Battle for Chitral reignites 113 years on

Telegraph.co.uk

By Isambard Wilkinson in Nowshera

A family who once ruled a princely state of the Raj want a neglected British monument to be moved 200 miles to their mountain kingdom for safekeeping.

The defaced monument stands perilously close to the excavations and is in danger of collapsing

The memorial, standing on a hillock beside the Kabul River outside Nowshera in Pakistan, commemorates one of Britain's most famous military feats - the race to lift the siege of Chitral in 1895.

Daubed with graffiti and defaced by some who are offended by its proximity to a Muslim graveyard, it is in danger of collapsing.

Excavations for building materials are taking place just a few feet from its base.

The men it honours rescued Chitral's ruler Shuja ul-Mulk who was besieged inside his royal fort with his British allies.

Now his son, Col Khushwaqt ul-Mulk, 95, has mounted a campaign to save the 40ft brick and plaster obelisk by transporting it to the Hindu Kush.

He said: "The area has been destroyed by buildings and vandals. But it marks a key moment in Chitral's history. So we want to honour the dead by bringing it to Chitral to take care of it in a place where everybody agrees."

Peter Hopkirk, the historian and author of The Great Game, who retraced the relief force's march on Chitral, said the proposal was very touching.

He said: "It is decent of them. "Considering we were the former colonial power, it is a surprise they do not want to turn their backs on us. It would be wonderful if they could prevent it disintegrating and disappearing."

Nowshera, where the monument stands, was once the railhead on the Grand Trunk Road.

It was the key military artery of British India and the junction through which all those who fought on the North West Frontier, notably Winston Churchill, would have passed.

It marks a crucial episode in the "Great Game" when Britain sought to block Russian designs on India by controlling Chitral.

The death of Col ul-Mulk's grandfather in 1892 unleashed a war of succession and his father, the 10-year-old Shuja, was the favoured ruler. Col ul-Mulk said: "We were fighting one another and the British said, 'Stop it!', and they brought peace."

Col James Kelly marched 1,000 men and their heavy cannons across the 12,000ft Shandur Pass. Meanwhile, General Robert Low brought 15,000 men from Nowshera, defeating Pashtun tribesmen before crossing the 10,000ft Lowari Pass.

Their feat was hailed as "one of the most remarkable marches in history" by the British press.

When Col Kelly marched into Chitral, he found "walking skeletons" in the fort. But his arrival caused the enemy to melt away.

The monument is dedicated to the fallen British and "native" soldiers of Gen Low's force.

Read from the source >>