The British Colonial Encounter with the Pukhtuns: An Appraisal of Faqir Ippi’s Struggle against the British Raj (1936-1947)

The North-West Frontier region of the British Empire in India during the Great Game was part of the ‘Ring Fence Strategy’, framed by the Raj against its adversaries and rivals in Central and South Asia. To protect her ‘Jewel in the Crown’- India, the British Raj made several moves in the strategically placed Pukhtun1 land. The Pukhtun populace, adherent to their centuries old code of conduct, Puḳhtūnwali, consistently resisted the British encroachment of their territory. Mirza Ali Khan, popularly known as Faqir Ippi, was one of the many freedom fighters who challenged the imperialist power in this region. Taking notice of Islam Bibi’s case, a Hindu Convert, Faqir Ippi mobilized the Pukhtuns of Waziristan in defying and fighting the British. He was a serious contestant to the British authority with his well-known fighting skills, effective planning and guerilla tactics in one of the most difficult terrains. The entire Tribal Belt, especially Waziristan, proved to be a ‘turbulent frontier’ for nearly eleven years, i.e. 1936-1947. This insurgency started bringing bad name to the crown and encouraging others to rise against the British. To contain and end Faqir Ippi’s resistance, Governor George Cunningham hired the locals to instigate and bribe his followers to rise and fight against him. The aim of this paper is a critical evaluation of the British strategy in this region and an appraisal of Faqir Ippi’s response and assessment of how successful he was in invigorating Pukhtun resistance to defend their motherland, using both colonial and local sources.

Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites from Functionalized Graphene

The graphene study has become the most interested topic owing to its exceptional properties. Graphene brings dramatic changes in the possessions of composites, when it is used even at very low concentration. Though, the heterogeneous distribution of graphene in the matrix is its main drawback to be used as filler in the polymer composites. The strong intermolecular forces of graphene result in agglomeration of graphene in the host the polymer matrix. The surface of graphene is functionalized by different functional groups to reduce the π-π stacking to prevent the agglomeration of graphene. The main objective of this work was to develop an easy method for synthesizing the graphenebased polymer nanocomposites. To get the graphene-based nanocomposites, first graphene was exfoliated by using liquid-phase exfoliation in different organic solvents. Picric acid was also used as a surfactant. The addition of picric acid has doubled the concentration in most of solvents tested. Moreover, graphene oxide was produced by using Hummers’ methods, modified Hummers’ method and Brodie method. The results indicate that modified Hummers’ method is the best one among the three methods. In next step polyaniline was grafted on few layer graphene (FLG), and polyaniline grafted fewlayer graphene (PANI-g-FLG) samples were then blended with polyetherimide. The addition of PANI-g-FLG introduced the conductive behavior in the insulative polymer. The maximum dielectric constant (3.72 × 105) and AC conductivity (5.91 × 10−2 S⋅cm−1) were achieved at 1.5 wt.% of the FLG concentration. Moreover, polyaniline grafted few layer graphene was also added in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by solution blending method. The tensile strength was enhanced 62 % for the composites as compared to pure PVA. The dielectric constant was enhanced from 3.29 of pure PVA to 5.14 × 1004 (at 1000Hz) for nanocomposites having 0.5 wt.% FLG loading. Similarly, AC conductivity increased from 9.05 × 10−9 for pure PVA to 2.17 × 10−2 S⋅cm−1 (at 1000Hz) for composites having 0.5 wt.% FLG loading. The PANI-g-FLG was also combined with polystyrene to prepare nanocomposites with varying concentration of FLG (0 to 2 wt.%). The tensile strength was doubled for the composites as compared to pure polystyrene. The graphene oxide produced by modified Hummers’ method was further functionalized and incorporated into the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A to prepare nanocomposites. The concentration of PANI-g-GO were varied from 0 to 2.5 wt.% in the nanocomposites. The tensile strength was enhanced 60% for the composites as compared to pure diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A. The dielectric constant was improved from 1 to 8 and AC conductivity increased from 1.05 × 10−8 S⋅cm−1 for pure to 6.15 × 10−8 S⋅cm−1 (at 1000Hz) for composites having 2.5 wt.% FLG loading. These results provide a possibility of using flexible nanocomposites as a dielectric material to be applied for energy storage devices such as embedded capacitors.