I was reading Julian Putkowski account of "Mutiny in India in 1919"
At the opening of what is called the Third Afghan War (we are now in
number IV) I came across this:
"At the beginning of May, a legal justification was aired in order to
secure their continued retention. The War Office colluded with the Army of
India in drawing attention to the 1918 Definition of War Act, which stated
‘termination of hostilities’ and ‘duration of war’ were coterminous. It
then stated that the end of fighting in November 1918 amounted merely to
the suspension of hostilities, and therefore the Territorials, who had
undertaken service for the duration of the war, were obliged to remain in
India."
Does anyone know what the "1918 Definition of War Act" was. Google is very
reticent on this.
Btw,
Maulana Barkatullah, who used to work at the Liverpool Muslim Institute.
It was here he met Nasrullah Khān when he visited the institute in
1895 (He was on a state visit with his afther the Emir) . Later, by the
time of the beginning of the First World War, Nasrullah was keen to see
Afghan through it's lot in with the Central Powers.
The two men met up again when Barkatullah was Prime Minister of the
Government of India, a pro-German government in exile which argued for
Afghan intervention in the war. Nasrullah Khān was in the pro-war
faction of the Afghan court.
all the best
Fabian
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