The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c8.s8.1.1

c8.s8.1.1

Muhammad bin Qasim's first task, after the conquest of Debal, was to devise a rough and ready military administration for ensuring the possession of the town. He appointed a military officer as incharge and stationed a garrison of 4,000 troops to work under his orders. This was repeated in every town, the strength of the garrison depending upon the population and strategic importance of the individual places. Confiscations, booty, plunder and extortions, all done by soldiery, sufficed to finance the war, as also the army of occupation. In this primitive administration he did not require the active co-operation of the people of the province. For this reason and in view of the mission with which the invasion was undertaken, Muhammad behaved in the hour of his victory and during his progress towards the capital town of Aror in the manner of a fanatical Musalman. Thousands of men were killed in cold blood for refusing to renounce their ancestral faith. Thousands of innocent women and children were deprived of their property and religion and reduced to servitude. Temples were everywhere destroyed and images desecrated and broken to pieces. Even such barbarous atrocities failed to satisfy Muhammad's immediate chief, Hajjaj, who, being a relentless persecutor, remonstrated against what he called slackness in doing the Lord's work, and directed him to deal with the infidels with greater severity. There is no doubt that Muhammad must have loyally carried out his chief's command.