By fishing out more than two dozen bodies and saving several men alive from different water bodies, Lelhar’s fisherman has earned a huge reputation, reports Sadam Hussain Pandow

The boat which Abdul Salam Dar used during 2014 floods for rescue and relief of people.

Kakapora’s Lelhar is a large hamlet of 400 households. Located on the bank of river Jehlum, recurring flood scare is common. The villagers are mostly into sand extraction. But Abdul Salam Dar, 64, is an exception. Living in a modest home, surrounded by snowcapped paddy-fields, he is a fisherman who is training his son. But his heroics make him bigger.

A clean-shaven, mustached face, Dar sits in a room that is very cold. Listening radio, Dar said

one unfortunate incident, almost 30 years ago, changed him completely: he witnessed a man drowning while screaming for help. He was part of a crowd and everyone was trying to save a drowning man differently till he drowned.

“His loss of life still haunts me and his screaming for help still reverberates in my ears,” Dar said. “It left an indelible mark on my psyche. Just yesterday when I cast back my mind to that day, tears rolled down my cheek. I learned a lesson.” That day, he resolved that he will try his level best to come to the rescue of the people in such situations.

With time his ability to rescue people or fishing out dead bodies doesn’t seem tough anymore. Neither speedy flow of river nor its depth matter for him now. Once Dar jumps into a river, he doesn’t know where he gets so much strength and energy.

“With the willingness of Allah, I never fail. It feels good to see that I saved a life or helped in fishing out a dead body,” Dar said.

Recalling about an incident in Aharbal, Dar remembers when cops didn’t permit him to search the body of a woman who was feared to have drowned in the river. “One of the policemen while shaking his head in disappointment told me that I was an old man so I can’t do anything,” recalls Dar. But after a minute’s long talk, he convinced the officers with a word, “I will be responsible for my life if I die while doing the job.”

He remembers the cops telling him that they had sent a police party to an expert diver of Kakapora. “I didn’t reveal my identity as I knew they had sent for me only but I told them until the expert person reaches here, I will keep trying.”

Dar admitted the hunt was difficult as it took him a lot of time to zero in on the body because of the depth of the Nallah, which is 80ft.

Dar tied a heavy stone to one end of the rope and threw in the selected area then asked two cops to hold another end of the rope tightly on the bund. The rope led him to the site where the dead body lay upside down. Dar said he has mostly fished out female bodies so far. He has a chilling observation: the female bodies are generally seen with their faces upside down.

So far, in his career, Dar claims he has fished out around 35 dead bodies from different water bodies across Kashmir.

In one case, he fished out dead bodies of two passengers of Shopian from Ramsoo Nallah.

Dar readily decided to help the Shopian family when they called him on phone pleading to find out drowned bodies of their family. “The incident had happened when a moving vehicle had suddenly turned turtle and plunged into a Nallah,” says Dar. He succeeded in taking out the bodies of passengers within an hour.

It is believed that most of the fisherman are expert swimmers and habitual of crossing rivers. But Dar is different.

A God-fearing person, Dar said he avoids fishing out the female bodies during day time for the reason of privacy. “Whenever I hear any news about any female has drowned, I quickly try to rescue her. But I put off the work till evening falls,” he insisted.

Dar is well known in Kakapora. People call him Salam Dungal (diver). Anywhere, when police fail to find out the dead, Dar’s services are requisitioned. Dar shares an interesting anecdote about a newly married lady from his native village. One day while he was bathing in the river, he heard screams of a woman who was crying Fateh Gaye Daryavus (Fatima has drowned in the river). Dar quickly moved across the running water towards the other side of the bank. When he got there, women pleaded him to save Fatima. When he looked on the surface of floating water he saw her curly hair that was visible. He immediately jumped in and took her out of the water.

One remarkable aspect of Dar’s heroism is his ability to operate without any equipment for going deep into the water. He works without gloves, oxygen, and goggles, which are must for a diver’s safety.

Dar has a peculiar style in his operations. “I resort to Humtul, a wooden baton of almost 40 ft length to measure the depth of the river,” Dar said. “I use the same Humtul to locate the body, but, if the depth is greater, then I make the use of a rope.”

He further added that for protection, another person holds the other end of the rope or Humtul tightly that helps him to return safely.

Usually, Dar can remain underwater for around 35 minutes. Searching drowned is a challenge and a very tough job. “In such cases, people have their own opinions,” Dar said. “But, I rely only on the way I know best.

What Dar stands out for is his immense love for humanity. He doesn’t accept any money or compensation from anyone.

Once, he rescued a person from Sheikhpora. Later, the family offered him Rs 6000. “I turned it down, simply because I don’t do it for money; I do it out of humanity,” he said.

Although a reward doesn’t impress him, Dar is perplexed by the selection of a few people by the government for awards. In comparison, they are not even distant closer to what Dar has done in the last four decades.

As Dar is getting old, he is confident that his son will carry the legacy forward competently. He is, however, hoping that if the Government hires his son, it would be good for his family.

During the devastating 2014 floods, Dar did what he does best. He went to save those who were stuck in floods at various places, not only in his native place but away as well.

Dar rescued people from the top floors of local masjids and well-established structures. Not only did he save locals, but he also came to the rescue of outsiders too.Dar states he carried out more than 200 outsider labourers to safer places in three attempts and locals in hundreds. Finally, in dark, he took out his family from his flood-hit house.

All this has not changed Dar. He continues to be fish-catcher and that feeds his family. “We usually capture fishes in the evening between 6-8 pm. We sell them in the morning hours,” he adds

However, his daredevilry is paying him in other ways. Dar being a well-known person, his catch sells quickly as he has a vast clientele. “Whatever we capture, we mostly sell them at our home but sometimes when some fish remain unsold, we sell them at Pulwama market but it happens rarely,” states Dar.

Dar doesn’t see much future for his children in the profession anymore. He actually is desperate to move out of what he is doing.

“I am not satisfied that my family remains dependent on this work forever. I also want to see better days, for that, I request that government for some financial assistance,” he said.

How a downtown boy reaches the hallowed United Nations is nothing less than fantasy and fiction, says Haseeb A Drabu

M Yousuf Buch

M Yusuf Buch shot into fame in Kashmir in the summer of 1972. Till then, he was known to an elite group of well-connected people. The reason for him to get recognition in the land of his birth was that he accompanied Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as an aide to the Shimla Summit.

Same Teacher

Coincidentally, Mrs Indira Gandhi was accompanied by another illustrious son of the soil, P N Dhar among others. Dhar and Buch had been contemporaries and were both students of J L Kaul. The story has it that he commented, “I am the proudest man in the subcontinent today as both heads of state are relying on my students for resolution of the most contentious issue in the world”.

For his extended family and a small circle of friends, Yusuf Buch was the epitome of brilliance; deeply loved, hugely respected and much admired. He was nothing short of a legend. Each one of them had stories about him which are nothing short of fairy tales.

I remember being told by my uncle, who was four years his junior in college, that when he was studying at the SP College, the teacher would come and ask for him before starting his lecture. And if Yusuf was in the class, he would teach with rigour, and if he wasn’t, he would lecture by rote!

Bhutto’s Speeches

It is not well known but Buchis said to have contributed to the famous speech that Bhuttos delivered at the United Nations Security Council in 1965. More significantly, he drafted the fire and brimstone speech delivered by Bhutto on December 15, 1971, when he launched an angry and tearful tirade, accusing the council of legalizing aggression when the Indo-Pakistani War was raging.

The Security Council heard Bhutto threaten them in shocked silence and disbelief when he said, “The United Nations resembles those fashion houses which hide ugly realities by draping ungainly figures in alluring apparel. The concealment of realities is common to both but the ugly realities cannot remain hidden. You don’t need a Secretary-General. You need a chief executioner”.

Never till then or since has the United Nation been so directly and evocatively attacked. The speech reads, “In the Security Council, we have been frustrated by a veto. Let us build a monument to the veto, a big monument to the veto. Let us build a monument to the impotence and incapacity of the Security Council and the General Assembly”.

It must have been a sight to see this speech delivered with Bhutto’s trademark theatrics. He tearfully concluded, “I am leaving your Security Council. I find it disgraceful to my person and to my country to remain here a moment longer than is necessary. I am not boycotting. Impose, impose any decision, have a treaty worse than the Treaty of Versailles, legalise aggression, legalise occupation, legalise everything that has been illegal up to 15 December 1971. Why should I waste my time here in the Security Council? I will not be a party to the ignominious surrender of a part of my country. You can take your Security Council. Here you are”. With this he tore his notes and left, leaving the members of the Security Council bewildered. All through this, Yusuf Buch was sitting right beside him admiring not only the words he had scripted being spoken with courage but also the style of delivery!

Along with foreign minister Aziz Ahmed, and Pakistan Envoy to the United Nations Agha Shahi, Yusuf Buch was a part of the most powerful troika in the Bhutto regime. Be it the war with India in 1971 or the Islamic summit or the walkout in the Security Council the three were in the kitchen baking Bhutto’s ideas and initiatives.

Kalashpora, Srinagar

How a downtown Kalashpora boy reached the power corridors of Pakistan and the hallowed precincts of the United Nations is nothing less than fantasy and fiction.

After his graduation, he passed the state competitive examination and needless to say, topped it. In the mid-forties, he was appointed NaibTehsildar and for a brief while held the charge as the Tehsildar in North Kashmir.

M Yousuf Buch

He seemed to have an experimental streak in him. As a NaibTehsildar in a case, he was offered a bribe to adjudicate against the lean of natural justice. He agreed to it with the sole intention of testing the system! Having got it through the bureaucratic maze, he proposed reforms to plug the obvious loopholes.

After a few years of serving the administrative machinery of the state, he was exited from Srinagar and sent off to Muzaffarabad. In 1949, there was an exchange of people between the two disjointed parts of Kashmir. His name, along with that of Mahmood Hashmi, Agha Showkat Ali, and Abdul Gani Rentoo figured in the list that came from across the Line of Control and he was summarily packed off without consent.

There is no doubt that the Sheikh Abdullah administration was more than happy to throw him out. He came from a family of bakras but his own politics was more being critical of the Sher!

Caught on Bund

From what I remember, he told me once that he was walking on the bund when he was accosted by a couple of policemen and told that he had to be sent across to Muzaffarabad in exchange of some people who the regime wanted back.

At 25 years of age, it was not unreasonable of him to expect a grand reception on the other side considering that he had been sought out by them, but was rather disappointed to find that he had nowhere to go. He was given shelter by a Kashmiri Samaritan.

For a few years, he idled away his time there. Till one fine morning, one of his friends pointed out an essay competition on the Emerging role of Asia in Global Politics or something to that effect. Buch agreed on the condition that he will get an uninterrupted quota of cigarettes! The habit of smoking stayed with him throughout most of his life. He chain-smoked Kent cigarettes. He sent in his entry and lo and behold, his essay was ranked as the best.

This is not where the fairy tale ends.

A Journalist

At a function of the awardees for the essay competition, he interacted with a veteran Time magazine correspondent who apparently was one of the judges for the essay competition. She offered him a subsistence allowance assignment and a residency permit. He just accepted it as destiny. He was to live there for most of his life except for a brief sojourn of about a decade when he lived in Islamabad, Pakistan.

It is tempting, given the political situation in Kashmir and his intellectual pursuits, to see his life in the US as “lived in exile”. But I am not sure it was that in a sense it is meant loaded with political connotations. He was for sure deeply engaged with and involved in Kashmir cause but not socially connected. It didn’t come across that he pined for the place. New York, with all its heady pace and the heavy buzz, was his home and life.

Buch always used to refer to himself as “Kashmiri born” or of “Kashmiri origin/descent”. He referred to himself as an American. Not even the hyphenated “American-Kashmiri” as is the won’t now. Maybe he was merely being technically correct about his citizenship. Maybe not.

He always found his short stays in Kashmir- he would always stay with his mother at Naqshband’s house in Barzalla- oppressive and irritating. I don’t think he could ever reconcile to the prevalent political dispensation. He would hardly socialise. He had gotten used to a very different life.

Bhutto’s Aide

During the course of his journalistic assignment, he got a communication and media role at the United Nations till he got a “surprising” call from Zulifqar Ali Bhutto when the latter became the President of Pakistan in 1971. From 1972 to 1977, when Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan, he was his special aide and information advisor. When the coup de state was done on Bhutto, he was summoned by Zia ul Haq and asked what he would like to do.

Being a Bhutto loyalist, he was in danger but it seems he hadn’t rubbed many people, especially the army, the wrong way during his days in power. Hence the courtesy. There could be more to it.

Buch was a party to the decision of superseding many seniors and making Zia ul Haq the chief of the army. Apparently, Bhutto believed he was a “chocolate general”!

Apparently, the coup was planned as a friendly match for which Bhutto needed a pliable and colourless general. And he chose who he did! It backfired and how. Not only did it change Bhutto’s destiny, but it also altered the course of sub-continental history.

Even though he was a great admirer of Bhutto not blind to his shortcomings. He had many anecdotes about his arrogance and feudal behaviour. Some of these were pretty horrific.

Apparently, Bhutto had verbally instructed that Nawab Kasuri, for whose murder he was found guilty and eventually hanged, should be “made to stew in his own juice”.

