Mir Painda Khan, was a powerful Tanoli chief, son of Mir Nawab Khan, famed for his rebellion against Maharaja Ranjit Singh's governors of Hazara. Painda Khan "played a considerable part in the history of his time and vigorously opposed the Sikhs."[1]
From about 1813, Mir Painda Khan spent a life long rebellion against the Sikhs. Hari Singh Nalwa, the Sikh Governor of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to Hazara, took the initiative during his governorship of setting up forts at strategic locations to keep Painda Khan in check.
Painda Khan's rebellion against the Sikh empire cost him a major portion of his kingdom, leaving only the tract around Amb,[2] with his twin capitals Amb and Darband. This increased his resistance against the Sikh government.
In 1828 Mir Painda Khan gifted the territory of Phulra as an independent Khanate to his brother Madad Khan, which later on was recognised by the British as a semi-independent Princely State.
Painda Khan was the Nawab of Amb who took over the valley of Agror in 1834. The Swatis appealed to Sardar Hari Singh, who was unable to help them but in 1841[3], Hari Singh's successor restored Agror to Ata Muhammad, a descendant of Sad-ud-din.[4]
General Dhaurikal Singh, commanding officer of the Sikh troops in Hazara, had Painda Khan poisoned to death in September 1844. Painda Khan is still revered in Hazara as a hero.
Major J. Abbott[5] commented that 'During the first period of Painda Khan's career, he was far too vigorous and powerful to be molested by any neighbouring tribe, and when he began to fail before the armies and purse of the Sikh Government, he was interested in keeping upon the best terms with his northern neighbours of the Black Mountains and to whom he allowed the privillege of pasture in the small Tupa of Turrowra.' He is further described by him as, 'a Chief renowned on the Border, a wild and energetic man who was never subjugated by the Sikhs.'[6]