1. Shuja ul-Mulk belonged to the royal Katur dynasty, which ruled the state from 1571 to 1969, until the Princely State of Chitral was merged to form the Chitral District of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, Malakand Division, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan.
Shuja ul-Mulk's rule saw the State of Chitral experience an extensive period of unwonted peace.
Shuja ul-Mulk introduced widespread and far-reaching changes and administrative reforms.
Shuja ul-Mulk rendered important services to the British Empire during the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
Shuja ul-Mulk was invested as a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire by the British in 1903, and Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire in 1919.
Shuja ul-Mulk was granted a personal gun salute of 11 guns, and the title of His Highness.
Mehtar Shuja ul-Mulk was born into the ruling family of Chitral in 1881.
Shuja ul-Mulk was the second youngest son of Aman ul-Mulk, the 'Great' Mehtar of Chitral, who ruled the state from 1857 to 1892, during which the state reached its territorial peak.
Shuja ul-Mulk's mother was a princess, the daughter of the Khan of Asmar.
When Mehtar Aman ul-Mulk died in 1892, a long war of succession broke out between his sons, with Umra Khan of Jandol and Sher Afzul in the background, which lasted three years.
However Afzal Shuja ul-Mulk happened to be at Chitral on the momentous date while Nizam was absent and in Yasin.
Nizam Shuja ul-Mulk was murdered on 1 January 1895, while on a hunting tour, by his ungrateful brother, Amir Shuja ul-Mulk, whose life he had spared.
Shuja ul-Mulk was nicknamed by the British troops, 'Sugar and Milk'.
Shuja ul-Mulk presented Sir Robert and officers of the 2nd Battalion of the IV Gorkha Rifles with a cannon left over by Sher Afzul.
One of Shuja ul-Mulk's first act as Mehtar was to announce a general amnesty for all, who had taken part in the rebellion.
Mehtar Shuja ul-Mulk reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers.
Shuja ul-Mulk alone had the power of life and death.
Shuja ul-Mulk was determined from his very accession to get them back as he justifiably considered them part of Chitral.
Shuja ul-Mulk received an offer to switch sides on 8 May 1919, however he rejected the offer and kept his side of the pact with the British intact.
The Chitral Scouts and Chitral State Bodyguards under the command of Nasir Shuja ul-Mulk fought valiantly and immobilised the Afghan attack.
Shuja ul-Mulk was Knighted in 1919 by being invested as a Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire.
Mehtar Shuja ul-Mulk reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers.
Shuja ul-Mulk ruled for 41 years, during which Chitral enjoyed an unprecedented period of internal peace.
Shuja ul-Mulk visited various parts of India and met a number of fellow rulers.
Shuja ul-Mulk paid an informal visit to Simla in September 1907 for ten days and was granted an interview with His Excellency Lord Minto.
Shuja ul-Mulk attended His Majesty the King Emperor's Durbar at Delhi in 1911 and received there the Delhi Durbar Medal.
In 1911 Shuja ul-Mulk ordered Mirza Muhammad Ghufran to write a book documenting the history of Chitral for which he received considerable tracts of land in different parts of the state.
Shuja ul-Mulk was received with great hospitality and returned much enthralled by the Mehtar's assurances.
In 1919, in recognition of his loyalty and services during the recently concluded Third Anglo-Afghan War, Shuja ul-Mulk was granted a personal salute of 11-guns, along with a Knighthood by being appointed Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, with the title of His Highness following in 1920.
In 1921 Shuja ul-Mulk visited India and met the Prince of Wales Edward Patrick David on the latter's visit to Ajmer that November.
Shuja ul-Mulk spent two days at the Viceregal Lodge Delhi, as the guest of Viceroy Lord Reading.
Shuja ul-Mulk went on to visit Indore, Bombay before arriving at Jammu where he was received at a formal Durbar by the Maharaja of Kashmir Pratap Singh and treated as a state guest.
The trip commenced in November 1923, with Shuja ul-Mulk leaving Chitral and visiting en route Peshawar, Delhi and Bombay.
Shuja ul-Mulk was on friendly terms with Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum who had previously served as Assistant Political Agent in Chitral.
Shuja ul-Mulk was elected President of the Islamia College Management Body and visited the institution in that capacity in 1928 and 1931.
In 1926 Shuja ul-Mulk attended the Vice Regal Durbar at Peshawar.
Shuja ul-Mulk visited India again in 1928 with his visit lasting from 8 October to 1 December that year.
Shuja ul-Mulk began his tour by visiting Swat where he was entertained as a guest of the Wali at Saidu.
Shuja ul-Mulk proceeded to Peshawar where he remained a guest of Sir Norman Bolton before embarking for Rampur upon the invitation of His Highness the Nawab of Rampur Sir Hamid Ali Khan.
Shuja ul-Mulk visited the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College at Dehradun where he enrolled his younger sons for private education.
Much interest was shown by Shuja ul-Mulk in exploiting the mineral resources of the state.
Shuja ul-Mulk employed entire families to pan the Chitral river for Gold dust, the cash generated went to the state coffers.
Shuja ul-Mulk decreed that a certain portion of the fines collected would go to the exchequer.
Aware of the value of timber, Shuja ul-Mulk established a Forestry Department in 1908.
Shuja ul-Mulk sent his sons to far off places such as Peshawar, Aligarh and Dehradun to receive modern education.
Shuja ul-Mulk's rule saw the establishment a hospital in Chitral and another in Drosh.
Shuja ul-Mulk organised a small force known as the Levy Company, consisting of barely over a hundred men, the forces sole responsibility was to protect state postal service.
Shuja ul-Mulk would dictate a reply, which his secretary would jolt down to prepare a draft.
In spite of his immense supremacy Shuja ul-Mulk was remarkably accessible.
Shuja ul-Mulk would spend a good part of his early evenings on the telephone, relaying and receiving messages from various parts of the state, to keep himself abreast of local developments, after which he would attend the Mahraka.
Conforming to generation old tradition, Shuja ul-Mulk would have his afternoon and evening meals at a gathering attended by nobles and elders called the Mahraka.
Shuja ul-Mulk was empathetic to the idea of inter-state and royal-intermarriages, for strategic and political purposes.
Shuja ul-Mulk's sister was married to Miangul Abdul Khaliq, the grandfather of the Wali of Swat.
Shuja ul-Mulk acted as de facto ruler of Swat for many years after the death of her husband.
Shuja ul-Mulk's daughter was married to Naqibzada Pir Sayyid Jamal ud-din Al-Gilani, a direct descendant of Abdul Qadir Gilani, patronym of the Qadiriyya order.
Shuja ul-Mulk's granddaughter was married to Nawab Muhammad Said Khan, the Nawab of Amb.
In 1910, Shuja ul-Mulk imposed statewide ushur tax, which was most bellicosely opposed by the Ismaili community.
Shuja ul-Mulk was buried in his ancestral graveyard adjacent to the Royal Fort in Chitral.
Shuja ul-Mulk was succeeded as Mehtar by his eldest son, Nasir ul-Mulk.