On pinpricks to leave Pakistan, he requested for an ambassadorial assignment. That took him to Switzerland as the Ambassador. After leaving the dictator’s den, he promptly resigned and went back to the US to engage with the UN again.

An Authority on Kashmir

Buch was, without doubt, the foremost authority on the Kashmir dispute, especially with reference to the United Nation. He often used to say that the reference to the Kashmir dispute to the United Nations was made under an inappropriate section.

While the received wisdom, at least in India, is that Jawaharlal Nehru made a mistake by taking Kashmir to the United Nations, Buch had a different take. He believed that the whole move was deceitful and meant to scuttle the issue while pretending to take the high moral ground.

Kashmir At UN

India referred the issue to the United Nations Security Council under Article 35 of Chapter VI of the UN Charter. His view was that it should have been referred to under Article 39, Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The implications are far-reaching.

For the record, chapter VII relates to “Action with respect to threats to peace, breaches of peace and acts of aggression”. As against this, Chapter VI is about “Pacific settlement of disputes”.

Since the reference was made under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council was constrained to pass the March 1948 resolution under the same chapter. This meant that the resolution has only a recommendatory force. It is neither binding nor enforceable, unlike those passed under Chapter VII.

The resolution didn’t bind the parties in any way having as it did only “moral” and not “juridicial authority”. In effect, the final resolution of the conflict rested with the governments of India and Pakistan and depended on their goodwill. As such, the UN issue became a bit of a farce.

Had the reference been made Chapter VII, Article 39 to Article 42 would have empowered the Security Council to make recommendations or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42. These recommendations would have to be complied with by the parties concerned.

Further, the United Nations could have recommended far more decisive and punitive measures like a complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

In fact, they could have even taken action including operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.

Funeral of M Farooq Buch.

Given his views on the accession, Buch believed that the UN also failed its mandate by not commenting on the legality of the accession. Indeed, he thought it was a fit case for reference to the International Court of Justice for a legal opinion.

Buch’s understanding of the accession of J&K to India was that it was unique and sui generis. Not like other states. It may have been the same in the letter but was different in spirit. What made it so was the fact that it was accompanied by a letter which contextualised the instrument of accession and hence has the force of an international treaty.

He extended this logic by saying that “The documents the Kashmiris rely upon were not drawn in mosques. They were composed by western hands in the Security Council of the United Nations.”

Kashmir Formula

The same clarity of views is not evident in his formula for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. His solution is a precursor to the Musharraf plan. The Buch formula for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute is a two-phased approach. In the first phase, he proposed that violence in Kashmir be stopped by declaring a ceasefire within Kashmir and on the LoC.

In the second phase, the United Nations should demarcate five cantons or divisions along the lines of the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir where elections would be held to Provisional Assemblies in the 5 cantons. Each Assembly would vote on whether it wished to continue with the existing relationship with either Pakistan or India or to negotiate a new relationship with either or both which would then be put to a referendum in that canton. This is neither practical nor possible.

The biggest loss is that he wrote very little on Kashmir. He could have written much more but chose not to. Maybe he has recorded events, thoughts and opinions privately. I fervently hope that his papers, if any, are respected and documented as a historical record.

His death should be celebrated not mourned, not only for the age, 97, at which he passed away, but that it was life purposefully lived. The most befitting tribute would be to do a festschrift for him. He shouldn’t be buried in newspapers alone. He deserves a place in recorded history.

Indelible Impressions

The address is etched in my mind. MY BuchEsq., 1103, Waterside Plaza, 23rd Street, New York City, New York, U.S.A. It has been nearly 45 years since I last wrote it. Every fortnight, it was my privileged responsibility to write this address on a light blue aerogramme. For the email generation, an aerogramme is a letter that folds on itself to become an envelope.

M Yousuf Buch

My grandfather would summon me and ask him to write the address for him. This privilege was accorded to me in recognition of my penmanship; my handwriting was neat. Writing this address was a kind of a ritual and an occasion. For one, this was the only time one was allowed the use of his highly valued green and gold Parker 47 fountain pen!

The other was the use of the abbreviation Esq after the name and not Mr. as a prefix. I had never used it before nor have I used it since. My take away from it was that M Yusuf Buch was a notch above the respected!

After writing the address on the aerogramme for some fifteen odd years, the name got a face in the summer of 1981. I was trudging back home from the University and saw an elegantly dressed man in grey woven Tee shirt, black trouser and checked jacket standing with my grandfather at the entrance to our house.

The moment he saw me, he commented, if you let your beard grow a bit longer, you will begin to look like Karl Marx! He curiously enquired what I was carrying in my sling bag. I handed him a couple of books. He was delighted to see one: The Theory of Capitalist Development by Paul M Sweezy. He chuckled approvingly, “I must tell Sweezy that he has readers in my homeland and in my family!” This left me open-mouthed! This man knows Sweezy, who, at that time, I would swear by.

That is the first time I met M Yusuf Buch in flesh and blood. He was my maternal grandfather’s nephew. Of all his relatives, my grandfather was closest to Yusuf Buch’s mother, an exceptionally wise woman who was a delightfully loquacious raconteur.

Her preeminent social standing drew not from her youngest son, Yusuf, but from her middle son, G Naqshbund, who forever was the Chief Conservator of Forests. Her eldest son, M Amin Buch, was a serious political commentator and a ruthless critic. He used to edit the newspaper, Chinar.

Haseeb Drabu

Buch’s letters to my grandfather were read aloud in the garden while having the afternoon tea. Seems so surreal now! When I look back at it now, he was their window to the world. His letters would inform them of major global issues; Kashmir, of course, but also Palestine, the cold war. How the United Nations was nuancing its policies and how that would impact “the Kashmir issue”. On all this, his was the final word.

I met him in New York in 2008. He was 86 then a bit frail but fit. By then, he had become bitter and hostile to India. He was no longer the “LibDem”(Liberal Democrat) who I had met in the 1980s. I had carried a book, Beyond the Wasteland: A Democratic Alternative to Economic Decline by Samuel Bowles, for him. But realised that he was now much more mainstream. Sweezy wasn’t in his friends circle any more. Maybe had passed away by then. Left-liberal social democrat, he might have seized to be by 2008, but he was very much a Kashmiri, speaking in the language in the same frothy and passionate way. Remembering the nooks and crannies of downtown Srinagar.

For the most part of his life, he remained a bachelor. He was married very briefly but then parted ways. He did visit Kashmir with his spouse once.

He was, in the truest sense of the term, a chain smoker. He would always smoke Kent, a top American brand of cigarettes! It used to come in a white coloured packet with blue lettering and a micronite filter!

Whenever he came to Srinagar, he would get some gifts for his uncle. Among the prized ones were the Parker 47, an electric bed warmer, a Burberry muffler, and a cashmere pullover. These gifts reflect a certain kind of thoughtfulness, care, quality, functionality and affection. And that pretty much sums up his personal traits.

After G Parthasarthy and Mirza Afzal Beg signed the accord for their political masters on February 24, 1975, the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi gave a detailed statement in the Lok Sabha. The agreement that paved a way for Sheikh Abdullah’s return to power – after he had been disposed in 1953 – was hugely commented and had long term consequences. In this diplomatic cable that the US State Department has declassified, a diplomat is analysing the agreement to his foreign office bosses in Washington. The analysis is based on the accord and Mrs Gandhi’s speech.

Sheikh Abdullah and Indira Gandhi

1. Mrs Gandhi read to parliament on February 24 a statement which we are transmitting by septel to selected addressees. We are also transmitting by septel the “agreed conclusions” reached by Mirza Afzal Beg and G Partharsarathy during their negotiations over the constitutional questions and letters exchanged between Mrs Gandhi and Abdullah, all of which she laid on the table of the house.
2. Unchanged Constitutional status: Mrs Gandhi emphasized that there will be “no weakening of the ties” between India and the state. The federal government retains jurisdiction over “activities directed toward questioning or disrupting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, or bringing about cession or secession of any part of the territory of India”. The state constitution will be amended to require the assent of the president of India to change the powers of the governor or change its provisions regarding elections. (This mirrors Article 368 of the federal constitution which requires state government assent before constitutional amendments are extended to Kashmir.)

The federal government will consider “sympathetically” state government requests for changes in laws extended to the state after 1953 and falling under the /concurrent list” (social welfare, culture, social security, etc.).

3. Article 370: Mrs Gandhi made clear in her statement and in the answer to a question from Jana Sangh leader Vajpayee that the government of India will retain Article 370 of the constitution, which requires state government assent for extension of federal laws to the state. Her statement said, “… the extension of further provisions of the constitution to the state will continue to be governed by the procedure prescribed in Article 370.” When Vajpayee noted that Article 370 was a “temporary and transitional provision” of the constitution, she replied that Article 370 could not be removed without the concurrence of the state legislature. The state did not request this when it prepared its own constitution and, as a consequential, Article 370 became permanent in 1956.
4. Where Sheikh Abdullah gave in, Mrs Gandhi explained that Mirza Afzal Beg, negotiating for Sheikh Abdullah, requested curtailment of the federal Supreme Court in Kashmir. The GoI could not agree, although it did agree that the state High Court alone will issue certificates of approval for an appeal to the federal Supreme Court. (The Supreme Court will relinquish the right which it has in other states to approve an appeal disallowed by the state high court.) Beg also wanted transfer of India’s equivalent of the bill of rights to the state constitution, removal of control of the Federal Election Commission, and concurrence of the state government in an extension of “president’s rule,” or emergency federal control. Mrs Gandhi said, “It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusions.”
5. Praise of Sheikh Abdullah:  Mrs Gandhi began her statement by saying,” … Sheikh Abdullah had played a notable part in the freedom struggle and in the accession of the state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Indian Union ….despite the differences which led to the subsequent estrangement it seemed clear from the public statements made by Sheikh Abdullah as well as personal talks with him that his commitment to basic national ideals and objectives had remained unchanged.”

She, therefore, treated the events of 1953, which led to the ouster of Sheikh Abdullah from the Kashmir government, as an aberration.

Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah coming out of the jail in Jammu.

6. The one unresolved issue: As we noted in the reftel, Sheikh Abdullah still hasn’t gotten the title “wazir-e-azam,” which would appear to be important for him if he is to claim to his supporters in the Kashmir valley that he has achieved something in his negotiations. Mrs Gandhi implied, however, that he will get this. She said that it requires amendment of the state constitution by the state legislature. The Chief Minister (i.e., the sheikh) won’t object, and this is not one of the subjects requiring presidential approval.
7. Opposition reaction: Hindu nationalist Jana Sanghleader Vajpayee termed the agreement a sell-out, and his party has already called for protests in Jammu the day the Sheikh assumes power, February 25. A socialist member asked about the Sheikh›s reported support for a federation of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and his meeting with J P Narayan. Mrs Gandhi replied to the effect that she only had press reports of what he said and, in any case, she would follow his comments closely only once he became Chief Minister. (In fact, his comment about a possible federation appeared from the press reports to have been a mild response to a very leading question.) There will be further debate after parliament studies the texts of the documents.

Mohammad Ashraf
(August 25, 1943 – October 14, 2020)

by M Saleem Beg

Ashraf Saheb, a doyen of travel and tourism in Jammu and Kashmir spent all his professional life and an active career spanning over 30 years as a practitioner, guide and thinker. He died of a stroke at SKIMS on October 14, 2020, at around 11 pm.

Mohammad Ashraf Batku

His pursuit of the passion for travel and adventure resulted in the singular contribution of laying the foundation of a significant economic sector for Jammu and Kashmir. His aptitude for adventure led him to a profession that he loved most, Travel and Adventure Tourism. Early in his career, like other aspiring youngsters and for a meritorious student, a position holder in pre-engineering in Jammu and Kashmir Board, he got entry into the most sought after professional course of his time, a degree in civil engineering.

During that period, this college was one of the best rated professional colleges and among the first ten Regional Engineering Colleges of India. Those were also the days of student activism and he was drawn into the rough and tumble of politics. For someone who had the requisite drive and passion, it was not to be a smooth affair. He landed up in prison disrupting his education and training. However, what looked like something like the disruption of a budding career also led to the flowering of an adventure enthusiast and a tourism specialist.

Born: August 25, 1943
Birthplace: Maisuma (Srinagar)
Grand Father: Technical Teacher in polytechnic
Father: retired Deputy Secretary
Schooling: Islamia Middle School, Tyndale Biscoe School, S P Higher Secondary School
College: SP College, Regional Engineering College, Srinagar. Completed his engineering but at final examination time went to jail in 1965.
Specialisation: Joined Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. Joined Alliance Française in New Delhi for French language course
Government: Joined Tourism department in 1973 to set up Adventure Tourism Wing. Became a Deputy Director in 1992, later elevated to Director and Director General in 1996. Retired in 2003.
Associations: Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation; Introduced rescue measures in Kashmir mountains and was awraded Merite-Alpin by Swiss in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993. Ws lifetime patron of the Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineering and Hiking Club. He played key role in laying foundations of tourism in Ladakh in 1974. Has extensively travelled to PaK and Gilgit and Baltistan besides Europe, America, and Middle East.

Those were the days when the tourism sector across India as a whole and particularly in Kashmir saw shining and brightening of its prospects. State, especially Kashmir was already on the world map of mountaineering. Travelogues of mountaineers and tourists in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century are a testimony to the potential and scope for adventure tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. However, even with this reputation, the sector vastly lacked the ingredients of publicity, information, human resource and equipment. Some baby steps by the State agencies and private players helped in the concretization of some ideas leading to hunting for a person who could provide leadership of thought and action for developing mountaineering and adventure in all its forms

That is how Mohammad Ashraf turned out to be the right person for the right job. He got a break with his appointment as Mountaineering Organizer in 1973. He took over the responsibility of preparing the road map for its growth in Jammu and Kashmir. The seventies were the happening years in the State for travel and tourism and Ashraf Sahab along with some other tourism professionals rose to the occasion.

A windfall for this sector was the opening of Ladakh for tourism in 1974. Ladakh and its magic and mystery were there to be explored. Its landscape, culture, tradition environment, the mystique of mountains was a great pull then, as it is now.  The team that included another veteran, Rauf Sahab, the then Assistant Director of tourism, capitalized on the opening of Ladakh and imaginatively co-branded fame of Kashmir with the virgin charm of Ladakh.

We find from the records that in the very year of Ladakh opening, i.e. 1974,  he and Rouf Sahab travelled in far-flung parts of Kargil and Ladakh and came up with a road map for mountaineering in the wilderness and high ranges spanning  Kashmir, Kishtwar and beyond to Kargil and Ladakh. What looks today a natural terrain and destination was actually fathered by the passionate adventure leaders like Ashraf And Rouf Sahab.

Roauf then moved on to more challenging pastures of the private sector, resigned from the Tourism Department and joined the prestigious SITA Travels, a highly reputed international travel company. His joining SITA Travels created a much-needed interface and ecosystem that produced excellent results in terms of publicity, growth and market penetration. Ashraf Saheb published the saga of this engagement with Ladakh in his book Travels in Ladakh that Gulshan Publishers published in 2012.

Marketing Gulmarg

The singular contribution made by the adventure tourism fraternity under the leadership of Ashraf Saheb is promotion and professionalization of skiing at Gulmarg. Ashraf Sahab, in one of his illuminating write-ups thus speaks of Gulmarg.

“Kashmir has virtually White Gold when one considers the potential for skiing! It would be interesting to reproduce the paragraph about Gulmarg in the International Report while describing skiing in India. Out of the Ski resorts, the largest one is Gulmarg, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It is one of the most famous in this region of Asia. The ski area was equipped a few years ago with a 2-section gondola, famous for carrying skiers to an altitude of nearly 4,000 metres above sea level at its top station”.

With the statistical data available now, we know that Switzerland has traditionally been the largest ski market. Therefore no wonder that his focus and eyes were on Switzerland. He cultivated this market thoughtfully with the zeal and dedication of an evolved professional. The fructification of his efforts at gaining credibility in that country is reflected in the fact that to commend his efforts in introducing rescue measures in Kashmir Mountains, he was awarded Merite-Alpin by Switzerland in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993.  His commendable contribution was nationally recognized by the Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF), where he was also elected as Secretary and one of the longest surviving members of the Governing Council of IMF. At his home turf he continued to be the Patron of the Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineering and Hiking Club.

After Retirement

Post-retirement his writings, all eternalized in his blog Kashmir First reflect his diverse and multifarious interests. While travel and tourism in its entirety remained his theme and focus, his penchant for history and politics is reflected in ample measure in his blog as well as his write-ups in newspapers and magazines. In this diversity, one finds pathos and protest on the trials and tribulations of his land. He comes out to be a passionate and insightful thinking mind. Arts, Siachen and histories got a new definition and interpretation when it came from his pen.

I had the good fortune of stepping in his shoes in the Tourism Department as his successor in 2003. The physical and intangible assets that he had created, most of these single-handedly, were a mind-boggling spread and span of leisure, culture and above all adventure. His networking with the best of the professionals from top-notch travel industry leaders, filmmakers, photographers and adventure professionals was an asset that sustained the sector and made the work that much easier for me and others who followed him in the sector.

He was one of the founding members of Jammu and Kashmir Chapter of INTACH and continued to provide intellectual and creative support to the Chapter.

We are here to celebrate your life,
And the measure of its worth,
And every single life you touched,
While you were on this earth.

(Former Director General Tourism, Jammu and Kashmir, the author is Convener INTACH).

In Kashmir, the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University is linked to two towering personalities, both named Sheikh Abdullah. While one, almost every Kashmiri is aware of, the other Sheikh Abdullah is hardly known despite his immense contribution to the Muslim women of India, reports Saima Bhat

Sheikh Abdullah with his family in Aligarh

In the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Abdullah Hall, is the most sought after place for female undergraduates. A universe in itself, it has everything that more than 3000 inmates require to feel homely. Comprising nine girls hostels, it has two canteens, a gymnasium, a basketball court, an auditorium, a well-equipped computer, and a reading room, besides all the essential shops. Within this space, students have an independent private life.

Behind the solace of these young girls in Abdullah Hall is a struggle of a man known as Sheikh Abdullah. He fought fiercely to ensure a place for girl education and is considered to be the pioneer of female education in male-dominated British India.

Sheikh Abdullah

A reverted Muslim, Sheikh Abdullah was born on June 21, 1874, as Thakur Das in a Kashmiri Brahmin family in Poonch. Dr Nasreen Ahmad, in her Muslim Leadership and Women’s Education Uttar Pradesh, 1886–1947, suggests that Sheikh was born in Bhantani village, where his paternal grandfather, Mehta Mastram was a Lambardar (Village Headman).

“Thakur Dass was a Kashmiri Brahmin whose father had embraced Sikhism,” writes Avtar Mota in his blog Chinar  Shade. “The ancestors of Thakur Dass had moved out from Kashmir and shifted to Poonch during the Pathan rule or even earlier.” He believes Das’s grandfather was a landlord.

Not knowing much about his ancestors, however, Dr Nasreen writes that Das’s early education started with Persian, after which he attended a Maktab in Poonch. Every day, he would trek 5 miles to learn Sanskrit and Persian.

While being in school, he attracted the attention of Hakim Numddin, the court physician to then Maharaja of Kashmir, who had come to Poonch to treat a member of the royal family. Poonch rulers were cousins of Kashmir Maharaja.

The Hakim offered his family that he would train him in Unani medicine in Jammu, to which the family reluctantly agreed.

Hakim Numddin, Dr Nasreen writes was a leading Qadiani of his times and under his influence, Thakur Das converted to the Ahmadiya sect after which he was named Sheikh Abdullah.

As young Sheikh moved to Lahore for secondary education, he attended the convention of the Mohammedan Educational Conference. There, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s speech impressed him.

After qualifying his tenth class in 1891, Sheikh went to Aligarh with a letter of introduction from his mentor Hakim to Sir Syed Khan. Subsequently, he was admitted to the first year in law school. Dr Nasreen writes that it was in Aligarh where Sheikh renounced Ahamadiya faith and became a Sunni Muslim.

While in college, Sheikh’s interactions with Sir Syed inspired him to write and get into community service. “Sir Syed used to entrust the boys with responsibility; the names of Aftab Ahmad Khan and Sheikh Abdullah figured at the top. Because the latter in a way spiritually identified with the Movement, he was appointed as a librarian,” Writes Dr Nasreen.

After completing LLB, Principal Beck who was also the Secretary of the Movement suggested that he should set up practice in Aligarh. “He accepted, stayed on, and became active in the Old Boy’s Association.” He was a member of the university court from 1920 till his death.

In Aligarh, Sheikh found a new home and family. He became a member of the Duty Society, a select group of Aligarh students founded by his friend, Aftab Ahmad Khan, to raise funds for the college. Eventually, a north Indian ashraf adopted him. Soon he was married.

Book on Women Education by Dr Nasreen Ahmad. This is the key research about the contributions that Sheikh Abdullah made to education in India.

AMU- The Idea

Post-1857 mutiny, reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan felt the need to involve Muslims in the governance structure and other affairs of public importance. It was an indirect outcome of the British India government decision in 1842 to replace the Persian by English as the court language.  It was almost a denial to Muslims to be in government.

Sir Syed wanted Muslims to acquire proficiency in the English language and Western sciences if they wanted to maintain their social and political clout, particularly in Northern India. He began to prepare a foundation for the formation of a Muslim University by starting schools at Moradabad (1858) and Ghazipur (1863). His purpose for the establishment of the Scientific Society in 1864, in Aligarh, was to translate Western works into Indian languages as a prelude to prepare the community to accept Western education and to inculcate scientific temperament among the Muslims.

In 1877, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh on Oxford and Cambridge pattern after his trip to England. His objective was to build a college in tune with the British education system without compromising its Islamic values.

The college was originally affiliated with the University of Calcutta and subsequently got affiliated with the University of Allahabad in 1885. Near the turn of the century, the college began publishing its magazine, The Aligarian and established a Law School. By then, a movement for upgrading it into a university.

Demand, Deliverance

After the college was established, Dr Nasreen writes, northern India was witnessing a phase of reforms. Taking a cue, Muslim reformers were also advocating for female education but with a condition of purdah. Few thought that purdah should not act as a barrier. They included Syed Mumtaz Ali, Nazir Ahmad, and the Nawab of Bhopal, Begum Sultan Jahan. Ashraf Ali Thanwi in Bihishti Zewar, Nazir Ahmad in Mirat ul Tjrus, and Altaf Hussain Hali in Majalis un Nisa, strongly advocated female education.

The newspapers also supported female education. The first women’s Urdu magazine Akhbar-un-Nisa of Syed Ahmad Dehelvi also supported the idea. Those supporting it, Dr Nasreen argues were seeking basics of religion, reading and writing skill, elementary mathematics, and basics of household management to be taught to women.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s publications Tahzib ul Akhlaq and Aligarh Institute Gazette also supported female education after the 1880s but within “limits” as Muslim intellectual believed that if women are educated they will become “irresponsible”.

“In his testimony before the Indian Education Commission of 1882, Sir Syed maintained that a little education was enough for women. Until more Muslim men received a sound education, Muslim women would have to wait: The present state of education among Muhammadan females is, in my opinion, enough for domestic happiness,” writes Dr Nasreen. But Hali disagreed, wrote a counter and started a couple of schools for girls in his home town of Panipat, which were run by the women of his family.

File image of AMU

Sheikh Abdullah thought differently. It is believed that Hali’s poem  Chup ki Dad in praise of Muslim women was,   written on Sheikh’s request. It was first published by  Sheikh in his Urdu journal for women, Khatun in December 1905. “In it, Hali reiterates many of the ideas he had originally espoused in his Majalis un Nisa: Women are the true strength of the family and the community, but lamentably many of them are kept in ignorance; thus women’s education is vital for the regeneration of the Muslim community,” Dr Nasreen writes.

Sheikh Abdullah’s daughter, Begum Khursheed, who was a celebrated Indian actress known as Renuka Devi. She died in Pakistan in 1989.

By 1880, Sir Syed had rejected the idea of a school mooted by the government. His argument was: “It was not possible for Government to adopt any practical measure by which the ‘respectable Mohammadans’ may be induced to send their daughters to Government schools for education. Nor, he claimed, could Government bring into existence a school on which the parents and guardians of girls may place perfect reliance.”

Sir Syed’s opposition to modem education to women was his belief that they should stick to the traditional system of education as it helps them in their moral and material wellbeing and protects from difficulties. He believed educating boys would automatically improve the condition of men and women.

This all, however, did not impact the strong movement for the female education that started after 1888. In the Third Annual Conference of the Mohammadan Educational Conference held at Lahore, a resolution said: “The Mohammadan Educational Conference unanimously agrees to the proposal that Muslims should establish schools for the education of Muslim girls. These schools should be in accord with Islam and of the ways of the Sharif section of the Muslims.” It was passed despite Sir Syed’s opposition. MAO College Principal, Dr Nasreen quotes Sheikh saying that Sir Syed went even to the extent of believing that the girls studying in schools and colleges would become “immoral”.

Theodore Beck, who had grown hugely influential within and outside the college, threw his weight behind the movement.

Sir Syed Ahmad Ahmad Khan, the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University

Sir Syed started mellowing down. On November 15, 1884, Beck chaired a debate on the issue at Siddon’s Union Club. The motion over which the debate took place was cleverly worded, apparently taking the Sir Syed line: “Spread of female education in India is to be desired but by home tuition and not by schools and colleges.” It was defeated by a narrow margin of three votes.

Sir Syed never opposed female education ferociously and never supported the idea clearly. The movement for Muslim female education did start in his but intensified only after his death in 1989.

In 1891, a resolution was proposed by Moulvie Syed Karamat Hussain. In 1896, for the first time, a special 6-member Female Education’ Section in the Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental Educational Conference was created.  They all were sympathetic but hugely conservative. In subsequent years, Moulvie Mumtaz Ali, one of the members, opposed Sheikh Abdullah’s efforts to establish a girl’s school at Aligarh. Mohsin-ul-Mulk, another member, refrained from openly supporting the endeavour. Mohsin-ul-Mulk, yet another member, prevented Sheikh from presenting a resolution for the establishment of a girl’s school at Aligarh in the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Educational Conference in 1904. Much earlier, Sheikh had been denied a berth in the panel along with Ghulam-us-Saqlain.

From Begum Abdullah’s biography, Dr Nasreen writes that in 1902 Shiekh was elected as the member and secretary of the Female Education Section. It was the same year he had married Waheed Jahan, from an old Mughal family of Delhi in which women’s education was a tradition. Her father Ibrahim Mirza, had taught his daughters Persian and Urdu and had also permitted an English woman to teach them. Together, the Sheikh and Begum Abdullah began a campaign to open a girls’ school in Aligarh.

In 1906, the couple founded Aligarh Girl’s School in the midst of opposition but support from Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam, the ruler of Bhopal –a grant of Rs 17,000 with an additional monthly allowance of Rs 250. That was a promising start and there was no looking back.

Girl’s School

The idea of starting a school for Muslim girls took shape in 1903 in Bombay during the Muhammadan Anglo-oriental Educational Conference. But the place could not be decided.

After the conference was over, Sheikh contacted Maulana Mumtaz Ali, Editor, Tehzeeb Niswan (Lahore) and Mehboob Alam, Editor, Paisa Akhbar, (Lahore) to establish a normal school at Lahore. But both of them responded negatively and Sheikh took it upon himself the stupendous task of establishing a school for Muslim girls in Aligarh.

To know the public response, he asked his wife to call a conference of educated ladies in her house to discuss the problem of Muslim female education. When ladies gathered, prominent among them were Mrs Razaullah Khan and Sayeed Ahmad Begum, all of them were in favour of female education. It triggered a lot of criticism locally with their detractors saying that methods of the English were going to be practised and schools would be opened for girls who would attend it without observing purdah. The other allegation was that in the proposed school, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ girls would meet which would be detrimental to the interests of girls coming from good and decent families.’ Moreover, fears were also expressed whether such a school would succeed in giving proper training in ‘Islamic culture and decency’.

But it did not impact the missionary zeal of Abdullahs’. Instead of being discouraged, in 1904, Sheikh took a bold step and started a magazine entitled Khatun for mobilizing public opinion in support of women’s education and in the general welfare of women. He was supported in this effort by Saiyid Sajjad Haider, Syed Abu Mohammad, Moulvi Ehteshamuddin and Moulvi Enamul Haq. The first issue of Khatun came out in July 1904 and it created a furore in Urdu journalistic circles. Other magazines and newspapers started opposing its publications by saying that Khatun was a naturi magazine and was being published with the aim of abolishing purdah.

The hostile propaganda against Khatun alarmed Mohsin-ul-Mulk, who was then Secretary of the Board of Trustees, MAO College. He advised its publication be stopped. Sheikh convinced him to write for it, instead. The publication continued till 1914.

Finally, the resolution to establish a girls’ school at Aligarh was unanimously approved in the All India Muslim Ladies Conference held in Aligarh in December 1905. The leaders of the Aligarh Movement initially were not supportive. Mohsin-ul-Mulk refused permission at the last moment to use any building of the MAO College to hold the Muslim Ladies Conference and the exhibition of women’s handicrafts.

The Struggle

As Abdullahs’ hard work started bearing fruits, around 50 girl students were enrolled in the school in the first three months. He informed the then Lt Governor about the progress and Miss Ganja was asked to inspect so that she could assess the situation and report to the authorities.

Reportedly when she saw the dedication and involvement of Begum Abdullah and her sisters, she was impressed and said that they were doing the kind of work that is usually associated with missionaries. Within a month after the receipt of Miss Ganja’s report, Sheikh received a sealed envelope from the government, which contained a grant of Rs 250 per month and Rs 17, 000 for the infrastructure.

On October 25, 1906, Sheikh started the school in a small house in Mohalla Bala-e-Quila of Aligarh town after some alterations were done to ensure seclusion.  Once the school premise was ready, another struggle started to get qualified teachers. So Begum Abdullah together with her two sisters had to take the responsibility of a major part of the teaching at the school.

To ensure the safety of girl students, Dr Nasreen writes that at least four men were employed to take the girls in two carefully covered dolis to their homes and bring them to the school. One female peon was also employed. The curriculum included Urdu reading and writing, basic arithmetic, needlework, and the Quran. The school building itself was walled on all sides so that purdah could be properly observed. Many times the school, students, or the staff of the school were attacked by the opponents of women’s education.

Mumtaz Aapa, the first principle of AMU’s Women College

Soon after this school, on November 7, 1911, the foundation stone of the first girl’s hostel was laid in presence of Lady Porter, wife of the acting Lt Governor of the United Province. The construction was completed in 1913. Later on, the Begum of Bhopal inaugurated new buildings. It became the first Women College in Aligarh. In 1937, the Aligarh Women’s College became a part of the Aligarh Muslim University.

To ensure all security to the school and then college, Abdullah Begum became herself the warden of the hostel and all outside works were done by Sheikh himself. They were so involved personally with these girls that those girl students started called Begum as Ala Bi and Sheikh Abdullah as Papa Mian.

In 1949, when Maulana Abul Kalam Azad visited Aligarh for the annual Convocation, he was highly impressed by the role being played by Women’s College for the spread of modern education among girls. He announced an annual grant of Rs 900 thousand for the college.

The high school was established in 1921 and later gained the status of an Intermediate College in 1922. With time, in 1937 it was elevated to the status of an undergraduate college as part of the Aligarh Muslim University. Many literary figures were among the early alumni of this college.

A staunch believer in Hindu Muslim unity, Sheikh stayed back in India after the partition. He also served as a member of the United Province Legislative Council. He was conferred with the title of Khan Bahadur in 1935 and a Padma Bhushan was awarded to him in 1964. After taking the degrees of BA, LLB, AMU awarded him the degree of LLD in 1950.

At AMU, Abdullah Hall has also instituted annual Papa Mian Awards for girls who excel in academics. In 1975, Films Division, Government of India made a documentary on Papa Mian and his contribution towards women education in India. It was directed by Khawaja Ahmad Abbas.

After the death of Sheikh in 1965, the struggle for the college continues. It was only in 2014, that the students from the Women’s College stepped into the university’s central library, Maulana Azad Library. They had been barred from accessing the library since 1960, owing to “infrastructure issue”. AMU’s girls’ hostels that permitted only one-day outings for women now allow women to go out thrice a week. In March 2019, the Women’s College hosted its first-ever Women Leadership Summit. The institution now has a women’s field hockey team.

But there have been many instances when the students of this college voiced their concern against the strict rules where there are 107 teaching and 75 non-teaching staff members.

With his almost entire life spent in Aligarh, Sheikh Abdullah lies buried at the same place, he once lived, loved, and lauded.

While most of his initiatives as Prime Minister are well documented, Masood Hussain offers rare details – some appearing for the first time, about Atal Behari Vajpayee, the hard Sanghi who was soft towards Kashmir, a place he knew closely since 1953, perhaps much better than any Parivaar member will ever know

With the death of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Sangh Parivaar has lost its last ‘peacemaker’ who lived in a secular packaging for most of his life. In him, even Kashmir lost a pair of most important ears that had, historically, heard the voices of logic, reason and history, people who know Vajpayee in Kashmir said. While most of the reportage about Vajpayee’s Kashmir involvement revolves around his era as the Prime Minister, the fact is that he was involved on Kashmir ‘front’ for a very long time.

Vajpayee as the young Sangh activist had accompanied Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji in 1953 to Kashmir. A watershed event in Kashmir history, Mookerji had come to protest the exclusivity of Kashmir in the Indian federation. Then, the Sangh slogan was Eak Pradhan, Eak Nishan, Eak Vidhan. Sheikh Abdullah arrested Mookerji , kept him in a Nishat house where he died. Sangh termed it custodial murder and it eventually contributed to Sheikh’s humiliating dismissal as Prime Minister and arrest.

A frequent visitor to Kashmir, various people in Srinagar had seen him pillion riding on a scooter and doing party work. “He was a personal friend of Dr Jalalulddin, the cardiologist and I would see him quite often there,” a resident of Pampore said. “Most of the time, there was no security to him.”

But Vajpayee’s first major public appearance was somewhere in 1967 or 1968 when as leader of the Jana Sangh, he was supposed to deliver a public speech in Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir Park. The programme had been announced by Tika Lal Tiploo (killed by militants on September 14, 1989), the Sangh’s leader in Kashmir, operating from Haba Kadal, then the main address of the Kashmiri Pandits.

Prof Syed M Afzal Qadri, who retired as a faculty in the law department of the University of Kashmir, was then a student of the SP College. “It was later in the afternoon that the news broke in the college that Taploo has got some Vajpayee to the Sher-e-Kashmir Park for a speech and it triggered a reaction,” Qadri remembers. “It took a bit of time for a few hundred students to assemble and then the procession started.”

Qadri remembers that the procession – not initiated by the Plebiscite Front though – was shouting slogans in favour of the referendum and was fiercely against the Jana Sangh. That hate against Jana Sangh had two vital factors. Firstly, the Parivaar opposed the idea of special provisions that Kashmir enjoyed post-accession and its bitter opposition led to the sacking of Sheikh, one of the towering leaders of the Vale. Secondly, the Jana Sangh had a very communal face in Kashmir, Balraj Madhok, who lived in Kashmir, fled to Jammu in 1947, and literally gave birth to the new Jana Sangh that had most of its politics rooted in Kashmir.

A file pic of Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Hurriyat delegation in New Delhi on January 23, 2004.

“We reached the spot and very close to it we saw the audience comprising mostly of Kashmiri Pandits,” Qadri said. “As the students attempted getting into the park to disturb the meeting, it ended into a clash.” The students resorted to stone pelting. “It disturbed the entire meeting and the audience fled,” Qadri said. “Then the leaders on the stage were targeted and we were told that Vajpayee survived with an injury in his leg.” Police came into action, chased the students away and rescued the leaders including Vajpayee.

But that attack did not deter Vajpayee from speaking. He walked to the Orion Hotel in Lal Chowk and an emergency press conference was organised on its top floor. Mohammad Sayeed Malik, then a young reporter, covered that presser.

“He explained why he is in Kashmir,” Malik said. “He said we want to meet people and get them closer to the people in India because I do not see any reason between the two parties to look at each other with suspicion.” Malik remembers his sentence: “Aghar Shikayat Hein Tou Hum Bhi Apni Awaz Mila Dain Gay” – ‘if there are complaints, we will lend our voice to it too’. “Vajpayee said they are not in Kashmir for politics.”

Vajpayee’s attitude towards Kashmir never changed. This was impressive because he had a Kashmiri speaking person at home. “He understood Kashmir and despite the ideological limitations that his Parivaar had, he always talked about the wide room that existed to accommodate all,” Malik said. “He had a conviction and courage to say it too.”

Mohammad Sayeed Malik

Post-emergency, India changed. It was Jana Sangh propelled anti-emergency political voices, which created Janata Party that managed to get power in 1977 polls. By then, Congress had rehabilitated Sheikh Abdullah in Kashmir and restored him his throne in 1975. But when the emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi, it was extended to Jammu and Kashmir as well and Sheikh resorted to massive arrests of Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir.

Janata Party had an appeal in Kashmir too. All of a sudden, a section of non-Congress, non-NC people started finding a space in the Janata Party. Vajpayee had already become the External Affairs Minister and started working overtime in Kashmir.

“I remember one small meeting that Vajpayee presided over in the Broadway Hotel,” PDP’s former minister, then an information department employee said. “It was around the spot where the hotelier later set up the swimming pool.” Malik, the Director of Information, was also there. “He (Vajpayee) had invited Sheikh Abdullah as well. He was out of power as Congress had withdrawn support to him and the state was under President’s rule,” Malik said. “He addressed Sheikh Sahab in the meeting, saying, ‘Hum Sab Nay Apnay Ashiyanay Jala Diyay Hain, Chaloo Hum Haath Milanein’ – ‘we all have burnt our boats, let us join hands’.”

Later that year, Jammu and Kashmir went to polls after Delhi made it public that it will not permit any rigged election. This public commitment helped all the anti-NC forces get reactivated: Moulana Mohammad Sayeed Masoodi was the main leader of the Janata era; Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq was the most prominent ally; Abdul Gani Lone was also around and Jamat-e-Islami also contested polls.

“Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s visit to Mirwaiz Manzil was a watershed event and it took place in June 1977, days ahead of the polling,” Manzoor Unjum, editor Uqaab, said. “Then, there was no Nalla Maar road and the Mirwaiz Manzil was connected with Rajouri Kadal road by a small culvert.”

Desai and his team that probably had Vajpayee as well, came to the Mirwaiz Manzil amid an unprecedented welcome, that for the first time, had a lot of women also. “He was with Mirwaiz for around 90 minutes and he sat on the same chair on which, earlier, Qaid-e-Azam, Ali Mohammad Jinnah had sat,” Unjum said. “When he left, the women broke into the chorus. They famously sang the wanwun – Sabz Dastarus Khudah Choie Raazi – Pakistanuk Gazi Aou. While leaving the Mirwaiz Manzil, he walked till the road and then boarded his car.”

