RUPEE NEWS: Recording History, Narrating Archives, Strategic Intellibrief Analysis: Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | новости рупии | 卢比新闻 | Rupi Nyheter | ルピーニュース | اخبار روپیہ

Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | новости рупии | 卢比新闻  | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ルピーニュース  | Notizie di Rupia |  PAKISTAN LEDGER | پاکستاني کھاتا | Moin Ansari | معین آنصآرّی | DefensebriefsIntellibriefs Translate to: RSS feed: | RUPEE NEWS | October 30th, 2008 | Moin Ansari |  معین آنصآرّی | اخبار روپیہ  |

  For the past 5000 years the Khyber pass has witnessed invading armies come into South Asia and then become resident in the fertile plains of the Punjab and the Ganges.

The Aryans come down the Khyber, as did the armies of the Ghaznavids, the Abdalis, the Seljuk Turks, and then the Mughals. The British did not come down the path of the invaders. They came as traders through Bengal (today’s Bengal, Orissa, and Bihar) the riches part of the Subcontinent under Siraj Ud Daulah.When the British tried to reverse the path of the invaders, they failed miserably and had to retreat back to the Indus when they stayed.

“The wreath of banquet overnight lay withered on the neck, Our hands and scarfs were saffron-dyed for signal of despair, When we went forth to Paniput to battle with the ~Mlech~,
Ere we came back from Paniput and left a kingdom there.”
– With Scindia to Delhi by Rudyard Kipling

Somnath and Delhi must have felt the same way as the residents of Islamabad and New Delhi today. Those who define the fault line as the Durand Line forget that in 1526 the fault line was was Panipat not the Hindu Kush. Indian machinations in Kabul are reminiscent of the Marietta messing with the Kabul. With dreams of Mughal grandeur, they began to think of themselves as successors to the Mughals. They began harassing the vassal states of the Ahmed Shah Durrani and ultimately paid the consequences of the harassment.

But 1947 has little or no relevance for a more serious conflagration threatening to engulf the region. I am inclined to look at the turmoil in Afghanistan and its impact on both as rooted in 1526 if not earlier. That year the First Battle of Panipat was fought just north of Delhi between Mughal adventurer Babar and Delhi’s Pathan ruler Ibrahim Lodhi. To my mind the Uzbeks and the Tajiks of Afghanistan’s recent Northern Alliance, and Kabul’s current dominant rulers, form the corner once represented by Babar, who became India’s first Mughal emperor after winning at Panipat.

Incidentally, that battle’s verdict was influenced by a superior technological prowess that came in the form of gunpowder and cannons, which Babar had introduced for the first time in Indian warfare. The challengers, the still ill-equipped but tenacious Pashtuns, seem to closely represent the forces that once belonged to the former fellow Pathan ruler of Delhi.

The venue of the still continuing stand-off between two of South Asia’s most fiercely unrelenting Muslim groups has shifted from Panipat to the regions around an artificially created Durand Line but much of its energy seems to still derive from the historically ingrained fault lines seen in 1526. Add to this the element of the colonial Great Game in a new, more lacerating avatar, predicated on a bizarre if elusive hunt for a few subversives, and we can grasp the genesis of the ferocious confrontation that the NSAs seem to have agreed to face jointly.  The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.jawednaqvi@gmail.com

The impact of the invasions from Farghana, Samarkand, Bokhara and Ghazni had long term impacts on the Subcontinent as we see it today. These invasions to much extent destroyed the power of the Brahmins and at the very least liberated 450 million souls who would have been in total bondage of the caste system. The 450 million Muslims (in Pakistan, India and Bangaldesh) today enjoy a decent life whereas the 250 million Dalits (leftover0 are still struggling to find humanity in their souls and their destiny.

Agrand alliance of Durrani from the West and the Ebngalis from the East defeated the Marhattas

Ahmad Shah Durrani (Ahmad Shah Abdali) angered by the news from his son and his allies was unwilling to allow the Marathas spread go unchecked. In 1759 he raised an army from the Afghan (Pashtun) tribes with help from the Baloch and his Rohilla ally Najib Khan. By the end of the year they had reached Lahore as well as Delhi and defeated the smaller enemy garrisons. Ahmed Shah, at this point, withdrew his army to Anupshahr, on the frontier of the Rohilla country, where he successfully convinced the Nawab of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula to join his alliance against the Marathas.Wiikipedia

“The lofty and spacious tents, lined with silks and broadcloths, were surmounted by large gilded ornaments, conspicuous at a distance… Vast numbers of elephants, flags of all descriptions, the finest horses, magnificently caparisoned … seemed to be collected from every quarter … it was an imitation of the more becoming and tasteful array of the Mughuls in the zenith of their glory.” — Grant Duff, describing the Maratha army^[5]

There were three battles of Panipat.

• The First Battle of Panipat (1526), between the Mughal Babur against the Delhi Sultan Ibrahim Lodi
• The Second Battle of Panipat (1556), between the Mughal Akbar the Great against Adil Shah Suri and Hemu
• The Third Battle of Panipat (1761), between the Afghans against the Marathas Wiki

The decline of the Mughal Empire had led to territorial gains for the Maratha Confederacy. Ahmad Shah Abdali, amongst others, was unwilling to allow the Marathas’ gains to go unchecked. In 1759, he raised an army from the Pashtun tribes with help from the Baloch people and made several gains against the smaller garrisons. The Marathas, under the command of Sadashivrao Bhau, responded by gathering an army of 100,000 people with which they ransacked the Mughal capital of Delhi. There followed a series of skirmishes along the banks of the river Yamuna at Karnal and Kunjpura which eventually turned into a two-month-long siege led by Abdali against the Marathas. Wiki

The Marhatta dream of conquering Kandhar was not realized. The Marhattas were soundly defeated in 1761

We have already brought Lahore, Multan, Kashmir and other subahs on this side of Attock under our rule for the most part, and places which have not come under our rule we shall soon bring under us. Ahmad Khan Abdali’s son Taimur Sultan and Jahan Khan have been pursued by our troops, and their troops completely looted. Both of them have now reached Peshawar with a few broken troops…we have decided to extend our rule up to Kandahar.  — Raghoba’s letter to the Peshwa, May 4, 1758^[2]

Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | новости рупии | 卢比新闻  | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ルピーニュース  | Notizie di Rupia |  PAKISTAN LEDGER | پاکستاني کھاتا | Moin Ansari | معین آنصآرّی | DefensebriefsIntellibriefs Translate to: RSS feed: | RUPEE NEWS | October 30th, 2008 | Moin Ansari |  معین آنصآرّی | اخبار روپیہ  |