nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47the Logari chief put to death. To undermine ’Amin Allah’s position further,
Lal was told to offer the headship of his Logar tribe to Yar Muhammad
Khan, his long-standing rival. Yar Muhammad Khan naturally assumed
that the substantial reward was the price for ’Amin Allah Khan’s death and
Macnaghten’s assurance that ‘assassination was not our custom’ was taken
with a very large pinch of salt. 30
Lieutenant John Conolly, Arthur Conolly’s younger brother, who was
political representative to Shah Shuja‘ and who was living in the Bala Hisar,
reinforced this misconception in a confidential letter in which he stated
he would pay 10,000 rupees for the head of every rebel chief brought to
him. Exactly who, if anyone, authorized Conolly to make such an offer is
unclear, and he may well have been acting on his own initiative, though
his offer probably reflected the view of Shah Shuja‘, who was eager to give
more work to his underemployed executioner. Since Conolly’s wishes were
in line with instructions already received from Macnaghten, Lal placed a
price on the heads of the rebel leaders. It is at this point in his published
narrative that Lal, who is usually loquacious about his part in the First
Anglo-Afghan War, becomes extremely coy about his actions. What is
clear is that the rebel leaders were convinced that Macnaghten, through
his political underlings, was offering to pay handsomely for the assassin-
ation of rebel leaders and was inciting their rivals to stick the knife into
their ribs. It was a belief reinforced by suspicions that the assassin who
shot ‘Abd Allah Khan Achakzai during the Battle of Behmaru Heights had
been in the pay of the British. It was also rumoured that the British had
paid someone to poison Mir Masjidi. After all, this was exactly what they
would have done.
On the political front Lal managed to negotiate a deal with some chiefs
of the Jabbar Khel to abandon their support for Nawab Zaman Khan and
to swear allegiance to Shah Shuja‘. In return, Elphinstone agreed to pay
them two lakh rupees as a down payment for supplying the cantonment
with grain and fodder. Trevor was sent to make the payment, but when he
reached the meeting place he was told all but one of the chiefs had reneged
on the contract, so Macnaghten tore up the agreement on the grounds that
the Jabbar Khel had failed to fulfil their side of the bargain. The Jabbar Khel,
however, did not see the matter this way. According to them, an unnamed
chief had tried to trick Trevor into giving him the cash, claiming that the
other khans had pulled out of the deal. As a consequence the Jabbar Khel
accused Macnaghten of reneging on his promise.
While trying to undermine the Royalist cause, Macnaghten paid far
less attention to Nawab Zaman Khan and the Muhammadzai sardars.