Hazara Wars in Afghanistan p2
So, friends, the Hazara tribes were satisfied that after pledging allegiance to Amir Abd al-Rahman, they would not have any problems, but their complacency soon disappeared. Amir Abdul Rahman also hated Hazaras like his grandfather Dost Muhammad. They imposed a Russian formula on the Hazara tribes, which started an endless cycle of destruction and destruction. What was this Russian formula? My Curious Fellows Amir Abdul Rahman spent about ten, twelve years in Russian-occupied Samarkand.
He was greatly influenced by the Tsars of Russia, especially the eighteenth-century Russian emperor Peter the Great, who was his idol. From the Russian system of government, Amir Abd al-Rahman had learned the lesson that all the powers should be in the hands of the king and not in the hands of the tribal chiefs. He returned to Afghanistan from Samarkand with the same Russian formula. As soon as they arrived here, they started trying to eliminate the power of the tribal chiefs and local scholars so that all the powers remained in their hands.
They inflicted atrocities on their opponents Mohmand, Shinwari, Ghalzai and Kakar tribes, killed their chiefs and exiled their descendants. They took away their lands and titles and distributed them among their loyalists. In the Turkestan region of northern Afghanistan, so many atrocities were committed that Britain and Russia also shouted. Queen Victoria expressed her disapproval of the Amir’s actions. On the other hand, Russia started threatening war.
The British Viceroy in India “Henry Lansdowne” wrote a letter to Amir Abdul Rahman, declaring these atrocities against the traditions of civilized nations. On this, the Amir wrote a reply letter to the Viceroy saying that you are talking to me like a dictator and you are interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, stop it. At the same time, he wrote that he was bringing the people living in lawlessness under the new law, like the Russian emperor Peter the Great.
Thus, Amir Abdul Rahman rejected the protests of Britain and Russia and continued his actions against the chiefs. To break the power of the Sardars, they abolished the old tribal army of Afghanistan which was under the Sardars. In its place, the army was recruited on modern western bases like Britain and Russia etc. The officers of this army did not join the army because of any tribal affiliation, but by giving an aptitude test.(Stv Urdu )Thus, these military officers were more loyal to the Amir than the chiefs. This army was equipped with modern guns and machine guns received from Britain.
Thus, the Amir’s power increased tremendously in comparison to the tribal chiefs. After the Sardars, the class that could become a threat to the Amir was the class of Mullahs or scholars of Afghanistan. Local scholars played a very important role in Afghan society, and still do today. Some people followed him more than the chiefs. During the days of war, these people used to issue the fatwas of Jihad. The rulers were also afraid of his fatwas. Amir Abdul Rahman used to call Mullahs ignorant dictators. He stopped the stipends of scholars.
Mullah Mushak-e-Alam, the famous religious scholar of Afghanistan, who was the hero of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, was also killed. Later, his body was also removed from the grave and burnt. Apart from this, the system of Zakat and Ushar was also abolished in Afghanistan because this system was under the influence of the scholars. Scholars used to decide who would pay how much tax under Zakat and Ushr. So, in order to weaken the scholars, Zakat and Ushar were abolished and a new tax ‘Sihakot’ was implemented.
Under this system, one-third of all income and agricultural produce was collected as tax. The Amir also took over all the income of the endowments under official control. That is, all the religious buildings, the shrines of the saints, etc., where people used to go and offer sacrifices, were taken under the control of the government. Hazrat Ali Mazar of Mazar-e-Sharif, also known as Shah-e-Mardan Mazar, was included among them. There were one hundred and twenty, twenty one guardians at this shrine who were called Ansari.
These people were guarding this shrine for many generations, they were taken to Kabul and were brutally torn into two pieces in front of the people. With this type of action, the power of the scholars was lost and only such court scholars were left who submitted to every order of the Amir. Amir Abd al-Rahman also established a powerful network of espionage throughout the country so that he was fully aware of every friend and foe.
