Ahmad Shah Durrani's place in Pakistan's history

[Kabira]

Muslims of India were expecting Shah Zaman to repeat the sucesses like his grandfather, I posting news articles of British news papers of that time when shah zaman was on his march towards Delhi on invitation of Tipu Sultan.

Sat 19th March 1796

Asiatic Mirror 17th February – The Afghan army of Zaman Shah has defeated the combined armies of the Sikhs and the Marathas near the River Jumbu. This is Zaman’s second major victory.

He is continuing his march on Delhi and has published a proclamation of his intention to replace the (deposed) King of Delhi and assume control of the Mughal Raj.

The Marathas under Sindhia wrested administrative power from the former Grand Mughal Shah Allum a few years ago and assumed those powers themselves. Shah Allum is now about 72 years old. He became blind five years ago.

Zaman’s present expedition is to discipline the Hindu Marathas and restore the fallen Mughal monarchy to its former full Powers.

The chief imports of Delhi are horses, fruit and cashmere shawls, which arrive by caravan from Kabul. Red and black carnelians are abundant.

There is a 90 mile canal that has been cut through solid rock, 25 ft wide and deep. It comes through Paniput to Delhi and permits the irrigation of a huge area where the production of food for the city is done.

Sat 19th May 1798

In early April, the Afghan leader Zaman Shah was at Lahore.

He is displeased with the recent agreements Governor-General Shore made with our puppet Grand Mughal Saadat Ali Khan at Lucknow which put that officer fully under our control.[7]

He is expected to enter India and the only places along the Ganges valley that produce sufficient revenue for him to meet the expenses of his huge army are at Lucknow or Benares.

Sat 1st Dec 1798

Zaman Shah is the Afghan leader who sits on our northwest frontier and asserts an intention to elevate the Grand Mughal to his former status. His presence requires a respectable Company force be maintained opposite him. He has some Muslim friends amongst the native Princes.

Gulam Mahomed, leader of the Rohillas, who submitted to us in 1794, has just returned from a Hajj and, on his way back, visited Tippoo at Seringapatam. He then lived briefly at Mysore before returning to Rohilcund.

It is Gulam’s Rohillas who have been insulting the Nabob Vizier and destabilising what is left of the Mughal Raj.

Sat 12th Jan 1799

Zaman Shah has arrived on the frontiers of India from Afghanistan with an army of 50,000 men. On 18th November 1798 he had arrived at Peshawar.

He sent Wasadar Khan with a strong force across the Jhelum and engaged the Sikhs before Gujerat. The Sikhs drew back, apparently surrendering Gujerat to the Afghans whose minimal discipline evaporated in an orgy of plundering. This allowed the Sikhs to return and deal a fatal blow to the Afghan forces. Wasadar Khan was injured and a good many of his men killed. The entire army broke and fled back the way it had come.

When Zaman Shah found out he beheaded both Wasadar and his son. The replacement Vizier recommended Zaman return to Kabul but he has since reportedly arrived at Lahore and is said to be intent on coming on to Delhi although how he will traverse the Punjab is a nice question.

Sat 16th Feb 1799

On 26th December or 3rd January Zaman Shah withdrew from Lahore and returned to his own country around Kabul to confront a rebellion of his brothers, Mahmud and Firose, who enjoy the protection of the Persian court. As soon as he left the Sikhs reoccupied Lahore.

Afghanistan | A Peoples' History 1793 – 1844 from the newspapers
@save_ghenda

Interrsting didn't knew about it.

 

[Samandri]

Interrsting didn't knew about it.

Tipu Sultan, in a letter, had asked Shah Zaman to help him indirectly by capturing Delhi and mounting pressure on east india company from that side. Shah Zaman's mother was a Mughal princess.

 

[jaatram]

Same applies to Jats of Bharatpur ---- they became enemy of Rajputs by continuously encroaching their land

rajputs were bending in the mughals courts ... so I won't be p!ssed off about it.

 

[Bornubus]

rajputs were bending in the mughals courts ... so I won't be p!ssed off about it.

By that time Jats emerged as regional power Most Rajputs already started screwing Mughals ,moreover not All Rajputs were same Sisodiya are one such Clan.

