Umra Khan

Ghazi Khan Umra Khan of Jandol ( 18601904), also called "The Afghan Napoleon", was an Afghan Pashtun chief on the north-western frontier of British India, who was chiefly responsible for the Chitral Expedition of 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral. The expedition resulted in a British victory and Umra fled to Afghanistan. Umra was the Khan of Jandol and captured the state of Dir and reigned as its Nawab from 1890 to 1895.

Life He was the younger son of the Khan of Jandol who were a Tarkalani ruling class; but he killed his elder brother, seized the throne, and made himself a power on the frontier. Winston Churchill, in his book titled the Malakand Field Force, has variously referred to him as "the most important man between Chitral and Pashawar." and "Afghan Napoleon". The book was written by Churchill when he visited the area as a war correspondent with British Forces.

Churchill writes that after the Chitral expedition of 1895, Umra Khan was expelled from the territories he had captured, and escaped to Kabul. In what Churchill called "all against all" in a power grab in these valleys, "n Barwa itself, Umra Khan slew his brother, not in hot anger or open war, but coldly and deliberately from behind. Thus he obtained power..."

Noorena Shams is said to be one of the most famous personalities from the Khan’s bloodline, in the recent times.