Waziri Tower, 1919 (c)

Photograph by Randolph Bezzant Holmes (1888-1973), India, North West Frontier, 1919 (c).

Many of the villages in Waziristan were fortified and protected by a watchtower (or burj) as raiding and tribal feuding were endemic in the region. However, in 1919 the Mahsuds and Wazirs temporarily put aside their differences and turned on the British, who were then engaged in the 3rd Afghan War (1919).

In this image, Holmes has positioned two militiamen, from one of the British-led units that policed the tribes and helped keep the peace, next to a stream. Following the Afghan incursion across the frontier and the outbreak of revolt among the tribes there were many desertions in the militias as men threw in their lot with their tribal cousins.

From an album of 42 photographs from the series 'With the Derajat Column in Waziristan', 1919-1920. The photographs were collected by Colonel G H Russell of the South Waziristan Scouts.