MIANI, BATTLE OF

(Feb. 17, 1843), engagement between a British force of about 2,800 troops under Sir Charles Napier and a host of more than 20,000 followers of the amirs of Sind ending in a British victory and the annexation of most of Sind. Complaints had been made against the amirs' attitude toward the British during the First Anglo-Afghan War (183942). Instead of leaving settlement to the British resident, the British gave full civil and military powers to Napier in September 1842. Napier forced on the amirs an onerous new treaty and provocatively seized and razed the desert fortress of Imamgarh. A popular upsurge then led to open war. At Miani the British prevailed. The army of the amirs was scattered, and Sind, except for the state of Khairpur, was annexed. The resident, Sir James Outram, criticized this action and so started a famous controversy. The governor general Lord Ellenborough was recalled, but Sind remained British.