The British have tried various methods to…
1882 CE
The British have tried various methods to keep the Khyber Pass open since the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849, including allowances, punitive expeditions such as those of 1878 and 1879 against the Kohat and Khyber Afridis, and the use of tribal militia (the Khyber Rifles).
The pass is the scene of much fighting during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
The Treaty of Gandamak leaves the Khyber tribes under British control.
Following the war, the British will have continuing trouble with the warlike Pashtun inhabitants.
The British officer John Masters recorded in his autobiography that Pashtun women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of British India during the Second Anglo-Afghan War would castrate non-Muslim soldiers who were captured, like British and Sikhs.
They also used an execution method involving urine, in which Pashtun women urinated into prisoner's mouths.
Captured British soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing.
Pashtun women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time.
This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.