1 MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 415
2 of the wazir being thought little likely to be productive of any practicable
3 good; recourse was had to treachery. A grand banquet was given in honour
4 of the wazir by Kdmran, and, in the midst of the festive entertainment,
5 four hundred armed Kards, who had been concealed in a room close by,
6 suddenly rushed out and seized the person of the wazir, who suspected no
7 Cruel murder of
8 Wazir Fatteh Khan,
9 treachery. The first act of Kamrdén was to blind Fatteh Khan with hot isis
10 irons, His hands and feet were shortly after mutilated, and he was killed
11 with ail the tortures peculiar to a barbarous race.
12 The murder of Wazir Fatteh Khan created a great sensation throughout
13 the whole country of the Afghans. The wazir belonged to the powerful
14 Barakzai tribe, and had fifty brothers, all governors of territories, or
15 otherwise possessing influence and wealth. They, one and all, raised the
16 standard of revolt, and one cry for vengeance rang through the length and
17 breadth of the kingdom. Mahommed Azim Khan hastened from Kashmir,
18 which he left in charge of a younger brother, Jabbar Khan. He inflicted a
19 signal defeat on Kamrdn, and, driving his forces out of Kdbul, put Ayub
20 Shah, son of Tymur Shah, on the Kdbul throne. His original plan was to
21 reinstate Shah Shuja; but, that prince being at the time beyond his reach,
22 Shah Ayab was proclaimed king. He then reduced Ghazni and Kandahar,
23 so that in a short time only the city and the plains of Herat were left to be
24 governed by the weak Shah Mahmid and his rash and ill-advised son Kém-
25 rén. The rest of Afghanistan was allparcelled out among the members of
26 the extensive Barakzai family, and converted into independent principalities.
27 The commotions in Afghanistdn ‘were favourable to the views of Ranjit
28 Singh, who conceived that the time had come to put his designs on Peshawar,
29 and the country beyond the Atak into execution, the more so as the Khatak
30 Mahommedans hadrecently raised the standard of revolt and defeated a detach-
31 ment of the Sikh troops. The troops were ordered to rendezvous across the
32 Ravi, where the Mahardjd encamped for fifteen days, personally supervising the
33 military arrangements, and collecting supplies and war material. When
34 all his arrangements were complete, he marched to Atak in October, send-
35 ing Bawd Phaddi, his confidential agent, in advance of the troops. The
36 Bawé was murdered by the rebellious Khattaks, t6 the great grief of the
37 Mahardjd, who forded the river on an elephant. A detachment under Phula
38 Singh, Akdli, Mahtab Singh, Nakheria and Gurmukh Singh, was sent to
39 chastise the Afghans, and an action was fought in which the Afghans
40 were defeated. Firoz Khan and Najib-ullah Khan, the Khatak chiefs, made.
41 their submission, and were pardoned, on payment of heavy nazrdnd. Ranjit
42 Singh then. reduced Khairdébad, on the right bank of the Indus, and
43 captured Jahdngira, and the territory on the opposite bank of the river.
44 ~ At Naushera he ascertained from Dewan Sham Singh and others, who
45 had been to Peshawar, that the Afghans had no organised force with which
46 to oppose him in the field. He then directed an advance on Peshawar,
47 which city he-oceupied on 20th November. Yar Muhammad Khan, the
48 Afghan governor of Peshdwar, evacuated the town on the approach of the
49 Sikhs, and led to the Eusufzai hills. The Mahardjd saved the city from
50 pillage, but set the Béla Hissar on fire, as also the village of Chamkanni,
51 the residence of Sheikh Umar. To Dewan Sham Siugh was entrusted the
52 task of collecting nazrénds from the Arbabs and leading men of Peshawar,
53 and Rs. 25,000 was realized under this head. The Mahardjastayed at
54 Peshawar with his army for three days, receiving the respects of the lead-
55 ing men of the tribes, and conferring dresses of honour upon them. On
56 the fourth day he retired, placing his ally Jahdnddd Khan, Wazir Khel,
57 “brother of ‘Ata Muhammad Khan, to whose treachery he owed the posses-
58 Shah Ayub proclaim-
59 ed King of Kabul,
60 The disturbed state
61 of Afghanistan favours
62 able to the views of the
63 Sikh ruler.
64 He marches to
65 Peshiwar, 1818,
66 Garrisons Khairdbid,
67 And occupies Pesh4-
68 war, 1818
69 The Maharajé makes
70 over Peshawar to
71 Jahandad Khan, 1818.
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