Sheikh Abdullah

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Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah (Urdu: شيخ محمد عبدالله), 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 1932. 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. The two quotations below,one from Sheikh Abdullah himself and the other from his once ardent admirer and later bitter critic Late Shamim Ahmed Shamim one of Kashmirs most perspicacious journalists puts his whole life in perspective


[ Look...If you try to find me only in books and files of documents you will loose your way...My life has been tempestous like the ocean...No one man can grasp it in its entirety...take my advice...limit the scope of your enquiry. ] Sheikh Abdullahs advice to his biographer M.Y.Taing who wanted to write his biography which was published after his death under the title Atish e Chinar


Was Sheikh Abdullah a successful politician? There can be more than one opinion about it. Was Sheikh Abdullah a good man? This is a moot question.One thing beyond dispute is his patriotism. He loved Kashmir to distraction. He could sacrifice the worlds kingdoms for the sake of Kashmir. His entire life has been an expression of this love. It is for the sake of this unfathomable love for Kashmir that Kashmiris turn a blind eye to his faults and see only his virtues. - Shamim Ahmed Shamim Kashmiri writer and Journalist


The story of Sheikh Abdullahs life is a love story.The story of a man who loved Kashmir and "whose entire life" in the words of Shamim Ahmed Shamim "was an expression of this love".It is a story of his trial and tribulations,his successes and failures,of storms that he weathered and halycon days.Above all it is a story that deserves to be read and reread for its sheer human interest by all who have a place in their heart for the blighted paradise that is Kashmir.


It is also a story of trust and betrayal.How his trusted companions Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed and G.M Sadiq betrayed him at a crucial juncture when the Constituent Assembly of the State was about to frame a constitution for its citizens.They sold his dreams to the controlling power for petty personal gains, the proverbial forty peices of silver, and crucified him at the altar of their personal greed and ambitions for eleven long years .It was a just retribution when the controlling power did not even give his betrayers the chance of satisying their vanity by using the title of Prime Minister, for within a few years after his arrest they themselves were made to downgrade it to Chief Minister.


It is also a story of bitter rivalry.In Atish e Chinar Sheikh Abdullah says "I sometimes think that in his subconsious mind Nehru considered Kashmir as a beautiful woman and considered me his biggest rival.Getting a rival out of his way could have been the psychological reason for his lifelong actions against myself".


Finally it is also a story of reconciliation as according to Sheikh Abdullah in his last years Nehru bitterly regretted his actions.After Shiekh Abdullahs release in 1964 he expressed his sincere sorrow and regret to the Sheikh and very sincerely asked for his help in solving the complex problem. "Unfortunately" observes Sheikh Abdullah "history is merciless and death snatched from him the chance to make amends for what he had done."


Contents

[edit] 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 receive 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.

[edit] 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.

In S.P.College in those days teaching stopped at intermediate level and so Sheikh Abdullah had to get admitted to some college outside the valley for graduation.He first applied for admission to the Prince of Wales College in Jammu but The Principal of Prince of Wales College Jammu 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."

[edit] Political career

[edit] A brief resume

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 led a popular struggle for achievement of the same.This ultimately culminated in the establishment of a popular government with Sheikh Abdullah as Prime Minister and formation of a constituent assembly entrusted with the job of drawing up the constitution of Kashmir State.However before the job of framing the constitution could be completed Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed in 1953 and the Government of India with the help of Sadri Riyasat Karan Singh installed Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed as Prime Minister. There were wide spread demonstrations in Kashmir which were violently suppressed and a large number of people were killed in police firings. Sheikh Abdullah was imprisoned and implicated in a trumped up Conspiracy Case which was withdrawn after more than a decade.Meanwhile Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed retained power by a series of rigged elections which brought disrepute to the whole of the democratic setup in India. Subsequently Sheikh Abdullah was reelected as Chief Minister as a result of 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord (See Below)


[edit] Establishment of Muslim Conference

Following the popular unrest in 1931 Sheikh Abdullah and other like minded muslim leaders felt the need for a proper political party to channelize the energies of the people and direct them for replacing the feudal system by a responsible democratic government.They announced the establishment of a political party the Muslim Conference at a three day convention of Muslim representatives held on 14th,15th and 16th October 1932 at Pather Masjid Srinagar.Sheikh Abdullah was unanimously elected as the first President of this party.Khawaja Ghulam Ahmed Ashai(who was appointed as the first Registrar of the Jammu and Kashmir University after it's establishment in 1949) read the welcome address.Sheikh Abdullah in his presidential address said "...Muslim Conference has not come into being for the benfit of Muslims only.It will fight for the rights of all oppressed people and will benefit all communities...I assure my Sikh and Hindu brothers that we will fight for their problems with the same concern as we have for the Muslims..The struggle of the Kashmiri people is in no way a communal struggle."

