Chitral’s political figure Shahzada Mohiuddin passes away

MARDAN: Shahzada Mohiuddin passed away in Islamabad on Wednesday after a protracted illness. He was an iconic figure in Chitral’s political history for over 30 years.

Shahzada Mohiuddin was elected four times to the National Assembly, twice became the district council chairman and served as district nazim once.

He was also a minister of state and a provincial caretaker minister besides being a parliamentary secretary.

Chitral is no pocket constituency. With its geographical spread of over 14,500 sq. km, its difficult terrain, a thin spread of population and the politically conscious electorate to win and retain the confidence of the people for a time as long as he did was no ordinary achievement.

He spent a large part of his life in his constituency and travelled endlessly, over difficult jeepable dirt tracks escaping dangerous accidents several times; many times journeying hours on foot, spending nights often in his adversaries’ homes in the villages and meeting and mixing with people greeting everyone with his warm smile and open embrace.

He was one of the few people who knew the problems of each of the over 500 villages in Chitral whether it was Boroghil, Rech or Madishil.

While he was born in the royal family, he remained a man of the people. He could easily empathise and cut across social divides and readily made friends with even his foes.

Using foul language, disrespecting his adversaries or hitting someone below the belt were not part of his political career.

The Shahzada was known for speaking the truth to power. In 1986, at the annual Shandur Polo event, Shahzada Mohiuddin threw aside the customary written speech, while General Zia in military uniform listened, highlighting the problems Chitral faced; and how the government ignored them.

Earlier Shahzada had been tipped off by a Federal Secretary that the six wings, which the President had promised for Chitral Scouts during his visit to Drosh the previous year, after the Russian bombing in Sweer village, would be partly filled from outside the district.

The president was visibly upset by this bravado and left the function without attending the lunch organised for him. They both made up for it later and Chitral benefited with it being represented by 6,000 households out of the 32,000 households that made up Chitral in those days in the Chitral Scouts.

It was a remarkable contribution of his and Colonel Murad the then Commandant Chitral Scouts to the livelihoods in the district.

When the Military Governor of erstwhile NWFP was visiting Chitral, Shahzada Mohiuddin, as a young man in government service in Chitral, was visibly upset by the treatment being meted out to officials of the former state after its merger with West Pakistan in 1969.

He got hold of the governor at the Chitral Pologround to say what he felt without mincing any words. It certainly did not go well with the regime which ensured that he left the government service. This, he would say, was the best thing that happened to him. In government service, he would have ended up as a ‘Babu’ somewhere. The change in career enabled him to become a successful businessman first and then blossom into a successful politician.

When he first challenged outsiders who exclusively dominated the business of transporting timber out of Chitral, by competing with them, it caused tremors in the business circles of Chitral. The Chitralis of those days would never go beyond subsistence farming.

While in the Nawaz Sharif cabinet as a minister of state for tourism, he did not hesitate speaking his mind on many occasions. During Princess Diana’s visit to Chitral, he found the visit to the Chitral Fort being cancelled at the last minute on the pretext of shortage of time by overzealous bureaucrats.

He would tell Princess Diana and Nicholas Barrington, the British High Commissioner that they could not insult the ex-ruling family having made them wait for hours to receive them on a visit scheduled at their own request. He made sure that the visit took place... The Princess aircraft as a result had to leave Chitral when it was almost dusk.

For late Shahzada Mohiuddin, politics was about public service as much as was it about power. After completing his education he had served as deputy commissioner for several years in Upper Chitral in the political raj that replaced the Mehtar’s rule in Chitral State from 1953.

In the Chitral of the pre-Lowari tunnel days how problems were prioritized was very different from today. Ensuring that the remotest valleys had government godowns, which were well stocked with subsidised wheat; making sure that there were extra PIA flights to clear the passenger backlog or travel through Afghanistan was possible in winters.

Building 84 bridges and long valley roads to break down the constraints that inaccessibility made for local lives through the District Council speak of the capacity he built within this usually weak department as its chairman.

Distant valleys like Arkari, Begusht, Lone and Gohkir, Madaklasht, Domel, Melp Ovir, Sunich, Jingiret, Urtsun were all connected to the main valley through rickety roads built at low cost within the meagre resources he raised.

Similarly, the spate of schools that were built in this period contributed to the literacy jump that later came in the district. In 1984 UNICEF declared Chitral a model district council with another two in KP when he was the chairman.

The provision of water pipes by UNICEF enabled him to distribute them to distant villages thus providing a rudimentary gravity pull pipes system for drinking water in remotest parts of Chitral.

He fully understood that government rules drawn up to meet the needs of people living in the plains with different working seasons would become a problem in the mountainous regions.

To overcome it, he would often take the liberty to break them but would always ask the auditors to visit the sites to determine if the government got value for money for his decisions. They could never disprove him.

Like all Pakistani politicians operating in a patrimonial environment, he had his patronage networks. But he was firm that government funds when given for a public purpose must serve that purpose and went very far to ensure that even when his friends were implementing the projects.

His commitment to public service came from the experience of his childhood spent in Chitral where each fortnight he had to travel 25 miles on foot to get to school.

As was a tradition in Chitral, he had spent some years with foster parents in the poverty-stricken Biyori valley during his childhood that gave him a firsthand experience of the pain and agony the poor have to undergo in their lives.

It moulded his values. His towering personality brought dignity and self-respect for the Chitralis who often felt belittled by outsiders, many of whom in positions of authority understood them little. Even his adversaries in Chitral miss him on this count today.

Late Shahzada Mohiuddin played a pivotal part in supporting civil society development institutions play a prominent part in the development process in the district.

He was always there to extend support to organisations seeking funds from donors and made sure that his voice gave their demands a legitimacy.

He deeply deplored the marriages of young Chitrali girls to elderly people outside the districts exploiting poverty in the region and set up a committee to prevent that. Many girls found refuge in his house and he made sure that they were well cared for and their problems resolved.

Late Shahzada Mohiuddin found himself comfortable equally in the company of the elites and the downtrodden. He spoke at the UN in 1986, visited India, Sri Lanka and Maldives with the then president General Ziaul Haq.

He was always elegantly dressed. He was also a great host and entertained all official visitors visiting Chitral and those working in Chitral in the true spirit of Chitrali hospitality.

His house in his village Serdur was thronged by thousands on Eid and festivals when he sat with people often listening to their problems.

Late Shahzada Mohiuddin was a versatile personality. He led the Pakistan universities in Football at Dacca against the Rest of Pakistan in the 60s winning accolades from the then president Ayub Khan for making it this far from a remote region.

In Chitral, he played polo well and while Deputy Commissioner he led his team against teams in Gilgit both here and across the Shandur Pass.

He patronized music and folk dancing. He was an eloquent speaker whose resounding voice and clarity of thought would be dearly missed at public meetings.

His finest hours were perhaps those most secluded from the public eye. In his last tenure as MNA an ischemic stroke severely affected him making him lose most of his eyesight. But he faced this with grace and bravery not giving up his public functions and responsibilities in his last two years.

Once he had retired and the illness overwhelmed him he bore it with an unparalleled dignity. There was never a word of complaint and there was always gratitude to Allah for the opportunity for service He had given him.

Even in his illness the only questions he asked were whether a village had a road, its electricity problem had been solved or its school was functioning? Shahzada Sahib was no saint. He had his blemishes. But when you count for everything, his was a remarkable life of dedicated public service and he will always be remembered among the titans of Chitral’s history. May his soul rest in eternal peace.