BTW i admire Jats of Mathura they were Brave they Destroyed and Looted the Akbar's Mausoleum exhumed his body and performed his Last rites according to Hindu Tradition and All this when Aurangzeb was Alive

 

[jaatram]

By that time Jats emerged as regional power Most Rajputs already started screwing Mughals ,moreover not All Rajputs were same Sisodiya are one such Clan.

BTW i admire Jats of Mathura they were Brave they Destroyed and Looted the Akbar's Mausoleum exhumed his body and performed his Last rites according to Hindu Tradition and All this when Aurangzeb was Alive

We were splintered on caste and race during that time. But we all admired each other in hunting Mughals.

 

[Kambojaric]

I disagree Sikhs were actually a secular state under Ranjeet which is why Punjabi Muslims supported them. Also Shah Zaman plundered Punjabi Muslims which led to loss of support to Afghans. Overall though Ranjit Singh was smart and used the opportunity to gather support across religious lines. Marathas on the other hand were Early Hindutvas which is something modern day hindutvas openly state.

Sikhs were pragmatic. They knew Punjab was majority Muslim so if they wanted to maintain their rule in the long run they had to accommodate the Muslims (Just like the Mughals did with Hindus and Rajputs in N. India). Theres a reason why the Delhi Sultunate dynasties had roughly two-three monarchs whereas the Mughal dynasty lasted far longer. Large scale uprisings did take place agaisnt Sikh rule in the Potohar region for example by the Janjuas. If the Sikhs however tried to force convert Muslims to Sikhism there would have been even more uprisings and this would give the Pashtuns and other outside powers a chance to intervene. Ranjit Singh knew this hence his pragmatism.

As for the Marathas they too were pragmatic. At the Battle of Panipat for example one of the key Maratha commanders was a Muslim Ibrahim Khan Gardi. The Marathas had however never really ruled over Muslim majority territory so there is no way to be certain if they would have adopted the same policies as the Sikhs but the likelihood in my opinion is that they too would have remained pragmatic and not force convert the Punjabi/Sindhi masses to convert to Hinduism.

As for British they promoted Christianity amongst lower castes but also allowed open competition hence Arya Samaj and other groups also operated along with Muslim groups. It was actually due to British policy that Muslims in the region had a net increase by the 1941 census. In fact ironically all of Ranjeet Singhs own tribe the Sansis converted to Islam during this period. Ultinately though Brits would not have gained a foothold had Marathas won so none of this would have occurred had Marathas won at Panipat which is something many historians agree on as ultimately Marathas were the only force that could challenge them. In fact Wellington the general who would end up defeating Napoleon rated Maratha armies above France's (he also ended the Marathas and Tipu). So if Marathas won at Panipat they would extend their domain to Kandahar and be in a good enough position to crush the only opposition left, the British in Bengal.

Well now we are seriously speculating. For one I find it highly unlikely (let me reinforce the highly) that the Marathas could ever have successfully enforced their rule in Balochistan, KPK and Afghanistan. These territories were overwhelmingly Muslim, on the other side of the subcontinent in harsh desert/mountainous terrain and inhabited by war like peoples. Even the British had immense difficulties controlling the Pashtun/Baloch tribes in the 1800/1900s despite the introduction of planes, machine guns etc. Qandahar would be next to impossible given that Maratha supply lines would be constantly harassed and ambushed along the deserts and in the various passes (Bolan/Khhyber). Im sorry but I see no way how the Marathas with their base in Central India in the pre railway era could ever have exercised serious influence in such far away territory. At most they could have launched attacks to exact tribute and demand nominal sovereignty of the Marathas but to expect them to enforce centralized authority over these territories in my opinion was not possible.

In the case of a Maratha victory at Panipat I still see their power gradually collapsing as they had treated theJats and Rajputs badly. The Brits were masters at divide and rule and at the first moment of Maratha weakness would have allied with the Rajputs/Jats to reduce Maratha power. In the long run I still see the British power gradually increasing their power in South Asia especially as the west starts producing more and more deadly weapons which easterners had no response to (machine guns, bolt action rifles etc.)

 

[Kabira]

By that time Jats emerged as regional power Most Rajputs already started screwing Mughals ,moreover not All Rajputs were same Sisodiya are one such Clan.

BTW i admire Jats of Mathura they were Brave they Destroyed and Looted the Akbar's Mausoleum exhumed his body and performed his Last rites according to Hindu Tradition and All this when Aurangzeb was Alive

Obviusly jats are off diferrent breed/mindset.

