afghanistanbut she had little choice in the matter and the marriage went ahead. Rather
than abandon her daughter, she courageously decided to accompany her
daughter into exile.
Ahmad Shah’s army set out to return to Peshawar and requisitioned
28,000 pack animals, including hundreds of elephants, and even the
cavalry horses were requisitioned to carry the booty from the campaign.
On his return journey through the Punjab, however, the Sikh cavalry raided
the army’s flanks. When Ahmad Shah reached Jullundar Duaba he sent
Sardar Jahan Khan to attack and plunder the Sikh holy city of Kartarpur,
desecrating its temples and gurdwaras and slaughtering its inhabitants.
After reaching Lahore, Ahmad Shah sent another force to attack the Sikhs’
other holy city, Amritsar, which suffered the same fate.
Ahmad Shah appointed Timur Shah as governor of Lahore, with Sardar
Jahan Khan as wazir and commander-in-chief of the garrison. Timur
Mirza was not a good choice and disaffection soon spread, while the Sikhs
formed an anti-Afghan alliance with the rising power of the Marathas. In
December 1757 the Sikhs defeated Sardar Jahan Khan at Mahilpur and
plundered Jullundar Duaba. Following a second defeat in January of the
following year, the Sikhs raided the outskirts of Lahore itself and in March
a joint Sikh-Maratha army overran Sirhind. Faced with the imminent fall
of Lahore, Sardar Jahan Khan and Timur Mirza hastily evacuated the city
but, in their haste to ford the Chenab and Ravi rivers, most of the army’s
baggage was abandoned and thousands drowned attempting the crossing.
Those Afghans who were taken prisoner by the Sikhs were put to work
cleansing the sacred tank in Amritsar.
Following the loss of the Punjab, Nasir Khan, beglar begi of Kalat,
convinced that these defeats marked the beginning of the end of Durrani
power, declared independence. Sardar Shah Wali Khan was sent to put
down the revolt, but when he was defeated Ahmad Shah set out in person
to deal with the troublesome governor. He eventually defeated the Baluch
army but was unable to take Kalat by storm. Instead, he agreed to allow
Nasir Khan to remain as governor of Kalat in return for his resubmission
to Durrani sovereignty. 9
The Kalat uprising meant Ahmad Shah was in no position to regain
control over the Punjab until October 1759 and this time his campaign was
given religious legitimacy by Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahim, better known as
Shah Wali Allah (1703–1762), one of India’s leading Islamic scholars, whose
teachings would inspire the Barelvi and Deobandi movements. 10 He wrote
to Ahmad Shah urging him to come and save the Muslims of northern
India from domination by Hindus and Sikhs. Ahmad Shah then presented