Battle of Akora Khattak
| Battle of Akora | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mujahidin movement (Syed Ahmad's Holy War) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Mujahideen |
 Sikh Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Syed Ahmad[2][3] Khadi Khan Baqar Ali † Allahbakhsh Khan † |
Budh Singh Atar Singh[4] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,500[5] | 4,000[2]–10,000[6] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 82[2] | 500–700[5][2][7] | ||||||
The Battle of Akora Khattak was the first significant clash between the Mujahidin movement led by Syed Ahmad Barelvi and the Sikh Empire. The attack was successful, resulting in significant casualties for the opposition.[8][9]
Battle
Akora, located 18 miles from Attock across the Indus, held strategic importance. The area was inhabited by Khattak tribe led by Najaf Khan, who retreated into the hills when the Sikhs conquered Peshawar. At this time, Budh Singh Sandhanwalia was stationed in Akora with 4,000 troops.[2] Syed Ahmad Barelvi gathered his soldiers for a night ambush. In the early morning of 21 December 1826, when the Sikhs were sleeping in the bitter cold, Allah Bakhsh Khan led the mujahideen in their attack and repulsed the Sikhs. The mujahideen lost 36 Hindustanis and 46 Kandaharis, including Patna's Maulvi Baqar Ali and their leader Allah Bakhsh Khan, while the Sikhs lost between 500 and 700 well-equipped soldiers.[7][10]
The initial assault caused heavy Sikh losses, but the attackers then turned to looting the camp, allowing the Sikhs to regroup. Budh Singh reorganised his troops, counter-attacked, and repulsed the mujahideen, who withdrew to the hills.[2][11][12][13]
Result
Sources differ in their description of the outcome of the battle. Some accounts highlight the success of the mujahideen’s surprise night attack, during which the Sikh forces took heavy losses.[5][14][15][12][7]
Other accounts state that, despite the initial success of the attack, the Sikh forces under Budh Singh Sandhanwalia regrouped and repulsed the attackers after the mujahideen turned to plundering the camp, forcing them to withdraw into the hills.[2][11][13][16]
Accordingly, the battle has been variously presented in the sources as an early mujahideen success, a failed attempt to secure a decisive victory, or a tactically mixed engagement in which the surprise assault inflicted substantial Sikh losses but did not produce lasting control of the field.[2][11][12]
Aftermath
Following the successful guerrilla attack, the Yusufzai and Khattak tribesmen, having suffered few casualties, returned to the hills. Subsequently, these tribesmen launched a number of guerrilla attacks against the Sikhs.[2] After the battle, Sayyid Ahmad shifted his headquarters to Sitana at the foot of the Mahaban mountains on the western side of the Indus.[2] The success in ambush aided Ahmed Barelvi in gaining a wide following in Peshawar.[17]
Although the night attack had inflicted substantial losses on the Sikh force, the mujahideen failed to convert the surprise assault into a decisive victory, and the frontier campaign continued in the following months.[11][16]
See also
References
- ↑ Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 13.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hari Ram Gupta 1978, p. 161.
- ↑ Politics of Worship in the Contemporary Middle East: Sainthood in Fragile States. BRILL. 15 April 2013. ISBN 978-90-04-24922-6.
- ↑ Sir Jadunath Sarkar Commemoration Volumes: Essays presented to Sir Jadunath Sarkar. Department of History, Panjab University. 1958.
- 1 2 3 Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 62.
- ↑ Jalal, Ayesha (2009). Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia. Harvard University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-674-03907-0.
- 1 2 3 Mohamed Taher 1998, p. 196.
- ↑ Rashid, Haroon (2002). History of the Pathans: The Sarabani Pathans. Haroon Rashid. p. 267.
- ↑ "Syed Ahmad Barelvi profile". Story of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ↑ McQueen, Sir John W. (1994). Unseen Faces and Untold Cases, Heroes and Villains of Sikh Rule. Bahri Publications. p. 96.
- 1 2 3 4 Jalal 2008, p. 87.
- 1 2 3 Altaf Qadir 2014, p. 63.
- 1 2 Hasrat 1977, p. 124.
- ↑ Metcalf, Barbara D. (14 July 2014). Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900. Princeton University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-4008-5610-7.
his followers having won the allegiance of some of the local tribes, he attacked and defeated the Sikhs at Akora Khattak.
- ↑ Ziad, Waleed (16 November 2021). Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints Beyond the Oxus and Indus. Harvard University Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-674-24881-6.
Sayyid Ahmad's Mujahidin managed to defeat the Sikh armies
- 1 2 Qeyamuddin 1966, p. 47.
- ↑ Ikram, Sheikh Mohamad (1989). History of Muslim Civilization in India and Pakistan: A Political and Cultural History. Institute of Islamic Culture. p. 385. ISBN 978-969-469-001-8.
Sources
- Altaf Qadir (2014). Sayyid Ahmad Barailvi: His Movement and Legacy from the Pukhtun Perspective. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-93-5150-486-3.
- Mohamed Taher (1998). Muslim Political Thought in India. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7488-943-0.
- Hari Ram Gupta (1978). History of the Sikhs: The Sikh Lion of Lahore, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1799-1839. Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN 978-81-215-0515-4.
- Jalal, Ayesha (2008). Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674028012.
- Hasrat, Bikrama Jit (1977). Life and Times of Ranjit Singh: A Saga of Benevolent Despotism. V.V. Research Institute Book Agency.
- Qeyamuddin, Ahmed (1966). The Wahabi Movement in India. Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay.