Nizam-ul-Mulk, one of the Mehtars of Chitral

King Aman-ul-Mulk, the "Great Mehtar" of Chitral, died on August 30, 1892, and his sons started killing each other to gain the power. Aman-ul-Mulk left 16 sons who were considered to be possible rulers of Chitral. The first three to die were Prince Bahram-ul-Mulk, who was the great-great-great grandfather of my daughter, Shamema, plus two of his brothers, Shah Mulk and Wazir-ul-Mulk. In 1892, the three brothers were summoned to the Chitral Noghor for a meeting with the ruler, Afzal-ul-Mulk. After the meeting was over and as they were walking down an open-air corridor leading out of the palace, they were jumped from the walls above. It was an ambush, set up by Afzal-ul-Mulk, and they were killed instantly.
Nizam-ul-Mulk, center right, in 1885 when Chief of Yasin. The boy on his right is the son of Pahlwan
This photo is from Explorers of the Western Himalayas 1820-1895 by John Keay

Because of this act of treachery, Afzal-ul-Mulk himself was killed less than one year later. Sher Afzal, a brother of Aman-ul-Mulk who had been a refugee for years in Badakhshan after losing a power struggle with Aman-ul-Mulk, came to Chitral, had Afzal-ul-Mulk killed and proclaimed himself Mehtar.

Sher Afzal did not last long because another son of Aman-ul-Mulk, Nizam-ul-Mulk, entered Chitral from Gilgit and Sher Afzal fled back to Badakhshan.

The next ruler was Amir-ul-Mulk, who killed Nizam-ul-Mulk. The two brothers had gone on a hunting expedition together. When Nizam-ul-Mulk was looking the other way, Amir-ul-Mulk gave the signal for his assistant to kill his brother.

Everybody agrees that Amir-ul-Mulk was not a competent or a capable man. They say that he was not mentally retarded, but was not very bright either. However, the people of the time said, "We thought that Amir-ul-Mulk was stupid, but, as we can now see, he was smart enough to kill his brother."

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