Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah

02 June, 2008 04:55:00

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Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah known as Sher-e-Kashmir (the Lion of Kashmir) (Dec 5, 1905, Soura, Kashmir – Sept 8 1982, Srinagar), was the leader of the National Conference, Kashmir's largest political party, and one of the most important political figures in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah known as Sher-e-Kashmir (the Lion of Kashmir) (Dec 5, 1905, Soura, Kashmir – Sept 8 1982, Srinagar), was the leader of the National Conference, Kashmir's largest political party, and one of the most important political figures in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir.He was married to Akbar Jahan, the daughter of Harry Nedou, the European proprietor of a chain of hotels in India including Nedou's hotel in Srinagar, and his Kashmiri wife.He did his Masters in Chemistry and joined Government Service as teacher, but later resigned and spearheaded popular movement for democratic rights of people, founding the Muslim Conference (name later changed to National Conference) in 1931. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh, and urged self-rule for Kashmir.

He was the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State soon after its controversial provisional accession to India in 1947, and was later jailed and exiled.He again became the Chief Minister of the State following 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord and remained in the top slot till his death on Sept 8 1982.

EARLY LIFE

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was born in Soura a village on the outskirts of Srinagar just eleven days after the death of his father Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim, a middle class manufacturer and trader of Kashmir Shawls.In his own words he was born an orphan. Sheikh Ibrahim like the poet Iqbal was the descendant of a Kashmiri Hindu(Pandit) named Ragho Ram Koul who converted to Islam in 1722 A.D as a disciple of the saint Mir Abdul Rashid Baihiqi and after conversion changed his name to Shiekh Mohammed Abdullah.Thus Sheikh Abdullah was the namesake of the progenitor of his family branch.According to Sheikh Abdullah his step brothers mistreated his mother and his early childhood was marked by utter poverty.His mother was keen that her children should recieve proper education and so as a child he was first admitted to a traditional school or Maktab where he learnt the recitation of the Koran and some basic persian texts like Gulistan,Bostan Pandnama etc. Then in 1911 he was admitted to a primary school where he studied for about two years.His elder step brothers then stopped his further education and he was first set to work in the family workshop embroidering shawls and later asked to sit on a grocers shop as a salesboy.However their family barber Mohammed Ramzan prevailed upon his uncle to send him back to school. He had to walk the distance of ten miles to school and back on foot but in his own words the joy of being allowed to obtain a school education made it seem a light work.He passed his Matriculation examination from Punjab University in 1922.

Higher Studies

After Matriculation he obtained admission in Sri Partap College the leading college of Kashmir.Because of extreme poverty he had to walk the distance of about fifteen miles from Soura to S.P.College and back and so developed Cardiomegaly (perhaps an early sign of beriberi brought about by malnutrition and severe exercise).He was admitted to the Mission Hospital where under the treatment of the famous Neve brothers he recovered completely.His elder brother Sheikh Maqbool was moved by his illness and agreed to pay for his stay in the college hostel from where he passed his intermediate examination.At that time the Dogra rulers dicriminated against Kashmiri Muslim students and so his application for a scholarship was summarily rejected as of the twenty two students who were awarded a scholarship twenty one were hindus.The Principal of Prince of Wales College Jammu also behaved rudely with him and rejected his application for admission to the B.Sc.degree course as he spoke of the right to education of persons belonging to the muslim community.Finally he managed to obtain admission in Islamiya College Lahore from where he completed his B.Sc.Degree. After completing his graduation he again applied to the State Government for a scholarship for pursuing higher studies but was not successful.So marshalling his own resources he obtained admission to the M.Sc. Chemistry course in Aligarh Muslim University and obtained Masters degree in Chemistry on 12th April 1930. He was the first Kashmiri Muslim to have obtained Masters degree in Chemistry and so full of hope he again applied to the State Government for grant of scholarship for pursuing Doctoral course in Chemistry in England.His application was rejected on the flimsy ground that he was more than 24 years of age in April 1930.According to Sheikh Abdullah these early experiences convinced him that Kashmiri Muslims had as little hope of obtaining justice from the feudal Dogra ruler as of obtaining milk by squeezing a stone.

