Hazara Expedition of 1888

Hazara Expedition of 1888
Date October 1888 – November 1888 Location Hazara (modern-day Pakistan) Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire  British Raj	Tribes of the Tor Ghar • Pariari Sayyids (Swatis) • Tikariwals (Swatis) • Nandiharis (Swatis) • Allaiwals (Swatis) • Thakotis (Swatis) • Hassanzai (Yousafzai) • Akazai (Yousafzai) • Hindustanis [1]
Commanders and leaders
Brigadier-General J.W. McQueen CB	Khan Arsala Khan Bebal Swathi (Malik of Allaiwals & Chief of Swathis) Khan Abdul Qadir Khan Arghushal Swathi (Malik of Thakot)
Strength
9,416 British and Indian troops[2]	Around 10,000[2] 6,500 Swathis 2,000 Hassanzais 1,500 Akazais
Casualties and losses
2 officers 23 soldiers 54 wounded	Around 400

The Hazara Expedition of 1888,^[3] also known as the Black Mountain Expedition^[4] or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the British against Swati and Yousafzai tribes of Kala Dhaka and Battagram District (then known as the Black Mountains of Hazara and northern areas around it) in the Hazara region of what is now Pakistan.

On 18 June 1888, two British officers and four Gurkha soldiers were killed in an altercation between British reconnaissance patrols and antagonistic tribes. As a response, the Hazara Field Force was assembled and began its march on 4 October 1888, after an ultimatum had not been satisfied by the tribes by October 2, 1888.^[5]

The first phase of the campaign targeted Yousafzai tribe of Black mountain such as Hassanzais and Akazais and ended with the Hassanzai and Akazai tribes requesting an armistice on October 19, 1888.

The second phase of the campaign targeted the Swati tribe that lived north of Black Mountain such as the Allaiwals, Thakotis, Parari Sayyids and the Tikariwals.^[6] The campaign ended when the Allaiwal village of Pokal was occupied and destroyed by the British on November 2 and 3, 1888 and Swatis tribal chief Arsala Khan Swathi temporary left his capital village Pokal without surrendering to British.^[5]

The then Commander in Chief in India General Sir Frederick Roberts viewed the Black Mountain Expedition as:

a success from a military point of view, but … the determination of the Punjab Government to limit the sphere of action of the troops, and to hurry out of the country, prevented our reaping any political advantage. We lost a grand opportunity for gaining control over this lawless and troublesome district; no survey was made, no roads opened out, the tribesmen were not made to feel our power, and, consequently, very soon another costly expedition had to be undertaken.^[7]