Abdul Gani Lone

Sheikh being a reluctant Congress ally, even after the loss of power, Janata Party wanted to see him defeated. But the free and fair elections, perhaps for the first time after 1947, fetched Sheikh a stable government. The National Conference (NC) won 47 out of 76 seats in the state assembly – 40 of them from Kashmir. Janata Party won 13 seats – only two from Kashmir – Abdul Rashid Kabuli (Eidgah) and Abdul Gani Lone (Handwara). Jamat-e-Islami got five seats. Kabuli became the Janata Party’s legislative party leader. “Mirwaiz had fielded another candidate but he lost to the NC,” Unjum said.

Kabuli, one of the oldest political workers who worked very closely with the Sangh, has now retired. The memories of his association with Vajpayee are still fresh, however. “Vajpayee was respected and he knew the riffraff that made his party, so he would always ensure they do not cross the line, the Lakshman Rekha,” Kabuli said. “He was very responsive to what Kashmir required. One day, I visited him when he was foreign minister informing him that people in Kashmir have to travel to Delhi to file an application for a passport. He immediately sanctioned a passport office to Srinagar which is still working.”

Kabuli as Legislative Party Leader in state assembly would meet the Janata leaders quite often, and later, when he returned to NC and became the Member of Parliament, he would spend days with him in the Lok Sabha. He said he was aware of the meetings that he had with the Kashmir separatists. “That was not a dialogue because the last dialogue took place between Afzal Beig and Parthasarathy, nothing after that,” Kabuli said. “You go to the Prime Minister and tell him to release this and that man does not make a dialogue at all. I know things but I cannot reveal who was suggesting what. Vajpayee would ask me about individuals seeking appointments.”

The most important thing that Kabuli revealed was that Vajpayee was “unhappy with NC and Congress” and was repeatedly insisting that the two parties have “destroyed” Kashmir. “Not once but many times he asked me that I should get in and create a party but I always maintained that I lack capacity and resources and I do not want it,” Kabuli said. “I believe, it was the same offer that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed later availed and created his PDP.” Was that the reason that the part went lock, stock and barrel to pay their respects to the departed Bishmpidama of Indian politics?

Kabuli said Vajpayee was serious on Kashmir and wanted to be remembered by history as a peacemaker. “Pakistan, especially Musharaf humiliated him and that made him a laughing stock in the Parivaar,” Kabuli said. “Later when he was trying to get some solace for the survivors of Godhra, Modi rebuffed him and that pushed Vajpayee to the bed.”

Abdul Rashid Kabuli

It is public knowledge though that Vajpayee’s rubble rousing speech on the eve of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, was a key factor in creating a mess that eventually led to Godhra in 2002. “There were sharp stones that came out, no one can sit there,” Vajpayee had famously said while telling a jubilant audience that they have been waiting for a long time to sit in Ayodhya. “The ground has to be levelled; it has to be made fit for sitting.” He had been accused of making a similar speech in Nillie in November 1983 when his anti-Muslim diatribe led to the butchery of nearly eight thousand Muslims in seven Assam villages within 24 hours.

But Kashmir being different, Vajpayee always saw it in its historical context, or, as Kabuli said as “a completely separate and distinct culture”, unlike the entire Parivaar. As Prime Minister, Vajpayee’s initiatives are well documented, but not all of them.

“Vajpayee was indulgent towards Kashmir,” Dr Haseeb Drabu, the man who inked the BJP-PDP deal for Mufti Sayeed in 2015 winter, said. “While his troika of Insaniyat, Jumhooriyat and Kashmiriyat was more of atmospherics, even as it set the framework for a possible approach, it was evident in smaller cases that I personally know.” He had accompanied Mufti when the latter went to see Vajpayee, after the accord but found him “barely alive”. They had breakfast with his adopted daughter, instead, and flew home for oath-taking.

Drabu was personally involved on three occasions with Vajpayee as the Prime Minister. “The first came within days when we were drafting the plan and I evaluated that Jammu and Kashmir needs Rs 2500 crore,” Drabu said. “As I finalised the requirement, I was conveyed that the Prime Minister wants Rs 2600 crore. When I said the state does not require, I was rebuffed and overruled but finally, the Chief Minister wrote a letter, thanking Vajpayee for being gracious but kept the figure at Rs 2500 crore.” As the file reached Vajpayee, he summoned him. “He understood my logic and then said, let us have all the Rs 2600 crore spent on your terms,” Drabu said.

In April 2003, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the talks with Pakistan would be held within the ambit of Insaniyat.

The second was a slightly critical one. Jammu and Kashmir, for a very long time, was not getting any multi-lateral funding coming to India through World Bank. For any multi-lateral funding, both India and Pakistan are supposed to formally sign a paper declaring that the funding will have no bearing on the disputed status of the Jammu and Kashmir as it existed in 1947 summer. “We processed the case and the Asian Development Bank agreed to give us Rs 4000 crore under the post-conflict fund,” Drabu said. “As it reached the PMO, it was blocked. India was opposing the same grant to the Pakistani side and Pakistan was insisting that since the conflict is still going on, why ADB should advance a post-conflict fund?”

The crisis landed Darbu flanking his Chief Minister to the PMO. Vajpayee offered double the sum outside ADB. “I said, Sir, we do not need this money for the sake of resource, we seek it because the World Bank funding comes with the systems that we want to build and he felt convinced,” Drabu said. “The next moment, he picked up the phone and told Yeshwant Sinha to sign it. The benefit was shared by J&K and PaK just by his nod.” Muzaffarabad got more than Rs 2500 crore.

The third episode involved the Baglihar that was suffering time and cost overruns. It needed Rs 642 crore of viability gap funding. “The request had been sent by the Chief Minister and it was rejected by power ministry and later by the finance ministry,” Drabu said. “Finally, it was Vajpayee that overruled all and got this resource that helped the Baglihar to come up.”

Vajpayee had one quality, people who knew him say: he would never forget people. Kabuli apart, there were many people who would be invited to meet and discuss Kashmir informally with the Prime Minister. “After Abdul Gani Lone flew back from Washington, he had a lot of ideas to talk about,” Mohammad Sayeed Malik said. “He wanted to share the ideas with Vajpayee and it was my editor R K Mishra who arranged all those meetings.”

Malik said Lone would drive in one car to his Observer office and from there he would move in a different private car, just to maintain some sort of secrecy to what he was doing. He later went to Pakistan and Vajpayee knew every bit of it. When he flew home, he was killed. Vajpayee had visited Kashmir many times as Prime Minister but his visit in May 2002, was overshadowed by the assassination.

In his statement that was distributed to the media persons, Vajpayee termed Lone “a respected figure, a great son of Kashmir and spirited champion of Kashmiriyat”. Lone, he said, was gunned down by the “enemies of peace” because of his “courageous voice against gun culture, a voice that was beginning to get more and more influential”. For formal “talks” with Hurriyat took off much later.

In the death of Ghulam Nabi Shaida, editor of Wadi ki Awaz, Kashmir has lost an upright editor who suffered for calling a spade, a spade, reports Khalid Bashir Gura

Ghulam Nabi Shaida, the editor of Wadi Ki Awaaz. KL Image: Mehraj Bhat

When the veteran journalist YousufJameel broke the sad news on social media about the death of Wadi Ki Awazpromoter and editor, Ghulam Nabi Shaida, condolences were uninterrupted. Shaida’sPartap Park office turned cold and silent. A few seemingly half-read books, empty chairs and desk stonily stared at anyone who unlocked the room. The staff members who had spent years with Shaidacouldn’t get themselves to enter the room.

On the freezing morning of January 19, people carried a coffin draped in black cloth with verses of Quran inscribed in golden colour on it. They carried the coffin of one of Kashmir’s fearless voices from Rawalpora to a village in Pulwama.

Shaida, 74, was buried as per his last wish in his ancestral graveyard at GouriPoraBarsoo. Unwell for a long time, two daughters survive Shaida. His wife had passed away in 2015.

Ghulam Nabi Shaida

Shaida was born on May 27, 1947. He got his primary education at his ancestral GouriPoravillage and passed his matriculation from Kakpora High School. Subsequently, he did his graduation from SP College, Srinagar. He completed post-graduation at Aligarh Muslim University. He has masters degrees in Urdu as well as in English literature.

Shaida began his journey in journalism as editor of the weekly Sahafi and later started his own bi-lingual daily, Wadi Ki Awaz in 1986. According to one of his staff members who has worked for decades with him, Shaida, before launching his own daily, had worked for different newspapers to hone his skills.  He never compromised with journalistic ethics and believed in calling a spade a spade and for these reasons he had to suffer.

Even before he had launched Sahafi, a partnership product with a friend, Shaida worked as one of the secretaries of Kashmir’s only Sadr-e-Reyasat, Dr Karan Singh. He had also translated his autobiography, the Heir Apparent into Urdu with the title, WaliAhaed. “When he was released after serving the detention under the PublicSafety Act for reproducing the sacrilegious write-up from the Deccan Herald, he went straightaway to a flat that Dr Singh had given him from within his estate,” one journalist who worked with Shiada till his arrest said. “Shaida was a hard-core anti-establishment editor. He suffered for that.”

“He had seen lots of ups and downs, but was always in high spirits,” one of the gloomy and teary-eyed staffers, who met in his deserted office, said. After the death of his wife ShamaZaidi who was from Hyderabad, he founded Shama Foundation in her name.

The main aim of the Foundation was to facilitate the marriage of poor girls, provide assistance to the women suffering from cancer. “He will not turn the request of help from any pleader,” said one of his staff members.

Yusuf Jameel, who knew Shaidaeven before becoming a journalist, said the late editor was a thorough professional.

“He was sincere in his endeavours and clear about journalistic principles,” Jameel said. “In calling a spade and spade he had to face reprisals. In late December of 1986, when he criticized the article which had blasphemed revered Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he was arrested and sent to jail.”

All through his life, the editor had to suffer financially for his uncompromising position on his principles. He never gave space to advertisements, which conflicted with his principles and because of which he had to endure many hardships. Later, when he bought a printing press for his newspaper, he had borrowed a loan from the financial corporation but continued to struggle to repay it.

“Lately I was in touch with him on phone and visited his residence often,” Jameel recalled adding that when he enquired about the loan, the late editor told him that he had to sell a piece of his ancestral land to repay it. Later as the financial conditions worsened, he had to sell even his printing press. “He had to face financial issues all his life,” Jameel said.

As the journalism and journalists continue to face relentless pressures at various levels from different quarters, late Shaida epitomizes the struggle. Even after three decades, Wadi Ki Awazhas limited reach. “He was also writing a book,” added Jameel.“He used to call me many times a day as I had told him to recall dates which due to the age had skipped his memory”.

Hours after burying him, the staff members were back to the office, to work silently in the seemingly gloomy and silent apartment of Waadi Ki Awaz (Voice of the valley) to bring out the following day’s edition.

by Ikhlaq Qadri

Exactly this was a time of the year, 13 years ago in 2008, spring officially sprung, that I was finally a graduate. Out of college, I was looking forward to pursuing my further education outside the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.  My family, however, wanted me to stay back.

Professor Riyaz Punjabi

Caught in the quagmire of career, the following months started to give trouble. An uneasiness of uncertainty prevailed upon everything. I had a pervasive feeling of loss until a friend handed me over a brochure of the University of Kashmir. Without getting into the details, a charming face on the edge of the cover page lured me to turn the pages. A naive to know, when I read the message of the person on the page, my broken threads started to join and weave a wonderful dream, again.

A couple of months later, as a new entrant to the oldest university of Kashmir, I found the man on that page in front of me, physically. He was Professor Riyaz Punjabi, a man of his own style, walking down the lane with grace and grandeur.

After completing the admission formalities, we were a group of students, probably 26, who were allotted South Campus, the first satellite campus of the University of Kashmir established in the same year at Fatehgarh, Anantnag.

An equally new experience to the students and teachers, the campus was massive and mesmerizing, but the infrastructure was in infancy and academic activity was yet to start. However, the other side of the fence was extremely active where the Army has a huge base of over 1000 Kanals of land, commonly known as High Ground. The regular firing session sound used to engage us in otherwise silent space over the mountains. At the same time, the sight of students of nearby Army Goodwill was soothing.

Who Was Prof Riyaz Punjabi?

Headed by dynamic director Prof Mehraj Ud Din Mir, and academic coordinator of Business Administration Syed Rumaiya Sajjad, somehow the studies started slowly in seclusion.

Unlike the joy of being in the best campuses of India, I was sad to see myself in a dormant state of affairs. Reluctant in revealing that it was a bad decision to join the campus, I was about to call it a day. But a few weeks later, the man who joined broken threads on the Brochure page arrived in the mountains and it turned out to be a festival. Accompanying the then governor, Narendra Nath Vohra, Prof Punjabi got almost everybody from the main campus to share his vision of vastness.