Political Career

As a student at Aligarh Muslim University he came in contact with and was influenced by persons with liberal and progressive ideas. He developed the firm view that the feudal system was responsible for the miseries of the Kashmiris and like all progressive nations of the world Kashmir too should have a democratically elected government.He along with his liberal progressive friends drafted the National Demands the forerunner of the famous Naya Kashmir (New Kashmir) Manifesto which was a charter of demands for granting a democratic constitution committed to the welfare of the common people of Kashmir.He presented these demand to the Maharajah.The Maharajah of course was not willing to accept these demands and so Sheikh Abdullah along with like minded leaders started a popular struggle for achievement of the same and soon assumed the leadership of the Muslim Conference which was the party spearheading this struggle. He was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru and as he too as a leader of the Indian National Congress was demanding similar rights for people of India under British Rule the two became friends and political allies.Sheikh Abdullah changed the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference in 1938 to allow people from all communities to struggle against the Autocratic rule of the feudal Maharajas. He was repeatedly jailed by the then Maharaja Hari Singh.He was part of the famous founding group of Muslim Conference consisting of, amongst others,Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah, Ghulam Ahmad Ashai and Choudhary Ghulam Abbas. Ashai parted ways with the Sheikh in 1947. Nehru in a personal letter to his special envoy to the princely states wrote "If it wasn't for Ashai whispering mischief in the Sheikh's ears, Kashmir wouldn't have been a problem at all".

Becomes Head of emergency administration 30th october 1947

Hari Singh appealed to Lord Mountbatten the Governor-General of India for Indian military aid.In his Accession Offer dated October 26,1947 which accompanied The Instrument of Accession duly signed by him,the Maharaja wrote "I may also inform your Excellency's Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Shaikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister."Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession after a meeting of the Defence Committee on October 26 1947.In his Aide Memoire dated 25 February 1948 to the Indian delegation to the UN Security Council Lord Mountbatten wrote that, "Agreement was reached at this meeting that the accession should be accepted only subject to the proviso that a plebescite should be held in Kashmir when the law and order situation allowed this and that a responsible government should be immediately established".In his letter of acceptance of the Offer of Accession to the Maharaja Lord Mountbatten wrote "...My Government and I note with satisfaction that your Highness has decided to invite Sheikh Abdullah to form an Interim Government to work with your Prime Minister."The support of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Minister of India was a key factor in getting Sheikh Abdullah appointed as Head of the emergency administration by the Maharaja.As a consequence Sheikh Abdullah was appointed head of an emergency administration by an order issued by the Maharaja which was undated except for the mention October 1947 in place of the date.He took charge as Head of the Emergency Administration on 30th october 1947.After assuming the charge of the Head of the emergency administration he addressing his first meeting with the government officers said "Pakistan is not our enemy and we have the same respect for Mr Jinnah that we had previously. We want the Kashmir issue to be settled by Dialog and if for this purpose I have to go to Karachi to meet Mr Jinnah I am willing to go there".He raised a force of local Kashmiri volunteers to patrol Srinagar and take control of administration after the flight of the Maharaja along with his family and Prime Minister Meher Chand Mahajan to Jammu even before the Indian troops had landed.This group of volunteers would serve as the nucleus for the subsequent formation of Jammu and Kashmir Militia. This Sheikh Abdullah hoped would take over the defence of Kashmir after the Indian army was withdrawn.This was articulated in his letter to Sardar Patel dated 7 October 1948 in which he wrote, "With the taking over of the State forces by the Indian Government,it was agreed that steps would be taken to reorganise and rebuild our army so that when the present emergency is over and the Indian forces are withdrawn the state will be left with a proper organised army of its own to fall back upon." (The Militia was disbanded by Government of India within a few years of the removal of Sheikh Abdullah from the post of Prime Minister and subsequent arrest in 1953.)The U. N.Security Council brokered a cease fire among the warring parties(which came into effect before midnight 1st January 1949) having passed a resolution demanding settlement of the question of Kashmir's accession to India or Pakistan by a plebiscite to be held under the auspices of the United Nations(Resolution 47 dated 21st April 1948 and UNCIP resolution dated 13 August 1948).However because of wrangling between India and Pakistan this resolution remains unimplemented.

Becomes Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state

Sheikh Abdullah became Prime Minister of Kashmir on March 5, 1948. It was a saga that was like a Hollywood film. A poor orphan boy, set to work by his stepbrothers embroidering shawls and selling groceries, allowed to go to school only on the pleading of a kind hearted barber,nearly dying of malnutrition and overexertion, getting his applications for grant of scholarships rejected time and again by a heartless aristocracy which heeded only those who had the backing of the rich and the powerful, had been appointed to an office to which only the most powerful landlords of the Maharajah or the highest ranking mandarins of the British administration would dare to aspire.Fate in one of its more munificient moods had once again replayed the drama of poor Dick Whittington.

