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This blog post is in response to those excited Sikhs and Indians who do no bother to look into the details of history and make the claim that Sikhs conquered and ruled Afghanistan . Sikhs like to exaggerate and boast and paint their history in very rosy color. I would be neutral in my counter and analysis , i have consulted British sources . I would cover following questions in my post, which are generally asked by Afghans, Pakistanis and Indians.
1- Did Sikhs conquer entire Afghanistan? or how much of Pashtun territory was occupied by them and how much was the extent of their rule and authority?
2- Did Afghans or Pashtuns fought back? .Were Sikhs able to subdue Afghans/Pashtuns under their rule?
3- Did Hari Singh really forced Pashtuns to wear Shalwar Kameez?
Question:1- Did Sikhs conquer entire Afghanistan? or how much of Pashtun territory was occupied by them and how much was the extent of their rule and authority?
To know about the size of Ranjeet Singh'e empire or kingdom, check this accurate map drawn by British.
As you can see only some border districts of Afghanistan of that time were under direct or indirect rule of Ranjeet Singh. Dera Ismael Khan , Bannu and Kohat were tributary with no presence of permanent Sikh forces, the local chiefs there agreed to pay annual tribute. Peshawer was left under Barakzai sardars on condition of paying annual tribute up to 1834 when it was annexed to Sikh kingdom and Hari Singh was appointed the governor.
Hazara is not a Pashtun region, the three Hindko districts which came under Sikh rule is inhabited by mostly Punjabi tribes. Mughal empire didt allow Pashtuns to occupy this region and had built strong military forts to prevent the invasion of Yusufzais and other tribes from other side of Indus. With decay of Mughal empire in early 18th century, Jaduns, Mashwanis , Uthmanzais and Tareens crossed the Indus and formed settlements in some parts of Hazara. The 1901 and 1911 census shows that the Pashtun component in these three districts is small still most of the resistance against Sikhs in Hazara was carried out by these Pashtuns. Note that the pure Pashtun tracts of nowadays Hazara, Torghar and Batagram didnt saw any invasion of Sikh forces and were independent like other mountainous Yusufzai territories .
The local tribal chiefs of sparely populated southern districts of Tank, Bannu, Marwat and Kohat acted independently and dealt with Sikhs after measuring their strength. Ranjeet Singh sent armies to these districts on annual basis to collect tribute. The local chiefs either resisted or agreed to pay the tribute. No attempt was made by Ranjeet Singh to bring these areas under direct rule and only yearly tribute was extracted. The people of Peshawer valley were not fortunate though, to secure Peshawer city, Hari Singh Nalwa tried his best to subdue and punish the inhabitants of the neighboring region and in this process destroyed and burn many villages, thus made the area constantly turbulent as Afghans/Pashtuns were retaliating back in the same level of aggression. The writ of Hari Singh beyond Peshawer city was non-existent. Sikhs relied heavily on the cooperation of local chiefs of Peshawer valley who were disinterested in national cause and even used Sikh forces to their advantage by using them in destroying the rival chiefs of other villages.
Ranjeet Singh wisely avoided any attempt of conquering hilly regions where Pashtuns lived. European trained and disciplined Sikh army was very formidable in plain areas of Peshawer, Nowshera, Mardan etc but in their mountains, Afghans were very hard to defeat. After death of Ranjeet Singh , Sikhs made an attempt on Tochi valley of North waziristan which ended in disaster and their army was defeated and destroyed by Dawar tribesmen. Sikhs never dare to penetrate into mountainous regions of Malakhand division , Miranzai valley, Khyber, Bajaur, Mohamand, Torghar etc.
Did Afghans or Pashtuns fought back? .Were Sikhs able to subdue Afghans/Pashtuns under their rule?
Yes. It was not walk in the garden for Sikhs. They faced very tough resistance from local Pashtun tribesmen beside fighting Afghan armies from Kabul. Note that these Pashtun tribesmen were not well-equipped , they had no artillery, mostly equipped with swords and shields and had small number of out-dated matchlocks. They also lacked discipline and proper leadership but they were brave and fearless and put up an impressive fight against European trained and disciplined Sikh amy who also had the advantage of superior numbers in almost every occasion. Pashtuns of the above mentioned districts couldnt be subdued by force and attacks on Sikhs kept going on till second Anglo-Sikh war. Hari Singh tried to subdue Pashtuns by terror tactics by burning down their villages , killing every man women and children of those villages which were resisting or refusing to pay tribute but on each they also had to suffer casualties. Hari Singh had been fighting Afghans since long, his first participation was campaign against Afghan principality of Kasur in Punjab which fell after several attempts and Sikhs suffered large number of casualties due to formidable defense of Afghans. Through out his military career, he saw large number of comrades getting slain at the hands of tenacious Afghans and on the top of that he nearly got killed at the hands of Mashwani Pashtuns in one of the battle. The constant raids on his forces and its harassment by Afghans and difficult warring with them had long lasting effect on him and he had developed strong hate for Muslims in general and Pashtun race in particular evident from his actions. This cost him his life as he rejected the advice of Pashtun chiefs, loyal to him ,with contempt and attempted to defend the Jamrud fort which could not be defended due to its geographical location. According to Peshawer Gazetteer 1899 page-73,
"At the latter end of 1836 Hari Singh determined to occupy the post of Jamrud , at the mouth of Khyber , contrary to the advice of those native chiefs who were supposed to be the most friendly disposed towards him. The position, was indeed false one for the purpose of checking the tribes of vicinity , for being almost within range , the garrison was exposed day and night to be harassed by an active and unseen enemy without being able to effect any thing in return. Parties from the hills could enter the plain to the north or south without meeting without meeting with obstruction and hollows and ravines in the neighborhood afforded good shelter for bands always on the look-out to cut up some unfortunate straggler. But Hari Singh neglected the advice offered him through the contempt he held towards towards the whole Pathan nation. "
In Battle of Jamrud, he got killed while running away towards the fort after defeat.An over-confident and bad general who had commanded his army for the first time against a proper Afghan army with artillery , not against some ill-equipped warriors from a village. Hari Singh was no Alexander or Napoleon.
