http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/dmag8.htm
By Fazal Qureshi
The gorgeous Malakand region, with its lush green valleys, imposing mountains and swift-flowing river, inspired the writer in the young Winston Churchill. Though he went on to become one of the most powerful men of his time, he never quite got over the beauty of this region.
Driving from Peshawar to Swat, one traverses some of the most picturesque panorama in northern Pakistan - lush green valleys, imposing mountains, and a churning river that keeps flowing by the roadside. This is the gorgeous Malakand region, the gateway to Pakistan’s Northern areas, where the famed British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, started his military career at the raw age of 22, as a cavalry lieutenant in the British army.
Malakand also enjoys the unique distinction of being the place which inspired the young Lieutenant Churchill to write his first book, narrating the story of British military expedition in Dir and Chitral. The book became a bestseller and laid the foundation of Churchill’s international fame, not long thereafter resulting in getting him a seat in the British Parliament at the very young age of 25.
And the people of Malakand have also not forgotten Churchill. As you leave the lovely mountaintop Malakand town, cross through the busy market centre of Batkheia, you reach the small riverside hamlet of Chakdara, which was the last British military outpost for the northern areas of NWFP, including Dir and Chitral. Chakdara still hosts the historic British era fort where Churchill had a sojourn. On top of the mountain facing the Chakdara Fort is the military watch-post, which today is a celebrated memorial, dedicated to the memory of the great world leader. On the side of the hill, carved out in giant letters are the words ‘Churchill Picket’, which are clearly visible to people driving past the place on the opposite side of the river to and from Mingora, the capital of Swat. By any account, this place is, even today, a distant and forlorn part of the subcontinent, one can imagine what it might have been over 200 years ago, towards the end of the 19th century when Churchill came here.
We broke our journey to cross the newly-built bridge on River Swat to have a closer view of the historic site. The historic fort, built by the British in late 19th century, is now in a dilapidated condition, being used as a base by the local militia. The road onwards leads to Timargarah, and from there on to Dir and Chitral, climbing high mountain through the famed Lowari Pass. It was late in the afternoon and we could not climb the hill to Churchill Picket, but the local people were well-aware of Winston Churchill. He was posted in Chakdara as a lieutenant in the British expeditionary force, named ‘Malakand Field Force’, formed in 1897 with the task to quell uprising in Dir and Chitral.
Churchill not only fought battles, but also acted as a war correspondent for the British media and finally wrote The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War. It was the first of a long line of books which he was to write later on about his experiences of wars in Sudan, South Africa and the multi-volume works on World War I and World War II.
The Malakand Field Force offered Churchill a good start in life. He was only 22 during this campaign. In addition to his army studies and his hobby, polo, he had been self-educating himself in history and politics, reading Gibbon, Plato, Carlyle and many others.
While stationed in India, he also systematically read a number of volumes of the Annual Register of English Politics, forming his own opinion on each major issue before reading the debates. The area of concern, Chitral, was then a disputed area between the North-West Frontier Province of India and the Afghan rulers. Although ancient Gandhara neons in the region are indicative of more peaceful and prosperous Buddhist times, during the British period the northern regions of NWFP suffered vagaries of a long era of turbulence, with warlike Pathan tribes who disliked British occupation and gave them a tough time through valiant resistance.
This is the account of the Malakand expedition, as given by Winston Churchill: “In 1892, the ruler of Chitral died, leaving many sons, all equally ferocious, ambitious, and unscrupulous. One of these, Afzal by name, though not the eldest or acknowledged heir, had the good fortune to be on the spot. He seized the reins of power, and having murdered as many of his brothers as he could catch, proclaimed himself Mehtar and invited the recognition of the Indian Government. He was acknowledged chief, as he seemed to be “a man of courage and determination”, and his rule afforded a prospect of settled government. The surviving brothers fled to neighbouring states.”
