106 A PILGRIMAGE FOR PEACE
gar maintain non-violence in regard to them too ? ' My
reply is, most decidedly f yes '. Punishment is God's who
alone is the infallible judge. It does not belong to man
" with judgment weak ". Renunciation of violence must
not mean apathy or helplessness in the face of wrong-
doing. If our non-violence is genuine and rooted in love,
it ought to provide a more effective remedy against wrong-
doing than the use of brute force. I certainly expect you
to trace out the dacoits, show them the error of their ways,
and in so doing, brave even death."
From Lakki to Dera Ismail Khan was a long and
fatiguing drive. Wide stretches of an arid, waterless
waste, reaching right up to the Indus ! Clay hills with
their sides deeply indurated by the action of the wind and
the rain, sprawling across it like the remains of huge,
antediluvian monsters ! Strings of camels carrying on
their backs the entire paraphernalia of a household, from
cherub-faced little tots to hens, chicks and firewood!
Caravans of Afghans trekking down from their native
homeland, with their families and shaggy, fat, fierce sheep
dogs, for their winter sojourn in the plains within the
British territory! A wisp of mirage shimmering in the
distance tlfrough a veil of heated air ! Dust-begrimed
liedgeberry bushes flitting past, ghost-like by the road-
side I The dust and the glare ! These make up the sum
-of impressions in retrospect of the route to Dera Ismail
Khan.
Dera Ismail Khan was reached at evening. It
was still passing through the aftermath of the -1930
Hindu-Muslim riot with its ugly memories of arson
and loot. The local Congress organization seemed
to exist only in name and even the co-operation of
Badshah Khan's team of Khudai Khidmatgars seemed to
"be unwelcome to the local volunteers. The result was
that arrangements for keeping the crowds under control
at Gandhiji's residence completely broke down and there
was pandemonium making the holding of the prayer
meeting impossible. Gandhiji tried in vain to take shelter
t>ehind bolted doors from the crowd who would not leave