The mullahs were executed outside the city and then the mounted soldiers were ordered to kick their bodies under the poison of their stars. I witnessed other punishments that day; For example, in public, a thief was imprisoned inside a cage, which eventually starved him to death. Inside the capital, I saw crowds of people who could not stand for long. Shops were closed in protest, and mosques were filled with worshipers. Only the silent cries of women who could not shout broke the mournful silence of the city
Author: Razzaq Ma'mun
from the book "Rome Nights”
How did Shah Amanullah escape the siege of Kabul?
On the fourth day of the invasion of Habibullah Kalkani's combat forces from the northern passes of Kabul, Shah Amanullah shook himself so much for the first time in the history of his traditional palace that he was shocked to the end by his unhappy taste and bitter joy. You rub your forehead on the rock of boredom.
On December 21, 1928, in a hasty move, he ordered some selected women and children of the royal family, led by Ghulam Siddiq Khan, to fly to Kandahar on a plane full of "Afghani" banknotes and royal jewellery boxes. Rare royal jewellery boxes belonged to Queen Soraya and her mother Sarwar Sultan. Amanullah had already been defeated by the nightmare of terror due to the illusion that he would suddenly be captured by Habibullah Kalkani due to the possibility of a treacherous turn of the courtiers. *
The official document of Nader Shah's government states that Shah Amanullah "fainted in the battle of Saqo and his mother comforted him and forbade him out of cowardice and told him that your intolerance was a disgrace to the name of the ancestors of jealousy. Is. Do not show weakness that the kings of the world have seen many of these stages of life; Suppose you are killed; Has not a kingdom been killed in the world except you? (1)
In the following days, when he was scheduled to fly to Kandahar with a special court circle, the king was informed that "moving from the royal palace to the airport was dangerous." At the same time, the disturbed brain of the king in those nights and days, news and information mixed with reality and rumours had been disabled. Excerpts from official narrations show that the Shah was assured that "for land travel" there was no sign of threat on either side of the Kabul-Wardak Road, and that the Shah's procession, along with Mahmoud Tarzi and Yaqub Wazir, left the royal palace for the road south of the city. Moved. (2)
The minds of all royal historians and "independent" historians are indebted to the narration that the Shah, by refusing to cross the palace from the palace to the "Plane Square", set off on a Ghazni road in a car with a companion train. It was covered with thick snow everywhere and a strong wind was blowing. "It took eight hours to reach Sheikhabad Wardak." "The Shah called the ruler of Ghazni to move a bundle of troops along the road he was crossing." (3)
However, the evidence suggests that Shah Amanullah's visit to Kandahar by land was coordinated with a series of pre-intelligence interactions between Habibullah Khan Kalkani, the Shah himself, and the British embassy.
After the subsidence of the war in Kabul and the establishment of Amir Habibullah in Qala-e-Shahi, a secret letter from Ghulam Nabi Khan Charkhi * was published in the Daily Express in London, following the report of Mohi-ud-Din Khan Anis It begs the question.
* For more information about Ghulam Nabi Khan, at the end of this chapter, hang the 1st series.
At the end of the present chapter, hang the 1st series.
Gholam Nabi Khan Charkhi's letter to one of the officers of the Royal Army depicts horrific events that show that in the last days before leaving Kabul for Kandahar, by the order of the Shah, a group of insurgent mullahs was buried head-to-head on the ground. Several mounted soldiers were then ordered to kick the bodies of those killed.
PHOTO: Amir Amanullakhan and his wife - Soraya
In Nabi Khan's letter, in the last days of "secret" escape to Kandahar, quotations from Amanullah's address to his courtiers were mentioned, which revealed the king's panic and the properties of the court from the sudden collapse of the situation in the last days of the monarchy.
Nabi Khan's letter stated:
It was four o'clock in the morning when Amanullah punched Abram and his fist on the table and said to me:
I will not be alive if Kabul falls. You go to hell with your thoughts and ideas!
Around midnight, Nabi Khan reconciled with the insurgents who had reached the gates of Kabul. He writes: In the depths of the king's eyes, I saw a storm of fear and panic. It was clear to me what fate awaited me the longer I stayed there. It was better for the humble ones to leave the stage without a headache.
Nabi Khan describes the execution order of the beheaded clerics by Shah Amanullah Khan:
At dawn, I left the royal palace. A cold wind was blowing from the surrounding mountains, on a cart made of sheepskin that I was wearing; Infiltrated. According to the previous appointment, I went straight to a bakery and waited for a long time with my companion - Nasrullah. As soon as Nasrallah arrived, without hearing the report of my conversation with the king, he suddenly lost his temper and said:
I spit on my beard for the deeds and services you did to Amanullah Khan!
At first, I thought that Nasrallah had spread baseless rumours against Shah Amanullah; But when he said that Amanullah had executed one of the clerics in our neighbourhood, my thoughts turned against Amanullah. While we were sitting by the stove and drinking tea, two people from Habibullah (Kalkani) joined us. They were from the highlands of Kabul. One of them showed me the direct letter order in Amanullah's handwriting, which was found in the pocket of a government soldier.
Amanullah had written in the decree: On Friday night, the mullahs should be transferred to Paghman with three bodyguards. The soldiers only have to deliver them to the designated place.
