THE KHYBER PASS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2229, 29 June 1908, Page 1

THE KHYBER PASS.

THE' GATEWAY OF INDIA

Tho Kliyber Pass, which has been mentioned in the cablegrams of late in connection with, .the Indian frontier troubles, is the gateway of'lndia. The Kliyber Rifles', a force recruited from the wild Aridis of tho hills and controlled by a 'handful of British officers, keep the peace of .the pass, but fifty yards on either side their jurisdiction ceases, and Africliand Afghan can raid and' murder at their own sweet wills. Though the dvhyber Pass,, which is at one place only ten feet wide, Persian, Greek, Mongol and Afghan conquerors have poured successively from the barren mountains of Asia to plunder the rich plains of India. Through it would come again the men of the north, eager for loot, were once the protecting hand of Britain withdrawn from tho southern plains. The Pass follows a. narrow, winding course of twenty miles, full of perilous twists and turns between sinister cliffs. It is overhung by mountains, which.rise sheer to heights varying from 1-100 to 3000' feet, and it is tho only one of the many passes that lead from the North-West ‘Frontier of India into Afghanistan 'which is practicable for artillery. Prior to the two Afghan wars of 1839-42 and 187 S-80, tho Kliyber Pass was merely a mule track along the bod.of a narrow watercourse, but during these wars, it was converted'into u road by British engineers. At the close of the second- Afghait war the Ai'ridi tribes, coming under British control, concluded a treaty by which they undertook to secure the safety of the pass For trade in return for a Subsidy from the British Government. The At'vklis kept the agreement faithfully for eightcon years, hut the guards were swept away in the fanatical frontier rising of 189/. Tho Tirali campaign followed, and. then the pass was'handed over to the Kliyber Rifles, which once a week guard the passage of trade canivano. long convoys of camels, oxen and asses. The condition of the pass affords a striking example of the complex character of tlie British rule in India. It is a protected British highway through tribal territory, where no law is respected except the law of force.