Zulfiqar Ahmad
Fatehul Mulk Ali Nasir has gone to jail. For a scion of Chitral’s old ruling family, that sounds like a strange launchpad for a political career.
But this is Pakistan, where jail has never been the career-killer it would be almost anywhere else. Here, a cell can be a career move.
The Mehtar, grandson of Shuja-ul-Mulk, carries a political lineage older than the country he now serves. The Katoors ruled Chitral until the princely states were swept away in 1969.
The throne vanished. The family did not. Names survive. Memories survive. Networks survive. And politics – ever the opportunist – makes room for all three.
Fatehul Mulk stepped into electoral politics with that inheritance strapped to his back. When he won in 2024 elections, he did not swagger – he bowed.
His remarks dripped with deference to elders and gratitude to Imran Khan – no chest-thumping, no declarations of arrival, unlike his colleague Suriya Bibi. He looked less like a new political force and more like a well-mannered heir minding his family’s reputation.
Then came the jail. He could have vanished – Chitral’s valleys have swallowed plenty of men in trouble over the centuries. Instead, he walked in. He presented himself for arrest over his ties to PTI and Imran Khan, no theatrics, no disappearing act.
Does that prove anything? Not really – not yet. Pakistani politics has a peculiar habit of minting martyrs by the day: the longer the lock-up, the shinier the political halo. Given our history, the instinct makes sense. But it is also a little too convenient. A jail cell can forge a legend. It can also just be four walls and a cot.
Still, for Fatehul Mulk, this may leave a mark. Until now, his political identity has been inseparable from his surname – understandable in Chitral, where the Katoors hold something no rupee can buy: instant recognition. But recognition gets you through the door. It does not win you the room.
The real test comes next. Can he build a following that answers to him, not his family tree? Can he win over voters who could not care less who the Mehtars were? Can he build alliances beyond the family’s address book?
And can he turn “PTI loyalist” into something sturdier than “Katoor heir with a cause”?
None of that gets settled behind bars. It gets settled in the open, where votes are counted and dynasties do not count for much.
There is a delicious irony buried in all this. The Katoors once ruled by birthright, no elections required. Fatehul Mulk now plays a game where authority has an expiry date and must be renewed, term after term, at the ballot box.
The family name can get him a seat at the table. It will not order his meal for him.
This is the loop Pakistani politics cannot seem to escape: princes turn into politicians, politicians turn into prisoners, prisoners turn into symbols, and symbols – if they are lucky or ruthless enough – turn into politicians all over again. Whether Fatehul Mulk breaks out of symbol status and into something real is still an open question.
For now, though, the Mehtar Fatehul Mulk Ali Nasir has picked up something no ancestor could ever have willed to him: a political education, earned the hard way, entirely his own.
Related:
Mehtar of Chitral Fatehul Mulk joins PTI
@Sultan Mahmood: With due respect to Sultan Mehmood sahib, we must not assume that everyone who has wealth is another Asif Ali Zardari or “Mr 10 Percent.” Being wealthy is not a sin. If Mehter comes from a wealthy family, that wealth should not automatically be portrayed as corrupt money.
Mehter was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and his ancestors are known in Chitral for having provided homes to many people. His family background and wealth are matters of public knowledge; they should not, by themselves, be used as evidence of corruption.
What seems to be angering Mr Mehmood is his close association with groups opposed to Mehter, including elements associated with the Katoor dynasty. If Mehter is behind bars today, questions must also be asked about those who allegedly monitored and leaked information about his travel to Islamabad, ultimately contributing to his arrest.
I would respectfully request Mr Mehmood to remain impartial rather than making allegations against a man who, to my knowledge, has no personal rivalry with anyone, including Mr Mehmood himself.
Let us debate facts, not settle political scores.
The Mehtar has been arrested but on his own sweet will. Going to prison seemed easy to Mehtar rathar then taking the pain of investing inn mobilising the chitrali public to join the rally and spending on huge logistic arrangments which is always expected from him given his status as a wealthy Mehtar.
In my view his imprisonment is not going to benifit him politically in a long run as the baggage he is carrying is very heavy. His win in 2024 election was not less then an incident or it can be attributed to a sheer luck.