The function was a full day affair and students shared their concerns. I was one among few who spoke their heart out. Ideally not taken in a positive sense, that too when the stage is shared by the head of the state, I was told that game for me is over. Scared to see my teachers in fear, I was surprised when Prof Punjabi called me out and talked like a father. Without being angry or arrogant, he assured us of all the possible facilitation. He expressed happiness over being confident in seeking facilities for pursuing the studies. Not caught in ego clashes, he knew his stature is beyond small considerations.

Starting to deliver on his assurances there only, the first thing he did was to talk to nearby Army commanders in presence of Governor Vohra. That was an attempt to acclimatise army men to the civilian population and seek safety.

An academician to the core, he issued orders to shift faculty from the main campus on a daily basis to ensure the students have equal knowledge base and exposure, besides ensuring the library and other facilities are better than the Business School in Hazratbal. Within a couple of months after his visit, there were no regrets. No U-Turn.

Placing our priorities ahead, Punjabi was instrumental in managing our industrial visit to better institutions outside Jammu and Kashmir and ensured we are accompanied by a senior faculty member, Prof Iqbal Hakim. The visit to Delhi is a different story, keep it for another day.

Given the topography of the campus, it was difficult to reach in winters, those days. The students thus sought his appointment and I was part of the team. He was patient in hearing our issues and was gracious to shift us completely to the main campus, much to the displeasure of one of the senior-most faculty members of Business Studies.

Interestingly during the conversation, one of the students tried to give him a reference of some person, and the reaction was horrible. Prof Punjabi banged him like anything. Later, he concluded the meeting on advice of being self-reliant without using others’ name.

On the main campus, he kept an eye on us completely. He ensured that we have separate classrooms and regular faculty members, the attendance of whom I was asked to compile. For better understanding, he even engaged late Prof Muhammad Akram Mir of the Law department for a specialised subject.

A student and Vice-Chancellor are two ends of the river, not comparable at all, but I remember when in 2010, the situation in Kashmir turned grim; we again approached him for continuing our classwork. A difficult decision to take in a crisis, he did not disappoint. A man of his word, he arranged hostel accommodation and managed to get staff to provide us food, separate for boys and girls and asked the department to conduct our classes regularly.

A deserted campus, with only 20 odd students, he ensured to join threads of dreams and made us believe that in difficult situations, dynamic leaders can do it all.

Though there are instances, where people contradicted Prof Punjabi on many things, but a student in me still believes he was someone who tried his best to light the candle of knowledge. A human without shortcomings is not a human at all. He too was a human being. The different theories of his conduct and connections is not my domain to talk about, but I know he was someone who believed in the idea of Kashmir. A passionate thinker, he was instrumental in taking University to a different level. Man with versatile qualities of both head and heart, tough-looking Professor was a child deep inside.

On one occasion, he quoted her poetess wife, Tarannum Riyaz, and the verses continue to remain a solace in difficult situations, “Bhul ja guzre shab ki talkhiyaan, Har savera ik naya aagaz hai.”

Jagmohan Malhotra
(September 25, 1927 –May 3, 2021)

Jagmohan, the governor meeting people in Rajbhawan Srinagar in 1990.

Jagmohan’s role as J&K governor again in focus after his death writes Zahoor Malik

The passing away of Jagmohan Malhotra recently again brought into focus his role as governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the governor of the state twice, from April 26, 1984, to July 11, 1989, and then from January 19, 1990, to May 26, 1990. Both his tenures had a deep impact on Kashmir’s political and security scenario.

Jagmohan tried to make it amply clear that he was a man of strong views and strong actions. At times he also attempted to project himself as an able administrator and an admirer of overall development, an image he had created for himself during his career in Delhi.

Enjoying the full patronage of Congress leader, Sanjay Gandhi in the mid-1970s and later Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, Jagmohan rose from being the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to the governor of Jammu and Kashmir. In Delhi, his efforts for the successful conduct of Asian games in 1982 and non-aligned summit were hailed. But prior to that, his role as Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in demolishing slums on large scale at Turkamangate came under sharp criticism from various quarters. As the affected people, mostly the voters of Congress demanded their rehabilitation, Jagmohan openly said he does not want to recreate another Pakistan by demolishing one. Even as Congress lost its vote bank in the next general elections in Delhi parts, he continued to be a favourite among the Gandhi family.

1984 Coup

In Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan did not hide his disliking for special status. He was for total integration of the state with India. Jagmohan believed that Article 370 was a big hurdle in running the centre’s writ in Jammu and Kashmir.

Indira Gandhi fully utilised his services to engineering a coup against the then Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah to topple his government on July 2, 1984. Indira was upset with Farooq’s proximity with national opposition leaders and his holding of opposition leaders’ conclave here. The revolt against him was led by his brother-in-law G M Shah, who became the chief minister with Congress support.

The cabinet of Ghulam Mohammad Shah on July 2, 1984 with governor Jagmohan at the centre, after 13 NC lawmakers defected and brought down Dr Farooq Abdullah’s government.

While Jagmohan was in full knowledge of the behind the scene developments against the Farooq government, Farooq himself was completely taken unawares. It was a big shock not only for him but for his supporters also. Curfew was imposed for several days as Shah took over as the new Chief Minister.

Later, Jagmohan also dismissed Shah’s government in 1986 following an allegation of communal tension in south Kashmir. In fact, there were serious differences between Congress and Shah over the latter’s style of functioning.

Jagmohan as governor terminated from service three professors including Prof Abdul Gani Bhat for anti-India activities. Bhat became the chairman of the Hurriyat Conference after several decades.

This was for the first time that government employees were terminated from services because of their activities. The process has been revived now. Several employees have already been dismissed and hundreds of others are under the scanner of a newly formed task force formed by the government.

During the governor’s rule, Jagmohan tried to focus on development to some extent and wanted to improve the condition of roads through various beautification drives. In between, Rajiv Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah got closer. Finally, they joined hands and Farooq was again made the chief minister with Congress support on November 7, 1986.

During Jagmohan’s tenure as governor, assembly polls were held in 1987. NC and Congress formed an electoral alliance and regained power amid allegations of large scale rigging. This saw the rise of separatist politics and militancy in a big way. Jagmohan was removed as governor and former army general K V Krishna Rao appointed in his place.

The Second Term

Interestingly, Jagmohan replaced General Rao on January 19, 1990, for a second term that was painfully dramatic. Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah resigned, as he was unhappy with the appointment of Jagmohan as governor. Kashmir witnessed the massive rise of militancy and a subsequent crackdown against it.

As the situation worsened the migration of Kashmiri pandits to Jammu and some other states took place. Critics of Jagmohan said he facilitated mass migration. Some Kashmiri pandit leaders have been saying that by facilitating the migration, the then governor saved the lives of their community members. But others allege that Pandits were forced to leave their homes by the militants and separatist supporters amid killings and threats. The separatists stated that the mass migration was an attempt by Jagmohan to give a communal colour to the situation and also to give a bad name to them.

Jagmohan swears in Farooq Abdullah as CM in 1986. Jagmohan oversaw two spells of Governor’s rule.

Jagmohan came under sharp criticism for the killings at Gawkadal, Handwara, Zakoora, Tengpora and also for security forces firing on the funeral procession of slain religious and political leader Mirwaiz Moulana Mohammad Farooq. The then governor was accused of giving free hand to security forces, which led to a large number of civilian killings.

During that time, militants also abducted and killed a number of government functionaries and leaders of mainstream political parties. They included the then Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, Prof Mushirul Haq, his secretary Abdul Gani and director Doordarshan Lassa Koul.

The abductions and killings led to long-duration curfew and crackdowns. This threw normal life completely out of gear for days together. With every passing day, more security forces were rushed to Kashmir for deployment and counter militancy operations. In his term, Jagmohan banned Jamate-Islami related educational institutions.

He was finally shifted from Jammu and Kashmir by the centre after the firing on the funeral of Moulana Farooq. G C Saxena replaced him. Moulana Farooq, the government said, was killed by militants.

Post Jagmohan

After Jagmohan, GC Saxena tried to bring the situation under control. Being an ex-chief of an intelligence agency, he focussed on rebuilding the intelligence network, which was badly hit by militants. He also established contact with various sections of society.

After some years, Saxena was replaced by Gen (Rtd) K V Krishna Rao. He too slowly tightened his grip on the situation and the situation improved to a greater extent. It was during Rao’s tenure, that the assembly election was held in 1996, the first time after the eruption of militancy. NC came to power again with Farooq again taking over as the chief minister.

With time, Jagmohan while in Delhi drifted from Congress towards BJP because of his ideology. He contested the Lok Sabha elections and also became a minister in the union cabinet. Jagmohan held several portfolios in the centre from time to time. He also authored several books, one among them on Kashmir, which was widely read.

Central leaders paid rich tributes to Jagmohan after his death. Prime minister Narendra Modi, LG Manoj Joshi remembered his services for the country. However, there was no word from the Kashmir based political leaders. Neither NC nor PDP choose to react to Jagmohan’s death.

Mirwaiz Rasul Shah followed Sir Syed Ahmad Khan at a time when the educational deficit had started crippling Kashmiri Muslims, writes M J Aslam

Mirwaiz Ghulam Rasul Shah (Mirwaiz Molvi Rasul Shah) was born on  September 2, 1855 (Dhul-Hijjah 20, 1271AH) in the famous Mirwaiz family of Srinagar’s Rajouri Kadal. It is said that the family are the descendants of Waiz Sidiqullah whose great grandfather had come to Kashmir with the illustrious son of Ameer i Kabir, Mir Syed Mohammad Hamdani and settled in Tral. He died at Tral in 1155 Hijri (1742-1743 AD).

It was Mirwaiz Abus Salam, son of Mirwaiz Sidiqullah who during the Afghan period first migrated from Tral to Pompore wherefrom he later shifted initially to Qalamdanpora in Srinagar, where he used to deliver religious sermons for some years. He died at Qalamdanpora.

It was his son, Mirwaiz Ghulam Rasool, alias Lassi Baba, who shifted from Qalamdanpora to the locality of Rajouri Kadal, Srinagar to which place the name of the Mirwaiz family is attached for centuries. Mirwaiz Rasul Shah and his son, Molvi Yehya Shah, after his death, continued with their religious preaching at Jamia Masjid Srinagar and elsewhere in Kashmir. The family was enormously famed and respected throughout Kashmir.

A Haafiz

Mirwaiz Rasul Shah was the son of Kashmir’s Mirwaiz Awal, Molvi Yehya Shah, who was a Mohadith [specialist in Ahadeeth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBHU). At the age of seven, Mirwaiz Molvi Rasul Shah had committed the Holy Quran to his memory. By the age of seventeen, he had completed the traditional education in Fiqh, Ahadeeth, Islamic theology and philosophy. He delivered his first religious sermon at well known Bazar Masjid Bohri Kadal, Srinagar.

Under the guidance of his father, Molvi Yehya Shah, he preached and sermonized throughout Kashmir from the pulpits of major shrines and masjids till the death of his father in 1890 AD when he was only 40 years old. After his father’s demise, Molvi Rasul Shah was publically and officially recognised as the next Mirwaiz of Kashmir in a turban ceremony held at Jamia Masjid, Srinagar. Thereafter, for the next twenty years, he contributed to the upliftment of Kashmiri Muslims on religious and educational fronts.

Since he had closely watched the miserable plight of Muslims of Kashmir under the early Dogra rule, especially the socio-educational front, Molvi Rasul Shah made a serious attempt to address this area. No doubt, there was the Madrassa system of education during the Muslim period but after its decline in 1819, nothing much was happening. It was the era when modern education had penetrated deep into the educational systems of the world.

Educational Backwardness

Until 1880 not a single school on modern lines was opened in Srinagar. Then, the Christian Missionaries felt attracted to the region. First Missionary Boys School was opened in 1880 by Christian Missionary Society in a mud-hut in the premises of Missionary Hospital, Drugjan, Srinagar, which was subsequently shifted, for the paucity of space, to a private residence, at Fateh Kadal, Srinagar, in 1890.

Some female missionaries succeeded in setting up a girls school quite adjacent to the Boys School at Fateh Kadal, sometime between 1893 and 1895.

Following Sir Syed

Kashmiri Muslims were generally ignorant and more particularly, educationally backward. The position of their Indian counterparts was not much different. It was Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who set up the first college of modern education, Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, at Aligarh in 1875, which was elevated to the present Aligarh Muslim University in 1926.

In Kashmir, it was none other than Molvi Ghulam Rasul Shah who followed the footsteps of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and understood the pressing need of the hour. He set up first modern Muslim school on Rabil Awal 12, 1317 Hijri (July 31, 1899 AD) Rajouri Kadal, Srinagar which was elevated to High School in 1905 with affiliation to Punjab University of Lahore. Mirwaiz set up a Society for the purpose of running this school, the Anjuman e Nusratul Islam.

The First College

The upgrade of the school coincided with the setting up of the first college in Kashmir in 1905 at Srinagar under the name of Sri Pratap Singh “Hindu College”, near Sathu Barbar Shah, Srinagar [very present site] and a large number of Kashmiri Pandit boys joined the college which was re-named as Sri Pratap College in 1911.

