Kabul Witnesses a Sign — Page 2
J. \'lurders J\. venged These heinous murders were avenged in this way. First Amir Habibullah Khan by whose orders Shahzada Abdul Latif was stoned to death fell a victim to the bullet of an assassin as the result of a. deep-laid conspiracy, hatched by his own kith and kin, and then Amanullah Khan who became the cause and instrument of the fulfilment of the latter prophecy and who had ordered the death, on the basis of no reasonable excuse or cau:;e whatever, of three quite honest, peaceful and law-abiding citizens, was compelled to quit his country, bag and baggage, aftet suffering an ignominious defeat at the hands of the son of a water'carrier who ·had attacked Kabul with only three hundered me·n and who himself was only a soldier qf lio great merit or. disti!:1ction. In spite of being a powerful monarch, possessing a large number of guns and aeroplanes, a. vast quantity of arms and ammunition, he could not save his. crown and throne from a comparativ. ely weak and unarmed company of soldiers and he was compelled to pass the declining days of his life in obscurity and oblivion in Italy, and this, after he had received only a year before a truly royal welcome in every European country. In the beginning there were only about 300 soldiers with Ha. bibullah Khan, better known as Bachcha-i-Saqqa. But after the exit of Amanullah Khan from Kabul a large army had gath·ered round him; Amanullah Khan had gone to Kandhar to mobilize his forces to make ano:her and a last bid for the lost throne of Kabul. The result was that the country became ib. vqlved in an internecine and sanguinary civil ~ ar in which thousands of people lost their lives. The general com - p;ulatiim places the number of those killed at one hundred thousand, and in this mann~r was fulfilled a third prophecy d£ · the Promised Messiah which was couched in the words : -l!!. ;~ u·"c>f L Jlja. IJ. ,. . t~ ~~} 1:. 1~" J~l>. . . . . . . . . . ~) i. e. , in the State of Kabul about 85 thousand people shall die_ (}5th April, 1907). Chaos in Kabul At that time it was generally believed that the organi,J!:ed G9veri;1ment of Afghanistan had ceased to exist and as an illit~rat~ and UJ:JC:Ulture~ v~gabond who was a complete stranger. t. cLadmfoistra. tiCln and stat·e·craft sat on the throne of kabut, ihe ·-··-·---·. . . . . . . . .