§ MR. HUNTER (Aberdeen, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether any, and what, alteration has been made in the relations of the Indian Government to the districts of Kurram, Pishin, and Sibi, as fixed by the Treaty of Gandamuk?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)(who replied) said: By the Treaty of Gandamuk, entered into with the Ameer Yakoob Khan on May 26, 1879, the districts of Pishin and Sibi were assigned to the British Government, and their Revenues, after deducting the charges of the Civil administration, were to be paid over to the Ameer. But in consequence of the massacre of the English Mission at Cabul, on September 3, 1879, followed by the abdication of Yakoob Khan, the districts in question remained in British occupation; and in 1887 it was found necessary, for administrative purposes, that they should be formally incorporated into the Indian Empire. They are included under the administration of the Chief Commissioner of British Beloochistan. When the Kurram Valley was evacuated by the British troops in 1880, the district was handed over to the independent control of the Turri tribes. (1881, C. 2,776, p. 103).