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.

Secondary School Science Teachers’ Conceptions About the Nature of Science

The nature of science (NOS) is an important area in teaching and learning science. Teachers’ conceptions of the NOS have a direct influence on their classroom teaching and thus influencing the students’ conceptions. Therefore, “exploring teachers’ conceptions about the NOS” is considered as one of the important areas of research in science teaching and learning process. This study aims to investigate secondary science teachers’ conceptions about four selected aspects of NOS, which are, empirical nature of science, tentativeness, scientific theories and laws and scientific method. It was a qualitative exploratory study and conducted in a private school in Karachi on a sample of three science teachers. Data was collected using a questionnaire, interviews and classroom observations. Two types of research tools, Views of Nature Of Science (VoNOS) and Nature Of Science Research Protocol (NOSRP) were employed to collect data. For data analysis each participant was considered as a separate case and data obtained through questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations were used to develop three separate cases. These cases are cross cased to compare and contrast the three participants’ views about four selected aspects of NOS. The findings revealed that teachers possessed mixed views about the empirical NOS and tentative NOS. Similarly, these teachers possessed inadequate conceptions about scientific theories and laws and scientific method. Furthermore, it also became evident that teachers did not translate their NOS conceptions in their classroom teaching in an explicit way. Their teaching, however, sometimes reflected NOS teaching in an embedded form. These findings have implications as they may provide practical and contextual information about teachers’ conceptions and their classroom practices related to NOS. The findings may help teacher educators and professional organizations in designing science teacher programs that may address the component of NOS.