Tens of thousands of people who had assembled at the site of the conclave heard his speeches and applauded him. In this meeting Sheikh Abdul Hamid Advocate was elected as the Vice President of the party,Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas as the General Secretary and Molvi Abdul Rahim as the Secretary.

[edit] First Meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru

In 1937 Sheikh Abdullah met Jawaharlal Nehru at Lahore (See below).Nehru assured him of his support for the struggle of Kashmiris for liberation from the feudal rule of the Maharaja.This was the beginning of a saga of lifelong frendship,betrayal and finally reconciliation . In NWFP Nehru introduced him to Badshah Khan and other red shirt leaders.Badshah Khan too became Sheikh Abdullahs lifelong friend.Nehru listened attentively to Sheikh Abdullah's account of his struggle against the feudal rule in Kashmir and assured him of his support. Nehru as a leader of the Indian National Congress was demanding similar rights for people of India under British rule and had also founded the All India States Peoples Conference for supporting the people of different States in their struggle for a representative government. Nehru requested Sheikh Abdullahs help in running that party.Sheikh Abdullah agreed to help him mobilise people of other States under feudal rule in their struggle for democracy and so the two became friends and political allies.Sheikh Abdullah took an active part in mobilising people of other states ruled by feudal rulers in their struggle for a responsible, representative government and was elected first Vice President and later President of the All India States Peoples Conference

[edit] Straws in the wind

Sheikh Abdullah in his very first presidential speech delivered at the inception of the Muslim Conference in 1932 declared that the party will struggle not only for the rights of muslims but also of hindus,sikhs and other communities inhabiting the state.The need to make Muslim Conference more broad based was first articulated by Raja Mohammed Akbar Khan of Mirpur at the 6th Annual meeting of the party in 1937.He in his address to the party comprehensively reviewed the bad effects of despotism and feudalism and stressed the need for reorganizing the party as a secular, nationalist organization that would provide a new vision and vigour to the popular struggle.The Government felt that his speech represented a rebillious mentality and so after getting him implicated in a trumped up case had him sentenced by a court to undergo 18 months imprisonment.This unjust behaviour of the government angered the people and brought the emancipated hindu and muslim leaders closer to each other.

[edit] Resolution to change the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference

Sheikh Abdullah introduced a resolution in the working committee of the Muslim Conference on 24th June 1938 for changing the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference to allow people from all communities to join the struggle against the Autocratic rule of the feudal Maharajas. This was adopted by the working committee by a large majority and had to be now sent for ratification to the General Council of the party.

[edit] National Demands Agitation

In 1938 elections were held to the newly constituted Prajaya Sabha and all the twenty one muslim seats were won by the Muslim Conference.The hindu communal party Yuvak Sabha defeated the candidate put up by the emancipated Pandit leaders Jia Lal Kilam and Kashyap Bandhoo and in disgust these two also joined the Muslim Conference and started articulating the demand for a responsible government.This ultimately led to the drafting of a document entitled National Demands (which was a list of demands for establishment of a responsible representative government in Kashmir) On 28th August 1938 Sheikh Abdullah defying prohibitory orders put forth theNational Demandsin a public speech in Hazratbal.Sheikh Abdullah was arrested for defying prohibitory orders the following day.Sheikh Abdullah's arrest provoked large scale public demonstrations and strikes in Srinagar.Meetings in which Hindus and Sikhs participated along with the Muslims were held demanding the implementation of National Demands and release of Sheikh Abdullah.The government tried to suppress the agitation by indulging in large scale arrests and threats to dismiss any government official whose relatives were found supporting the National Demands.Following the arrest of most of the leaders of the Muslim Conference the State branch of the All India States Peoples Conference took over the job of organising the agitation for acceptance of National Demands.However the agitation was suspended by the All India States Peoples Conference following an Appeal by Mahatama Gandhi.Sheikh Abdullah after serving his sentence was released on 24th February 1939 and on his coming back to Srinagar was accorded a magnificient welcome by the residents.

