[7] Banda Singh Bahadur was notified that Sikh people were imprisoned and persecuted in the village of Unarsa, and the conditions were distressing for the Hindus, facing cruel treatment and tyranny in the town of Jalalabad, ruled by Jalal Khan Orakzai, a Rohilla Afghan of high renown and military experience.

[8] Banda Singh sent his emissaries to Jalal Khan to stop the oppression against the non-Muslims but his messengers were mistreated by being put on horses and paraded through the town, afterwards being sent back.

[3][11] Upon hearing of the nearby villages assailed by the Sikhs and their advance towards his capital, Jalal Khan the former faujdar and Sayyid Taj-ud-Din Barha began preparations to defend his town and fort.

The arrival of Jalal Khan's reinforcements encouraged and emboldened the besieged peasantry and villagers to engage the Sikhs in battle.

Due to the strong walls of the town, the unpleasant weather that flooded the surrounding of the fort, along with its banks overflowed by the River Krishna, and especially after being notified of urgent calls from the Sikhs of central Punjab appealing for help against their local faujdars, and that the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah had sent reinforcements to recover the lost territories in Punjab, Banda Singh Bahadur abandoned the siege for more urgent matters after 20 days of ineffectual fighting and the loss of several soldiers.