The world is a very strange place. We hear a lot of bizarre stories from every part of the world every day. Some amuse us, some baffle us and some just leave us heartbroken. This story of an under-arrest tree in Pakistan is another sad tale that reminds us of the gory days of the British Raj and the consequences of being in a nation that follows medieval laws even in the 21st century.
A Banyan tree in the Landi Kotal cantonment area in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan is in shackles for the last 118 years just because a drunk British officer ordered so.
British officer James Squid was under the effect of alcohol when he thought that the innocent tree is somehow swaying towards him. He ordered a soldier to arrest the tree immediately. According to a local, the bizarre arrest had varying implications.
“Through this act, the British basically implied to the tribesmen that if they dared act against the Raj, they too would be punished in a similar fashion.”
The tree in itself is a disconsolate reminder of the atrocities of the British Raj upon the members of the colony. But what’s even weirder is that after almost 70 years of attaining freedom, the Pakistani government has still not freed the tree of its punishment.
Dr Mukhtiyar Durrani, assistant professor at the University of Peshawar blames the government for not taking proper care of such an important historical figure.
“If this tree would have been in some other country, they [the authorities] would have taken care of it and made it a part of their history.”
Almost 70 years have passed since both India and Pakistan got freedom from the abomination of the British Raj but it is deeply saddening to see that a living being is still under shackles in captivity. It is silent and rooted in its soil, punished for a crime it never committed.
News Source: The Express Tribune and KhaleejTimes