Military history of the North-West Frontier
The North-West Frontier (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) was a region of the British Indian Empire. It remains the western frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west,[2] and separating the modern Pakistani frontier regions of North-West Frontier Province (renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan in the west. The borderline between is officially known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan.
The two main gateways on the North West Frontier are the Khyber and Bolan Passes. Since ancient times, the Indian subcontinent has been repeatedly invaded through these northwestern routes. With the expansion of the Russian Empire into Central Asia in the twentieth century, stability of the Frontier and control of Afghanistan became cornerstones of defensive strategy for British India.
Much of the Frontier was occupied by Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century, and then taken over by the East India Company when it annexed the Punjab in 1849.[3]
Between 1849 and 1947 the military history of the frontier was a succession of punitive expeditions against offending Pashtun (or Pathan) tribes, punctuated by three wars against Afghanistan. Many British officers who went on to distinguished command in the First and Second World Wars learnt their soldiering on the North-West Frontier, which they called the Grim.[4]
Treatment of prisoners-of-war[edit]
According to the British officer John Masters, Pashtun women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of British India during the Anglo-Afghan Wars would brutally castrate non-Muslim soldiers who were captured, especially British and Sikhs.[37][38] Pashtun women urinated into prisoners' mouths.[39] A method of execution by this is recorded: captured British soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pashtun women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time.[40][41][42][43][44][45][46] This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.[47]