I can not mention all the details of resistance of Pashtuns against Sikhs due to length but following are the important events
1- When Sikhs first arrived in the region, the chief of Daulat Khel tribe of Tank , Nawab Sarwar Khan agreed to pay three thousand rupees, three horses, one pair of hawks, 25 camels and eight hunting dogs. Three years later Ranjeet Singh raised went in person to cross the Indus and raised the Tank tribute to sixty thousand rupees. The Nawab's son Allahdad Khan failed to pay the tribute to Sikhs in time. In the following years, Prince Nau Nihal Singh visited Dera a with a large force and marched upon Tank against Allahdad Khan. Allahdad fled to Wazir/Mehsud mountains and Sikhs took possession of Tank and plundered the fort built by Sarwar Khan. Allahdad Khan's mother was from Waziri tribe, who, joined by Beittanis supported Allahdad Khan in attacking Sikhs at Tank. Due to constant attacks from Allahdad Khan , Sikhs assigned the whole tappa to leading men from local Durrani families and evacuated Tank. (Masson, Vol-1, page-47)
2- In 1818 Makhan Singh, the Sikh governor if Rawalpindi, invaded Hazara with 500 Sowars, built a fort at Serai Saleh and levied tribute from Haripur Plain.In the succeeding year, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh annexed Kashmir. Makhan Singh appears, on the strength of his master's successes, to have pressed the Tareen chief for revenue. The result was gathering of Hazara people to attack the Sikh governor , and a fight at Shah Muhammad on the Dor, in which Makhan Singh was slain. The next day his forces abandoned the Serai Saleh fort and marched back to attock. The governor of Attock, Hukma Singh Chimni, marched out to punish the rebels; but after some skirmishes at Mota, and at Sultanpur on the Harroh, he made up his mind that his force was too weak for the purpose, marched back to attock , and wrote to Lahore for reinforcements. From Lahore Diwan Ramdial and Colonel Ilahi bakhsh were sent for assistance. Part of Hazara submitted , but the Tareen Chief Muhammad Khan , The Said Khani Utmanzais , and the Mashwanis , opposed the Sikh governor at Nara , by the foot of gandgar range. The Diwan attacked them unwarily , was defeated , and himself slain. (Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 126)
3-The Maharaja had summoned Hari Singh Nalwa, the governor of Kahsmir , to give an account of his charge. He marched by Muzaffarabad and Pakhli with 7,000 foot-soldiers. When he reached Mangal , he found that large number of Jadoons and Tanolis , had collected there to oppose his passage. He was successful in defeating them. ( (Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 127)
4- In 1823, Azim Khan determined to try his strength with his new power , and advanced with a large army from Kabul to Peshawer. The Sikhs crossed Indus to meet him. Ranjit Singh , with the choicest portion of his army, crossing the Kabul river at Akora, marched up the left bank of Kabul river, sending Karrak Singh with the remainder of his force by the right bank , to hold in check the troops expected from Peshawer. Azim Khan having dispatched his brother , Sammand Khan, to raise the Khattak and Yusufzai, who readily obeyed the summons, followed himself by a force march to Nowshera. He found Samand Khan already engaged with the enemy, on the plain to the north of Kabul river , between that town and pir sabak, but was unable to join him on the account of stream. The Pathans fought with desperate valour , but couldnt make head against the superior numbers and discipline of the Sikhs; frequently rallying m however upon some low hills adjacent, they bore down bravely upon the enemy , who began to waver towards evening , but regained their advantage when Ranjit Singh , seizing a standard , himself led them to victory. The last stand was made at sunset by a party of 200 Yusufzai , who fell gallantly fighting. In this action 10,000 Pathans are said to have been slain. And with them fell that gallant old Sikh soldier , Phula Singh , the intrepid leader of the Akhali or immortals, who five years before had led the way into the breach at Multan, and was on this occasion, was no less conspicuous for his gallantry. The sardars Azim Khan and Dost Muhammad Khan who had not taken part in the contest, fled to Kabul and Ranjit Singh, advancing to Peshawer, made the four brothers at that place his tribute, and after a short stay, withdrew beyond the Indus. His departure was precipitated by the action of Afridis, who caused an inundation in the Sikh camp by opening the embankments of the Bara river in the hope of plunder during the consequent confusion. Azim Khan didnt long survive this humiliating defeat , and at his death Dost Muhammad obtained the chief authority at Kabul. (Gazetteer of the Peshawar District, 1897-98, page-65)
5- In 1824 A.D Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa turned his attention to the Gandgar hills, where Muhammad Khan Tareen and a number of other recalcitrant chiefs had taken refuge. In 1822 the Sikhs, after winning a hard-fought battle at Sari at the base of range, had been defeated in an endeavor to reduce Srikot. They now. in 1824, again made the attempt , and again failed. At Nara which stands at the mouth of a path leading up to Srikot, the Mashwanis and Saidkhani Utmanzais made a gallant stand, repulsed the Sikh force , which was 8,000 strong and sent it back to Haripur with a loss of 500 men. A white pillar , erected at later date by Major Abbot , and conspicuous from afar, commemorates the scene of their victory. Hari Singh himself was struck down by a stone hurled from the walls of the village , and rolled into the ravine below , where he lay for a long time senseless and undiscovered. It was reported , indeed , that he was dead, but in short time , having recovered from his wounds, he confuted the rumour by surprising the village of Bagra, where number of rebels had collected , and putting to the sword every armed man that he found there.
1- Did Sikhs conquer entire Afghanistan? or how much of Pashtun territory was occupied by them and how much was the extent of their rule and authority?
2- Did Afghans or Pashtuns fought back? .Were Sikhs able to subdue Afghans/Pashtuns under their rule?
3- Did Hari Singh really forced Pashtuns to wear Shalwar Kameez?
Question:1- Did Sikhs conquer entire Afghanistan? or how much of Pashtun territory was occupied by them and how much was the extent of their rule and authority?
To know about the size of Ranjeet Singh'e empire or kingdom, check this accurate map drawn by British.
As you can see only some border districts of Afghanistan of that time were under direct or indirect rule of Ranjeet Singh. Dera Ismael Khan , Bannu and Kohat were tributary with no presence of permanent Sikh forces, the local chiefs there agreed to pay annual tribute. Peshawer was left under Barakzai sardars on condition of paying annual tribute up to 1834 when it was annexed to Sikh kingdom and Hari Singh was appointed the governor.