Churchill continues: “Nizam, the eldest, came to Gilgit and appealed to the British. He got no help. The blessing had already been bestowed. But in November, 1892, Sher Afzal, a brother of the late Amir, returned by stealth to Chitral, whence fraternal affection had driven him, and killed the new Mehtar and another brother, both of whom were his nephews.”
“The “wicked uncle” then ascended the throne, or its equivalent. He was, however, opposed. The avuncular usurper, realizing that it might be dangerous to wait longer, fled to Afghanistan, was received by the ruler with hospitality and carefully preserved as an element of future disorder. British India is entangled in this upheaval, its frontier posts and settlements become a target under “the combined allurements of plunder and paradise”. But the isolated warriors of this remote terrain could have little idea of what they had stirred up.”
Churchill continues with his account: “It is no exaggeration to say that perhaps half the tribesmen who attacked the Malakand had thought that the soldiers there were the only troops that the Sirkar (the Government of British India) possessed. ‘Kill these,’ they had said, ‘and all is done.’ What did they know of the distant regiments which the telegraph wires were drawing from far down in the south of India? Little did they realize they had set the world humming; that military officers were hurrying 7,000 miles by sea and land from England to the camps among the mountains, that long trains were carrying ammunition, material and supplies from distant depots to the front. These ignorant tribesmen had no conception of the British Raj. They saw only the forts and camps on the Malakand Pass and the swinging bridge across the river.”
In his later memoir A Roving Commission, Churchill shares more personal observations. The general leading the Malakand Field Force was Sir Bindon Blood, who was very proud to be the direct descendant of the notorious Colonel Blood, who in the reign of King Charles had attempted to steal, by armed force, the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
The General (Sir Bindon Blood), then (in 1897) already a veteran, is reported to have a personal ordeal in this campaign. A fanatic approaching in a deputation… whipped out a knife and rushed upon him from about eight yards. Sir Bindon Blood, mounted upon his horse, drew his revolver and shot his assailant dead at two yards."
The land of the Pathan tribesmen is steeped in centuries of tradition of feuding and fighting, as Churchill describes in A Roving Commission: There are touches of humour in The Malakand Field Force also, but mostly young Churchill is serious and objective, and strives for the high and balanced viewpoint. “The tribesmen were tough fighters. The tribesmen were as well armed as the troops, and they were the brave and formidable adversaries,” as Churchill put it.
The Malakand Field Force included British infantry and cavalry, as well as Sikh, Punjab, Bengal and other units from India. Churchill is careful to give credit for bravery and resourcefulness to many individuals by name, local sepoys as well as British soldiers. His own disregard for danger emerges strongly on the Malakand campaign, but his personal adventures are not described in his history here - having to await the memoir, A Roving Commission. In a technical note, he approves the tight ammunition expenditure during the four days that a portion of the force at Chakdara was besieged - approximately 20 rounds per man per diem. The fire control must have been excellent.
The book Malakand Field Force had an immediate and wide success. The reviewers vied with each other in praise. Wrote Churchill: "When the first bundle of reviews reached me (in Indian) together with the volume as published, I was filled with pride and pleasure at the compliments, and consternated about the printing blunders. The reader must remember that I had never been praised before. The only comments which had ever been made upon my work at school had been ‘Indifferent’, ‘Untidy’, ‘Slovenly’, ‘Bad’, ‘Very bad’, etc. Now here was the great world with its leading literary newspapers and vigilant erudite critics, writing whole columns of praise!
Encouraged, Churchill wrote: “I resolved that as soon as the wars, which seemed to have begun again in several parts of the world, should be ended, and we had won the Polo Cups, I would free myself from all discipline and authority, and set up in perfect independence in England with nobody to give me orders or arouse me by bell or trumpet.”
But, in fact, before young Churchill settled into this writer’s paradise, he managed to get himself into other wars in Sudan and South Africa - at least these did lead to three more books. And on the tide of his Boer War fame, in 1900 at the age of 25, the British voters put him into Parliament. In his political career, as we know, he emerged as one of the most powerful and revered Prime Ministers of Great Britain.