Battle for Chitral --113 years on -letter

This refers to Isambard Wilkinson’s article “Battle for Chitral…,” in the Telegraph.co.uk and reproduced in  Chitral News. This is about the memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives in the battle to rescue the young ruler of Chitral from the forces of his uncle and claimant to the thrown in 1895. Col Khushwaqt ul-Mulk, the aged son of the Mehtar, is absolutely right that the memorial should be preserved as part of Chitral’s history and the human lives lost in that campaign must be honoured. If it was not for the British, Chitral would have been under the rule of the Russian Bolsheviks and Stalinic tyranny.  I however found it difficult to agree with the writer to say with certainty that the memorial has been defaced and daubed with graffiti because of its proximity to a Muslim graveyard. The vandals, as has been referred to, could be any bunch of crooks. There is no shortage of these anti social elements in any society; but attributing it without proper exploration to the religious intolerance of the entire local community is unfair.

Dr. Mir Baiz Khan
Toronto