Nizam at once hurried to Chitral; and Sher Afzul fled to Cabul, Nizam becoming the head of the state or, as it was called, Mehtar.

Being weak, he asked for a political officer to reside in his territory; and Captain Younghusband, with an escort of Sikhs, was accordingly sent to Mastuj, a fort in Upper Chitral.
However, in November Nizam was also murdered, by a younger brother, Amir.

Amir hurried to Chitral, and demanded recognition from Lieutenant Gurdon; who was, at the time, acting as assistant British agent.

He replied that he had no power to grant recognition, until he was instructed by the government in India.
Amir thereupon stopped his letters, and for a long time he was in imminent danger, as he had only an escort of eight Sikhs.
On the 8th of January, fifty men of the 14th Sikhs marched down from Mastuj and, on the 1st of February, Mr.Robertson, the British agent, arrived from Gilgit.

He had with him an escort of two hundred and eighty men of the 4th Kashmir Rifles, and thirty-three Sikhs; and was accompanied by three European officers.