The British bombed the ‘restless natives’ of Afghanistan intermittently between 1915 and 1919. Bombing the Pathans’ irrigation ditches, which cut water supplies and emptied terraces of their topsoil, was deemed more effective than destroying their villages. The Pathans were temporarily subdued, because food and water were difficult to secure in the bleak, dry region which still remains wretchedly poor. Sir John Maffrey, chief of colonial Britain’s Northwest Frontier Province — now Pakistan’s troubled tribal zone along the Afghan border — was told by regional airforce headquarters that international law did not apply ‘against savage tribes who do not conform to codes of civilized warfare’.

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An insight by Milton Bearden; who served as CIA station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, and where he was responsible for that agency's covert action program in support of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet-supported government.

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The Suleiman Khel and Dotani tribes have traditionally used the Gomal route to enter Pakistan, along the Gomal River which flows from Afghanistan into the Agency to join the Indus near Dera Ismail Khan. Over the last two generations some members of these tribes have decided to settle along the Gomal. Indeed, their association with the Gomal, reinforced by the presence of those who settled here created a name for them. They are known and refer to themselves - as “De Gomal Khalq”

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Guyana and Suriname are located on the northeast coast of South America and are two of the three non-Hispanic enclaves that make up the Guianas. Suriname is also one of the most ethnically and culturally mixed countries in the world. In Paramaribo, the capital of this Dutch speaking nation of about 450,000 people, architecture graphically reflects this synthesis of peoples. A beautiful Mughal style mosque shares the same street with an imposing nineteenth-century wooden synagogue; several Hindu temples and the Roman Catholic cathedral can be found in the capital as well. Suriname and Guyana are colourful mixtures of African and Asian influences.

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For many years, Pashtoon Nationalist movement remained underdeveloped and with particularism, yet its literature contains all qualities of the modern global literary trends. Under its shadow, the new Pashtun nationalism includes the demand for a new federal relationship with Pakistan. Democracy and a genuine federation of Pakistan top the list of agenda of the Pashtun demand. This includes political autonomy and the right over the natural resources to the components of the federation, and the right to independence. This diversity has to be emphasized because it is denied. But this diversity is for the unity. For positive aims like democracy and economic development, it is essential.

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