Credit goes to the strenuous efforts of Pandit Bala Kaul of the Sahib family, and Pandit Daya Kishen Koul son of Pandit Suraj Koul, the member of the State Regency Council, who had developed a correspondence with Annie Besant, then President of the Theosophical Society of India, persuaded her to open a college at Srinagar. The foundation of the college was laid by Annie Besant under the name of Hindu College, which was rechristened to Sri Pratap College, later. It has to be noted that the Dogra Ruler Pratap Singh was contributing considerable funds to the Hindu College of Banaras. Annie Besant was the chairperson of the Trustees of the Central Hindu College of Benaras who recommended the opening of Hindu College at Srinagar.

Punjabi Support

Muslims who constituted the overwhelming majority were given little encouragement by the Maharaja in the field of education “for the fear that they might become conscious of their political rights”. But against all odds, heavy opposition from local Muslims under the influence of fanatic Molvis, it was Mirwaiz Kashmir, Molvi Rasul Shah, who imbued with ideas of modern education, opened door to it by establishing the first primary school at Rajouri Kadal Srinagar in 1899.

Shah was encouraged in his efforts by many well educated non-local Punjabi Muslims who resided in Kashmir in connection with their trade and jobs. In them, especially, Munshi Ghulam Ahmad Khan, who was Revenue Advisor in the Maharaja’s administration, was well acquainted with the general ignorance, backwardness and illiteracy of Kashmiri Muslims. He helped Mirwaiz Rasul Shah in introducing modern education in Kashmir and got sanctioned a monthly grant of Rs 50 for the school by Maharaja’s government. When the school was elevated to High School, the monthly grant was increased to Rs 150. The school was elevated to the level of High School under the name of Islamia High School in 1905 under the auspices of Anjuman-i-Nusratul Islamia.

 The school was the biggest contribution of Mirwaiz Rasul Shah to Kashmir’s Muslim community. It proved a milestone in the direction of the modern educational institutions of Kashmir.

But, Mirwaiz had to face criticism and taunts of co-religionists for opening Islamia School on the lines of modern education, though religious education was and continues to be imparted side by side with it. With the success of the school at Rajouri Kadal, Srinagar, Anjuman e Nusratul Islam, set up a chain of schools including Drugjan, Rainawari, Safa Kadal, Nowshera, Fateh Kadal, Ameera Kadal, in Srinagar and Anantnag.

A Chain Evolves

Within some years, Islamia School became a model of modern school for Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir and it was running successfully at par with the Christian Missionary Schools. Apart from theology and religion, these schools taught English, Persian, Arabic, Mathematics, and science.

Despite being a frontline educational institution, the Islamia School could not get the deserving patronage from the rulers and governments. This was in spite of the fact that some of the key decision-makers of Jammu and Kashmir in subsequent years had a school with the Islamia School. The list includes politicians Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, Mufti Sayeed, physician Dr Ali Mohammad Jan, poet Ghulam Ahmad Mehjoor, academician Ghulam Ahmad Ashai, Abdul Aziz Fazili and M Yousuf Buch, the former advisor at the UN.

Presently, Nusratul Islam Trust Islamabad, Islamia High School Bijbehara, Islamia School Bota Kadal, Islamia School Safa Kadal, Islamia Higher Secondary School Rajouri Kadal are major educational centres run by the  Anjuman.

 The Social Work

 Contributions in the education sector and preaching from the pulpits of Jamia Masjid and Aali Masjid, Mirwaiz Rasul Shah showed keen interest in the general welfare and charitable cause of Kashmir. He helped the financially needy, poor, widows, handicapped and those who could not marry their daughters for financial constraints. He never charged for any sermon. He would routinely accompany petitioners to the British Resident who held him in great esteem.

Mirwaiz Rasul Shah died at the age of 58 on July 29, 1909 (Rajab 12, 1327). Thirty thousand people joined his funeral. On August 6, more than a lakh people joined the Friday condolence gathering, Fateh Khawani. Even the Maharaja condoled the death and sent a pair of costly shawls for placing on the religious leader’s coffin. The Punjab Press termed Mirwaiz’s death in their headlines as the national loss of Kashmir.

(M J Aslam is the author of the 2-volume Law of Contract that was published by Thomson Reuters Publication in 2017. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Kashmir Life.)

One of the greatest Muhadith’s from Kashmir, Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri was a poet and a great Islamic scholar, writes MJ Aslam

Mawlana Shah Mohammad Anwar popularly known as Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri was born on Saturday, November 16, 1875 (Shawal, 18, 1292 AH) at Dudwan (Lolab). He was the son of Mawlana Muazam Ali Shah and seventh-generation great-grandson of Baba [Amjad Sheikh] Masood Narwari or Narwari Sahib.

Migration From Srinagar

Baba Masood Narwari was originally a resident of Srinagar’s Narwara locality who had migrated to the Lolab valley (Kupwara) during the Mughal period of Kashmir. It may be noted that under the Census of 1911, a surname of Baba families [Qoom] of Kashmir was generally recorded as Baba as such but in Census of 1931, Babas were generally recorded as Shah Families of Kashmir. Narwari falls in this category of eminent Baba family, which was considered distinguished in learning and knowledge of Islamic sciences. Baba caste was generally used for men devoted to the service of the Muslim shrines of Kashmir.

Baba Masood Narwari was among a few rich elite people of the city, who lived in the time of famous Shia Sufi and scholar, Shams ud Din Iraqi. He had actually met him also in Iraq. It was, however, great Sufi saint, Mir Syed Ahmad Kirmani, who came to Kashmir during the reign of Sultan Nazuk Shah and whose Khanqah is located at Narwara Srinagar, who spiritually influenced and enlightened Baba Masood Narwari towards a spartan way of life.

Soon, Narwari gave up a rich comfortable life for the cause of acquiring and spreading religious knowledge. A devout follower of a renowned saint, Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom, he used to attend his spiritual gatherings.

An Early Learner

At the age of six only, Narwari’s great-grandson, Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri, endowed with matchless zeal and memory, completed the reciting and learning of the Holy Quran under the guidance of his father, Mawlana Muazam Ali Shah. Molvi Abdul Jabbar and Molvi Ghulam Mohammad were famous Persian and Arabic scholars of the Lolab in that era. They taught and trained Mawlana Anwar Kashmiri initially in his tender childhood the basics of Arabic and Persian languages and grammar, and he completed learning some Persian books. His unbounded passion for the acquirement of knowledge compelled him to leave Lolab, and for three to four years, he attended the classes of different Sufis and scholars about metaphysics and theology in different Madrassas of Hazara Division (present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan).

In 1889 AD, when he was only 21 or 22 years of age, he relocated from Hazara to Darul Uloom Deoband, which was a key centre of learning of Islamic disciplines. Kashmir and Kashmiris for their overall educational and religious backwardness did not enjoy a good reputation among the educators of Deoband at that time but the extraordinary intelligence shown by young Anwar Shah attracted their attention and soon he was the favourite student at the Deoband seminary.

A Graduate

After completing his graduation in the Fiqah, Hadith and Tafseer in 1896 AD, he got Sanad [certificate] from the renowned scholar of Deoband, Mawlana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, for teaching the subject of Hadith sciences to the students at Deoband seminary. Besides, he earned his Khilafat and grace.

Under the guidance of Gangohi, he practised the sciences of Hadith at Gangohi madrassa. He also served for some time as Principal of famous Madrassa Amini at Delhi. In 1903 AD, he established a Madrassa, Faiz e Aam, at his native place, Lolab, and in 1905 AD, he proceeded on Hajj pilgrimage. By 1909 AD, he was back to Deoband.

Mawlana Anwar had mastered six authentic books of Hadith most of which he remembered on tip of his tongue as one of the most prolific scholars of Hadith sciences. He is credited with having contributed to the sciences of interpretation of Ahadith. He had a great passion for reading all treasures of knowledge and he was endowed by nature with incomparable memory so much so that he would quote passage after passage, line by line, with great ease during his lectures, delivering extempore, citing names of the books with accurate page numbers.  Due to vast and excessive reading and power of photographic memory he was as though a moving and walking library.

His Mentor

Sheikh ul Hind, Mehmood ul Hassan was his mentor at Deoband seminary. The teacher had recognised his pupil and the pupil had recognised his teacher. He was among the famous and illustrious group of Ulema of Deoband who were prepared under the education benefaction of Sheikh ul Hind, Mehmood ul Hassan. He was so much impressed by his learning and teaching abilities and proficient memory that before leaving for Hajj in 1333 1915 AD, Mehmood ul Hassan nominated him as his successor and arranged for his permanent residence at Deoband with Mawlana Hafiz Mohammad Ahmad. He was Dean of Deoband for twelve years. He remained so much absorbed and engaged with his teaching assignments, for which he never demanded or accepted any salary, that at 44 he was still unmarried.

It was his spiritual mentor Sheikh ul Hind, Mehmood ul Hassan, the Dean at Deoband, who drew his attention towards the binding nature of the Holy Prophets’ Sunnah of Nikah and how could he say no to his teacher and deviate from it. Then, through the mediation of Mawlana Habib ur Rahman, a selfless teacher at Deoband, he was married to a lady in the highly religious Gangohi family of Deoband in 1918AD.

With marital responsibility on his head, it was at the insistence of the faculty of Deoband that after his marriage, he was compelled to accept very small amount of money as salary for teaching, at least for maintenance of the family. As long as he did not accept any salary for teaching till his Nikah, he lived as a guest of Deaband’s Mawlana Hafiz Mohammad Ahmad.

Resigned

Due to some dissenting views with some Ulema of Deoband, in 1927 AD, he, with some other Ulema resigned from Deoband and joined a Madrassa at Dabhel Gujarat, where he taught Hadith sciences till 1932 AD.

Mawlana had remarkable spiritual bondage with Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal who wanted and invited him to Lahore in order to settle things with Ulema of Deoband without quitting the seminary. But he had already decided to take up further teaching at Dabhel Gujarat.

During his days at Deoband, he took extensive travels to different parts of undivided India and beyond. Once he was leading a delegation of Ambassadors of Deoband seminary to Dhaka where he delivered an illuminating speech in Arabic and Khawaja Sir Salim Bhadur, Nawab of Dhaka, who attended his address, was immensely impressed by his vast knowledge and conferred great honours on him. He visited Kahota, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Lahore, and delivered intensely rich sermons on multiple disciplines of Islamic jurisprudence. He was an Arabic and Persian poet also, besides a jurist-consult [Faqih] and Mohadith [an expert on Hadith]. He has written several Naats in Persian and Arabic.

A Home Visit

In 1923 AD, he visited second time after his departure from the Lolab to his native place to meet his father and four brothers. Earlier, he had visited when his mother had passed away. During his stay in Kashmir, he delivered several sermons to huge gatherings of people of the Lolab.

In the late 1920s, Syed Rasheed Raza, an acclaimed luminary of Jamia Al-Azhar of Egypt, visited Deoband seminary. Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri in his address in Arabic succinctly explained the historical background of Deoband seminary and its operational teaching mechanism of varied subjects of Tafseer, Hadith, Fiqah, (jurisprudence, metaphysics and theology). He had Munazira [argumentation] on several matters of Shariah with an eminent Islamic scholar, Syed Rasheed Raza, which left the latter with an unforgettable impression about the depths of his knowledge on the sciences of Islam. Later, he admitted that his visit to India would have been incomplete if he had not met and seen Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri. He acknowledged in his papers also at Al-Azhar University that Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri was indeed endowed by Allah with “academic glory and greatness of dignity”. He said about Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri: “I have never seen any religious divine like this glorious Professor.”

With Iqbal

Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal’s great interest in Islamic teachings owed much to Mawlana Anwar Shah Kashmiri’s academic benevolence.  Iqbal held him in great esteem as an outstanding scholar of Islam with no parallel in Islamic history during the nineteenth and twentieth century’s. He rendered the poet Iqbal a great help in the refutation of Ahmadiya doctrines in his papers.

As an authority on Hadith, Mawlana confronted Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani and prevented through his extensive lectures and writings the spread of Qadiyani doctrines in the subcontinent. He won great laurels for his achievements and contribution in the field of Islamic sciences of knowledge from Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Mawlana Shabir Ahmad Usmani, two eminent faces of the Islamic scholarship of the subcontinent at that time.

Though he had settled at Debhel Madrassa in Gujarat but Deoband was always his hometown. At Debhel, he was visited by ailments and ultimately on May 27, 1933 AD, he passed away at an early age of fifty-eight years. He lays buried in an orchard near Eidgah, Deoband.

Father of freedom movement leader Sauddin Shawl, Khawaja Sanaullah Shawl was one of the most respected traders of his era with a chain of outlets in the region. A philanthropist, he was a friend of the Afghan ruler and was hugely respected by the rulers back home, writes MJ Aslam

It is no exaggeration to that Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl of Khanyar, popularly known as Son e Shale, was the wealthiest merchant and landlord of nineteenth-century Kashmir. To date, Kashmiris in their mutual conversations invoke his name, Son e Shale, more as a taunt and jeer. “Zan Chu Su Son e Shale” (as if he is Son e Shale of yore), is the routine reference.

Like well-known Muslim scholar of Srinagar of his time, named, Mulla Inayat Ullah Shawl Ganai [died November 22, 1805), Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl was also a descendant of the Ganai family.

