THE MAIZER UPRISING, COLONIAL RESPONSE AND THE GENERAL UPRISING IN THE NWF REGION (1896-97)-AN ANALYSIS

Abstract

Tribal Areas, defined topographically as a strategic zone of defense for British India, were inextricably interwoven with the question of the overall British policy towards Afghanistan and Central Asia. For the British administrators in India the Tribal Areas were a vital and crucial part of the Great Game and its grand strategy to counter any threat to India coming from the direction of North West Frontier Region. Therefore, the British Indian Government, during the 19th century, got ceaselessly involved in a series of tough and challenging military operations against the tribesmen in the Tribal belt only to control this region and crush the uprising and confrontation of the tribes. One such occurrence, in the Frontier history, was the famous uprising of 1897-8, when large-scale risings took place in the Tribal Areas/tribal belt. The uprising started at Maizer where the tribesmen killed some British officials. With astonishing impulsion, the conflagration spread and almost the entire Frontier was on fire. The British Indian administration took nearly a year to deal with the tribes that rose en masse. The British acknowledged the fighting skills of the tribesmen, accepted some of their own errors, and also the weak points of the opponent. The insurrection produced great deliberations in the British high-ups and they were forced to chalk out new plans and strategies to confront such unprecedented uprising in future. This research paper will critically evaluate motives and factors behind Maizer incident and how the British government managed to crush the insurrection and its fallout on the future relationship between the tribesmen and the British Raj.