Rani of Jhansi Lakshmibai had Pashtun gunners and bodyguards in her service

The famous Rani of Jhansi, one of the leading figures of the Indian war of Independence of 1857, had Pashtuns gunners and her personal bodyguards were a thousand Pashtuns who died defending her to the last man in the final battle in which the Rani fell. (Ref: "Rani of Jhansi" by Jaiwant Paul, page 99 and 100).

Those Pashtun soldiers in her service were referred to as "Walayatis" (Ref: Jhansi Gazetteer, 1965) which indicate that they were not Indianized Pathans but Pashto speaking migrants from Pakhtunkhwa/Afghanistan. Pashtuns used to refer to their country as Walayat or Wilayat and the Indians called them Walayatis. The terms Walayat and Walayati assumed the meanings of foreign country and foreigner respectively in India. Later the term Walayat was applied to England and Englishmen. 

Rani Lakshmibai, made in 1885 (c). Source

Historical background of the Qizilbashs of Lahore

Kanhaiya Lal in his "Tarikh-i-Lahore" (completed in 1882) gives description of six wealthiest families among Muslims of Lahore city. On the top of the list, is a Shia Qizilbash by name of Nawab Ali Raza Khan "Kabuli" who corroborated with British invaders during First Anglo-Afghan war (1839-43). 

Ali Raza Khan Qizilbash fully supported General Polluck's army (which was sent to avenge the earlier defeat of British in Afghanistan). He persuaded Qizilbash chiefs to betray Muhammad Akbar Khan and join British side. He accompanied the returning British army with his sixty sawars and settled in India. 

Ali Raza Khan Qizilbash, his brothers and his sixty sawars fought for British in the Anglo-Sikh wars. In the 1857 war of independence, he sent his contingent to help British on his own expenses. For his services in 1857's war in support of British, he received the title of Nawab and a large estate in Awadh (comprising of 147 villages). He died in 1865 and his body was sent to Karbala (in Iraq) for burial. 

Nawab Nawazish Ali Khan Qizilbash (son of Ali Raza Khan Qizilbash) and cousin, India, 1890.

Sayyid Meer Khan, a Shia Farsiwan (Tajik) from Paghman, 1861

Sayyid Meer Khan, a Shia Farsiwan (Tajik) from Paghman, 1861.

He collaborated with British invaders during First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42). "Meer Khan, member of a family expatriated from Cabool for their fidelity to us in 1840-42". ("People of India", Vol-3, plate 154).

He was nephew of Sayyid Muhammad Shah (titled Jan Fishan Khan). They were Musavi or Mashadi Sayyids and resided at Paghman (50 miles west of Kabul).

Tafazzul Husain Khan, the Nawab of Farrukhabad, 1857

H.G.Raverty saw Nawab Taffazul Hussain Khan in 1857 and gives the following description of him;

" Little did I imagine, whilst stationed in the Punjab a few years since, that I should behold the last of the Nawabs of Farrukhabad, escorted by a party of my own regiment, conducted, on foot, with fetters on his legs, through the streets of Nassick, in Western India (where I then was stationed in command of a detachment), on his way to undergo perpetual banishment at Makka, for the share he took in the massacre at Farrukhabad, during the late rebellion in India. He had been sentenced to death; but his punishment was commuted to perpetual exile, in any place he might select. He chose Makka in Arabia, where, I have since heard, he subsists on alms. I spoke a few words to the wretched man at Nassick; the first he had heard in kindness, he said, for many long days. He appeared to be any thing but what one might expect, from all that has been proved against him. He was rather fair, slightly made, and about thirty years of age. To me, he appeared very wretched, and heart broken. He was only an Afghan in name: the centuries of admixture of Indian blood, by intermarriage with the people of the country, had left little of the Afghan blood remaining."

Nawab of Furrakhabad, 1857 (c). Watercolour painting by unknown artist. Source