Riding with the Peshawar Vale Hunt - II

The Peshawar Vale Hunt (P.V.H.) was one of the four Hunts that survived Independence but in 1950 tragedy struck. Before leaving for UK, a British couple who had been caring for the hounds shot the entire pack as they considered that Pakistanis were incapable of looking after them. John Dent the Home Secretary of the Frontier Province re-raised the pack by importing hounds from U.K. My father Shahid Hamid recollects that “John (Dent) was one of the best political officers I have ever met and truly loved the Frontier.” At Independence he had agreed on a request by the Government of Pakistan to serve at the Chief Secretary in the Northwest Province and was a contemporary and friend of the Late President Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Apparently John Dent did an excellent job in resurrecting the pack of hounds. In the early 1950s a British RAF pilot had the occasion to ride with the Peshawar Hunt and recounts that,

“My host was about the same build as me, so he was able to fix me up with breeches, riding boots and a topee (a sun hat). We were driven to the meet for a 7 am start. Hunting would be over by midday because of the heat, even in November.

The hunt was now controlled by a Pakistani Lieutenant Colonel, but it was still   being run very much like the Bicester hunt I knew so well.  In fact the hounds were the spitting image of our Bicester hound – back white and tan, and the same size. The hunt had been started with some bitches taken out by officers serving with the Indian Army, while dog hounds were taken out every two or three years to introduce fresh blood.

I had a wonderful days hunting. ……. The horse I was riding, a charger which had been the property of General Gracey when he was commanding one of the armies in Burma, had been well trained to get across them. He would stop at the edge of the stream and cat-jump to the other side. Apart from the heat, it was very much like a foxhunt conducted back home at Bicester. The turnout and the way the hunt was conducted were first rate.”

Shahzada Colonel Khushwaqt-ul-Mulk (known as Khushi to his friends) from the princely family of Chitral, was the ‘Whipper-in.’ He was one of the first Indian officers to be commissioned from IMA in 1932 and commanded the South Waziristan Scouts. Khushwaqt-ul-Mulk considered Peshawar his second home where he bought the famous Holmes Studio belonging to R.B. Holmes (the pre-Independence photographer from Peshawar) and renamed it ‘Chitral House’. He was a regular member of the Peshawar Club and remained a ‘Whippers-in’ of P.V.H. for 16 years from 1935 to 1951. He was also a great friend of John Dent and the two rode together on the Hunt; John the Master and Khushi the Whipper-in.

Following the disruption caused by the 1965 War, the hounds moved to the Army Dog School at Rawalpindi

Khushi was amongst the first Indians to be admitted as a member of the Peshawar Club, which till the mid-1930s was exclusively for the British. The change to the club rules occurred with the arrival of 16th Light Cavalry. Some of the hunters were privately owned and others were owned and rented out by the clubs. But a large number were rented out by the army for Rupees 7 and 8 annas and thus called ‘seven-eighters’. The British commanding officer of 16th Light Cavalry refused to let out his horses to the members if his Indian officers could not receive equal treatment. Sardar Shaukat Hayat who served in 16th Light Cavalry recounts in his autobiography “As his embargo meant literally the closing down of the P.V.H. the club’s executive committee asked for a joint meeting, hoping that our delegation would consist of British officers. On the contrary Bill Williams [the commanding officer] nominated all Indians and gave them clear instructions to withdraw our regiments cooperation should the going prove to be rough. The result was a foregone conclusion.”

In the early 1950s, 19th Lancers was stationed in Peshawar and there was a concentration of armoured regiments nearby in Kohat and Risalpur providing enough enthusiasts to ride with the Hunt. One of these enthusiasts was a young lieutenant named Syed Wajahat Hussain who had transferred from Central India Horse to 19th Lancers on Independence and posted to Peshawar. In his autobiography he recollects:

“The Peshawar Vale hunt was very active with weekly meetings, starting early Sunday mornings, with a good field usually around Hayatabad; in those days it was all barren and conducive for hunting; now it is a prosperous new town. The Hunt usually ended in some Khan’s or Malik’s hujra, with sumptuous lunches at their great fortress-like houses and beautiful gardens. In the company of the delightful old Maliks, the sense of friendship and sincerity between the tribal leaders and the   administration was most conspicuous-all of them enjoying the typical Pathan hospitality.”

However, as the regiments shifted south to the Punjab, the P.V.H. met a slow death but it still had about 15-20 couples and was revived in Kharian by Major General Sahabzada Yaqub Khan when he was commanding the armoured division. General Yaqub had ridden earlier with the P.V.H. when the legend of the Hunt lived on with the pack under the control of the equally legendary Gustasab Mirza (of the Army Service Corps) affectionately known throughout the Army as ‘Mirza Hound’. He was broad-built and a great galloper who believed that ‘the devil takes the hind most’. On one of the Hunts, leading the field with his hounds he urged the riders on, shouting “Chalo! Chalo! Koi Girta hai. Koi Marta hai.” (Go! Go! Some will fall. Some will die.)

A number of the riders were novices and from behind came the high pitched voice of Brig Ghaziuddin (Gussy) Hyder imposing caution: “No! No! No marna (dying) or girna (falling). Ride carefully!”

Following the disruption caused by the 1965 War, the hounds moved to the Army Dog School at Rawalpindi. Occasionally in winter they were taken for a hunt which terminated for brunch at the farm of my father at Tarlai in the suburbs of Islamabad. The area was not urbanized and jackals (Jacks) were plentiful. However, with no fresh additions to the hounds, the Pack faded away and all that is left is a memory of the P.V.H. Maybe on some misty winter morning a farmer tending his orchard in the shires of Yusufzai country hears in the far distance the doubling call of the hunting horn accompanied by the hounds speaking and the faint call of the Master “Tally-hooooooo. Gone awaaaaaaaaayyyy.”

On one of the Hunts, leading the field with his hounds ‘Mirza Hound’ urged the riders on, shouting “Chalo! Chalo! Koi Girta hai. Koi Marta hai.” (Go! Go! Some will fall. Some will die.)

The only hunt club that survives in the Subcontinent is the Ootacamund (Ooty) Hunt which was founded in 1835. However, a few years back, a landlord from Sargodha imported hounds from UK and has revived the sport in Pakistan.

Author’s Note: A condensed version of this article was earlier published in UK in the August Issue of The Field in 2018 under the title ‘The Day of the Jackel – Hunting in the time of the Raj.’ I am grateful to Anis Hyder, son of Brigadier ‘Gussy’ Hyder for providing me pictures of the Vale Hunt at Kharian and to late Brigadier Jafar Khan for the anecdote on this Hunt. I am also grateful to Giles Hopkinson who had inherited a first edition of The P.V.H. from his grandfather and generously gave it to me.