§ MR. SEYMOUR KEAY (Elgin and Nairn)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can state approximately the strength of the military escorts and supports available in any case of emergency for the protection of the British political officers in the native States of Hyderabad, Mysore, Indore, and Gwalior; what was the strength of the military escorts and supports possessed by the British political officers at Gilgit and Chitral respectively before the murder of Nizam-ul-Mulk, the ruler of Chitral, by his brother on the 1st of January last; when did Nizam-ul-Mulk succeed to the throne, and what happened to his predecessor; and for how long a period had a British political officer been in Chitral before the murder of Nizam-ul-Mulk?
§ MR. HENRY FOWLERI do not consider it to be in the public interest to answer the first question of the hon. Member. At the date of the murder of Nizam-ul-Mulk the whole force under the Gilgit command numbered about 3,000 men, of whom 100 represented the escort of the assistant political officer in Chitral, whose station was at Mastuj. Besides his escort of 100 men, there were 700 men distributed on the route between Gilgit and Mastuj. Nizam-ul-Mulk became Mehtar in November, 1892, after deposing his uncle Sher Afzul. A British political officer was sent to Chitral at the end of 1892 at the request of the then Mehtar, Nizam-ul-Mulk, and has been maintained in Chitral since.