Pakistans View

The government of Pakistan in 1947 viewed Abdullah and his party as agents of Nehru and did not recognise his leadership of Kashmir. However there was a change in Pakistans viewpoint with the passage of time.When he visited Pakistan in 1964 he was awarded a tumultuous welcome by the people of Pakistan.Among the persons who recieved him was Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas his once colleague and later bitter political enemy who earlier in his book "Kashmakash" had denounced Sheikh Abdullah as a turncoat and traitor.Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas embraced him and in his speech described him as one of the greatest leaders of the subcontinent and a great benefactor of the muslims of the subcontinent.President Ayub Khan and his then Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto discussed the Kashmir problem with him.The government of Pakistan treated him as a state guest.Sheikh Abdullah had the rare distinction of having poems in his praise written by three major Pakistani Urdu poets namely Hafeez Jullundhri, Josh and Faiz Ahmed Faiz who admired his lifelong struggle against injustice and for democratic rights of the common man.

Arrest and release

In 1953 when he asked India to grant the promised autonomy to the Kashmiris he was dismissed as Prime Minister by the Central Government in Delhi and jailed for eleven years, accused of conspiracy against the State in the infamous "Kashmir Conspiracy Case".After the Government of India dropped all charges in the Kashmir Conspiracy Case Sheikh Abdullah was released and returned to Srinagar where he was accorded an unprecedented welcome by the people of the valley. After his release he was reconciled with Nehru and started a peaceful struggle for restoration of the sovereign rights of the Kashmiris granted to them under article 370 of the Constitution of India pending a final solution of the Kashmir problem.In an effort to resolve the Kashmir dispute amicably between India, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people, Sheikh Abdullah went to Pakistan in 1964 to hold talks with President Ayub Khan of Pakistan to broker a mutually acceptable solution of the Kashmir dispute between the two countries. President Ayub Khan of Pakistan held extensive talks with him to explore various avenues for solving the Kashmir problem but while he was in Pakistan news came of the sudden death of Nehru and the Sheikh had to return to Delhi before he could reach an agreement with the Pakistan's President Ayub Khan.After Nehru's death in 1964, he was interned from 1965 to 1968 and exiled from Kashmir in 1971 for 18 months.

After 1971 Indo Pakistan war and creation of Bangaladesh

In 1971 an insurrection broke out in erstwhile East Pakistan. Tens of thousands of Bengalis were killed by the Pakistan army and subsequently war broke out between India and Pakistan which ended in the creation of Bangladesh and the surrender of 100,000 Pakistani troops before Indian forces.Sheikh Abdullah watching the alarming turn of events in the subcontinent realized that for the survival of this region there was an urgent need to stop pursuing confrontational politics and promoting solution of issues by a process of reconciliation and dialog rather than confrontation.If this was not done there was imminent danger of the breakup and balkanisation of both India and Pakistan with disastrous consequences for the people of this region. Realizing this he started talks with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for normalizing the situation in the region and came to an accord called 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord with Indira Gandhi, then India’s prime minister, by giving up the demand for a plebiscite in lieu of the people being given the right to self rule by a democratically elected Government (as envisaged under article 370 of the Constitution of India) rather than the puppet government which till then ruled the state.

As Chief Minister

He assumed the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.Unfortunately the Central Government and the ruling Congress Party withdrew its support so that the State Assembly had to be dissolved and mid term elections called.Sheikh Abdullah continued to function as a caretaker Chief Minister and later his party the National Conference won an overwhelming majority in the subsequent elections and reelected Sheikh Abdullah as Chief Minister.He remained as Chief Minister till his death in 1982. During his brief tenure as Chief Minister he tried to develop close ties between the three regions of the state namely Jammu ,Kashmir and Ladakh. He also attempted to promote infrastructural development in the state and built the prestigious Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and a Convention Centre (SKICC) built to international standards so as to promote Medical and Business tourism in the valley. He was followed as Chief Minister by his son.His son, Farooq Abdullah, and grandson, Omar Abdullah, became leaders of the party after him.Abdullah was fluent both in Kashmiri and Urdu. His biography in Urdu entitled Atish-e-Chinar was written by the noted Kashmiri author M.Y.Taing and published after Sheikh Abdullahs death.It is based on extensive interviews that his biographer had with Sheikh Abdullah and provides valuable information on Sheikh Abdullahs family background life, His biography in Urdu entitled Atish-e-Chinar was written by the noted Kashmiri author M.Y.Taing and published after Sheikh Abdullahs death.

It is often referred to as his autobiography as Taing claimed that he only acted as an amanuensis.

It is based on extensive interviews that Taing had with Sheikh Abdullah and provides valuable information on Sheikh Abdullahs family background life, ringside glimpses of happenings in Kashmir at a crucial juncture in it's history, and his viewpoint about the political events in Kashmir in which he himself played a central role.

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