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Front Page Story

The subway prince


by Judi McLeod
October 21, 2002 A prominent member of the Afghan royal family, who returned to Kabul last spring after almost 30 years in exile, was once a common busker in Montreal.

Prince Nadir Zahir, 61, the second eldest son of ex-Afghan King Zahir Shah, often entertained Montreal subway commuters with a sitar, Toronto and Boston-based Afghan residents told CanadaFreePress.com.

"For a long time he was turning up at the subway in Montreal every day," said Toronto resident Muhammad Nabi Khan. "As someone who was very fond of dogs, he used to pick up strays and he always brought the dogs with him to the subway when he was playing his sitar."

Riders of the Montreal tube did not know the man they passed on their way to and from work was a royal by birth. Afghan friends say the prince lived in "discreet solitude" during his Montreal chapter in the 1980s.

"Always more interested in music than politics, Nadir was very sad about what was going on in Afghanistan. But he never liked to talk about it. He was like a gentle hippie and no one ever would have believed that he was the son of Zahir Shah," said Khan.

Upon his return to Kabul with his father last spring, Nadir told rediff.com that after many years in exile what he remembered most–and missed most–was his sitar.

Last July Nadir told Shyam Bhatia that the sitar had been his passion since the age of 10, and that when his father realized how serious that passion really was, he arranged for a teacher from India to come to the palace for sitar lessons.

Nadir was 32 years old when his cousin Daoud Khan ousted his father in a coup. His son Mostapha, who plays a key role in the royal family’s current activities in Afghanistan, was a mere nine-year-old boy. Like the rest of the Afghan royals, Nadir settled in Rome in order to be close to his father.
Nadir and his three brothers Ahmed Shah, Mir Wais and Shah Mahmoud accompanied Zahir Shah when he returned to Kabul last April.

Of the four brothers, Nadir is said to be the closest to his father and has been given a set of rooms in the principal royal villa in Kabul’s fashionable Wazir Akbar Khan district. The Afghan government has assigned the villa–known as Palace 8–to members of the royal family.

Tragedy revisited the royal family almost as soon as their feet touched Afghan soil. Former Queen Homaira, 86, died of a heart attack after suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia in Italy. Fully expecting to join her husband in Kabul when she recovered from illness, instead her corpse was flown to the Afghan capital for burial.

The missiles, rockets and other explosive devices discovered close to the royal family’s bomb damaged mausoleum, where Homaira’s body was interred, served as a sad reminder of the unstable conditions to which the royal family had returned.

Married since they were teenagers, the Zahir Shah was inconsolable over his wife’s death, refusing visitors for days.

Although Nadir told Bhatia that he was a businessman with interests in the computer industry, he said his main job is to provide his father with the moral and psychological support he needs in his elected role as ‘Baba-e-Milli’, or Father of the Nation.

Describing his father’s health as excellent, he likened his strength to that of the mountains of Afghanistan, adding that "He loves and respects the Afghan people and they trust him."

Nadir also confirmed that he had lived in Canada where he brought up his son Prince Mostapha Zahir, who was recently appointed Afghanistan’s ambassador to Italy.

In the 80s, Mostapha, who formed the Afghan Medical Relief Organization (AMRO) with Kingston, Ontario realtor Alan Henriksen, studied political science at Queen’s University.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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