Battle of Balakot

The Battle of Balakot was fought between the forces of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Syed Ahmad Barelvi in Balakot on 6 May 1831. Barelvi had declared jihad against the Sikhs and established a camp in Balakot along with Shah Ismail Dehlvi and his tribesmen. Kanwar Sher Singh besieged the valley and attacked his camp at night. The battle lasted all day. The Sikh soldiers eventually killed Syed Ahmad Barelvi, along with hundreds of his followers.^[3][4][5][1]

Battle of Balakot
Part of Jihad movement of Ahmad Barelvi
Date 6 May 1831 Location Balakot 34.0034°N 71.3786°E / 34.0034; 71.3786 Result Sikh victory
Belligerents
Sikh Empire	Mujahideen
Commanders and leaders
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Sher Singh Ilahi Bakhsh Akali Hanuman Singh	Syed Ahmad Barelvi † Shah Ismail Dehlvi † Mirza Hayat Dehlvi †
Strength
5,000[1]	700[2]–3,000[1] irregular tribesmen
Casualties and losses
Unknown	500[1]

Battle

After facing opposition from Pashtun tribes, Sayyid Ahmed Barelvi shifted to Balakot in 1831.^[1] On 6 May 1831, Syed Ahmad Barelvi's Mujahideen forces prepared for the final battle at Balakot in the mountainous valley of Mansehra. Sikh troops under Sher Singh started landing at Balakot. The Sikh forces were superior in number and training to the Mujahideen. They had warned Syed Ahmed that they would execute him and his followers if they didn't retreat, to which Syed Ahmed refused to surrender. Sikhs quickly besieged the valley on all sides.^[1]

During the fight, Barelvi was killed and beheaded by the Sikhs.^[1] A large group of Mujahideen fighters did not realize that Syed Ahmad had been killed and went in search of him. Besides, small groups of Mujahideen were killed while fighting in different places.

In the battle, Shah Ismail Dehlvi was also killed by the Sikh soldiers.^[6] Thus, the battle was a victory for the Sikhs who had now added Balakot to their empire and extended the western border of the Sikh Empire which included Balakot and the whole of Mansehra District. After this major victory, the Sikhs turned towards capturing Peshawar from the Afghans.^[7]

See also

• Battle of Akora Khattak
• Battle of Shaidu
• Battle of Haidru (1828)

References

1. Hari Ram Gupta (1978). History of the Sikhs: The Sikh Lion of Lahore, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, 1799-1839. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 166. ISBN 978-81-215-0515-4.
2. Altaf Qadir (2014). Sayyid Ahmad Barailvi: His Movement and Legacy from the Pukhtun Perspective. SAGE Publishing India. p. 144. ISBN 978-93-5150-486-3. Archived
3. Ahmad, M. (1975). Saiyid Ahmad Shahid: His Life and Mission (No. 93). Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications. Page 27.
4. Adamec, Ludwig W. (2009), Historical Dictionary of Islam, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 978-0-8108-6303-3
5. Jalal, Ayesha (2009), "The Martyrs of Balakot", Partisans of Allah: Jihad in South Asia, Harvard University Press, pp. 58–113, ISBN 978-0-674-03907-0
6. Profile of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh on Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 16 August 2018
7. Jacques, Tony (2006). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. Greenwood Press. p. 419. ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.