 

[Samandri]

By that time Jats emerged as regional power Most Rajputs already started screwing Mughals ,moreover not All Rajputs were same Sisodiya are one such Clan.

BTW i admire Jats of Mathura they were Brave they Destroyed and Looted the Akbar's Mausoleum exhumed his body and performed his Last rites according to Hindu Tradition and All this when Aurangzeb was Alive

Why they had so much hate against pro-hindu emperor like Akbar that they desecrated his grave like this?, nothing brave about it, very lowly of them to do so. Schindia of Marathas did the same with Najibudaula's grave when they invaded Rohilkhand in 1772, they couldnt defeat him when he was alive.

 

[Kabira]

Why they had so much hate against pro-hindu emperor like Akbar that they desecrated his grave like this?, nothing brave about it, very lowly of them to do so. Schindia of Marathas did the same with Najibudaula's grave when they invaded Rohilkhand in 1772, they couldnt defeat him when he was alive.

Looting is their ancient trait. But i don't know why hindu jaats who are shudras/outcastes in hinduism will bother with hindu burial ritual of muslim king.

 

[Samandri]

At the Battle of Panipat for example one of the key Maratha commanders was a Muslim Ibrahim Khan Gardi.

A mercenary. He was not the only one, the auxiliary force of Marathas consisted of Pindari mercenaries who were mostly Afghans/Pashtuns.
Pindaris | History of Pashtuns

 

[Bornubus]

Why they had so much hate against pro-hindu emperor like Akbar that they desecrated his grave like this?, nothing brave about it, very lowly of them to do so. Schindia of Marathas did the same with Najibudaula's grave when they invaded Rohilkhand in 1772, they couldnt defeat him when he was alive.

Obviusly jats are off diferrent breed/mindset.

They didn't Hated Akbar infact he was the most respected Mughal in Indian History--

They believed that Akbar wasn't Muslim anymore a common rumour around Agra those days.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

But marathas did persecute sikhs indirectly, i wonder why this part is ignored.

Mughal Adina Beg invite marathas to expell Afghans in return of money. Adina with local tribes, sikhs and maratha help expell Afghans out of Punjab. Maratha make Adina beg governor of Punjab in return of 75 lack per year taxes and they go back to India.

Adina needed peace and prosperity to collect 75 lakh. But sikhs didn't stop their looting ways they were so used to by that time. So Adina decide to persecute Sikhs, marathas turned blind eye because of money. This all happened in periord of 2 years before Adina died.

Adina Baig wasnt a mughal but a Punjabi arian.. who rose from a peasant status to become the most powerful man in punjab.. he double crossed everybody to achieve power for himself... allied with mughals... to crush the sikhs.. (at the same side supported sikhs against mughals)... and to keep them in power he called on marathas whom he paid 1 lakh per day to fight for him... and thus became the authority in punjab.

 

[Kabira]

They didn't Hated Akbar infact he was the most respected Mughal in Indian History--

They believed that Akbar wasn't Muslim anymore a common rumour around Agra those days.

Ohh so they did that because they though Akbar was no longer muslim? Even now many muslims say that Akbar was not proper muslims because of new religion.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Very few as i said coming from British sources. Doubt they have anything to do unless they are sikh chatha who migrated from Gujranwala. So you will not find them outside Indian punjab. Sikhs is religion not caste/tribe. Same thing apply to bhatti sikhs.

Edit: But waraich muslim chief of Gujrat actually was with sikhs or become ally of them. Even though waraich is another jatt clan entirely native to west punjab, but many non-muslim waraich converted to sikhsm also and became sikh chiefs.

The Kharals were also allied with Ranjeet Singh... and even gave dowry to his daughter..

 

[Kabira]

Adina Baig wasnt a mughal but a Punjabi arian.. who rose from a peasant status to become the most powerful man in punjab.. he double crossed everybody to achieve power for himself... allied with mughals... to crush the sikhs.. (at the same side supported sikhs against mughals)... and to keep them in power he called on marathas whom he paid 1 lakh per day to fight for him... and thus became the authority in punjab.

I know but he was Mughal governor of punjabi arain origin.

The Kharals were also allied with Ranjeet Singh... and even gave dowry to his daughter..

Only after sikhs defeated them. Just like muslim waraich chief become sikh ally.