An unfortunate affair in connection with the Mahajarin occurred on the 8th instant at Kacha Garhi between Peshawar and Jamrud.  The following are the facts as at present reported.  Two members of a party of the Mahajarins proceeding by train to Jamrud were detected by the British military police travelling without tickets.  Altercation ensued at Islamia College Station, but the train proceeded to Kacha Garhi.  An attempt was made to evict these Mahajarins, whereupon the military police were attacked by a crowd of some forty Mahajarins and the British officer who intervened was seriously wounded with a spade.  A detachment of Indian troops at Kacha Garhi thereupon fired two or three shots at the Mahajarin for making murderous assault on the British officer.  One Mahajarin was killed and one wounded and three arrested.  Both the military and the police were injured.  The body of the Mahajarin was despatched to Peshawar and buried on the morning of the 9th.  This incident has caused considerable excitement in Peshawar City, and the Khilafat Hijrat Committee are exercising restraining influence.  Shops were closed on the morning of the 9th.  A full enquiry has been instituted.

Now Peshawar to Jamrud is a matter of a few miles.  It was clearly the duty of the military not to attempt to pull out the ticketless Mahajarins for the sake of a few annas.  But they actually attempted force.  Intervention by the rest of the party was a foregone conclusion.  An altercation ensued.  A British officer was attacked with a spade.  Firing and a death of a Mahajarin was the result.  Has British prestige been enhanced by the episode?  Why have not the Government put tactful officers in charge at the frontier, whilst a great religious emigration is in progress?  The action of the military will pass from tongue to tongue throughout India and the Mussalman world around, will not doubt be unconsciously and even consciously exaggerated in the passage and the feeling bitter as it already is will grow in bitterness.  The Communique says that the Government are making further inquiry.  Let us hope that it will be full and that better arrangements will be made to prevent a repetition of what appears to have been a thoughtless act on the part of the military.

And may I draw the attention of those who are opposing non-co-operation that unless they find out a substitute they should either join the non-co-operation movement or prepare to face a disorganised subterranean upheaval whose effect no one can foresee and whose spread it would be impossible to check or regulate?

III.  THE PUNJAB WRONGS

POLITICAL FREEMASONRY