Muntakhab al-tawarikh 3.5

3.5

The Niazi titles, and the standards and drums, which were granted to them by Salim Shah, are said by some historians to have been bestowed on them after the first battle. God knows whether this is correct or not. 'Azam Humayun, who was defeated in the last battle, was never able again to take the field. The ranks of the Niazis began to be thinned day by day, and they soon dispersed. In the first instance they took refuge with the Ghakars, in the neighbourhood of Rohtas, and then settled themselves in the hills in the vicinity of Kashmir. Salim Shah, with the view of suppressing for the future the disturbances excited by these insurgents, moved with an overwhelming force, and took up a strong position in the hills to the north of the Panjab, where, for the purpose of establishing posts, he built five fortresses, called Minkot, Rashidkot, etc. As he had no friendly disposition towards the Afghans, he forced them, for a period of two years, to bring stones and lime for the building of those fortresses, without paying them a single fulus, or jital. Those who were exempted from this labour were employed against the Ghakars, who resisted strenuously, and with whom they had skirmishes every day. At night the Ghakars prowled about like thieves, and carried away whomsoever they could lay hands on, without distinction of sex and rank, put them in the most rigorous confinement, and then sold them into slavery.