Salemai or Salimai ( 1940s) was an Afghan rebel king who ruled only in the Eastern Province.

Background

In either 1944 or 1945, the

Safi tribe Sāfī ( ps, ساپی ''Sāpai''; plur. ساپي ''Sāpī'') is a major branch of the greater Ghurghakhti Pashtun tribe. The Safi tribe comprises a majority in the Pech Valley of Kunar and are present in significant numbers in Parwan Province ( ...

rose up against the government of the

Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Af ...

. According to British records, the uprising was caused by the Afghan government's attempts to institute conscription among the Safi, trading monopolies granted to Afghan merchant companies, and government surveillance. Whit Mason attributes the Safi uprising to "extremely brutal taxation, oppression and poverty".

King

Religious scholars among the Safi ruled that anyone who rebelled against their King and died should be excluded from being counted as martyrs. Therefore, they were required to select one of their own as king. According to Whit Mason's version of events in ''The Rule of Law in Afghanistan'' (2011), in either 1944 or 1945, the Safi selected

Shahswar Shahswar ( 1940s) was an Afghan politician who served as minister in under Salemai, who ruled only in the Eastern Province. Alternative renderings of his name include Shah Sarwar and Shasawar. Background In either 1944 or 1945, the Safi tribe ...

as king, Salemai as prime minister and

Amanul Mulk Amanul Mulk (died ) was an Afghan politician who served as the Minister of Defence under Salemai, who ruled only in the Eastern Province. Background In either 1944 or 1945, the Safi tribe rose up against the government of the Kingdom of Afgha ...

as minister of defence. However, Mason appears to mix up several roles. David B. Edwards, a veteran scholar of Afghan history, gives the following quote from Amanul Mulk (whom Edwards interviewed personally) in ''Caravan of Martyrs'' (2017), which appears to confirm that Salemai was King and not Prime Minister: By the end of October 1945, most of the Safis, except for a few die-hards had come to terms with the Afghan government. This peace agreement included among other things the abandonment or postponement of Safi conscription. On 23 November 1946,

Mohammed Daoud Khan Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup ...

gave the remaining Safi peace terms, which included the return of rifles and small arms ammunition captured from government troops, the surrender of Shahswar, Said Muhd, Salim Khan and Allah Khan, the sale of grain to the government at reasonable rates, and the despatch of Safi youths to Kabul for education. It is unclear if the Safi accepted these terms, but all sources agree that the Safi uprising had subsided by the end of 1946.See Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947#Duration

Later life

In 1947, Salemai had a reunion in Shulgara with Shahswar and Amanul Mulk. Afterwards, Salemai fades out of the historical record.

References

{{Monarchs of Afghanistan Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century Afghan monarchs 20th-century Afghan politicians Kings of Afghanistan 1940s in Afghanistan Afghan rebels