Conquest of Sindh (1843) - Lord Ellenborough

• Early 19th century, interest in Sindh. authorised by a farman of the Mughal Emperor in 1630.
• Kallora chiefs, English resident in his court, excluded other Europeans from trading there.
• 1770s, a Baluch tribe called Talpuras.
• 1783, the Talpuras, under the leadership of Mir Fath (Fatah) Ali Khan, established complete hold over Sindh and sent the Kallora prince into exile.
• Mir Fath died in 1800, the Char Yar divided the kingdom among themselves, calling themselves the Amirs or Lords of Sindh.
• Lord Wellesley’s, commercial relations with Sindh, to counteract the alliance of the French, Tipu Sultan and Shah Zaman, the Kabul monarch.
• Amir in 1800, ordered the British agent to quit Sindh within ten days, British agent (Crow) left Sindh and the Company quietly suffered the insult.

Treaty of ‘Eternal Friendship’

• 1807, alliance of Tilsit with Alexander I of Russia was joined by Napoleon Bonaparte, invasion of India by the land.
• British wanted to create a barrier between Russia and British India. Amirs agreed to a treaty—their first-ever treaty with the English.
• After professing eternal friendship, both sides agreed to exclude the French from Sindh and to exchange agents at each other’s court & renewed in 1820.

Treaty of 1832

• William Bentinck sent Colonel Pottinger to Sindh
1. Free passage through Sindh.
2. No English merchant would settle down in Sindh,
3. Tariff rates could be altered by the Amirs.
4. Amirs would work with the Raja of Jodhpur to put down the robbers of Kachch.
5. Parties would not be jealous of each other.

Lord Auckland and Sindh

• Governor-General in 1836, looked at Sindh, saving India from a possible Russian invasion.
• Ranjit Singh captured a frontier town of Sindh, Rojhan, and Pottinger was sent to Hyderabad to sign a new treaty with the Amirs.
• Company troops would be kept in the capital at the Amir’s expense, Amirs initially refused but later agreed reluctantly to sign the treaty in 1838.
• English to intervene in the disputes between the Amirs and the Sikhs. Sindh was turned into a British protectorate in 1838.

Tripartite Treaty of 1838

• Address the Afghan problem, persuaded Ranjit Singh to sign a tripartite treaty in June 1838. British mediation in his disputes with the Amirs.
• Emperor Shah Shuja give up his sovereign rights on Sindh, arrears of tribute were paid.

Sindh Accepts Subsidiary Alliance (1839)

• Amirs accepted a treaty in February 1839 by which a British subsidiary force had to be stationed at Shikarpur and Bukkar.
• Amir pay Rs 3 lakh annually for the maintenance of the Company’s troops”.
• Amirs were debarred from having any negotiations with foreign states without the knowledge of the Company.
• Abolishing all tolls on the Indus.

Capitulation of Sindh The first Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42)

• Amirs were charged with treasonable activities against the British,
• Due to the Afghan war reverses, sent Outram to Sindh to negotiate a new treaty.
• Required to cede important provinces as the price of their past transgressions.
• English intervened through Napier, and started a war when the Amirs rose in revolt.
• Whole of Sindh capitulated within a short time.
• Under Governor-General Ellenborough, Sindh was merged into the British Empire and Charles Napier was appointed its first governor.
• Criticisms of the Conquest of Sindh - “Coming from Afghanistan it put one in mind of a bully who has been knocked in the street and went home to beat his wife in revenge.”