Fatehul Mulk Ali Nasir assumes ruler ship of Chitral

Fatehul Mulk Ali Nasir was formally installed as crowned mehtar (ruler) of Chitral in a graceful ceremony held at Chitral Fort on Thursday. Fatehul Mulk is the eldest son of Saiful Mulk Nasir, the last ruler of Katoor dynasty (1570-1969) of the former state of Chitral who died in Islamabad the other day due to sudden and massive cardiac arrest.

The traditional Mahraka accepted Fatehul Mulk’s formal investiture as the successor of his father in a ceremony largely attended by many dignitaries. Shahzada Khush Ahmad ul Mulk, MNA Shahzada Muhiuddin,, Shahzada Dr Sardar ul Mulk,  Raja Jallaluddin of Yasin  Nawab Sallahuddin of Amb, Brigadier Shuja ul Mulk, Shahzada Sikander ul Mulk, Shahzada Riaz Jillani, Pir Sahib of Goldur, Imam of Shahi Masjid Qari Shabir Ahmed President Aga Khan regional Council for lower Chitral Dr. Mir Afzal Tajik were present on this occasion .

Fatehul Mulk Nasir took the coronation oath and was presented the royal sword and the royal robe. Major (R) Khush Ahmedul Mulk presented him the royal sword and the Imam of the Royal Mosque presented the turban. The royal family’s ornaments and treasure were also handed to the new mehtar.

At the end of the ceremony, hundreds of Chitralis seconded the decision by offering tradition of Baiyat to the new Mehtar by kissing his hand.

Fatehul Mulk Nasir was born on November 27, 1983. He got LLB from University of Buckingham UK and LLM from University of Miami USA.

Chitral, a district of Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been a princely state until 1969, when the then military dictator abolished the state and merged it fully with Islamic Republic of Pakistan under the provisional constitutional order (PCO) he promulgated after staging a coup. The state had been ruled by Katoors dynasty from 1570 to 1969, when it was fully merged into Pakistan.

When asked about the significance of the coronation ceremony in wake of the fact that the state has long been abolished in 1969, a renowned intellectual, writer and columnist of the area, Dr Inayatullah Faizi, says that during Afghan war in 1919, then Mehtar was granted the title of His Highness by Queen Elizabeth and the title is hereditary. When the state was fully merged with Pakistan in 1969, the government of Pakistan had signed an agreement with the then ruler of the state. According to the agreement, the ruling family is entitled to certain benefits, privileges and other entitlements and the government needed someone from the family to deal with for extending the privileges to the family that is why the coronation is important.

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Posted by Sonia Bashir on Oct 21 2011. Filed under National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry