In 1883, the Amir imprisoned Mir Afzal, son of Mir ’Alam Khan, a powerful khan of the Hotakays, on charges that during the reign of the late Amir Sher ’Ali he
24
aspired to the sovereignty of Afghanistan. In all probability the charges against Mir Afzal were untrue, for he was a supporter of the family of the late Amir. Y a ’qub had appointed him Khan of the Hotakays and he had
joined Ayub in Kandahar in 1880. However, during the British occupation of Afghanistan, Mir Afzal had been neutral, mainly because the British at Kandahar had used his feeble, but popular, uncle Sadu Khan Hotakay, as a
25
counterpoise to him. A f z a l ’s support of the family of Sher ’Ali may have been the real reason for his imprison ment .
21 GAK, 135.
22 E l p h i n s t o n e , M . , 2, 147• 23 GAKand., 89.
24 Oolonel Afzal, with Amir in Mama Khel (Jalalabad), ■ 13 July 1883, PSLI, 37, 543-
The A m i r 1 s relations wi t h the eastern G-hilzays were also strained. Because of the introduction of se-kot and the
demand of the Amir for revenue for previous years, the eastern Ghilzays were disturbed, insubordinate and a
number of their sporadic revolts were suppressed by force and their elders eliminated. In late 1883, Mazullah Khan Jabar Khel of Hisarak was expelled to Meshed. In 1885,
Khan Mohammad Khan was thrown into prison and a year later his brother, Biaz Mohammad Khan, who had been appointed as Khan of the eastern Ghilzays, fled to Peshawar. Thus by 1886, the Amir had disposed of all the influential
elders of the eastern Ghilzays.
Also, by 1886 mutual distrust between the Amir and the southern Ghilzays began to increase. But their disturbances, b eing generally in the form of isolated revolts, were easily put down by the k h a s s a d a r s . General Ghulam Haydar Tokhay, who had been in exile with the Amir and was his trusted adherent, was also suspected by the Amir of being concerned with the intrigues of the Ghilzays. Although he was the A m i r ’s General in the army of Kandahar,
he fled to Sibi.
following the imprisonment of the Ghilzay elders and the suppression of their sporadic revolts, the Amir
imposed a wide range of taxes over them. Although these taxes followed a pattern which was becoming general through out Afghanistan, they were new and a heavy burden on the Ghilzays. In 1885, zakat had been demanded b y which one
out of every forty (chehel-wa-yak) cattle was to be given to the government every year. House tax (k h a n a w a r i ) to which even mullas and sayyeds were subject had also been
imposed* A birth tax of 4 rupees on the birth of every male child and 2 rupees on each female child was also
26
demanded. Marriage taxes entailed payment of 10 rupees 27 on the marriage of a virgin and 5 rupees on a widow.
A succession tax of chehel-wa-yak which an inheritor must p o
pay to the Government was also imposed*
To the Ghilzays these taxes were all new and
differed sharply from the old quota system. Previously each section of the Ghilzays paid their fixed quotas to the Government through their Elian. Their q u o t a s , comprising mainly cattle, were of poor quality, but credited by the Government at a high price. The Khan usually took half of what he received and gave the rest with an apology to the king. Sometimes the kings allowed the Khan to take
OQ
certain additional shares also.
Again, the Amir had introduced drastic changes in the payment of revenue from the land. In the early years of
the nineteenth century, the kings had derived but a
moderate revenue from the Ghilzays, part of which went to the Khan of the Ghilzays and part to the Durrani Sardar
"50
who commanded their contingents of troops. But the Amir introduced se-kot on land irrigated by streams (n a h r i ), one-fifth on land irrigated by springs (chishmai) , and
26 KD, 13 Jan 1886, PSLI, 46, 193. 27 PL, 7 Jan 1886, PSLI, . ....
28 Kand. D., 13 Mar 1886, PSLI, 46, 1533. 29 GAK, 141 *
one-tenth on land irrigated by subterranean canals (k a r e z i ) .
Further, the Amir discontinued the allowances of the deceased Mulla M u s h k - i - 1Alam and his son and successor, Mulla 'Abd al-Karim (b. 1835), and assessed a revenue of
about 15,000 rupees on the previously rent-free lands of the Mulla which had been partly purchased by him and partly granted to him by followers in Shilgar, Oharkh, Logar,
G-hazni and other places. The Amir had also demanded three years revenue from the Tokhays, Hotakays, Tarakays, Andars, Sulaiman Khel, and the K h a r o t a y s . ^
Mulla 'Abd al-Karim, the second son of Mulla Mushk-i- fAlam by his Andar wife, was on reasonably good terms with the Amir until the expulsion of Sardar Ayub in 1881.
The Amir had conferred on the Mulla the honorary title of K h a n - i - ' U l u m (the prince of learnings) while the Mulla had accompanied G-eneral Roberts (on the A m i r 1 s instructions), and the Amir in their marches against Ayub. Mulla 'Abd al-Karim assisted his father against the Amir. After the death of his father, Mulla 'Abd al-Karim was looked upon as his successor.
The new assessment proved a crucial point in the relations of the G-hilzays with the Amir. All the discon tented G-hilzay elders, among them Mir Afzal Hotakay
(presumably released from prison) went to the Mulla to his residence in Shilgar and there they planned the rising.
31 Amir to Colonel Afzal, 9 Aug 1887, PSLI, 51, 510.
32 Qazi 'Abd al-Qadir to Peshawar Commissioner, 7 Lee 1886, PSLI, 49, ill.
The first major event which led to the rising occurred in the M uqur area in October 1886, and involved a newly recruited regiment of Durranis from Kandahar, which was on its way to Kabul. About 4,200 Andars and Sulaiman Khel sent a message to the Durranis, saying that they had no quarrel with them whatever, but demanding from them the A m i r 1s property. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the Durranis complied, handing over 140 camels, 80 tents and
30,000 Kandahari rupees. The Durranis were not molested and were left at liberty togo wherever they liked. ^ The Ghilzays then marched on Ghazni.
At Kabul the Amir seted swiftly. He despatched an
army of five regiments of cavalry and infantry with 12 guns 34
under General Ghulam Haydar Orakzay, At the same time, the Amir expelled to India a number of Barakzay sardars, including his uncles, lest "...the people of Kabul should rise and set up one of these Sardars as their ruler.
36