Shahzada Mohiuddin ( ur, ; 5 August 1938 – 27 April 2022) was a Pakistani

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, a

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and Provincial Minister, and

Member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. He served as Minister of State for Tourism and

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

on Kashmir Affairs and

Northern Areas Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

. He was the grandson of Sir

Shuja ul-Mulk His Highness Sir Shuja ul-Mulk KCIE (1 January 1881 – 13 October 1936) was the Mehtar (from fa, ) of the princely state of Chitral, and reigned it for 41 years until his death in 1936. He belonged to the royal Katur dynasty, which ruled t ...

. His eldest son

Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin (; born 15 August 1969) is a Pakistani politician who was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018. Early life and education Uddin was born on 15 August 1969 in Chitral to Shahzada Mohiu ...

was elected as the MNA from

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

in 2013.

Background

Shahzada Mohiuddin was born into the ruling family of

on 5 August 1938. He is the grandson of Sir Shuja ul-Mulk, the Mehtar of Chitral. His family's reign extended from 1571 to 1969, when the

Princely State A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

was incorporated completely into

. He completed his

Master of Economics The Master of Economics (MEcon or MEc) is a postgraduate master's degree in economics comprising training in economic theory, econometrics, and/or applied economics. The degree is also offered as an MS or MSc, MA or MCom in economics; varian ...

from the

University of Peshawar The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a Public university, public research university located in Peshawar, Khy ...

in 1963. During his time at

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, he was the Captain of

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was d ...

combined Universities football team. He is the nephew of former

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Burhan-ud-Din and the father-in-law of Shahzada Masood ul-Mulk.

Political career

Shahzada Mohiuddin entered politics on the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

(PPP) platform in 1972. He was elected ''Chairman District Council'' Chitral in 1983 and once again in 1987. Following the 1985 general elections he became a Member of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and additionally served as ''Parliamentary Secretary for Communications'' till the dissolution of the Assembly. He lost his seat to

Nusrat Bhutto ''Begum'' Nusrat Bhutto (; sd, نصرت ڀٽو; ur, ; born as Nusrat Ispahani; 23 March 1929 – 23 October 2011) was an Iranian-Pakistani public figure of Kurdish origin, who served as spouse of the Prime Minister of Pakistan between 1971 unti ...

in the 1988 general elections but won the National Assembly elections again in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. Leading up to the 1990 elections he was appointed ''Minister for Excise and Taxation'' in the interim provincial government of NWFP. Following it he was appointed ''Minister of State for Tourism'' (1990–1993) in Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

's cabinet. He was again elected as MNA in the general elections of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and served as ''Chairman National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Government Assurances'' (1997–1999). Shahzada Mohiuddin was elected as District

Nazim Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

of Chitral in the local body elections of 2001. He became a Member of the

for the fourth time in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and was appointed ''Chairman National Assembly's Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan''. In that capacity he was a proponent of peace and the idea that both countries should promote trade and other means of people-to-people contacts across the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...

to pave way for resolving the

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

issue Issue or issues may refer to: Publishing * ''Issue'' (company), a mobile publishing company * ''Issue'' (magazine), a monthly Korean comics anthology magazine * Issue (postal service), a stamp or a series of stamps released to the public * '' ...

. One of the greatest landmarks in Shahzada Mohiuddin's political career is his work on restarting the

Lowari Tunnel Lowari Tunnel ( ur, , ''Lowari Sarang'') is a vehicular tunnel under the Lowari Pass of the Hindu Kush mountains, between Dir and Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is operated by the National Highway Authority and carr ...

Project which has opened avenues of progress and prosperity for the remote district. Due to its geographical situation, Chitral would remain totally cut off from the rest of the country for up to five months every winter due to heavy snowfall on the 10,200-feet-high

Lowari Pass Lowari Pass ( ur, درہ لواری), or Lowari Top, (el. 10,230 ft.) is a high mountain pass that connects Chitral with Dir in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Lowari Top is a relatively low pass, by far the lowest pass to enter Chitral, ...

; one of the only two land routes connecting the district to other parts of the country. Thousands of people had lost their lives while trying to cross over the Lowari pass.

General Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

had sanctioned funds while in power for the Lowari Tunnel project for providing an all-weather road linking Chitral with the rest of Pakistan. In acknowledgement Shahzada Mohiuddin vacated his

parliamentary seat An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in favour of the Former President. Shahzada Mohiuddin was particular in pursuing infrastructure projects for his constituency. He was an outspoken critic of the PIA management for frequent cancellation of flights on the

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

route on technical grounds. He mentioned on record that his

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

was remote and poor, consequently he often supported sitting governments just for securing development project and funds for his constituency.

Retirement from political life

Shahzada Mohiuddin retired from active political life after completing his term in 2013. He had dominated politics in the district for well over a quarter of a century. His son

contested the general elections in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and won the National Assembly seat in Chitral. Shahzada Mohiuddin died on April 27, 2022 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohiuddin, Shahzada 1938 births 2022 deaths People from Chitral Pakistani MNAs 1985–1988 Pakistani MNAs 1990–1993 Pakistani MNAs 1997–1999 Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013