afghanistanInternal challenges to Ahmad Shah DurraniInternally Ahmad Shah faced a series of challenges to his power both from
members of his own Saddozai qaum as well from the Durrani tribal coun-
cil and senior military commanders. As a member of a minor branch of
the Saddozai clan, Ahmad Shah was well aware that several members of
his lineage had a superior claim to the throne and one of his first actions
after escaping from Nadir Shah’s camp was to have his maternal uncle, ‘Abd
al-Ghani Khan, put to death. Other potential claimants included Ahmad
Shah’s young nephew, Luqman Khan, the son of Zu’l-fiqar Khan, a boy
whom Ahmad Shah had brought up like his own son following his father’s
death. The most senior claimant, however, was Sultan Shah Muhammad
Khan, a Khudakka Khel Saddozai, who had ruled Herat from 1722 to 1724.
After his enforced abdication, Shah Muhammad Khan had returned to
Multan where the Mughal king had bestowed on him the title of Amir-i
Kabir and Mansabdar, with the right to command 5,000 troops. Zahid
Khan, the Mughal deputy governor of Multan and a descendant of Maudud
Khan, Saddu Khan’s eldest son, was another potential challenger. There
were also several members of the minor Kamran Khel and Bahdur Khel
lineage living in Multan.
The first challenge to Ahmad Shah’s authority from within his own
qaum came only a few months after he had been declared king. In the
summer of 1748 rumours reached Kandahar that the king had died while
fighting in the Punjab, so Muhabbat Khan Baluch, the brother and rival
of Nasir Khan, beglar begi of Kalat, and several Durrani and Ghilzai chiefs
declared Luqman Khan to be king. Ahmad Shah broke off his campaign
in India and marched back to Kandahar. The leaders of the rebellion fled
but Luqman Khan, who had been a pawn in the hands of ambitious men,
stayed behind and sent intermediaries to plead for forgiveness. Ahmad
Shah assured the emissaries that if his nephew came in person and sued
for pardon he would be spared, but when Luqman Khan took his uncle at
his word, he was thrown in prison. A few days later his Qizilbash guards
discreetly put him to death. 19 Two years later Ahmad Shah had Shah
Muhammad Khan Saddozai and two of his sons assassinated as well. The
three men had travelled to Kalat, apparently in an attempt to raise an army,
whereupon Ahmad Shah ordered Nasir Khan of Kalat to put his trouble-
some cousins to death. In the spring of 1752 Ahmad Shah also deposed
the Saddozai governor of Multan and appointed a Pushtun in his place.
The most serious challenge Ahmad Shah faced from his own lineage
came in early 1761. While campaigning in the Punjab, ‘Abd al-Khaliq Khan,