" The good luck of the Khattaks is the misfortune of the Yousafzai "

" The good luck of the Khattaks is the misfortune of the Yousafzai "

د خټکو بخته د یوسف کم بخته

The story goes that when Nadir Shah Afshar was encamped at Attock , a Yousafzai lad stole some harem clothes. The King suspecting the Khattaks, ordered a mass slaughter of that tribe. Upon hearing of this, the culprit admitted his guilt. This proverb is said to have been coined as Nadir Shah turned his wrath on to the Yousafzai.

This oral tradition is corroborated to some extent by an 18th century source "Bayan-i-Waqai" whose author Khwaja Abdul Karim Kashmiri was accompanying Nadir Shah Afshar's army on latter's return from India in 1739. Khwaja Abdul Karim writes that when Nadir Shah Afshar was encamped at Attock, some Afghans (Pashtuns) from other side of river Indus sneaked into his camp at night. They entered the royal tent with intention of assassinating Nadir Shah. The latter woke up at the noise of their feet and silently moved to another tent.  Having failed in their main design, they looted the valuable items in the tent. The guards were soon alarmed but the Afghans plunged into water, "dived like alligators", and swam across the river with their booty. In the morning Nadir Shah killed all those guards for negligence who were stationed near the river.

The Afghans who looted the royal tent at night, were most likely Khattaks who lived on the opposite bank of river Indus. The incident mentioned in Bayan-i-Waqai followed Nadir Shah's war with Yousafzais. 

References

1- Mataloona: Pukhto proverbs. Translated by, Akbar S. Ahmed.

2- Bayan-i-Waqai by Khwaja Abdul Karim Kashmiri