Machine transcription
-83-
and in Kandahar, Sirdar Pur Dil Khan and Sirdar Shair Dil Khan
had their headqurtars. These two wante to terminate the rule of
the Saduzis at Herat; but they were not successful.
As the generl conditions of the country was of that character
at the time, and we had said above that Sirdar Hubibullah Khan
as the son and heir of the late Sirdar Mohamed Azeem Khan; and
Ayub Shah as the “king”, each at his place considered themselves
as a Minister of the Realm and the king of the country centered at
Kabul. But each was struggling against the other. Quite naturrlly
all the Sirdars of Kandahar were awaiting the turn of events; for
all thought some thing must break; till Pur Dil Khan, either with
he connivance or otherwise of Sirdar Habibullah Khan, started for
Kabul; with the result that Ayub Shah was imprisoned and his son
was killed; which brought the Saduzai rule in Kabul to a close;
and Sirdar Habibullah Khan beacame the ruler of Kabul without a
rival-atleast without a rival at the time of the crime of Pur Dil
Khan. But affairs could not be decided finally in this way; for at
a time, when Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Peshawar groups had no-
thing in common with each other; the whole scene of activity pro-
duced a fuedal contests all over the country; for over half a century.
Pur Dil Khan took a share of affairs at Kabul left for Kandahar
and the moneyed Habibullah Khan was left in peace long, till Sirdar
Doust Mohamed Khan, finding that his rival was not upto his sta-
ture, raise the standard of revolt against Habibullah Khan; and
uncle and nephew now were at logger heads wifh each other. The
struggle was now open and voilent, and although with the intercession
of such men as Nawab Jabbar Khan and Nayab Aminullah Khan
Logari, Doust Mohamed Khan's case was in the farourable scale of
balance; and when it appeared that he would succeed, Habibullah
Khan and his brother Mohamed Akram Khan appealed to their other
uncle, Shair Dil Khan to assist them; upon which Sirdar Shair Dil
Khan reached Kabul. Ita ppeared in the first instance that Shair Dil
Khan had his own plans; and through his machination, he wanted
to destroy the plans of both of the contestents-Doust Mohamed Khan
and Habibullah Khan-an to secure Kabul for himself. At a time when
conditions all over the country were indefinte, and each noble wa-
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.