Hazara is not a Pashtun region, the three Hindko districts which came under Sikh rule is inhabited by mostly Punjabi tribes. Mughal empire didt allow Pashtuns to occupy this region and had built strong military forts to prevent the invasion of Yusufzais and other tribes from other side of Indus. With decay of Mughal empire in early 18th century, Jaduns, Mashwanis , Uthmanzais and Tareens crossed the Indus and formed settlements in some parts of Hazara. The 1901 and 1911 census shows that the Pashtun component in these three districts is small still most of the resistance against Sikhs in Hazara was carried out by these Pashtuns. Note that the pure Pashtun tracts of nowadays Hazara, Torghar and Batagram didnt saw any invasion of Sikh forces and were independent like other mountainous Yusufzai territories .
The local tribal chiefs of sparely populated southern districts of Tank, Bannu, Marwat and Kohat acted independently and dealt with Sikhs after measuring their strength. Ranjeet Singh sent armies to these districts on annual basis to collect tribute. The local chiefs either resisted or agreed to pay the tribute. No attempt was made by Ranjeet Singh to bring these areas under direct rule and only yearly tribute was extracted. The people of Peshawer valley were not fortunate though, to secure Peshawer city, Hari Singh Nalwa tried his best to subdue and punish the inhabitants of the neighboring region and in this process destroyed and burn many villages, thus made the area constantly turbulent as Afghans/Pashtuns were retaliating back in the same level of aggression. The writ of Hari Singh beyond Peshawer city was non-existent. Sikhs relied heavily on the cooperation of local chiefs of Peshawer valley who were disinterested in national cause and even used Sikh forces to their advantage by using them in destroying the rival chiefs of other villages.
Ranjeet Singh wisely avoided any attempt of conquering hilly regions where Pashtuns lived. European trained and disciplined Sikh army was very formidable in plain areas of Peshawer, Nowshera, Mardan etc but in their mountains, Afghans were very hard to defeat. After death of Ranjeet Singh , Sikhs made an attempt on Tochi valley of North waziristan which ended in disaster and their army was defeated and destroyed by Dawar tribesmen. Sikhs never dare to penetrate into mountainous regions of Malakhand division , Miranzai valley, Khyber, Bajaur, Mohamand, Torghar etc.
Did Afghans or Pashtuns fought back? .Were Sikhs able to subdue Afghans/Pashtuns under their rule?
Yes. It was not walk in the garden for Sikhs. They faced very tough resistance from local Pashtun tribesmen beside fighting Afghan armies from Kabul. Note that these Pashtun tribesmen were not well-equipped , they had no artillery, mostly equipped with swords and shields and had small number of out-dated matchlocks. They also lacked discipline and proper leadership but they were brave and fearless and put up an impressive fight against European trained and disciplined Sikh amy who also had the advantage of superior numbers in almost every occasion. Pashtuns of the above mentioned districts couldnt be subdued by force and attacks on Sikhs kept going on till second Anglo-Sikh war. Hari Singh tried to subdue Pashtuns by terror tactics by burning down their villages , killing every man women and children of those villages which were resisting or refusing to pay tribute but on each they also had to suffer casualties. Hari Singh had been fighting Afghans since long, his first participation was campaign against Afghan principality of Kasur in Punjab which fell after several attempts and Sikhs suffered large number of casualties due to formidable defense of Afghans. Through out his military career, he saw large number of comrades getting slain at the hands of tenacious Afghans and on the top of that he nearly got killed at the hands of Mashwani Pashtuns in one of the battle. The constant raids on his forces and its harassment by Afghans and difficult warring with them had long lasting effect on him and he had developed strong hate for Muslims in general and Pashtun race in particular evident from his actions. This cost him his life as he rejected the advice of Pashtun chiefs, loyal to him ,with contempt and attempted to defend the Jamrud fort which could not be defended due to its geographical location. According to Peshawer Gazetteer 1899 page-73,
"At the latter end of 1836 Hari Singh determined to occupy the post of Jamrud , at the mouth of Khyber , contrary to the advice of those native chiefs who were supposed to be the most friendly disposed towards him. The position, was indeed false one for the purpose of checking the tribes of vicinity , for being almost within range , the garrison was exposed day and night to be harassed by an active and unseen enemy without being able to effect any thing in return. Parties from the hills could enter the plain to the north or south without meeting without meeting with obstruction and hollows and ravines in the neighborhood afforded good shelter for bands always on the look-out to cut up some unfortunate straggler. But Hari Singh neglected the advice offered him through the contempt he held towards towards the whole Pathan nation. "
In Battle of Jamrud, he got killed while running away towards the fort after defeat.An over-confident and bad general who had commanded his army for the first time against a proper Afghan army with artillery , not against some ill-equipped warriors from a village. Hari Singh was no Alexander or Napoleon.
