Afghan Rule in Kashmir (1752 to 1819)

How the Afghans came

• After Aurangzeb, the Mughal hold weakened. In 1752 the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) took Kashmir. The last Mughal governor lost the Valley.
• Kashmir became a province of the Durrani Empire, ruled by Afghan governors called Subedars. For 67 years the Valley saw the worst misrule of its history.

The Afghan governors

Life under the Afghans

• Heavy taxes, forced labour (begar) and plunder by soldiers.
• Shia-Sunni riots and attacks on Pandits and shawl weavers.
• Famine, floods and plague made things worse.

The Sikh invasion (1819)

• Birbal Dhar, a Kashmiri Pandit who had served the Afghans, fled to Lahore and urged Maharaja Ranjit Singh to take Kashmir. Ranjit Singh sent an army under Misr Diwan Chand, with Prince Kharak Singh, in 1819.
• In the Battle of Shopian (July 1819), Jabbar Khan was defeated, and Kashmir passed to the Sikhs. This ended the Afghan rule.

The Afghans in detail (1753 to 1819)

How the conquest happened

• In 1753, Ahmad Shah Abdali, returning after looting Delhi, was invited to invade Kashmir by Mir Muqim and Khwaja Zahir Didamari. He sent an army under Abdullah Khan Ishaq Aqasi, who entered Srinagar and planted the Afghan flag on the fort Nagar.
• About 28 governors ruled for roughly 67 years.

Five Afghan kings who ruled Kashmir

Abdullah Khan Ishaq Aqasi

• The first Afghan governor. A despot who emptied the treasury. He called nobles and merchants of all communities to his palace and ordered them to surrender their wealth; in six months he collected about one crore of rupees in cash and goods.
• He left, appointing Khwaja Abdullah Khan Kabuli as deputy and the Hindu Khatri Sukh Jiwan Mal as chief adviser.

Raja Sukh Jiwan Mal (1754 to 1762)

• With the local noble Abdul Hassan Khan Bandey, he murdered the deputy and became the virtual ruler, conveying his submission to Abdali.
• In 1754 he declared independence and made Abdul Hasan Bandey his chief minister. Abdali split the two by driving a wedge between them and sent an army under Nur-ud-Din Khan Bamzai.
• A large part of Sukh Jiwan's army, including his commander-in-chief Bakht Mal, betrayed him. He was captured and killed at Lahore.

Other governors

• Amir Khan Jawansher built the Amira Kadal (wooden bridge on the Jhelum) and the Sher Garhi Fort in Srinagar.
• Atta Mohammad Khan built a strong fort on Hari Parbat and fortifications at Sopore and Baramulla. To win the people's goodwill he minted coins in the name of Sheikh Nooruddin.
• Azim Khan was the last Afghan governor. He left the administration to his brother Jabbar Khan. Kashmir was under Jabbar Khan when Ranjit Singh annexed it in 1819.

An estimate of Afghan rule

• The whole period was one of anarchy and oppression. Heavy taxes and extortion were common, and Kashmiris were sold as slaves.