MR. J. H. ROBERTSI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the notification recently issued from the Political Department of the Government of India purporting to extend jurisdiction, under the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, to a tract of country bordered on the east by the Deva Ismail Khan district, and on the west by the Bargha Shiranis country; whether this region is beyond the frontiers of Her Majesty's Indian possessions; and, if so, whether he will state under whose authority, and by what statutory sanction, does the jurisdiction of the Indian Government purport to be established on such foreign territory; and whether he will state whether any civil or military officers of the Indian Government are stationed in that tract; and, if so, when and how will the consent of Parliament be asked, as required by the Act of 1858, to sanction the consequent expenditure of Indian revenues beyond the frontiers?
§ LORD G. HAMILTON(1) I am aware that a notification under the Indian Foreign Jurisdiction Act has been issued in respect of the Bargha Shiranis country; (2) the country lies outside the administrative borders of the Punjab, but inside the frontier of Her Majesty's Indian possessions. As Her Majesty has foreign jurisdiction in the tract, action has been legally taken under the Indian Foreign Jurisdiction Act; (3) a native extra Assistant Commissioner is stationed in the tract, and no action under the Act of 1858 is required.