I can not mention all the details of resistance of Pashtuns against Sikhs due to length but following are the important events
1- When Sikhs first arrived in the region, the chief of Daulat Khel tribe of Tank , Nawab Sarwar Khan agreed to pay three thousand rupees, three horses, one pair of hawks, 25 camels and eight hunting dogs. Three years later Ranjeet Singh raised went in person to cross the Indus and raised the Tank tribute to sixty thousand rupees. The Nawab's son Allahdad Khan failed to pay the tribute to Sikhs in time. In the following years, Prince Nau Nihal Singh visited Dera a with a large force and marched upon Tank against Allahdad Khan. Allahdad fled to Wazir/Mehsud mountains and Sikhs took possession of Tank and plundered the fort built by Sarwar Khan. Allahdad Khan's mother was from Waziri tribe, who, joined by Beittanis supported Allahdad Khan in attacking Sikhs at Tank. Due to constant attacks from Allahdad Khan , Sikhs assigned the whole tappa to leading men from local Durrani families and evacuated Tank. (Masson, Vol-1, page-47)
2- In 1818 Makhan Singh, the Sikh governor if Rawalpindi, invaded Hazara with 500 Sowars, built a fort at Serai Saleh and levied tribute from Haripur Plain.In the succeeding year, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh annexed Kashmir. Makhan Singh appears, on the strength of his master's successes, to have pressed the Tareen chief for revenue. The result was gathering of Hazara people to attack the Sikh governor , and a fight at Shah Muhammad on the Dor, in which Makhan Singh was slain. The next day his forces abandoned the Serai Saleh fort and marched back to attock. The governor of Attock, Hukma Singh Chimni, marched out to punish the rebels; but after some skirmishes at Mota, and at Sultanpur on the Harroh, he made up his mind that his force was too weak for the purpose, marched back to attock , and wrote to Lahore for reinforcements. From Lahore Diwan Ramdial and Colonel Ilahi bakhsh were sent for assistance. Part of Hazara submitted , but the Tareen Chief Muhammad Khan , The Said Khani Utmanzais , and the Mashwanis , opposed the Sikh governor at Nara , by the foot of gandgar range. The Diwan attacked them unwarily , was defeated , and himself slain. (Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 126)
3-The Maharaja had summoned Hari Singh Nalwa, the governor of Kahsmir , to give an account of his charge. He marched by Muzaffarabad and Pakhli with 7,000 foot-soldiers. When he reached Mangal , he found that large number of Jadoons and Tanolis , had collected there to oppose his passage. He was successful in defeating them. ( (Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 127)
4- In 1823, Azim Khan determined to try his strength with his new power , and advanced with a large army from Kabul to Peshawer. The Sikhs crossed Indus to meet him. Ranjit Singh , with the choicest portion of his army, crossing the Kabul river at Akora, marched up the left bank of Kabul river, sending Karrak Singh with the remainder of his force by the right bank , to hold in check the troops expected from Peshawer. Azim Khan having dispatched his brother , Sammand Khan, to raise the Khattak and Yusufzai, who readily obeyed the summons, followed himself by a force march to Nowshera. He found Samand Khan already engaged with the enemy, on the plain to the north of Kabul river , between that town and pir sabak, but was unable to join him on the account of stream. The Pathans fought with desperate valour , but couldnt make head against the superior numbers and discipline of the Sikhs; frequently rallying m however upon some low hills adjacent, they bore down bravely upon the enemy , who began to waver towards evening , but regained their advantage when Ranjit Singh , seizing a standard , himself led them to victory. The last stand was made at sunset by a party of 200 Yusufzai , who fell gallantly fighting. In this action 10,000 Pathans are said to have been slain. And with them fell that gallant old Sikh soldier , Phula Singh , the intrepid leader of the Akhali or immortals, who five years before had led the way into the breach at Multan, and was on this occasion, was no less conspicuous for his gallantry. The sardars Azim Khan and Dost Muhammad Khan who had not taken part in the contest, fled to Kabul and Ranjit Singh, advancing to Peshawer, made the four brothers at that place his tribute, and after a short stay, withdrew beyond the Indus. His departure was precipitated by the action of Afridis, who caused an inundation in the Sikh camp by opening the embankments of the Bara river in the hope of plunder during the consequent confusion. Azim Khan didnt long survive this humiliating defeat , and at his death Dost Muhammad obtained the chief authority at Kabul. (Gazetteer of the Peshawar District, 1897-98, page-65)
5- In 1824 A.D Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa turned his attention to the Gandgar hills, where Muhammad Khan Tareen and a number of other recalcitrant chiefs had taken refuge. In 1822 the Sikhs, after winning a hard-fought battle at Sari at the base of range, had been defeated in an endeavor to reduce Srikot. They now. in 1824, again made the attempt , and again failed. At Nara which stands at the mouth of a path leading up to Srikot, the Mashwanis and Saidkhani Utmanzais made a gallant stand, repulsed the Sikh force , which was 8,000 strong and sent it back to Haripur with a loss of 500 men. A white pillar , erected at later date by Major Abbot , and conspicuous from afar, commemorates the scene of their victory. Hari Singh himself was struck down by a stone hurled from the walls of the village , and rolled into the ravine below , where he lay for a long time senseless and undiscovered. It was reported , indeed , that he was dead, but in short time , having recovered from his wounds, he confuted the rumour by surprising the village of Bagra, where number of rebels had collected , and putting to the sword every armed man that he found there.
( Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 127)
6- Alarmed at the news of Hari Singh's defeat at Nara, Ranjeet Singh hastened up to Hazara with large reinforcements. Arrived there he sent for all the chiefs and leading men who had taken refuge at Srikot. The Tareen Muhammad Khan , Sarbuland Khan the Tanoli , and Shah Muhammad, the head of Mashwanis, were the only ones to obey his summons. He then attacked the Srikot hills at a number of points simultaneously, driving all opposition before him , and, after staying two nights at Srikot , marched onto Tarbela. Wile halted at the latter place, he mounted an elephant and went-down to the river-side , whereupon the Utmanzais of Khabbal on the opposite bank opened fire on him. Enraged at this, he made his cavalry swim across the river early next at a point lower , and destroyed the villages of khabbal and Kaya , their inhabitants having taken to the hills. He them marched through Yusufzai and Back Lahore-wards via Serai kala, taking Muhammad Khan Tareen with him. The Srikot hills were secured by the building of a fort , which was garrisoned with 500 men.
After Ranjit Singh's departure , Karrals submitted to Hari Singh without fighting, their chief Hassan Ali khan was given a large Jagir and a fort was built at Nara. The sardar then departed for lahore , leaving Mahan Singh behind him as his deputy governor. He had not long gone when Bostan Khan Tareen , the nephew of Muhammad Khan Tareen, who was imprisoned at lahore raised a new disturbance in the Srikot hills. Returning to Hazara, hari Singh had little difficulty in quelling the outbreak , and to prevent a recurrence of any thing of the kind , he took very drastic measures. Muhammad Khan Tareen , whose person he had purchased from Ranjeet Singh for 55,000 Rupees , he caused to be poisoned; Bostan Khan Tareen , the two principle Mashwani headmen , and one or two other leading men , were blown away from guns; and the Mashwanis were evicted from Srikot and forced to live in exile trans-indus till the year 1830 , when they obtained permission to return. The 55,000 rupees which Hari singh had paid for Muhammad Khan were recovered by levy of a tax of two and half rupees per house from most of the villages in Hazara.
