Government and Kohat Hindus

WE have already dealt at some length with the necessity of a liberal policy being adopted by the government in the matter of the grant of arms to Kohat Hindus both in order to enable them to protect their interests and also in order to maintain peace and ensure the safety of life and property. But that is not all. It is equally to make proper and adequate provision for police and other arrangements for arresting all tendencies towards a recrudescence of trouble. On the economic side of the question, the great necessity of providing to the Hindus, many of whom have lost all they had for no fault of their own, the initial means of arranging for proper shelter for themselves and for restarting efforts to earn their livelihood, must be fully recognised. The general feeling about the unreasonable severity of the terms on which the government loan is being offered must be considered in the light of the adverse circumstances in which the prospective debtors of the government are living at present and which must take a long time to improve. A proper realisation of the condition of the people, would, indeed, show that in order to be of substantial help in the matter of rehabilitation, the entire loan should be either free of interest or, if interest is to be charged at all, only a nominal rate should be charged. The conditions regarding the method of repayment, etc., too, require to be made more easy and liberal. Then, again, there is the matter of recovering looted property and restoring it to its rightful owners. It is incumbent on the local officials to make strenuous efforts to restore such property.