRACT On 14 April 1923, an attack upon the bungalow of Major Ellis in Kohat on India’s North-West Frontier, resulted in the murder of Mrs Ellis and the abduction of their seventeen-year-old daughter, Mollie. Led by Ajab Khan Afridi, the abductors, fled into the independent territory of the Tirah Jowaki. The North-West Frontier represented a contested and strategically sensitive frontier open to both Russian encroachment and the machinations of the Amir of Afghanistan, whilst the Pathan tribal inhabitants were simultaneously characterised as ‘savages’ and independent warriors. Mollie Ellis’s abduction brought into sharp relief the governance and security of the region that pivoted on John Loader Maffey as Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province. Using the hitherto unpublished collection of papers and letters from Maffey to his wife, Dorothy Gladys Huggins, an assessment of the political, strategic and financial limits of British power through the lens of the man on the ground will be possible. In the final assessment, the abduction of Mollie Ellis demonstrated that Britain’s existence on this strategically sensitive frontier rested upon an uneasy coexistence between the Afghan Amir, the Frontier tribes and the limits of imperial endurance in both Delhi and London.

PAKISTAN: AXING THE ROOTS. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION AND RISE OF MILITANCY IN PAKISTAN’S FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED TRIBAL AREAS

Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, a region lying on the boundary between Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province and southern Afghanistan, controlled by the Federal Government of Pakistan, has been in the public eye following the event of the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The spate of the rise of militancy and insurgencies in FATA currently poses a serious threat to the political stability of Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively. Relying on the documentary methods of data collection and analysis, therefore, this study argues that the major factor underlying the prevailing militancy in FATA is the deep-seated political and socio-economic marginalization of the region. The study thus recommends, among other measures, that the Government of Pakistan needs to expedite actions to initiate and implement deliberate and well articulated holistic reforms to bring the region into the mainstream of Pakistan’s socio economic and political developmental agenda. The study concludes that the intentional and proper adoption and application of these measures would be a realistic way of ending the militancy and insurgency in FATA and achieving lasting peace in the region and Pakistan as a whole. Keywords: Governance/Politics, Economy, Marginalization, FATA, Militancy, Religion.