(Gazetteer of the Hazara district, 1907 , Hubert Digby Watson p-128)
7- Syed Ahmad Shah of Bareilwi, traveling bu Shikarpur and Kabul , arrived amongst the Yusfuzai in 1824, giving out that he was divinely commissioned to wage a war of extirpation against the infidel Sikhs and Chinese. In a short time an immense army was at his disposal. The four Peshawar sardars felt the influence , and longing to free themselves from Sikhs, joined the crusade , the ranks of which were swelled by numerous adventurers from Hindustan. At last the Syed marched to Nowshera, proposing first to lay siege to attock ; but Ranjit Singh was not unprepared , and Hari Singh with 20,000 men awaited him on the Indus and now sent a large force under Budh Singh across the river which advanced to meet the Jihadis tom Saidu where they entrenched themselves. Ahmad Shah surrounded the party and reduced it to great distress. Budh Singh at length determined to fight , after telling the Durrani sardars that, if they kept aloof, their country should not be taken from them , and reminding them also of Ranjeet Singh's approach and their certain fate if they acted with enemy. This warning had desired effect , for the Durranis fled at the commencements of battle , Yar muhammad Khan at their head; this act of treachery decided the day , and a great slaughter of Muhammadans took place, the Pathans making no fight but throwing themselves down before the excited Sikh soldiery. Ahamd Bareilwi fled by Lundkhwar to Swat , being taken ill on the road, which gave rise to the rumour that he had been poisoned by the Durrani sardars , a suspicion, however didnt disabuse the Pathans of his miraculous power , and he again managed in a few months , to collect several thousand followers.After the decisive battle of Nowshera in 1823 , the Peshawer valley lay at the mercy of Ranjit Singh . No permanent occupation , however, at this period was ever attempted. Subject to the payment o yearly tribute , the government remained in the hands of the Barakzai sardars till 1834. (Gazetteer of the Peshawar District, 1897-98, page-66)
8- In 1828 Hari Singh came into conflict with the Hindustani fanatics and their Pashtun supporters from Trans-Indus and defeated them at Phulra on the right bank of the Siran west of Mansehra. The Hindustani's 2,000 allies from Hazara, who were chiefly Tanolis, fled at the beginning of engagement and the fanatics themselves were cut up to a man , including their leader , Ahmad Ali Shah, a nephew of Syed Ahmad Bareliwi. In 1830 Hindustanis reappeared in Hazara , and made themselves masters of Konsh and Bhogarmang glens, and valley of the Kunhar down to Balakot , the Swatis and Kaghan's Syeds siding with them. But they were met by a Sikh force under Sher Singh at Balakot , and defeated with great slaughter , their leader Syed Ahmad Bareilwi himself being among the killed as well as Shah Ismael and Bahram Khan Khalil, the arbab. The Syed's body was flung into the river , but was recovered lower down at the village of Talhatta , where it was buried. ( Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 130)
9- In 1834 Malik Dilasa Khan head of the Daud shah Tappah of Bannu, raised the standard of revolt.' Bukhshi Tara Chand and Sardars Sham Singh, Jai Singh, and Jagat Singh, At tariwallas, besieged the mutineers in the garhi, but the besieged, some two thousands in number, made a sudden sally, killing three hundred Sikhs with the fire of their matchlocks and wounding five hundred more. The Sikhs were compelled to raise the siege and retire to a distance of a kos from the garhi. The Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, on receiving news of this, forthwith ordered Raja Suchet Singh to march to the scene of insurrection at tho head of a force for the relief of the Sikh army. He was, however, much irritated at hearing of the disaster. Tara Chand had been created a dewan a about time before, and placed in charge of Bannu, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan. On the present occasion, he had with him the flower of the Sikh army.His force of eight thousands men and eight guns were led by the chiefs of atari, Nakka and Batala, and his ignominious repulse , with disgrace on his official career and a stain on his military character. He was highly indignant and fined dewan and his brothers Managal Sen and Ratan chand , 125,000 rupees. (History of the Punjab by Syed Muhamamd Latif and Bannú: Or Our Afghan Frontier by Septimus Smet Thorburn)
10- In 1834, on the flight of the Sirdars, Harri Singh the Sikh General gained possession of Peshawar, and Sikh Governor Autar Sing Sindanwala was now sent to Kohat. A Sikh outpost was at the same time established at Teri. The Sikhs, on occupying the country, found themselves unable to levy revenue from the mountaineers. Ranjit Singh placed Sultan Muhammad Khan in a position of importance at Peshawar, and made him a grant of Kohat, Hangu, and Teri. , though the country was generally in a disturbed state, and the upper Miranzai villages were practically independent.
In Kohat where the Khattak chiefship of Teri, " was but little affected by the Sikh conquest. Rasul Khan, the Khattak chief of Teri, excited disturbances in 1836 and the entire Sikh garrison, which was retiring from Teri, were massacred on the road near Jatta.
( Report on the Settlement Of the Kohat District in The Pubjab, Tucker, G.,Sir p-38)
11- In the winter of 1837, Sikhs under their general Hari Singh Nalwa occupied the fortress of Jamrud at the entrance of Khyber. The Amir ordered his son Mohammed Akbar Khan to proceed to Khaibar, and then he reinforced him by means of his eldest son, Mohammed Afzal Khan. He did not take this step merely as one frightened by rumours, but he had actually received repeated communications from the chiefs of the Khaibars, demanding the dispatch of some troops, and offering him their co-operation against the Sikhs, stating that otherwise they will be obliged to acknowledge the authority of Ranjit Singh. The army of the Amir encamped at the mouth of the Khaibar Pass, towards Peshavar, and every day skirmishes took place between the Afghans and the Sikh force garrisoned at Jamrud. The Amir considered it proper that his sons and the army should have some person of good judgment to regulate their conduct and the plan of the battle or of the negotiations.So he sent his minister Mirza Abdul Sami Khan to join his sons. Mirza arrived in the camp, he determined on attacking the enemy, and reported all the circumstances and prospects to the Amir at Kabul, and he sent fresh reinforcements under the Navabs Jabbar Khan, Usman Khan, and Sham- shuddin Khan. The fort of Jam Koad was besieged, and the garrison prevented from fetching any water or grass from outside the citadel. The Sikhs are commonly said to have had 80,000 men in the Peshawar valley at this time.
