nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47reaffirm the Anglo-Persian treaty after Britain promised military support
against Russia and a substantial subsidy.
Lord Minto also sent Sir Charles Metcalfe to Lahore, where Ranjit
Singh now ruled an independent Sikh kingdom. Metcalfe met with a much
warmer reception than Malcolm had done in Persia and in April 1809 the
two parties signed the Treaty of Amritsar, under the terms of which Britain
formally recognized Sikh sovereignty over the Punjab, territory that the
Durranis claimed as their own. Britain also tacitly allowed Maharaja Ranjit
Singh a free hand when it came to conquering any territory beyond the
Sutlej, including Peshawar. For the next three decades this Anglo-Sikh
alliance was the keystone of Britain’s policy, securing strategic depth and
establishing a strong military buffer state on India’s northwestern frontier.
Following the signing of the Franco-Persian Treaty, in the spring of 1807
Fath ‘Ali Shah resumed his campaign against Herat and occupied the
frontier post of Ghuriyan. As the Persian army advanced on Herat, Hajji
Firoz al-Din obtained a fatwa declaring the war against Shi‘a Persia a
jihad, whereupon thousands of Aimaqs, Uzbeks and Turkmans flocked
to his banner. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Firoz al-Din decided
to confront the Persian army in the open field. Most of his force, though,
consisted of untrained ghazis, devotees of Hazrat Allah Berdi, known
as Sufi Islam, a Maimana-born Uzbek who in his early years had served
in the Bukharan army until a vision led him to become a Sufi. In June
1807 when the two armies met near Shahdeh, Sufi Islam, seated atop a
war elephant, charged the Persian lines. He and his followers, however,
were surrounded and slaughtered to the last man. The corpse of Sufi
Islam was skinned, tanned and sent to Fath ‘Ali Shah, along with the
hide of the Herati religious leader who had issued the fatwa of jihad. 27
Firoz al-Din managed to escape the massacre and fled back to Herat, but
when the Persian general heard reinforcements were on their way he sent
envoys to Firoz al-Din, who agreed to submit to Persian suzerainty, pay
an indemnity of 50,000 rupees and send one of his sons to Tehran to be
a hostage for his good behaviour.
Shah Shuja‘ was unable to help in the defence of Herat since by the
summer of 1807 Mukhtar al-Daula and Khwaja Khanji, taking advantage
of the king’s absence in Sind, had rebelled and placed Qaisar Mirza on the
throne. ‘Ata Muhammad Khan, Mukhtar al-Daula’s son, who was governor
of Kashmir, also joined the revolt and even Wazir Fateh Khan deserted and
made his way to Kandahar, where he pledged his loyalty to Shah Qaisar.
Shah Shuja‘ decided to confront Mukhtar al-Daula and on 3 March 1808 the
rebel army was defeated in battle outside Peshawar and Sher Muhammad