Humāyūn’s departure caused such anxiety in Qila‘-i-z̤afar that some (if not all) of the Badakhshī chiefs hurried off an invitation to Sa‘īd Khān Chaghatāī, the then ruler in Kāshghar in whose service Ḥaidar Mīrzā was, to come at once and occupy the fort. They said that Faqīr-i-‘alī who had been left in charge, was not strong enough to cope with the Aūzbeg, begged Sa‘īd to come, and strengthened their petition by reminding him of his hereditary right to Badakhshān, derived from Shāh Begīm Badakhshī. Their urgency convincing the Khān that risk threatened the country, he started from Kāshghar in Muḥarram 936 AH. (Sept-Oct. 1529 AD.). On reaching Sārīgh-chūpān which by the annexation of Abā-bakr Mīrzā Dūghlāt was now his own most western territory[2701] but which formerly was one of the upper districts of Badakhshān, he waited while Ḥaidar went on towards Qila‘-i-z̤afar only to learn on his road, that Hind-āl (æt. 10) had been sent from Kābul by Humāyūn and had entered the fort 12 days before.
The Kāshgharīs were thus placed in the difficulty that the fort was occupied by Bābur’s representative, and that the snows would prevent their return home across the mountains till winter was past. Winter-quarters were needed and asked for by Ḥaidar, certain districts being specified in which to await the re-opening of the Pāmīr routes. He failed in his request, “They did not trust us,” he writes, “indeed suspected us of deceit.” His own account of Sa‘īd’s earlier invasion of Badakhshān (925 AH.-1519 AD.) during Khān Mīrzā’s rule, serves to explain Badakhshī distrust of Kāshgharīs. Failing in his negotiations, he scoured and pillaged the country round the fort, and when a few days later the Khān arrived, his men took what Ḥaidar’s had left.
Sa‘īd Khān is recorded to have besieged the fort for three months, but nothing serious seems to have been attempted since no mention of fighting is made, none of assault or sally, and towards the end of the winter he was waited on by those who had invited his presence, with apology for not having admitted him into the fort, which they said they would have done but for the arrival of Hind-āl Mīrzā. To this the Khān replied that for him to oppose Bābur Pādshāh was impossible; he reminded the chiefs that he was there by request, that it would be as hurtful for the Pādshāh as for himself to have the Aūzbeg in Badakhshān and, finally, he gave it as his opinion that, as matters stood, every man should go home. His view of the general duty may include that of Badakhshī auxiliaries such as Sult̤ān Wais of Kūl-āb who had reinforced the garrison. So saying, he himself set out for Kāshghar, and at the beginning of Spring reached Yārkand.
b. Humāyūn’s further action.
Humāyūn will have reached Kābul before Ẕū’l-ḥijja 10th 935 AH. (Aug. 26th 1529 AD.) because it is on record that he met Kāmrān on the Kābul ‘Īd-gāh, and both will have been there to keep the ‘Īdu’l-kabīr, the Great Festival of Gifts, which is held on that day. Kāmrān had come from Qandahār, whether to keep the Feast, or because he had heard of Humāyūn’s intended movement from Badakhshān, or because changes were foreseen and he coveted Kābul, as the Bābur-nāma and later records allow to be inferred. He asked Humāyūn, says Abū’l-faẓl, why he was there and was told of his brother’s impending journey to Āgra under overwhelming desire to see their Father.[2702] Presumably the two Mīrzās discussed the position in which Badakhshān had been left; in the end Hind-āl was sent to Qila‘-i-z̤afar, notwithstanding that he was under orders for Hindūstān.
Humāyūn may have stayed some weeks in Kābul, how many those familiar with the seasons and the routes between Yārkand and Qila‘-i-z̤afar, might be able to surmise if the date of Hind-āl’s start northward for which Humāyūn is likely to have waited, were found by dovetailing the Muḥarram of Sa‘īd’s start, the approximate length of his journey to Sārīgh-chūpān, and Ḥaidar’s reception of news that Hind-āl had been 12 days in the fort.
Humāyūn’s arrival in Āgra is said by Abū’l-faẓl to have been cheering to the royal family in their sadness for the death of Alwar (end of 935 AH.) and to have given pleasure to his Father. But the time is all too near the date of Bābur’s letter (f.348) to Humāyūn, that of a dissatisfied parent, to allow the supposition that his desertion of his post would fail to displease.
That it was a desertion and not an act of obedience seems clear from the circumstance that the post had yet to be filled. Khalīfa is said to have been asked to take it and to have refused;[2703] Humāyūn to have been sounded as to return and to have expressed unwillingness. Bābur then did what was an honourable sequel to his acceptance in 926 AH. of the charge of the fatherless child Sulaimān, by sending him, now about 16, to take charge where his father Khān Mīrzā had ruled, and by still keeping him under his own protection.
Sulaimān’s start from Āgra will not have been delayed, and (accepting Aḥmad-i-yādgār’s record,) Bābur himself will have gone as far as Lāhor either with him or shortly after him, an expedition supporting Sulaimān, and menacing Sa‘īd in his winter leaguer round Qila‘-i-z̤afar. Meantime Humāyūn was ordered to his fief of Saṃbhal.
After Sulaimān’s appointment Bābur wrote to Sa‘īd a letter of which Ḥaidar gives the gist:—It expresses surprise at Sa‘īd’s doings in Badakhshān, says that Hind-āl has been recalled and Sulaimān sent, that if Sa‘īd regard hereditary right, he will leave “Sulaimān Shāh Mīrzā”[2704] in possession, who is as a son to them both,[2705] that this would be well, that otherwise he (Bābur) will make over responsibility to the heir (Sulaimān);[2706] and, “The rest you know.”[2707]