May 1834[Gupta][EoS][EoS][EoS][Web]
Peshawar comes under direct Sikh rule
Peshawar had paid tribute to Maharaja Ranjit Singh for years under local Afghan governors. In May 1834 his forces took direct control, and Hari Singh Nalwa became governor of the frontier west of the Indus.
Sources differ on the earlier stages. Hari Ram Gupta dates a first occupation to 20 November 1818, when the Maharaja left the city in the charge of Jahandad Khan, who was soon driven out. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism's entry on the Maharaja dates his seizure of the city to 1811, while its entry on Akali Phula Singh speaks of a Peshawar campaign in 1818. The city then stayed under Barakzai governors who paid tribute.
Gupta says the Maharaja moved because he distrusted both Shah Shuja and the Peshawar brothers, and wanted direct control before those two sides fought in Afghanistan. Hari Singh Nalwa came down from the Yusafzai hills, and Prince Nau Nihal Singh, Ventura and Court brought 9,000 men from Lahore. The force was over the Indus by late April, and Sultan Muhammad Khan fled to Kabul.
Nalwa held the region with about 12,000 men. Dost Muhammad Khan of Kabul called for holy war to win it back, and in 1836 Nalwa raised a fort where the Khyber Pass opens, at Jamrud.[Gupta][EoS][EoS][EoS][Web]
Dates in the sources
- 1834-05-06: Wikipedia gives this day for the formal annexation. Hari Ram Gupta says only May 1834.[Web]