Sher Ali Afridi: Difference between revisions

Sher Ali worked for the [[British Raj|colonial government]] in the Punjab Police in the 1860s.<ref name=andaman>{{cite web|title=The Murder of Lord Mayo 1872|url=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/app-o/texto.htm|publisher=andaman.org|accessdate=18 November 2012}}</ref> He came from the [[Tirah]] valley in the [[Khyber Agency]] and worked for the Commissioner of Peshawar.<ref name=khyber>{{cite web|title=Sher Ali Afridi|url=http://www.khyber.org/people/sarfaroshan/SherAliAfridi.shtml|publisher=Khyber.org|accessdate=18 November 2012}}</ref> He was in [[Bengal Army|colonial army]] at Ambala in a cavalry regiment.<ref name=khyber/> He served in the [[Presidency armies]] in [[Rohilkhand]] and [[Oudh]] during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]].<ref name=journal>{{cite web|last=Hussain|first=Hamid|title=Tribes and Turbulance|url=http://www.defencejournal.com/2003/june/tribesandturbulence.htm|publisher=defencejournal.org|accessdate=18 November 2012}}</ref>  He worked under Major Hugh James as a cavalry trooper in [[Peshawar]] and as a mounted orderly for [[Reynell Taylor]], who awarded Sher Ali with a horse, pistol and certificate.<ref name=Halen/> Due to his good character, Sher Ali was popular among Europeans and was taking care of Taylor's children.<ref name=Halen/> In a family feud, he killed one of his relatives named Hydur<ref name=Halen/> at Peshawar in broad daylight and although he pleaded innocence, he was sentenced to death on 2 April 1867. On appeal, his sentence was reduced by a judge, Colonel Pollock,<ref name=Halen/> to life imprisonment<ref name=andaman/> and he was deported to ''Kala Pani'' or the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]], to serve his sentence.<ref name=khyber/> He was permitted to work as a barber at [[Port Blair]] as he was acknowledged to have behaved well since his arrival.<ref name=Halen/>

The murder of the Viceroy, the supreme official of India appointed by the [[British Crown]], sent shock waves throughout Britain and British India.<ref name=Halen>{{cite web|last=James|first=Halen|title=The Assassination of Lord Mayo : The "First" Jihad?|url=http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HelenJames_LordMayoAssassination.pdf|publisher=IJAPS,Vol 5, No.2 (July 2009)|accessdate=18 November 2012}}</ref> Sher Ali Afridi wanted to kill two white people, the Superintendent and the Viceroy, as a revenge for his sentence, which he thought was more severe than he deserved.<ref name=andaman/> He waited for a full day and only in the evening, found an opportunity to kill the Viceroy. He said that he killed on the instructions of God.<ref name=Halen/> He readily posed for photographs.<ref name=andaman/> Some jihadist-inspired prisoners were jailed at Andaman during the same period but the British found no link to the murder of the Viceroy and the presence of these prisoners.<ref name=Halen/> Sher Ali Afridi was condemned to death and was hanged on the gallows of [[Viper Island]] prison,<ref name=andaman/>  on 11 March 1872.<ref name=khyber/>

[[Category:19th-century Indian Muslims]]