<P> At one stage, faced with the need to send troops to reinforce the besiegers of Delhi, the Commissioner of the Punjab (Sir John Lawrence) suggested handing the coveted prize of Peshawar to Dost Mohammed Khan of Afghanistan in return for a pledge of friendship . The British Agents in Peshawar and the adjacent districts were horrified . Referring to the massacre of a retreating British army in 1842, Herbert Edwardes wrote, "Dost Mahomed would not be a mortal Afghan...if he did not assume our day to be gone in India and follow after us as an enemy . Europeans cannot retreat--Kabul would come again ." In the event Lord Canning insisted on Peshawar being held, and Dost Mohammed, whose relations with Britain had been equivocal for over 20 years, remained neutral . </P> <P> In September 1858 Rae Ahmed Nawaz Khan Kharal, head of the Khurrul tribe, led an insurrection in the Neeli Bar district, between the Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab rivers . The rebels held the jungles of Gogaira and had some initial successes against the British forces in the area, besieging Major Crawford Chamberlain at Chichawatni . A squadron of Punjabi cavalry sent by Sir John Lawrence raised the siege . Ahmed Khan was killed but the insurgents found a new leader in Mahr Bahawal Fatyana, who maintained the uprising for three months until Government forces penetrated the jungle and scattered the rebel tribesmen . </P> <P> Kunwar Singh, the 80 - year - old Rajput Zamindar of Jagdispur, whose estate was in the process of being sequestrated by the Revenue Board, instigated and assumed the leadership of revolt in Bihar . </P> <P> On 25 July, mutiny erupted in the garrisons of Dinapur . Mutinying sepoys from the 7th, 8th and 40th regiments of Bengal Native Infantry quickly moved towards the city of Arrah and were joined by Kunwar Singh and his men . Mr. Boyle, a British railway engineer in Arrah, had already prepared an outbuilding on his property for defence against such attacks . As the rebels approached Arrah, all European residents took refuge at Mr. Boyle's house . A siege soon ensued--eighteen civilians and 50 loyal sepoys from the Bengal Military Police Battalion under the command of Herwald Wake, the local magistrate, defended the house against artillery and musketry fire from an estimated 2000 to 3000 mutineers and rebels . </P>

Who led the revolution in bihar in 1857 ce