afghanistan
As the hot summer months arrived, Zu’l-fikar Khan became increas-
ingly desperate and on 22 July 1731 he made a final attempt to break the
siege, only for his men to be cut to pieces. In the flight back to the city,
many more were drowned trying to cross the Hari Rud, which was in
spate. Even Zu’l-fikar Khan was lucky to escape with his life. Realizing the
cause was hopeless, Saidal Khan’s Ghilzais, who had come to Herat along
with Zu’l-fikar Khan, slipped through the Persian lines during the night
along the bed of a dry irrigation canal. A few days later Zu’l-fikar Khan
surrendered the city in return for a pledge of safe passage to Farah. Sultan
Allah Yar Khan was reinstated but once more Nadir Khan did not insist
on installing a Persian garrison.
Allah Yar Khan’s reinstatement was not welcomed by many tribal
leaders, while the relationship between Nadir Quli and Allah Yar Khan
broke down following a misunderstanding. Nadir Quli, hearing that a large
relief army was marching to Herat from Farah, sent a sizeable force to the
Helmand only to find he had been sent on a wild goose chase. An angry
Nadir accused Allah Yar Khan of fabricating the report in order to draw
the Persian army away from Herat so that he could rebel. Sultan Allah Yar
Khan denied the accusation, but despite this Nadir demanded five hundred
‘Abdali leaders be sent to his camp as hostages. When the khans refused
to comply, Allah Yar Khan offered to pay a substantial ransom but Nadir
Quli rejected his offer, arrested every ‘Abdali in his camp and placed Herat
under siege once more. Troops were also sent against Maruchak to seize
Allah Yar Khan’s family and a second column was sent to occupy Obeh.
The siege dragged on through the bitter Herati winter and by February
1732, with the population starving, the ‘Abdali leaders came to Nadir’s camp
and surrendered. Despite their broken promises, Nadir Quli spared Allah
Yar Khan’s life but he was not allowed to remain in power. On 27 February
1732 Sultan Allah Yar Khan, the last representative of the Saddozai sultans
of Herat, left the city under safe conduct. Allah Yar Khan’s involvement
with Herat thus came to an end, but it was not his last encounter with Nadir
Quli. Destitute, Allah Yar travelled to Delhi, where the Mughal emperor,
Muhammad Shah, granted him a small pension. Seven years later Nadir
Quli, now Nadir Shah, King of Persia, took Delhi and, hearing that Allah
Yar Khan was in the Mughal capital, gifted him a jagir in Sind. But when
Nadir Shah left Delhi, he took Allah Yar Khan with him and later exiled
him to the Persian province of Mazandaran, where he was joined some
time later by his rival, Zu’l-fiqar Khan. When Allah Yar Khan died a few
years later his body was returned to Herat and buried beside his father and
brother in the Bagh-i Rauza.
nandana
(Nandana)
#1