PAnipat background

Source: TW

najIb vs ghAziuddin

Najib was the mir bakshi. as army chief, he was supposed to defend the mughal sultan. he joined abdali instead - A consequence of rivalry with ghaziuddin the wazir who he wanted ousted.

Ghaziuddin and najib were both sunni, but ghaziuddin was turk, while najib was pathan. In 1754, in the civil war safdarjung was ousted as wazir and ejected from delhi by ahmad shah relying on rohilla and maratha armies.

Later the sultan tried to get rid of the marathas too, who deposed him instead and installed new sultan. ghaziuddin became a wazir with power to declare war and peace, appoint and depose subhedars and jagirs. but he had no army and depended entirely on the marathas.

ghaziuddin tried to remove najib by replacing him with bangash - another pathan chief friendly to marathas too. This riled up najib greatly and he seized the chance to ally with abdali.