Chitral of paradox – 3
There was a phase in the history of Chitral when the tug of war between the Katoor and Khushwakht branches of the same family were on with full force and fluctuated from time to time. The reason was that the Khushwakht rulers had made encroachments into the Katoor territories and occupied their share of the valleys of Chitral, ousting the Katoor ruler of the time. It was because of the exploits of Mehtar Khairullah who had successfully driven out Muhtaram Shah 2 from Chitral who then crossed the Lowari pass and took shelter at Chukiatan-Dir with his faithful followers.
The chances to attack on Chitral got longer time than expected and the food stores as well as other articles of use became short but the group did share their items with each other sparingly. They sent their agents into Chitral to communicate about the movements and adventures of Khairullah and remained informed and arranged their preparations for a counter attack.
Once they were getting ready for a retry to occupy some valleys where they had supporters but for fear of Khairullah they kept silence. The members of the exile group were mending their own clothes and their shoes for a longer struggle. One of the servants of Muhtaram Shah Katoor 2 was mending his shoes and the prince also told him to mend his shoes also for the expected journey off route. The servant unfortunately was, perhaps due to hunger or any other biological factor, was not in good mood and replied, ‘ if you had decided to stay this much long time you should have carried all those items with you’. This was a curt and hard reply but the prince under his own woes, did not like to retort but kept the remark in the corner of his brain.
After a few months Mehtar Khairullah was captured when he was badly caught in the snow at Ursoon pass and was beheaded by Muhtaram Shah. Then he reoccupied Chitral, started his rule, gave estates to all his loyal adherents according to their sacrifices but that particular servant was given nothing for his curtness at the time of great trouble. He was ousted and no favours were shown –that it became a proverb in Khowar. That he suffered all the troubles of exile but gained nothing after it was over.
Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig
