27

ANCHAN’S RETURN FROM EXPEDITION.

After arrangements were made for the running of administration of Giltgit and Chitral, Ali Sher Khan Anchan returned to his capital after an absence of three years, with countless prisoners of war that included Gilgittis, Chilasis, Chitralis, Kafirs etc., etc., He brought with him a Gilgiti princess , daughter of Raja Ali Sher Khan of Gilgit. The princess was married to his son Ahmad Khan by whom Shah Murad, Sher Shah, Ali Shah and Shah Sultan were born. This is confirmed by Biddulph who writes:

“But the same tradition also states most positively that the sister who married the Makpon prince of Iskardo was the mother of the three war0like brother, Sher Shah, Ali Shah, and Shah Murad, who aided Soomlik in his wars against Yasin. Now, General Cunningham fixes the date of these brothers at about A.D. 1600 and this compared with the number of generations accounted for in the various genealogies shows that their mother must have been sister to the second Soomalik, the son of Ali Sher Khan.”

The Queen, Mindoq Gialmo was looking forward to the day when Ali Sher Khan Anchan would return to the capital. She was hopefully confident that the development works which she had completed would be greatly appreciated by her illustrious husband. But the warrior0king gave expression of his feelings in these words, “Qneen! You have committed and offence by constructing the pathway to the fort making it accessible-while you have rendered invaluable service by the construction of the Gangopi Water Channel. I inflict no punishment for the offence and I give no reward for the service rendered”. Legend relates that the unexpected remarks of the Anchan so dejected the Queen that she instantly died of heart failure. Hashmatullah’s version is that when Ali Sher Khan inspected the channel he appreciated the service of the Queen but expressed his disapproval to the construction of the palace on the ground that it affected the security of Kharpocho Fort.