Multani Afghans

The term "Multani Afghan" or "Multani Pathan" specifically refers to those Pashtun clans who settled in Multan in 17th and 18th century. Otherwise, Pashtuns had settled in Multan much earlier.

When Kandahar was in the possession of Mughal emperor Shahjahan for the short period from 1638 to 1649, he had created a party of Afghans, mainly Abdalis, as his supporters. In 1649, Kandahar was recaptured by Safavid emperor Shah Abbas II, and these Afghan supporters of Shahjahan left their country and accompanied the Mughal Prince Aurangzeb, who had been deputed by his father to recover Kandahar. Aurangzeb, when ascended the throne at Delhi, settled these Abdalis at Multan. Later, many more of their tribe also joined them. They became known as Multani Afghans. One of these Abdalis was Jalal Khan Saddozai (maternal uncle of Zaman Khan, the father of Ahmad Shah Abdali), son of Aidal Khan, son of Zafran Khan, son of Malik Saddu. In 1738 the Viceroy of Lahore and Multan, appointed Nawab Zahid Khan Saddozai as nai'b Nazim of Multan. From this time the governorship of Multan remained with these Pashtuns until it was captured by Ranjit Singh.

Nimla or Mimla garden (Nangarhar province)

The Nimla garden (Khogiani district, Nangarhar) was ordered to be constructed by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan on the eighteenth of Sha'ban 1056 Hijri (September 1646) between the time of his coming from Delhi to Kabul, and his return to Delhi [1]. It is said to be the work of the famous architect Ali Mardan Khan, who designed many of the Mughal buildings in the Punjab.

Nimla village lies about 5 miles east of Gandamak and 30 miles from Jalalabad. Its inhabitants are Khogiani Afghans and Tajiks. Mughal emperor Jahangir hunted a female panther between the village of Nimlah and Bagh-I-Wafa (Jalalabad). "On the 24th, between the garden of Wafa and Nimlah, a hunt took place, and nearly forty red antelope were killed. A female panther (yuz) fell into our hands in this hunt. The zamindars of that place, Laghmanis and Afghan Shal, came and said that they did not remember, nor had they heard from their fathers that a panther had been seen in that region for 120 years". [2]

In 1832 the traveler Lal Mohan passed through Nimla; "25 November: On our road we passed through the beautiful garden of Nimlah, which refreshed our sight. The fine scented nargis (narcissus) abounded in this orchard." [3]

Charles Masson describes the village and garden in 1830s as, "This village is a small one of eighty houses, but the garden appears very advantageously with its tall cypress- trees. It is famed for narcissuses, posies of which are sent as presents to Kabal". [4]

Nimlah or Mimlah Bagh (Khogiani district, Nangarhar), with soldiers in the foreground, taken by John Burke in 1878.

References

1- "Siraj al-Tawarikh", English translation, p-1604
2- Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri, ‎Henry Beveridge's translation, p-125

3- "Travels in the Panjab, Afghanistan,Turkistan, to Balk, Bokhara, and Herat", 1846 ...By Lal Mohan

4- "Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan", Vol-3, p-186