Amanul Mulk


Amanul Mulk was an Afghan politician who served as the Minister of Defence under Salemai, who ruled only in the Eastern Province.

Background

In either 1944 or 1945, the Safi tribe rose up against the government of the Kingdom of Afghanistan. According to British records, the uprising was caused by the Afghan government's attempts to institute conscription among the Safi, trading monopolies granted to Afghan merchant companies, and government surveillance. However, Whit Mason attributes the Safi uprising to "extremely brutal taxation, oppression and poverty". Among the more enthusiastic rebel fighters were younger men with more to gain and less to lose from fighting the government. The Afghan government extensively deployed its air force against the rebels, using aircraft to drop leaflets, gun down tribesmen and drop incendiary bombs.

Minister of Defence

Religious scholars among the Safi ruled that anyone who rebelled against their King and died should be excluded from being counted as martyrs. Therefore, they were required to select one of their own as king. In either 1944 or 1945, the Safi selected Salemai as king, Amanat Lewana as prime minister and Amanul Mulk as minister of defence. The Safi were ultimately defeated by the Afghan government.

Later life and death

In 1947, Amanul had a reunion in Shulgara with Shahswar and Salemai. Amanul eventually left Afghanistan, and lived in Peshawar by the 1980s. In The Rule of Law in Afghanistan: Missing in Inaction, released in April 2011, it is stated that Amanul Mulk "died recently in Peshawar", that he continued wearing a military jacket until his last days, and that his offspring still live in Shulgara.