CHITRAL, Feb 9: The two surviving sons of the former ruler of Chitral, Shahzada Amiruddin and  Col (retd) Shahzada Mataul Mulk passed away here one after the other on Friday afternoon after protracted illness. They were around 80 years old.

The former ruler Shujaul Mulk had ruled Chitral in the 1940s.

Mataul Mulk had to his credit the conquering of Skardu on August 1948 after routing the Sikh army of the Maharaja of Kashmir and capturing Col Sher Jung Thapa from Indian army. He was leading the State bodyguard force of Chitral, which also included thousands of local volunteers who had gone to Skardu to help the Muslims when the Sikh army captured it.

Shahzada Amiruddin was the father of Zila Nazim Shahzada Mohyuddin, who was younger to Col Mataul Mulk and was laid to rest on Saturday at Kalkatak Drosh. The elder brother was buried at Shoghor (Lotkoh) on Saturday.

POSTAL SYSTEM: The postal system in the district is in tatters. Postal bags are not transported to Chitral by the PIA flights.

The posted articles take more than one month to reach Chitral from Peshawar as a result of the negligence of the post office department. The work in the government offices has also suffered due to the situation.

It is said that the cargo staff at the Peshawar airport neglect the postal bags, while giving preference to the baggage of the passengers.