Wednesday 7 September 2016
Arrested
tree at Landi Kotal
“I
AM UNDER ARREST”
In 1898, A British army officer James Squid in a
state of drunkenness feel an old banyan tree lurch towards him. He ordered mess
Havaldar to arrest the tree immediately. Presently, it is Khyber Rifles
Officers Mess; at Landikotal in Khyber Agency (FATA), at historic Khyber Pass, Pakistan. To this day, it stands
fettered and forlorn, with a board hanging on it that reads: “I am under
arrest.”
The
tree is still under arrest after all these years in remembrance of the British
invasion of the sub continent.
Historic
Khyber Pass, has witnessed the jostle of multiple empires as they fought for
the remote, rich expanses of the Hindukush. Harsh socio-political imprints left
behind by Alexander, Genghis Khan, and Amir Timur. All they came here from
north side. Sikhs also came here and establish their state, they came from
Lahore. After all British are dispersed throughout the craggy defiles and they
came from south in this area.
Now,
these tribal areas are trapped in the midst of another vortex, the ‘war on
terror.’
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