Re: Mughal’s Rajput policy vs Afghan policy
The article is talking about Afghans in the india, even after fall of suri dynasty, there was considerable strength of afghans present in bihar, orissa, bengal etc. Indian Afghans were source of continuous trouble for mughals for a century. Khushal khan rebellion against Aurangzeb is of different nature. Yousfazai tribe was at war with mughals since akbar times while khattaks and some other tribes were loyal to mughals and used to fight against yousfazais on behalf of mughals. In Aurangzaib period a yousafzai lashkar crossed river indus and destroyed an unaware mughal army. Mughal army was sent by aurangzaib to crush that yousafzai lashkar, khushal khan fought for mughals against yousafzais in that battle.......yousafzais were defeated. To punish yousfazis, mughal forces enterded into yousafzai country, destroying villages and massacring people. The news of penetration of mughals deep into yousafzai territory spread like a wild fire among pashtun tribes. Aimal khan mohamand and dariya khan afridi announced war against mughals and called all pashtun tribes to unite under one banner. at this occasion khushal khan khattak had change of heart and decided to support mohmands and afridis......the general uprising and warfare in north west was so intense that Aurangzeb himself had to come from Deccan to present day khyber pakhtunkhwa to lead the war against afghans...... let me skip the details, at the end khushal khan khattak was betrayed by his own sons and tribe, he was imprisoned by mughals and khattak tribe once again began to loyally serve mughals in the army. He was severely disappointed by his own tribe and he expresses it in his poetry.