The Anglo-Sindh relations began in the early 19th century as the British East India Company extended its influence into the Indian subcontinent. The relations between the British and Sindh were marked by diplomatic manoeuvres, treaty violations, military aggression, and eventual colonisation.
It was during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Minto that the political relations of the British with the Amirs of Sindh were established. In 1809, Lord Minto sent an embassy to the chief Amirs and concluded a treaty of friendship "establishing eternal friendship between the contracting parties" and providing for the exclusion of the French from Sindh. This treaty was renewed in 1820. Lord William Bentinck also made a treaty in 1832 by which the rivers and roads of Sindh were thrown open to British merchants and traders, subject to the condition that no armed vessels or military stores would be allowed to pass through the country. It was further stipulated that the contracting parties should not look with eyes of greed upon each other's possessions.
During the First Afghan War (1839-42), Lord Auckland broke the Tripartite Treaty (1838) most cynically by carrying British troops through Sindh, adding insult to injury by exacting a large sum of money from the Amirs. Despite this flagrant violation of the treaty and high-handedness, the Amirs refrained from open hostility during the Afghan War, even when the British were tottering on the brink of defeat.
The situation took a very different turn during the time of Lord Ellenborough, who intentionally provoked a war to gain an opportunity to annex Sindh. Vague charges of disaffection were brought against the Amirs, and Sir Charles Napier was sent to Sindh with full civil and military powers. He imposed a new treaty upon the Amirs, compelling them to cede a greater portion of their territories and forgo the right to mint coinage. The Balochis rose in arms against the Governor-General’s obstinate designs. When the Balochis attacked the British Residency, Napier seized the pretext for the war he had been provoking.
The army of the Amirs was defeated between February and March of 1843 in two battles—at Miani and Dabo near Hyderabad. This brought Sindh to its knees before the British Empire. In June 1843, a treaty was made according to which the Amirs were expelled, and Sindh was annexed to the British Empire. This was the story of the annexation of Sindh. The British action cannot be supported on moral grounds.
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