[edit] Muslim Conference is renamed as National Conference

Following the release of Sheikh Abdullah the resolution for change of the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference previouisly approved by the working committee of the Muslim Conference was taken up for ratification by the General Council of the party which ratified it on 27th April 1939. Now it had to be ratified by a special full session of the party.The special session of the Muslim Conference was called on 10th June 1939.After an exhaustive debate the resolution was put to vote on 11th June.One hundred and seventy six members attending the special session cast their votes in support and only four members namely Molvi Abdullah Vakil , Khawaja Ghulam Ahmed Ganai,Sheikh Ahmed Din Banihali and Chaudhary Hameedullah Khan voted against the resolution. After the resolution was passed these four members walked out of the meeting.

Some members of the Muslim Conference who disagreed with his decision reestablished the Muslim Conference and it remained an important player in Kashmir Politics.It is still an important party in the area of Kashmir that is under Pakistan's control .He was repeatedly jailed by the then Maharaja Hari Singh.


[edit] What is in a name?

Sheikh Abdullah in his biography Atish e Chinar has given the following reasons for supporting the change in name of Muslim Conference to National Conference.

1.The seed of the idea of forming a united and secular front for representative government was sown in July 1932 when Sheikh Abdullah had a chance meeting with the Pandit statesman Prem Nath Bazaz in the Chesmashai Mughal Garden.Prem Nath Bazaz had already gained recognition as a member of the Glancy Commission established by the Maharajah to give recommendations for redressal of the greviances of the Kashmiris where he had behaved with great maturity ,courage and farsightedness.He had warned his coreligionists that dividing the people and their problems into hindu and muslim compartments would only complicate their solution and for this had gained the ire of the Kashmiri hindus.This had endeared him to Sheikh Abdullah.The two agreed that the struggle of the Kashmiris would be successful only if it was run on progressive and democratic lines.To promote this the two agreed to start a weekly newspaper entitled HAMDARD.(For many years this paper was jointly edited by Sheikh Abdullah and Bazaz before the two quarreled and Sheikh Abdullah sold his share in the paper to Bazaz for a reasonable consideration).

2.In the same year Mohammed Ali Jinnah came to Kashmir and was engaged in the case of Meher Ali vs Haneefa Begum as a lawyer by one of the parties.Here on 3rd June 1932 he was invited to address a meeting of the Muslim Conference held to celeberate the festival of Idd e Milad un Nabi.Replying to the welcome address read by Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas Jinnah said "... You in your welcome address have referred to me as a votary of Hindu Muslim Unity. I assure you that for me this unity is not limited to merely vague verbal protestations.I declare from the depths of my heart that I have worked for this unity for years and will continue to do so in future.It is my conviction that residents of British India will never fulfill their hope of ruling their country without this unity....there is one thing that I would like to stress upon you and your leaders- they should always keep assuring the minorities of this State i.e the hindus that they would always be treated with justice and as equals.I have adhered to this principle in British India but have failed to convince a few leaders that as long as we do not adopt this principle we can have no hope to obtain (real) independence.I tell you that without assuring the minorities that they would get equal treatment your troubles will not end. I once again thank you ,leaders of the Muslim Conference and the members of the Audience."

Sheikh Abdullah took this speech as a hint from Jinnah that that Muslim Conference should be made more broadbased and representative than it was at that time.

3.In 1937 Jawaharlal Nehru came to Lahore as a guest of Mian Iftikharuddin President of Punjab Pradesh Congress and met Sheikh Abdullah at Lahore railway station(See above).Nehru advised Sheikh Abdullah to open the doors of his party to persons of all creeds so that the communal press of India would not be able to brand his party as a communal party.

4.In the same year Sheikh Abdullah called upon the great poet Sir Muhammad Iqbal. Iqbal advising him said "... The salvation of Kashmiris lies in coming together under the aegis of a common organisation.Muslim Conference must open its doors to non muslims.This is the only path by which you can obtain freedom , else your personal differences will be exploited by vested interests for their own purposes."

5.Dr.Saifuddin Kichlu a veteran congress leader of Kashmiri origin whose ancestors had migrated to Amritsar was a great influence in convincing Sheikh Abdullah of the need for making the Muslim Conference a more broadbased organisation.

6.The Muslim Conference right from its inception was a party with a nationalist rather than a religious outlook.Changing its name to National Conference was only calling a spade a spade. It did not involve any major change in the party manifesto.

While asking his party to change its name Sheikh Abdullah could well have quoted Shakespeare. "Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee / Take all myself."

