Colonial policy deliberately targeted educated Muslim professionals to cripple resistance. [fact]
On another front, the objective was "to destroy the best Muslim elements in the liberal professions so as to oblige the Muslim population to have recourse to ourselves". It seemed characteristically twisted thinking.
XREF: This echoes other colonial divide-and-rule strategies and the systematic targeting of leadership classes across colonized territories.
Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1575