Essad Pasha Toptani, as minister of war and interior, was against a peaceful solution of the problem. He opposed the International Commission of Control which believed that the problem could be solved by diplomatic means. The Prince and his cabinet accepted Essad Pasha's proposals for a military solution. Several thousand Italian rifles and Austrian machine and mountain guns were purchased and distributed to the (predominantly Muslim) population of central Albania. They believed that the new regime was a tool of the (Christian) Great Powers and the landowners that owned half of the arable land. On the basis of those beliefs they revolted.