Polizia e politica. Legge e ordine nel nord-ovest indiano fra Otto e Novecento

After the Great Mutiny in 1857-58, the constant fear of British India’s authorities was that external destabilizing influences – mostly from Russian penetration in Central Asia – could fuel domestic instability that the Raj could not withstand. In their vision, domestic and external security was, thus, intimately linked, pushing police activity to assume distinct military traits, in sharp contrast with the British metropolitan model. Militarization of public order was especially evident in the north-western territories, where irregular forces played a pivotal role. For some time, the Sandeman system emerged as the favourite way to engage the local chiefs in the British security establishment. However, the system proved only partly effective in the long run, especially in the Pashtun-inhabited areas bordering Afghanistan. In 1901, the establishment of a new North-West Frontier Province, and a tribal belt behind it, where different rules applied compared to the adjoining settled districts, marked the beginning of a new and final phase and the devolution to tribal leaders of the task of preserving law and order attested the government’s inability to both integrate them in the Empire’s formal administrative system and place them under full military control.