A cannonade was commenced upon the walls of fort, the defenses of the fort were destroyed in the course of two or three days. Afghans were taken by surprise when Hari Singh suddenly appeared with an army of about ten thousand men, twenty pieces of artillery, and a great quantity of ammunition and provisions and made an attack on them, Afghans were thrown into confusion and began to flee. This occurred on 30th, April 1837. The only detachment which stood firm in the field was that of Mohamed Afzal Khan, the Amir's eldest son who, keeping together his body of two thousand men, showed a bold front- Hari Singh , finding him inflexible, unexpectedly wheeled round, and, observing the Amir's sons and the Nawab occupying small eminences in the defiles of khyber, fell on their divisions. The Sikhs were able to drive the Afghans from their positions capturing 14 guns. The Sikhs thinking the victory gained, pursued the enemy, when their progress was checked by a body of horse led by Shamsudin khan who inflicted heavy casualties on them.
With this, the Afghans who were fleeing from battleground , returned and made a furious attack on Sikhs. Jabbar Khan aand Shuja-ud-duala khan also returned and a successful charge made by them led to the recovery of two of the captured guns. This forced the sikhs to retreat, in this crisis Hari singh received a mortal wound and was borno from the battle field. This accident spread consternation among Sikh troops, who retired to Jamrud fort, where they entrenched themselves. The Sikh leader expired on the same day.The Afghans recovered all eleven of the fourteen guns they had lost, and captured three more belonging to the Sikhs.
The defeat of Sikh army and death of Hari Singh Nalwa at Jamrud caused great anxiety at the court of Lahore. Ranjeet Singh marched in person to Rohtas sending Dhian singh in advance to Jamrud.Field batteries were hurried up with great alacrity from Ramgarh on the Chenab, to Peshawar,a distance of more than 200 miles, in the short space of two days. As soon as the Sikh reinforcement had arrived at Jamrud ,the Afghans were compelled to retreat to principality of Dhaka, from where Amir of Kabul recalled the army. ( 1.History of the Punjab by Syed Muhamamd Latif and 2.Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul By Mohan Lal)
12- In 1843 Sikhs decided to attack Waziristan, especially Haider Khel, Mullagan and Ipi villages. They sent army under the command of Dewan Tara Chand but on the way they were attacked and thus the Sikhs fled to Bannu after considerable losses.
The Dawars continued their attacks on Sikhs cantonments, camps and convoys under the leadership of Ghazi Dalasa Khan. In 1844, a big army of Sikhs under the command of Ram Singh marched towards Tochi. When the army reached village Tapi, Dawars attacked them. The Sikhs were defeated and the tribes got a huge booty. After this defeat the Sikhs not only withdrew their forces from Tochi, but soon after some years left Bannu. ( Bannu or Our Afghan Frontier: SS Thorburn)
13- In 1844 , Diwan Ibrahim, who had been sent by Raja Gulab Singh from Jammu with a small force , was led into an ambush at a gorge below Kaghan village , thenceforth known as Diwan Bela, and destroyed with all his men by the Kaghan's Syeds and the Swatis of Balaokot. ( Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 132)
14- In the the beginning of 1847, the rage of the Marwats at the 'Patka Tax' rose to such a pitch that they rebelled. The Dre-Plari 'Khan' sounded a 'nakarah' (battle drum)at mid-night in his village. The well-known signal was taken up and echoed in the town of Lakki and the Sikh fort was besieged. The news of the rising spread like wild-fire in the neighboring Pashtun tribes; the Wazirs and Khattaks rushed to the scene of the expected action and soon the Marwat 'Lashkar' numbered over several thousand men.
The fort was commanded at that time by a very brave Pashtun, Niazam Khan Khudakka; he first burnt the town of lakki to ashes to deprive the besiegers of shelter and then defended the fort with his garrison for seventeen days, until his master , the Diwan, arrived from Dera Isamel Khan with guns and reinforcements and raised the siege. The Marwats efforts ended in failure. Diwan daulat Rai was replaced by Cortland when Edwardess reported to Khalsa Darbar about Diwan daulat Rai's malpractices. (Edwardes, " A year in the Punjab", Vol-I, p-136)
3- Did he Hari Singh really forced Pashtuns to wear Shalwar Kameez?
Sikhs like other desis/indics have lowly habit of creating Jokes about nations they despise, it is one of it. The fact is , Shalwar Kameez is not the dress of Punjabis but of Afghans. In India , Shalwar Kameez is known as "Pathani suit" for a reason, Afghan conquerors introduced them to India. The original dress of Sikhs and other Punjabis is Dhoti and Kurta for men and Lehanga for women. It is actually Afghans who influenced the Punjabi dress. Not just dress, the Sikh code of conduct , the Khalsa was invented by Goru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru and he took inspiration from Afghan warriors of Punjab in giving martial outlook to Sikhs.The Turban of Guru Nanak itself was inspired from Muslims.
Dhoti, the real dress of Punjabi (including Sikh) men and women.
6- Alarmed at the news of Hari Singh's defeat at Nara, Ranjeet Singh hastened up to Hazara with large reinforcements. Arrived there he sent for all the chiefs and leading men who had taken refuge at Srikot. The Tareen Muhammad Khan , Sarbuland Khan the Tanoli , and Shah Muhammad, the head of Mashwanis, were the only ones to obey his summons. He then attacked the Srikot hills at a number of points simultaneously, driving all opposition before him , and, after staying two nights at Srikot , marched onto Tarbela. Wile halted at the latter place, he mounted an elephant and went-down to the river-side , whereupon the Utmanzais of Khabbal on the opposite bank opened fire on him. Enraged at this, he made his cavalry swim across the river early next at a point lower , and destroyed the villages of khabbal and Kaya , their inhabitants having taken to the hills. He them marched through Yusufzai and Back Lahore-wards via Serai kala, taking Muhammad Khan Tareen with him. The Srikot hills were secured by the building of a fort , which was garrisoned with 500 men.