[edit] Arrest and Conviction

The Maharaja following the policy of divide and rule engineered and encouraged discord between the National Conference and the religious parties like the Muslim Conference and Hindu Yuvak Sabha.Brawls between the supporters of the Muslim Conference led by Molvi Yusuf Shah and National Conference led by Sheikh Abdullah vitiated the atmosphere in the valley and led to a rapid erosion of the popular support for the National Conference.To maintain his leadership Sheikh Abdullah needed a bold new approach and so in 1946 he called upon the Maharaja to hand over power to the people.Taking cue from the Quit India slogan of the Congress he gave the slogan of Quit Kashmir demanding an end to the feudal rule of the Maharaja.

Sheikh Abdullah fired the first salvo when on 15th May 1946 addressing a big gathering in Maisuma a busy locality in Srinagar he announced that with the departure of the British from India all treaties between the British and their stooges i.e the feudal rulers would become null and void.( Maharaja Gulab Singh had received possession of Kashmir by the treaty of Amritsar)In another speech the Shiekh thundered "...When the Indian freedom movement demands the complete withdrawal of British power,logically enough the stooges of British Imperialism(i.e feudal rulers) also should go and restore sovereignty to the real owners-the people.....Handcuffs jingle.They do not make us afraid....Sovereignty is not the birthright of a ruler.Every man,woman and child will shout "Quit Kashmir".The Kashmiri Nation has expressed its will.I ask for a plebiscite on this question." These fiery speeches caused an upheaval among the Kashmiri people.Jawaharlal Nehru hearing of the turn events had taken in Kashmir invited Sheikh Abdullah to come to Delhi for discussions.Enroute to Delhi the Sheikh was intercepted and arrested in the town of Muzaffarabad on 20th May under Defence Rules.He was brought back the next day to Badami Bagh Cantonement.The news of Sheikh Abdullah's arrest provoked strikes and demonstrations throughout the valley.The Maharaja ordered the police to open fire on the demonstrators and as per official reports more than twenty persons were killed as a result of police firing on unarmed demonstrators.

In his biography Atish e Chinar Sheikh Abdullah Claims that among the leaders of the Indian National Congress only Nehru supported him.The then congress president Acharya Kriplani opposed him as did Sardar Patel.He was opposed too by the Hindu religious press which was sympathetic to the Hindu MaharajahJinnah referred to the Quit Kashmir movement as a movement of ruffians and hinted that it was supported by the Soviet Union.Nehru However sent a number of telegrams to the Maharajah demanding Sheikh Abdullahs release.

[edit] 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.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.

[edit] 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.By a queer coincidence he was destined to become the Chief Minister twice again thus assuming the office thrice like Dick Whittington of the famous British pantomime!

[edit] 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 received 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.

[edit] Arrest and release

In 1953 he was dismissed as Prime Minister by the Sadr i Riyasat Karan Singh (son of the erstwhile feudal ruler Hari Singh) in collusion with the Central Government in Delhi and a group of Cabinet Ministers led by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed 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.

[edit] 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 for promoting solutions 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.

[edit] 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 in English, 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 Abdullah's death.It is based on extensive interviews that Taing had with Sheikh Abdullah and provides valuable information on Sheikh Abdullah's 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. It is often referred to as his autobiography as Taing claimed that he only acted as an amanuensis.However the flowery style in which it is written and the many Urdu couplets inserted throughout the book in a style characteristic of Taings literary writings prove that while the Sheikh had provided the vital information the actual work of writing was done by Taing himself.

[edit] Selected References

  • Atish-e-Chinar (URDU) Biography of Sheikh Abdullah written by M.Y.Taing.Often referred to as his autobiography.It has (intentionally)not been copyrighted.
  • Tareekh e Hurriyat e Kashmir(URDU) By Rasheed Taseer 1973 in 3 volumes
  • Bonfire of Kashmiryat By Sandeep Bamzai .Rupa & Co 2006
  • Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah by Shamim Ahmed Shamim In "Aina" personalities issue"1969(Urdu) reprinted in "Aina" 2nd Memorial Issue, page 7,May 1982

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Mehr Chand Mahajan		 Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1948 – 1953		 Succeeded by
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad
Preceded by
Syed Mir Qasim		 Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1975 – 1977		 Succeeded by
President's Rule
Preceded by
President's Rule		 Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1977 – 1982		 Succeeded by
Farooq Abdullah