Mir Masjidi Khan

Mir Masjidi Khan (died 1841) is one of the celebrated Afghan resistance leaders from the Shamali Plain who opposed the installation of Shuja Shah Durrani as Emir of Afghanistan by the Government of British India during the First Anglo-Afghan War. He kept up a fierce struggle against the occupation forces in and around Kabul and northern Afghanistan until his death. ¹

Mir Masjidi Khan was born in a Tajik family. His father, Sahibzada Ishaq Jan Khan, was a wealthy landowner of the locality, and Masjidi's family was respected in the area for their Islamic learning, piety and integrity in public affairs. His childhood years were spent in rural surroundings, acquiring equestrian and martial skills, in addition to the study of the Quran and Sharia and of Persian literature; he was especially fond of the poets Hafiz Shirazi, Bedil and Rumi. Since his family was an influential one, and he was seen as dignified and trustworthy, he rose to early prominence and became one of the most respected of the Afghan chiefs and notables of the period. ¹

At first Mir Masjidi viewed the return of Shuja Shah with mixed feelings: glad to have a "legitimate" Sadozai Durrani ruler, yet suspicious of the motives of the British forces that had forcefully enthroned him. Soon, however, it became apparent that the Shah was a mere figurehead, with real policy control in the hands of Sir William Hay Macnaghten and other British officers, and that the British garrison in Kabul had offended general social sensibilities with its excesses. The populace, inflamed by the mullahs and other religious and spiritual leaders including Mir Masjidi, came out in open revolt and declared for the exiled ex-Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. ¹

Due to his personal prowess in arms and his influential spiritual-social position, Mir Masjidi soon became one of the main leaders of the regional revolt. He fortified the Nijrab valley and other areas of Kohistan (modern-day Kapisa Province) against the British troops, refused allegiance to Shuja Shah, and organised resistance in and around Kabul town. One of the first triumphs of this resistance under his command was the wiping out of an expedition sent to reduce Charikar, in which the British commander Major Eldred Pottinger was also severely wounded. For a brief time he also gave refuge to the fugitive ex-Emir Dost Mohammad, who had escaped from the British advance to Kabul and was hiding in the Hindu Kush. ¹

In 1840 the Mir was on the verge of surrendering to the British forces and had negotiated the details with Sir Alexander Burnes; however, according to the Scottish historian William Dalrymple, the British refused to honour this agreement. The Mir then became a major thorn in the side of the British garrison at Kabul, harassing them at every turn, and Macnaghten announced a big reward for him, dead or alive. British forces, in collusion with bribed local chiefs, confiscated most of his estates and property, and he was reduced to living out in the hills and glens, often in dire financial straits. Around early 1841 it is alleged that Macnaghten arranged his assassination through his undercover Indian agent Mohan Lal Zutshi, under the name "Aga Hassan Kashmiri"; Mir Masjidi soon thereafter fell suddenly ill and died within a day or two, probably due to poisoning. ¹

Mir Masjidi Khan is still remembered in Afghanistan and north-west Pakistan as a Ghazi (warrior) and a Shaheed (martyr) who sacrificed himself selflessly for the general good. In present-day Afghanistan, one of the nation's highest civil awards, for dedicated public service, is the Mir Masjidi Khan Award, in recognition of his historical stature and role. ¹

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