§ SIR H. COTTON (Nottingham, E.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of 237 State for India whether he has any official information to the effect that many thousands of Afghans have poured over the frontier and have attacked fortified posts on the Khyber Pass; and whether he is in a position to give any information to the House regarding the general situation on the North-West Frontier?
§ MR. BUCHANANOfficial reports state that Afghans in considerable numbers took part in the recent attack on Landi Kotal in the Khyber Pass. As regards the general situation in the Khyber, the attack on Landi Kotal failed entirely, and the tribesmen have retired over the Afghan frontier, but it is too soon to make any statement as to the future. The attitude of the Zakka Khel and other Afridi tribes has been loyal and friendly throughout, and the Zakka Khel elders have gone so far as to offer their services—a satisfactory vindication of the policy of the arrangements made in closing the expedition against them. On the Mohmand border the arrival of a representative jirga of the tribes is expected. Our latest reports are that things are quiet on the Malakand side.
§ *MR. REESIs this a convenient occasion for giving a trial to the hon. Member for East Nottingham's scheme for withdrawing our army from India and relying on treaty rights?
[No Answer was returned.]