The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman KhanHensman, Howard
History
The Afghan War of 1879-80: Being a Complete Narrative of the Capture of Cabul, the Siege of Sherpur, the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the Brilliant March to Candahar, and the Defeat of Ayub Khan, with the Operations on the Helmund, and the Settlement with Abdur Rahman Khan
against Yakub Khan, were really guilty of abetting the men who had fired
the Residency and slaughtered its inmates in the early days of
September.
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Footnote 19:
The members of the Commission were Brigadier General Massy
(President), Major Moriarty, Bengal Staff Corps, and Captain Guinness,
72nd Highlanders.
-----
In the attack upon our Embassy and in the after-tumult and organized
resistance to our troops, it was known that the city people had borne a
prominent part, and it was therefore necessary that one of their leaders
should be made to suffer for their offences. Accordingly, the Kotwal, or
chief magistrate of Cabul, was arrested immediately after the
proclamation of Sir F. Roberts had been read in the Amir’s garden, and
he was the chief personage among the five tried yesterday. The evidence
against this man, Mahomed Aslam Khan, was that after the Residency had
been stormed, he ordered and superintended the throwing of the bodies of
the Guides over the Bala Hissar wall into the ditch below, where they
now lie in a deep hole covered over with stones and rubbish. This was
his active participation in the first series of events, and there was no
doubt the influence his position gave him was exercised in every way in
favour of the mutineers, and that he made no effort to control the city
rabble. When it became known in Cabul that our forces were encamped at
Charasia, he showed himself most active in organizing measures to drive
us back. On the night before the fight, when all the fanatical passions
of the soldiery and the populace were excited to the utmost, he issued a
proclamation in which all faithful Mahomedans were called upon to
assemble and march out to do battle against the British. This was
circulated throughout the city and neighbourhood, and brought in many
recruits; while, to keep the ill-organized army up to its work, he gave
Rs. 1,000 to the bakers to cook food for the troops. This they were to
carry with them to the Charasia Heights. The police were further
employed to turn out, in the early morning of October 6th, all
faint-hearted citizens who shirked the duty imposed upon them of meeting
our army. With a boldness that seemed almost like bravado, Aslam Khan
did not seek safety in flight when we encamped before Cabul, but
actually acted as our guide, when Sir Frederick Roberts visited the
ruins of the Residency. He explained very vividly all that took place,
and even pointed out the grave of the Guides below. His defence before
the Commission was, that the bodies were thrown over the wall by his
people without his knowledge; and that in respect of the proclamation,
he issued it at the instigation of Sirdar Nek Mahomed Khan,
Commander-in-Chief of the rebels, who said the Amir had given orders to
that effect. There was just a colourable excuse in this, as it is now
established beyond doubt that Nek Mahomed visited the Amir in our camp
the night before Charasia. The Amir was really a puppet in the hands of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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