PARTITION - additional recordings I Andrew Whitehead I ___________________________________I CD-29 Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari I/vd by AW by phone to Karachi, 12 May 2003 - aged 72. Described by O B-J (p 65) as ‘a 17-year-old tribal leader from Balochistan who tried to take some men to join in the fighting [in Kashmir in 1947]’, but who was stopped from getting there. Autobiography, A Journey to Disillusionment, OUP, Karachi, 2002. HOW CAME TO WANT TO FIGHT IN KASHMIR IN ‘47 I had returned from Dehra Dun, it was a military establishment over there - it was the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, Dehra Dun - and before I left I saw a lot of atrocities being committed around me. And that got me emotionally very upset. So when we were brought here by an airplane to Pakistan, we didn’t know what to expect but we were so emotionally attached to our country that I actually bent down and kissed the soil of my country. After that, when I heard all about the atrocities, I thought I should go and participate. So I did go. I had a group of about fifteen tribesmen from my own area. We all went, and we went via Muree and then towards - towards Baramulla side. And we were told by the army, where are you going. We said we are going to participate in what they referred to as a jihad, a holy war, to protect the poor Kashmiris. They said, we know what you are, you are among these Frontier tribesmen - I’m a Baluch - you are also coing here for loot and plunder, get out. I sd: I have no intention of participating in loot and plunder, I have come here to fight for the right of the Kashmiris. He said, ohe yes we’ve heard this again and again. So then I discovered that the tribesmen from Waziristan, Mahsouds and Wazirs, they wre busy and looting and plundering, But what so disgusted me that so-called religious - upholders of religion and Islam were not even sparing Muslim woman. And this really sickened me. And I did want to participate but I thought it would be just it wd be disgusting that I turned round and came back. WHEN WAS THIS? This was around March - February, March ’48. I came from India in October, when to my place for a short while, then I came specially to contribute in this war. WHEN WE WERE SPEAKING EARLEIR YOU THOUGHT IT WAS LATE OCT OR EARLY NOV THAT YOU WENT ... No - I checked up - it was February, March. I maybe confused because as I said my memory is not as it good as it used to be. It was very, very cold I agree. But then if you’ve been to that area, it can be v v cold in winter. HOW TRAVEL TO BORDER AREA? 1