Ahmed Shah Abdali knows as King of Pashtoon in the history.
Ahmad Shah Abdali (1726–1773) was the founder of
the Durrani dynasty in Afghanistan. He was born in Multan of Pakistan, the son of
Sammaun-Khan, hereditary chief of the Abdali tribe. As a young boy, Abdali fell into the hands of
the hostile tribe of Ghilzais and kept as a prisoner in Kandahar.
On March 1738, he was rescued by Nadir Shah, who had him guard over some
regions that are now in the North Western Frontier of Pakistan. Nadir Shah was known to be a child molester
and it was not a surprise that he kept Abdali as one of his slaves. Shah favored Abdali above the rest because of
Abdali’s young, handsome features.
Abdali was then given the title of “Dur-Durran” (Pear of Pearls) by Shah
and then Abdali changed the Abdali
tribe name to the Durrani tribe. Shah gave Abdali the command over a cavalry
of Abdali tribesmen.
In
1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated by his guards and Abdali used that to his
advantage. He took the opportunity to
seize the Persian treasures and invade Khorasan. He headed to Kandahar
and persuaded the local tribes to join his “Kingdom of Doom.” He made his own crown with the “koh e noor”
which he had stolen from the Persians.
And
so Abdali’s reign of terror began.
Abdali first crossed the Indus River in 1748, when he first took Lahore-which
was in Hindustan at that time. In 1751, he invaded Lahore once more and looted the city from top
to bottom, leaving nothing left. To this
day, the Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims of that region call him the Devil of
Afghanistan. He and his tribesmen
tortured, killed, looted, and raped the people of the region. He and his tribesmen took back their booty to
Kandahar to
enjoy their stolen goods. In the course
of his life, he raided India
nine times.
In
1750, Abdali took Nishapur and in 1752, he attacked Kashmir. In 1756, he invaded Dehli and looted every
corner. He stole the valuable treasures
of the Moghul Empire and everything else he could get his hands on.
In
the meantime, Abdali made another addition to his collection of wives; a
princess from the Imperial family. He
treated her the same way he treated his other wives and his daughters. He made her strip and dance in a “mordagow
khana.”
When
the Maratha chiefs declared a traditional Sikh holy war on Abdali, he took this
as an opportunity to cross the Indus again and
attack them, setting their villages on fire.
In 1758, the Marathas gained possession of Punjab,
but the victory was short-lived. On
January 6, 1761, they lost to Abdali in the great battle of Panipat.
In
a later raid, Abdali inflected a severe defeat upon the Sikhs but had to
immediately head westward back to Kandahar
to quell a rising insurrection.
Meanwhile, the Sikhs rose again in power and Abdali was forced to
abandon his hopes of retaining the command over the Punjab.
It
is because of Abdali that the Moghul Dynasty, as well as Afghanistan,
was colonized by the British. Over the
course of 25 years, he weakened India
and its Raj and local government. He
adventured into India
numerous times and each time, he returned with gold, camels, women, etc. He left a great number of people dead,
destroyed cities and lives and families. All of this seemed like fun to him and
his people. Therefore, when he died in
1773, his sons began fighting over the throne. The British took this moment of
weakness to step in and create more division.
Abdali’s sons were busy fighting against and killing each other. The British aided the brothers in staying
enemies and gradually they weakened the state and took over.
This
led to the creation of modern-day Afghanistan. Since then, the non-Pashtuns of Afghanistan
have had to deal with these treacherous and corrupt Pashtuns who have occupied
our land. The Pashtuns call Abdali the
Father of the Nation. But why should we,
the Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, etc. accept that title and claim? Abdali is not the Father of our Nation. He was an untrustworthy opportunist, an
invader who raided and destroyed our land.
We are still left to deal with the remaining savage Pashtuns. The Father of our Nation is Saman Khuda, the
man who wrestled our land back from the Arabs and established a civilized and
prosperous land. Ahmad Shah Abdali was
the enemy of our nation, the destroyer of our nation. For non-Pashtuns to celebrate and honor
Abdali would be treason.