1 Conquest of the Punjab. 101
2 of the Khaibar, the Maharaja reopened negotiations
3 with Yar Muhammad Khan. The hostile spirit of
4 the surrounding tribes rendered Peshawar a difficult
5 place to hold, and he decided, for the time being, to
6 reinstate Yar Muhammad, who, having little to hope
7 for at the hands of his brother, willingly became the
8 tributary of Lahore. Azim Khan did not long survive
9 his defeat, and his death in 1823 produced further
10 confusion in the affairs of Afghanistan. The Barakzai
11 brothers were now without any acknowledged head,
12 and their quarrels led to a period of uninterrupted
13 anarchy.
14 During the three succeeding years, no operations
15 of importance were undertaken by the Sikh army.
16 This unwonted inactivity was mainly due to the
17 ill-health of the Maharaja, who, for the greater part
18 of 1825, lay sick in Amritsar. Towards the end of
19 1826, a serious rising took place amongst the
20 Yuzafzais and other tribes in the neighbourhood of
21 Peshawar, who, stirred to action by a Wahabi leader,
22 Sayad Ahmad Shah, made an attempt to drive the
23 Sikhs out of Hazara. This district, lying to the north
24 of Rawal Pindi, and enclosed between the Indus and
25 the hills of Kashmir, was brought under Sikh control
26 by the subjugation of the Ghakkars in 1818, and
27 had proved a continual source of trouble to its
28 possessors. The Maharaja went himself to the
29 assistance of the governor, Sirdar Hari Singh Nalwa,
30 and having defeated the tribesmen with great loss,
31 he marched on to Peshawar to punish the gover-
32 nor for conniving at the designs of the Wahabi
33 leader. The tribute of Peshawar was increased, and