It started when the British government in India proposed to reduce the payment of the Jowaki Afridi tribe in the Northwest Frontier.

The Jowaki were paid to guard in the Kohat Pass and in retaliation for a reduction in payment they raided British territory.

In the 1870s, the British colonial government in India gave the Jowaki Afridi tribe a tribute payment to guard the Kohat Pass.

Shortly afterwards they were joined by a larger force of 5,900 troops in two columns under the command of brigadier generals, Charles Patton Keyes and Campbell Claye Grant Ross.

At the end of that same month, 50 men of the Jowaki tribe met with British commanders in the Paiah Valley for peace talks.