afghanistanand to redress the grievances of the Mohmands. An envoy was then sent
to Arsala Khan bearing a Qur’an with the king’s oath promising his life
would be spared if he came in person and tendered his submission. Arsala
Khan took Timur Shah at his word, but when he arrived in Peshawar he
was arrested and his throat cut. The Mohmands and other tribes of the
Khyber region were disgusted at the king’s breach of his sacred oath and
never forgot, or forgave, this act of treachery. 10
Some two months after the revolt in Peshawar, ‘Abd al-Khaliq Khan,
a grandson of Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan Saddozai, rebelled, forcing Timur
Shah to recall Madad Khan Ishaqzai from Multan and return to Kabul. ‘Abd
al-Khaliq had previously led a failed coup against Ahmad Shah and had
fled to Multan, where he had been imprisoned by Subadar Shuja‘ Khan.
Then after the Sikhs occupied Multan, they released ‘Abd al-Khaliq on
condition he raised an army to topple Timur Shah. ‘Abd al-Khaliq joined
forces with Muhammad Akbar Shah and Ibrahim Khan, all grandsons of
Sultan ‘Abd Allah Khan Saddozai, who had a long-standing blood feud with
the Sarmast Khel lineage, for their father Shah Muhammad Khan and two
of their brothers had been assassinated on the orders of Ahmad Shah. Nasir
Khan, beglar begi of Kalat, along with a number of Durrani and Ghilzai
chiefs, also supported the rebellion. In early March 1775 ‘Abd al-Khaliq
marched out of Kalat intent on conquering Kandahar, only to be defeated
following the defection of several Durrani chiefs. The three Saddozais were
captured and sent to Kabul where Ibrahim Khan was executed, while ‘Abd
al-Khaliq and Akbar Shah were blinded and imprisoned in the Upper Bala
Hisar. Timur Shah then ordered all the surviving male members of Sultan
‘Abd Allah Khan’s lineage to be hunted down and killed.
Having successfully beaten off these challenges to his power, Timur
Shah concentrated his efforts on expelling the Sikhs out of Multan, but it
was not until 1780 that the city was again in Durrani hands. By this time
Shuja‘ Khan Saddozai, who had been a loyal ally of Timur Shah, was dead
and his son Muzaffar Khan succeeded him as subadar of Multan. There
were also revolts in Kashmir and Sind. While the uprising in Kashmir
was put down, Sind proved to be a far more difficult proposition. In 1779
civil war broke out in the province and Timur Shah mounted a series of
campaigns to bring it back under his authority, laying waste to vast areas
of Sind in the process. Yet despite a few pyrrhic victories, by 1791 the Amirs
of Sind were independent in all but name, though they continued to send
tribute to Kabul.