The Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab authorised an expedition of 6,000 men under Brigadier General Neville Bowles Chamberlain to destroy Malka. The Lieutenant Governor acted without consulting the Commander-in-Chief of the Frontier Force. Chamberlain chose the Chamla Valley as his operational base and the Ambela Pass as the main access. He chose this valley as the access as he believed that the local Bunerwal people were friendly to British forces; this turned out to be a false impression as the Pashtuns had persuaded them that the British would annex their land if they failed to put up a defence.