After Ranjit Singh's departure , Karrals submitted to Hari Singh without fighting, their chief Hassan Ali khan was given a large Jagir and a fort was built at Nara. The sardar then departed for lahore , leaving Mahan Singh behind him as his deputy governor. He had not long gone when Bostan Khan Tareen , the nephew of Muhammad Khan Tareen, who was imprisoned at lahore raised a new disturbance in the Srikot hills. Returning to Hazara, hari Singh had little difficulty in quelling the outbreak , and to prevent a recurrence of any thing of the kind , he took very drastic measures. Muhammad Khan Tareen , whose person he had purchased from Ranjeet Singh for 55,000 Rupees , he caused to be poisoned; Bostan Khan Tareen , the two principle Mashwani headmen , and one or two other leading men , were blown away from guns; and the Mashwanis were evicted from Srikot and forced to live in exile trans-indus till the year 1830 , when they obtained permission to return. The 55,000 rupees which Hari singh had paid for Muhammad Khan were recovered by levy of a tax of two and half rupees per house from most of the villages in Hazara.
(Gazetteer of the Hazara district, 1907 , Hubert Digby Watson p-128)
7- Syed Ahmad Shah of Bareilwi, traveling bu Shikarpur and Kabul , arrived amongst the Yusfuzai in 1824, giving out that he was divinely commissioned to wage a war of extirpation against the infidel Sikhs and Chinese. In a short time an immense army was at his disposal. The four Peshawar sardars felt the influence , and longing to free themselves from Sikhs, joined the crusade , the ranks of which were swelled by numerous adventurers from Hindustan. At last the Syed marched to Nowshera, proposing first to lay siege to attock ; but Ranjit Singh was not unprepared , and Hari Singh with 20,000 men awaited him on the Indus and now sent a large force under Budh Singh across the river which advanced to meet the Jihadis tom Saidu where they entrenched themselves. Ahmad Shah surrounded the party and reduced it to great distress. Budh Singh at length determined to fight , after telling the Durrani sardars that, if they kept aloof, their country should not be taken from them , and reminding them also of Ranjeet Singh's approach and their certain fate if they acted with enemy. This warning had desired effect , for the Durranis fled at the commencements of battle , Yar muhammad Khan at their head; this act of treachery decided the day , and a great slaughter of Muhammadans took place, the Pathans making no fight but throwing themselves down before the excited Sikh soldiery. Ahamd Bareilwi fled by Lundkhwar to Swat , being taken ill on the road, which gave rise to the rumour that he had been poisoned by the Durrani sardars , a suspicion, however didnt disabuse the Pathans of his miraculous power , and he again managed in a few months , to collect several thousand followers.After the decisive battle of Nowshera in 1823 , the Peshawer valley lay at the mercy of Ranjit Singh . No permanent occupation , however, at this period was ever attempted. Subject to the payment o yearly tribute , the government remained in the hands of the Barakzai sardars till 1834. (Gazetteer of the Peshawar District, 1897-98, page-66)
8- In 1828 Hari Singh came into conflict with the Hindustani fanatics and their Pashtun supporters from Trans-Indus and defeated them at Phulra on the right bank of the Siran west of Mansehra. The Hindustani's 2,000 allies from Hazara, who were chiefly Tanolis, fled at the beginning of engagement and the fanatics themselves were cut up to a man , including their leader , Ahmad Ali Shah, a nephew of Syed Ahmad Bareliwi. In 1830 Hindustanis reappeared in Hazara , and made themselves masters of Konsh and Bhogarmang glens, and valley of the Kunhar down to Balakot , the Swatis and Kaghan's Syeds siding with them. But they were met by a Sikh force under Sher Singh at Balakot , and defeated with great slaughter , their leader Syed Ahmad Bareilwi himself being among the killed as well as Shah Ismael and Bahram Khan Khalil, the arbab. The Syed's body was flung into the river , but was recovered lower down at the village of Talhatta , where it was buried. ( Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 130)
9- In 1834 Malik Dilasa Khan head of the Daud shah Tappah of Bannu, raised the standard of revolt.' Bukhshi Tara Chand and Sardars Sham Singh, Jai Singh, and Jagat Singh, At tariwallas, besieged the mutineers in the garhi, but the besieged, some two thousands in number, made a sudden sally, killing three hundred Sikhs with the fire of their matchlocks and wounding five hundred more. The Sikhs were compelled to raise the siege and retire to a distance of a kos from the garhi. The Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, on receiving news of this, forthwith ordered Raja Suchet Singh to march to the scene of insurrection at tho head of a force for the relief of the Sikh army. He was, however, much irritated at hearing of the disaster. Tara Chand had been created a dewan a about time before, and placed in charge of Bannu, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan. On the present occasion, he had with him the flower of the Sikh army.His force of eight thousands men and eight guns were led by the chiefs of atari, Nakka and Batala, and his ignominious repulse , with disgrace on his official career and a stain on his military character. He was highly indignant and fined dewan and his brothers Managal Sen and Ratan chand , 125,000 rupees. (History of the Punjab by Syed Muhamamd Latif and Bannú: Or Our Afghan Frontier by Septimus Smet Thorburn)
10- In 1834, on the flight of the Sirdars, Harri Singh the Sikh General gained possession of Peshawar, and Sikh Governor Autar Sing Sindanwala was now sent to Kohat. A Sikh outpost was at the same time established at Teri. The Sikhs, on occupying the country, found themselves unable to levy revenue from the mountaineers. Ranjit Singh placed Sultan Muhammad Khan in a position of importance at Peshawar, and made him a grant of Kohat, Hangu, and Teri. , though the country was generally in a disturbed state, and the upper Miranzai villages were practically independent.
In Kohat where the Khattak chiefship of Teri, " was but little affected by the Sikh conquest. Rasul Khan, the Khattak chief of Teri, excited disturbances in 1836 and the entire Sikh garrison, which was retiring from Teri, were massacred on the road near Jatta.
