Ambeyla Campaign, 1863

Byline: Johny Torrens Amin Following the upheavals of the Indian Revolt in 1857, the British spent the next few years trying to consolidate their hold over the turbulent Frontier regions. A particular thorn in their side was a small but fanatical group, which the British called the Hindustani Fanatics, but who were known to the local Pushtun people as Mujahideen. The Mujahideen were from the Deobandi tradition, an Islamic sect opposed to British expansionism. They originally came from the Yusufzai tribal area north of Peshawar, were strengthened and radicalized by an influx of mutineers from native infantry regiments forcibly disbanded by the British in 1857. Successive British expeditions had driven them into the hills, but by the early 1860s, under Amir Abdullah, they had re-established themselves in the village of Malka in modern Buner, from whence, according to General Sir John Adye, 'Their ordinary occupation consisted of incursions into the plains and in robbing and murdering peaceful traders in our territories.'