Mullah Powindah used the Tochi Valley of North Waziristan as his centre of operations and incited people from the area to revolt in Jihad against the British.

In his later years i.e the first of decade of nineteenth-century he was also called as "Shahninshah-i-Taliban"[2] He was not a scholar in real terms but was familiar with the main tenets of Islam, and due to his closeness with the clergy came to be known as a Mullah.

He was a revolutionary National leader and even the staunchest and most unwilling Wazir and Mahsud tribesmen supported him and united on his call.

In 1894, 2,000 Mahsud youths had raided the British Cantonment, of the Durand Force and the mastermind of the raid, was this Mullah Pawinda and the field commander of the Lashkar was an Abdur Rahman Khel Mahsud named Jaggar[3] British losses at the hand of these Mujahideen in Wana were still fresh in their minds.

As soon as Bruce was appointed, a group of five Wazirs assassinated the British officer in charge of the constructions and communications department.

After the failure of these peace talks, Mulla Powinda decided to inflict a sudden strike on the British to convince them to take him seriously.

Caroe gives the figure of 2000 while describing the detail of the event,[4] how the drumming, shouting and firing Mujahideen caught the British by surprise.

The article reported at least 100 British officers and soldiers killed and moran 200+ Almost immediately, another army was assembled, its command given to Sir William Lockhart, and then sent to Waziristan.

They did not confront the incoming armies, but followed the time-honored strategy of almost all Pashtun tribes which allows their enemies in and then unleash a fierce counterattack.

Following a punitive expedition in 1900-02, the Mahsud had signed a peace agreement with the British authorities, bringing conflict to an end for the time being.

[6] Mulla died in November 1913, and was succeeded as chieftain by his second surviving son, Fazl-Din, who was 14 or 15 years of age at this time.