( Report on the Settlement Of the Kohat District in The Pubjab, Tucker, G.,Sir p-38)
11- In the winter of 1837, Sikhs under their general Hari Singh Nalwa occupied the fortress of Jamrud at the entrance of Khyber. The Amir ordered his son Mohammed Akbar Khan to proceed to Khaibar, and then he reinforced him by means of his eldest son, Mohammed Afzal Khan. He did not take this step merely as one frightened by rumours, but he had actually received repeated communications from the chiefs of the Khaibars, demanding the dispatch of some troops, and offering him their co-operation against the Sikhs, stating that otherwise they will be obliged to acknowledge the authority of Ranjit Singh. The army of the Amir encamped at the mouth of the Khaibar Pass, towards Peshavar, and every day skirmishes took place between the Afghans and the Sikh force garrisoned at Jamrud. The Amir considered it proper that his sons and the army should have some person of good judgment to regulate their conduct and the plan of the battle or of the negotiations.So he sent his minister Mirza Abdul Sami Khan to join his sons. Mirza arrived in the camp, he determined on attacking the enemy, and reported all the circumstances and prospects to the Amir at Kabul, and he sent fresh reinforcements under the Navabs Jabbar Khan, Usman Khan, and Sham- shuddin Khan. The fort of Jam Koad was besieged, and the garrison prevented from fetching any water or grass from outside the citadel. The Sikhs are commonly said to have had 80,000 men in the Peshawar valley at this time.
A cannonade was commenced upon the walls of fort, the defenses of the fort were destroyed in the course of two or three days. Afghans were taken by surprise when Hari Singh suddenly appeared with an army of about ten thousand men, twenty pieces of artillery, and a great quantity of ammunition and provisions and made an attack on them, Afghans were thrown into confusion and began to flee. This occurred on 30th, April 1837. The only detachment which stood firm in the field was that of Mohamed Afzal Khan, the Amir's eldest son who, keeping together his body of two thousand men, showed a bold front- Hari Singh , finding him inflexible, unexpectedly wheeled round, and, observing the Amir's sons and the Nawab occupying small eminences in the defiles of khyber, fell on their divisions. The Sikhs were able to drive the Afghans from their positions capturing 14 guns. The Sikhs thinking the victory gained, pursued the enemy, when their progress was checked by a body of horse led by Shamsudin khan who inflicted heavy casualties on them.
With this, the Afghans who were fleeing from battleground , returned and made a furious attack on Sikhs. Jabbar Khan aand Shuja-ud-duala khan also returned and a successful charge made by them led to the recovery of two of the captured guns. This forced the sikhs to retreat, in this crisis Hari singh received a mortal wound and was borno from the battle field. This accident spread consternation among Sikh troops, who retired to Jamrud fort, where they entrenched themselves. The Sikh leader expired on the same day.The Afghans recovered all eleven of the fourteen guns they had lost, and captured three more belonging to the Sikhs.
The defeat of Sikh army and death of Hari Singh Nalwa at Jamrud caused great anxiety at the court of Lahore. Ranjeet Singh marched in person to Rohtas sending Dhian singh in advance to Jamrud.Field batteries were hurried up with great alacrity from Ramgarh on the Chenab, to Peshawar,a distance of more than 200 miles, in the short space of two days. As soon as the Sikh reinforcement had arrived at Jamrud ,the Afghans were compelled to retreat to principality of Dhaka, from where Amir of Kabul recalled the army. ( 1.History of the Punjab by Syed Muhamamd Latif and 2.Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul By Mohan Lal)
12- In 1843 Sikhs decided to attack Waziristan, especially Haider Khel, Mullagan and Ipi villages. They sent army under the command of Dewan Tara Chand but on the way they were attacked and thus the Sikhs fled to Bannu after considerable losses.
The Dawars continued their attacks on Sikhs cantonments, camps and convoys under the leadership of Ghazi Dalasa Khan. In 1844, a big army of Sikhs under the command of Ram Singh marched towards Tochi. When the army reached village Tapi, Dawars attacked them. The Sikhs were defeated and the tribes got a huge booty. After this defeat the Sikhs not only withdrew their forces from Tochi, but soon after some years left Bannu. ( Bannu or Our Afghan Frontier: SS Thorburn)
13- In 1844 , Diwan Ibrahim, who had been sent by Raja Gulab Singh from Jammu with a small force , was led into an ambush at a gorge below Kaghan village , thenceforth known as Diwan Bela, and destroyed with all his men by the Kaghan's Syeds and the Swatis of Balaokot. ( Gazetteer of The Hazara District 1907 page 132)
14- In the the beginning of 1847, the rage of the Marwats at the 'Patka Tax' rose to such a pitch that they rebelled. The Dre-Plari 'Khan' sounded a 'nakarah' (battle drum)at mid-night in his village. The well-known signal was taken up and echoed in the town of Lakki and the Sikh fort was besieged. The news of the rising spread like wild-fire in the neighboring Pashtun tribes; the Wazirs and Khattaks rushed to the scene of the expected action and soon the Marwat 'Lashkar' numbered over several thousand men.
The fort was commanded at that time by a very brave Pashtun, Niazam Khan Khudakka; he first burnt the town of lakki to ashes to deprive the besiegers of shelter and then defended the fort with his garrison for seventeen days, until his master , the Diwan, arrived from Dera Isamel Khan with guns and reinforcements and raised the siege. The Marwats efforts ended in failure. Diwan daulat Rai was replaced by Cortland when Edwardess reported to Khalsa Darbar about Diwan daulat Rai's malpractices. (Edwardes, " A year in the Punjab", Vol-I, p-136)
3- Did he Hari Singh really forced Pashtuns to wear Shalwar Kameez?
Sikhs like other desis/indics have lowly habit of creating Jokes about nations they despise, it is one of it. The fact is , Shalwar Kameez is not the dress of Punjabis but of Afghans. In India , Shalwar Kameez is known as "Pathani suit" for a reason, Afghan conquerors introduced them to India. The original dress of Sikhs and other Punjabis is Dhoti and Kurta for men and Lehanga for women. It is actually Afghans who influenced the Punjabi dress. Not just dress, the Sikh code of conduct , the Khalsa was invented by Goru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru and he took inspiration from Afghan warriors of Punjab in giving martial outlook to Sikhs.The Turban of Guru Nanak itself was inspired from Muslims.
Dhoti, the real dress of Punjabi (including Sikh) men and women.
always remember your true roots lohani pathan.
Kanjar insaan
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