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Qaiser, and which resulted in a battle between Shahsuja's forces
and those mastered by the youn prince and Shair Mohamed
Khan; in which Shair Mohamed and some of his followers of
Bamiyazai were killed. This incident opend two paths before
the son of the slain Vazir Shair Mohamed at Kashmire: either
to declare himself as independent ruler at Kashmire or to give
a better account of his duties as the loyal subject of his master-
Shahshuja.
The continunance of hostilities between Shahshuja and Shah
Mahmud and his allies like Vazir Fateh Khan gave a further chance
to Attaullah Khan to strength his position the more in Kashmire.
Circumstances so contrived the situation that after the fall of
Shahshuja-that is in the first occasion-Attaulah continued to be
at Kashmire. When the second cycle of rule of Shah Mahmud
opened with the help of Vazir Fateh Khan consolidated the position of
Shah Mahmud so that both Sindh and Dera Jat camewithin the orbit
of the Saduzai rule. Affairs of realm, more particularly the two
frontier provinces of Herat and Kashmire came within the personal
attention of Vazir Fateh Khan. In the first province at the head of
affairs was Haji Firouz Khan and in Kashmire was Attaullah Khan
as governor.
Attaullah had by now assumed tremendous power in Kashmire,
and did not present himself at the central administration at Kabul.
Nor was it all, but he thought of taking over the regions of Peshawar
and amalgamating it with that over which he had been ruling so
long. In order to make that dream a reality, he despatched his two
brothers, namely Samandar Khan and Jahandad Khan to Peshawar
and by an odd chance, managed to capture Shahshuja himself; and
sent him to Kashmire. In this manner, it so happened that Attaullah
Khan had become so powerful that when two kings-like Shahshuja
and Shah Mahmud-were strugling for power and throne of Afgha-
nistan; and the two great Houses of Nobles-like the Barakzais and
the Sadu Zais-were also wabbling in the sea of battle of rivals; he
was regarded as the third force in the strugle as the governor of
Kashmire. These affairs took such a grave turn that Vazir Fateh
Khan who was very sensitive in regards to the loyalty of the outl-
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.