Chitral is a city situated on the Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before that the capital of Chitral princely state. The region was encompassed into West Pakistan between the years 1969 and 1972. It has a population of 49,780 per the 2017 census.
Yasin Valley is a high-altitude mountain valley nestled in the Hindu Kush mountain range, located in the northern region of the Gupis-Yasin District within the territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. The valley is situated approximately 148 kilometers away from the city of Gilgit, which serves as the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan. Within the valley's territory lies the Yasin Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of the region.
Ghazi Khan Umra Khan of Jandol, also called "The Afghan Napoleon", was a Pashtun chief on the north-western frontier of British India, who was chiefly responsible for the Chitral Expedition of 1895. He was the Khan of Jandol and captured the state of Dir and reigned as its Nawab from 1890 to 1895. Umra briefly occupied Swat, Chitral and Bajaur. He also took over Kunar and Kafiristan regions of Afghanistan.
Burhan-ud-Din (1914–1996) of Chitral was a veteran of the Indian National Army. Burhan-ud-Din was the son of Mehtar Shuja ul-Mulk, the ruler of Chitral. He was by far the most famous Chitrali as a result of his service in the Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose during World War II.
Sir George Scott Robertson, was a British soldier, author, and administrator who was best known for his arduous journey to the remote and rugged region of Kafiristan in what is now northeastern Afghanistan and for his overall command of British Empire forces during the Siege of Chitral. He chronicled his Kafiristan experience in the book The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush. Some have suggested that Robertson's year-long expedition and subsequent book provided background and inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Man Who Would Be King". However, Kipling's work was originally published in 1888, predating Robertson's travels to the region.
Drosh (also spelled as Darosh is a city located in the Chitral District of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. The city has a population of about 20,000 people.
The Chitral Expedition was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral, which was under siege after a local coup following the death of the old ruler. An intervening British force of about 400 men was besieged in the fort until it was relieved by two expeditions, a small one from Gilgit and a larger one from Peshawar.
The Katoor dynasty was a dynasty, which along with its collateral branches ruled the sovereign, later princely state of Chitral and its neighbours in the eastern Hindu Kush region for over 450 years, from around 1570 until 1947. At the height its power under Mehtar Aman ul-Mulk the territory controlled by the dynasty extended from Asmar in the Kunar Valley to Sher Qilla in the Gilgit valley. The Mehtar of Chitral was an influential player in the power politics of the region as he acted as an intermediary between the rulers of Badakhshan, the Yousafzai pashtuns, the Maharaja of Kashmir and later the Amir of Afghanistan.
Chitral Bodyguard or informally the Mehtar's Bodyguard, was a military force under the direct command of the Mehtar of the princely state of Chitral.
The Chitral Scouts (CS), also known as Chitral Levies, originally raised in 1903 as the militia of the princely state of Chitral, is now part of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) of Pakistan. They are recruited mostly from the Chitral and Kalash Valleys areas along the western borders and are led by officers from the Pakistan Army. The Frontier Corps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) falls under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. Its headquarters is at Chitral town, and it is commanded by a Colonel of the Pakistan Army.
His Highness Sir Shuja ul-Mulk KCIE was the Ruler of the State of Chitral, and reigned it for 41 years until his death in 1936. He belonged to the royal Katur dynasty, which ruled the state from 1571 to 1969, until the Princely State of Chitral was merged to form the Chitral District of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, Malakand Division, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan.
Aman ul-Mulk was the Mehtar of Chitral, Ghizer, Yasen and Ishkoman and Suzerain of Kafiristan. He ruled the State of Chitral from 1857 to 1892. His rule saw Chitral reach its territorial peak, extending from Ishkamun in Gilgit Agency to Asmar in Afghanistan. His death led to the Siege of Chitral, an instance of high drama which goes down in the annals of British India as an epic of enormous courage and determination.
His Highness Sir Nasir ul-Mulk KCIE was the eldest son of Mehtar Shuja ul-Mulk, who succeeded him in 1936. He ruled the princely state of Chitral from 1936 to 1943.
His Highness Muzaffar ul-Mulk was the Mehtar of Chitral who reigned from 1943 to 1949. He took the important decision of Chitral's accession to Pakistan in 1947. He also dispatched his army into Gilgit in August 1947, to help secure that territory for Pakistan.
The Shahi Mosque is the main mosque in the town of Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located on the bank of the Chitral river adjacent to the Chitral Fort. It was the principal mosque of Chitral at the time of the existence of the State of Chitral. The mosque was built on the orders of the ruler Shuja ul-Mulk in 1924.
The Birmoghlasht Summer Fort is a dilapidated fort of the former ruler of Chitral State. It is perched on top of a hill at an elevation of about 9,000 feet. It is located in what is now a core area of the Chitral Gol National Park.
Chitral; the Story of a Minor Siege is a book written by Sir George Scott Robertson on the Siege of Chitral and published by Methuen Publishing in 1898.
Much Sounding of Bugles: The Siege of Chitral 1895 is a book written by John Harris and originally published by Hutchinson & Co. Publishers Ltd. at London in 1975. The book presents a vivid chronicle of the Chitral Campaign and the heroic efforts of the British Indian Army in 1895. It narrates how Queen Victoria rules over nearly a quarter of the earth's land surface, with the brightest jewel in her crown being India. Yet the might of the Raj is not to go unchallenged in the high mountains of the Hindu Kush. The State of Chitral which had till then existed as a buffer between British and Russian spheres of influence and tilted towards the Government of India in the second half of the 19th century, with the death of the Mehtar of Chitral in 1892 descends into civil war. A small British force led by Surgeon-Major George Scott Robertson is caught up in the Fort at Chitral which was to come under siege for seven weeks while a relief force was organised. The book narrates the follies of a vanished age.
Afzal ul-Mulk was the Mehtar (ruler) of the princely state of Chitral who briefly ruled following the death of his father the Mehtar Aman ul-Mulk, usurping the right of his elder brother Nizam ul-Mulk. His reign lasted two months and seven days before he was murdered by his uncle Sher Afzal.
Chitral was a princely state in alliance with British India until 1947, then a princely state of Pakistan in 1972. The area of the state now forms the Upper and Lower Chitral Districts of the NWFP, Pakistan.
