BRITISH INDIRECT RULE AND FRONTIER GOVERNANCE IN THE GILGIT AGENCY (1901–1935): POLITICAL AUTHORITY, ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL, AND IMPERIAL STRATEGY

Abstract

In the early 20th century, the Gilgit Agency was situated on the northern border of British India, which was a strategically significant area. The area of Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan, Chinese Turkestan and the Central Asian region lay between the areas and so the area of Gilgit became an important focus point of British frontier policies. Local political developments in the region, as well as imperial interests in the security of the northern frontier and the course of events in Central Asia, had a significant impact on British involvement. Instead of direct colonial rule, the British adopted an indirect rule system, whereby the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir had formal authority but British political officials were more and more dominant in frontier affairs. This article explores the British indirect rule and frontier governance in Gilgit Agency from 1901 to 1935 under the lens of political authority, administrative set-up, interaction with local rulers, military arrangements, infrastructure, intelligence and imperial strategy. It maintains that British control was a gradual one, and not achieved by the annexation of the territories. The British Political Agent was the key means of imperial control, and local rulers were left in place and woven into a broader system of British frontier administration. The study also asserts that the lease of the Gilgit Wazarat to the British Government of India in 1935 was an extension of this earlier system and not a new one. By 1935, the British political, military and administrative control had spread far enough to permit the introduction of formal administrative control without the local political structures being completely eliminated. The Gilgit case is thus illustrative of the ways in which indirect rule might be applied as a flexible tool of empire in a strategically challenging, politically precarious frontier terrain.