The North West Frontier districts were economically at par with other districts of West Punjab in the pre-British era. The base of the economy particularly agriculture sector left weak in these districts during the British period. As irrigation projects on large scale were carried out in the Indus basin (Punjab and Sind) from 1880 onward and the world largest canal system ‘Indus basin’ was developed. The Indus basin canal system contributed tremendously to progress of agriculture in Punjab and Sind. The frontier districts and adjacent tribal areas could not share equally the irrigation developments and left weak consequently. The question arises why equal heed was not paid to these border districts? There are two possibilities; either mountainous landscape in the North West was thought misfit for profitable agricultural development or because of strong attachment of masses of these regions to religion and to their pristine cultural values offered anti-British stiff resistance, which hindered the government efforts for their development. So the people inhabiting the land missed the chance to avail the development taken place during this period. As the Government remained engage in restoring law and order in the region and guarding the northwestern border of Indo-Pak, it could not find enough time to focus on the economic development of the region and consequently the agricultural sector in Frontier districts remained lagged.
Key words: Agricultural , Development , Districts
|