We were pouring the tea back-to-back when suddenly the roar of a chained car piled up in our ears and made noise around us. The soldiers shouted: Let go of these unbelievers. Give way to these ungrateful people. It turned out that the detainees inside the chained intermediary were clerics who were being executed. When we realized what punishment awaited them, the blood dried in our veins. They were Shinwari mullahs who had risen against the Shah.
The mullahs were executed outside the city and then the mounted soldiers were ordered to kick their bodies under the poison of their stars. I witnessed other punishments that day; For example, in public, a thief was imprisoned inside a cage, which eventually starved him to death. Inside the capital, I saw crowds of people who could not stand for long. Shops were closed in protest, and mosques were filled with worshipers. Only the silent cries of women who could not shout broke the mournful silence of the city.
Request from Habibullah
Ghulam Nabi Khan says: There was still a chance for reconciliation. Nasrallah and I left the city in the dark of night to see Habibullah Bacha Saqqa for the last request for peace and set off on difficult roads. (4)
Nabi Khan Charkhi met with Habibullah Kalkani behind the Kabul Gate, but the late conversation did not change anything; Because everything had changed. He called on Habibullah Khan "to save the country from a terrible war." He quickly realized that "Habibullah's mind was ready for a kingdom."
PHOTO: Amir Habibullakhan Kalakani
Masharalieh writes: The people of Amanullah checkpoint fired at us three times and we returned to them three times to explain the incident. Nasrallah's horse was shot in the leg and died. So, we both continued with a horse and five hours later we reached Habibullah military camp.
The last attack on Kabul took place in the coming days. There was no peace or compromise with Amanullah. The child of Saqqa told me why they (the courtiers of Amanullah) call me Saqqa; What principle does Amanullah belong to? Was it because of their lineage that the Mughals came to the kingdom of India? Every Afghan deserves the monarchy of Kabul as long as he fights for his religion and tradition with truth and honesty.
I told Habibullah that I had eaten the bread and salt of the Muhammadzai dynasty and that I hoped to prevent a vicious war against Amanullah.
Habibullah said in a roaring voice: Did not you encourage Amanullah to kill the mullahs or shave the beards of the respected elders of the people? (5)
Nabi Khan does not say what answer he gave to Habibullah Khan in response to his question.
In his letter, Ghulam Nabi Khan Charkhi presented a picture of the last day and hours of Shah Amanullah's escape from Kabul. He says that Shah Amanullah Khan, dressed as a woman, was riding in a royal family car, crossing the "first line" checkpoint between Habibullah Kalkani's forces and forces loyal to the government, and headed for Kandahar.
He writes: There was a firefight between the rival camps in Kabul. Telephone lines were down everywhere. Amanullah was afraid of appearing on the roads. Armed men were patrolling the corners of the palace, and police stations were set up at every turn. Police forcibly forced people to open their shops. But the people could not buy milk for lack of money and the bread was starving. Around noon the Royal Guard soldiers revolted. They demanded payment of their arrears; Now there was no money. In the evening, there was a riot due to the lack of bread in the lifeless market of the city, and the cavalry police dispersed the people after receiving the order to fight the riot. The sound of gunfire, the movement of planes, and the occasional shelling of the city could be heard closely.
As it got darker, the people of Kabul gathered their European hats somewhere and started firing from the ridges. People were condemned like crazy to wear foreign models. Suddenly a car arrived and made its way into the crowd. People were planning to attack it, but someone shouted that the occupants of the car are only women. Therefore, the car slowly passed through the crowd while the resigned Shah of Afghanistan was inside.
In any case, the war continued in the following days until Habibullah overcame all the defenders and the work of ignorance ended. The second act of this play will be performed when the hot spring sun has blocked the snow masses that have already blocked all the roads; Melt. (6)
In a situation where the Shah's departure from the capital seemed certain, competition between foreign intelligence and diplomatic forces had also begun. In a silent battle, foreign agents shook hands and sometimes twisted. Stalin was said to have offered Amanullah asylum. *
Amanullah, who lost the throne, "will probably receive political asylum in the Soviet Union," wrote a European newspaper.
The Coshocton Tribune, Wed, 23 Jan 1929
On the other hand, diplomatic sources reported the British assistance in the safe withdrawal of Shah Amanullah from the siege of Habibullah's forces. *
In the days when the ouster of the ousted government was no longer a reality, British intelligence sources were feeding the public opinion in Europe through gossip. Amanullah's supporters in Europe, unaware of the nature of the targeted rumours, immediately telegraphed the written rumours of Western newspapers to the Kabul Citadel, thus adding to the anxiety of the Shah and the courtiers. The calculation was that the king would vacate the square sooner. As reported by the Chicago Daily News on January 17, 1929, citing the United Press and the Altona Mirror. The rumours spread in Peshawar that the Saqqa baby had been captured in Kabul and that Shah Amanullah and his brother Enayatullah had been taken to prison.
Altona Mirror, Tuesday, Jan 17, 1929
The Shah arrived in Kandahar from Kabul on January 14, 1929, and in European circles, Farashah of Kabul was interpreted as "the end of Soviet influence in Kabul and the victory of British diplomacy over Russia." *
On January 16, Berlin newspapers described Amanullah's ousting and ousting of power as "the end of Soviet influence in Kabul and the victory of British diplomacy over Russia." Newspapers quoted sources as saying that it was now clear that Britain would not give Amanullah time to defeat the insurgents. Source: Marshfield News-Herald- Wed, Jan 1929
(To be continued)