The Ganais’

Ganai is etymologically a respectable caste, a clan that has produced men of distinction who are revered for their piety, scholarship and contribution even after their demises centuries before. They included Baba Usman Uchap Ganai (contemporary of Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani), Sheikh Yaqoob Sarfi, Sheikh Baba Dawood Khaki, Haji Mulla Feroz Ganai, Mulla Mohsin Fani Ganai, Sheikh Ahmad Tarbali and many others. Sheikh Abdul Wahab Noori of Ihshan Sahib, Zaina Kadal, Srinagar where the shrine of Sheikh Yaqoob Sarfi is situated, also came from the same Ganai clan of Kashmir.

It is said that ancestors of the Ganai clan came from four lines of Hazrat Asim Bin Umari Farooq, Mughals and Pathans, local converted Brahman and other non-Brahman castes of Kashmir and butchers (Kasab).

Ganai’s in Kashmiri means Munshi. The members of this clan were pious, God-fearing people. It is further recorded that the ancestor of the fourth category of Ganais was Hilmat Ganai who had started the work of butchery of sheep centuries before and that all butchers of Kashmir are his descendants. But, it seems to be a weak tradition as outside Kashmir, almost all Ganai’s (butchers) are from Qureshi, Qadri, Chisti castes.

Persian chroniclers have devoted books to mention of mendicants (Majzoob) of medieval Kashmir. The men of eminence who have contributed on social, educational and economic fronts have been totally ignored by the chroniclers. Very scant references about those proud sons of the soil are to be found in the Persian history books. The same trend was continued by later Urdu and English writers of Kashmir who after 1947 devoted more to the men of art and music, and poetry.

A Trader

Khwaja Sanaullah got the surname Shawlbecause he was a trade name of his time in Kashir’s shawl business. He had business outlets, showrooms, not only in Kashmir but throughout united India in Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi, Amritsar and in Kabul (Afghanistan) too.

Abdul Rahman Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan (1882-1901), who was instrumental in bringing peace to war-torn Afghanistan and fixing Durand Line with the British had a close affinity with him.

The Afghan ruler conferred honours on Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl and once he had invited him, an eminent Kashmiri trader, one may say, to be a part of his royal delegation to Great Britain where the Afghan ruler was invited for a State-visit. But, as the Afghan Ruler could not visit Great Britain, Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl too could not get the opportunity to be a part of otherwise what would have been the wonderful Afghan royal company of the visiting head of Afghanistan to Great Britain.

In Durbar

The Dogra Maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir too held him in great esteem. The State Council of Ministers that was set up during Gulab Singh’s Rule (1846-1857) was conspicuous by Muslim absence in it. However, Gulab Singh’s son, Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1857-1885) appointed him as a member of his State Council and fixed a salary of 2500 Chilki rupees (One Chilki rupee was equivalent to ten annas of English rupee comprising 16 annas.) After Shawl declined to accept the monthly salary he offered his honourary services to the Council. In that era, 2500 Chilki rupees salary meant a huge amount of money.

Maharaja Pratap Singh (1885-1925) son of Ranbir Singh also had great respect for Shawl. He was always addressed in correspondence of letters by the Dogra Maharajas, Ranbir Singh and Gulab Singh, as “Honourable Khwaja Sanaullah Shah”.

Even Amar Singh younger brother of Pratap Singh had great regard for the Kashmiri merchant who had the fame of being straightforward and truthful in his dealings. It is said that once he gave a promise to someone in business or otherwise, he would strictly perform it and never renege on it, even if the fulfilment meant a personal loss.

In Famine

During Ranbir Singh’s reign in 1877-1879, Kashmir witnessed a terrible famine [Qiyamatkhaiz] that killed thousands of Muslim subjects and far more in lakhs were forced to migrate to Punjab for survival due to the apathetic and callous attitude of local Pandits officials in Dogra Administration. Maharaja had ordered relief measures and food supplies for the suffering residents, however.

In those times, Shawl donated three thousand Kharwars (one kharawr is 80 kilograms) of rice and ten thousand rupees for the famine-hit people. He also offered donations for the respectful burial of the dead according to Muslim rites and for treatment of the ill.  He was a great philanthropist and humanist who secretly helped the poor and needy and he arranged the marriages of a number of poor girls.

Love For Knowledge

The shawl was a great admirer of learning and knowledge. His private home library had thousands of books in Persian, Urdu, Arabic, and English. He is credited with the amelioration and enlargement works of some famous shrines of Srinagar city.

In 1871 AD, the hospice of Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom was extended by the famous merchant, Khwaja Ghulam Mohiuddin Gandru but he died before the extension work of the Khanqah was completed. It was then his brother’s son, Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl, who completed the extension work.

In 1887 Nawab Rais ul Azam, Ahsanullah Khan of Dhaka, whose ancestors were from Nowpora, Srinagar, sent money through Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl for repairs of the Naqshband Sahab shrine in Srinagar. Shawl spent the donated money of Nawab by adding more from his own purse on the latest improvements of the shrine with Khatamand ceilings, concrete walling and furnishing.

In 1879 AD, Shawl donated 47 thousand rupees for the construction of Masjid with Khanqah Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani at Khanyar Srinagar and improvement works of the Khanqah. He amicably resolved the long dispute among the Khadaman [caretakers ] of Dargah Hazratbal, Srinagar for Sajadanishini of the Dargah.

Descendants

Shawl had three sons, namely, Khwaja Ghulam Hassan, Khwaja Nooruddin and Khwaja Saududdin. It was the third one (born 1876) who later got prominence in the political awakenings of Kashmir during the Silk Factory agitation of 1924 and the massacre of 22 Muslim civilians on July 13, 1931.

Khwaja Saududdin Shawl “is credited with great political foresight and rightly deserves the honour of being treated as the father of the modern political movement in Jammu and Kashmir”. It was Saududdin who persuaded many hesitant friends to draft and submit a memorandum to Lord Reading when he was on an official visit to Kashmir between October 14 and October 28, 1924.

In the memorandum, the demand for rights of Muslim subjects were put before the Viceroy of India. Later, he was externed to Kohala by Maharaja Pratap Singh’s soldiers for submitting the memorandum and later Maharaja Hari Singh recalled him from the British Territory in 1926. In the 1931 political awakening of overwhelming Muslim subjects, he was arrested with dozens of other Muslim political leaders.

Death

In April-May 1893, a conflagration engulfed hundreds of households in Habba Kadal. Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl had gone to Punjab on a business trip. When he returned home, his heart was immensely saddened by the miserable condition of hundreds of residents of the Habba Kadal locality who had lost everything in the great fire. The victims included both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Khawaja wrote a long petition to the Maharaja for and on behalf of the fire victims for their rehabilitation and financial help. He personally, as usual, donated in cash and for their rehabilitation and assistance. The impact of the tragedy was heavy on his heart. He fell sick and towards the end of September 1893, he breathed his last at his home.

Before his death, he had redeemed all mortgages, debts, of hundreds of poor people in their favour. The Maharaja Pratap Singh through his Governor, Surajmal, presented a Khilat of 1100 rupees to the bereaved sons of Khwaja Sanaullah Shawl.

After finishing medical school, Gazalla Noor preferred her experimentation in the fields over teaching antonym in the classroom. In her 59 years of life, the energetic businesswoman wore many hats and left indelible impressions of her successes, writes Tasavur Mushtaq

April, every year had a Facebook post from a lady paying tributes to her father on his death anniversary;  seeking blessings for his soul; writing about his life and times. It was a routine. However, this year April had a change. The virtual wall remained the same. Praises persisted. Citations continued. Qualities quantified. But, ownership of the wall altered. An admirer of erstwhile years is no more. The daughter who personified her father passed away on the last day of April, peacefully.

Always responsive and responsible in social spaces, news of her death, as it turned out to be was broken on her Facebook wall, “Long Live The Queen”, and the “Queen” was Dr Gazalla Noor. She was Noor, the light of many lives.

Known as Baaji, she had qualities of both head and heart. Gustily graceful. Charismatically confident. Diligently dependable. Energetically efficient. Socially sensitive. Passionately Philanthropist.  Culturally conscious. Financially free.  She wore many hats in a short span of 59 years, successfully.

Affluent Background

Born to an affluent family in Asham-Sumbal in the Sonawari area of Bandipora, her love for nature never left her. As a child, among six siblings, she enjoyed a connection with the ecosystem. Vast paddy fields, roaming cattle, orchards and sprawling plantations sounded serene to her young mind. She did her schooling from Srinagar’s Presentation Convent, but her convenience was in cultivation.

As medicine dominated the choice of parents for decades in Kashmir, the same happened here as well. Her bureaucrat father, who later retired as Chief Secretary and homemaker mother, both wanted her to study medicine. Finally, she landed in Government Medical College, Srinagar to pursue the dream of her parents. In between, the marriage took place.

Post marriage, after completing her degree, she did a house job in chest medicine and later taught anatomy for a few years and quit. But her heart continued its journey with the aroma of flowers.

No matter what, life has its own way. Her passion and profession were halted. The family became the priority. Given the nature of business her husband, Mohammad Amin was, a “carpet exporter”, and travel was a frequent and permanent feature. However, cultivation continued to enthral her, silently.

Back to Fields

Life moved on. Almost two decades later, when the situation at home eased out, she decided to start afresh. The degree did not receive attention.  However, fields and fragrance was the sustained choice. Being affluent at home made her task easy with huge land at her disposal. She started cultivating Lavender, a medicinal and aromatic plant. There was no looking back. The kitty added many other varieties including Rose, Rose scented Geranium and Rosemary with an oil distillation plant on the farm as well.

The final product of aromatic extracts was sold in small bottles under the brand name Pure Aroma. Starting with a few lakh of rupees, the turnover took a leap to a crore in a few years. Her passion evolved into her profession, successfully.

The response was encouraging. The idea traversed the boundaries and reached from North to South Kashmir. She had the privilege of having the first farm in association with the Regional Research Laboratory in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Her passion to try different ideas with soil continued and she reached Tangmarg to grow aromatic and medicinal plants. She even had her hand in high density (intensive) farming when she planted peach and grapes in Asham. The concept was not viral those days.

Concerned Citizen

Having a smooth journey after initial difficulties at an individual level, Gazalla gazed to intervene at the societal level. Traditionally male-dominated, the business grid got its first female office-bearer after 80 years of its establishment. She joined the election fray, got elected and became the first woman to hold the post of Secretary-General and Treasurer of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Besides business, her role moved beyond trade and turnover.  She took centre stage in both inspiring women and influencing Agri-Business in Kashmir. Her concept majorly revolved around women supporting women.

Sticking to her belief system, personally, professionally and politically, she gave space to sit and discuss. Strongly opinionated, the best about her worst was that she did not cross the line.

Fighting Cancer

Diagnosed with the dreaded disease almost five years ago, she did not let the enthusiasm wane. Her first defence against the disease was to share details on social media. During the course of treatment, she managed her life and liberties and shared her experiences. And once, floated the idea of having specialist Cancer care hospital in Kashmir and even started a campaign. Whatever she did, it was always inclusive.

In health, she pursued people to follow their dreams and in disease, she thought to have a hospital for everyone. That was the beauty about being Gazalla.

Vibrant on social media with issues, instances and interesting anecdotes, her last Facebook post came on April 2, when Ramzan began this year. It was about seeking prayers for health and relief from the pain.

She had grown weak, but not gloomy. Her smile and sentiment never left her. She fought issues in life and life issues valiantly and put a brave face on disease which breaks bonds.

As she was flown from Delhi to Kashmir, her life and journey were celebrated as a thing of positivity. Leading by example, she practised what she preached and exceeded expectations. She had touched lives lovingly. She was someone who seeded seeds of success in society, only to be sown for all years to come. Gazalla, rest in peace.

As Kashmir moved from traditional calligraphy to computer-enabled graphic designing, it was Akhter Rasool who pioneered modern designing and trained a tribe in the new art styles. On his second death anniversary, Malik Kaisar remembers the change-maker

Since childhood, I have been a passionate art lover. The world of art has always held a special place in my heart, and I have been enchanted by the magic that artists create with their brushes on canvases. Even as a child, I immersed myself in art pieces, carefully observing the brush strokes and the beauty they brought to life on the canvas.

One of my warmest childhood memories is of watching signboard artists on the roadside. I would become delighted, spending hours simply watching them at work. There was something about their skill and creativity that drew me in and left me enamoured with it. At that point in my life, I aspired to become an artist.

However, as destiny would have it, circumstances changed, and I found myself on a different path. I had just completed my secondary examinations in the early 2000s, when computers had become a widespread craze, leading to a surge in interest and demand for computer education. I decided to join an institute to learn the basics of computing. It was during this time that I discovered the existence of photography and design software.

Initially, I used basic software to replicate newspaper ads and practised the same repeatedly, earning appreciation from my fellow students at the computer centre. At that time, I was not yet aware of professional software. However, one day, someone at the computer centre introduced me to Photoshop and its applications. My excitement knew no bounds as I delved into the world of digital art and photo editing. Unfortunately, at that time, my teacher had limited knowledge of this software, and there were no readily available resources or tutorials to assist me in learning this magic. But I was determined to learn and decided to take matters into my own hands.

An Inspirational Moment

I vividly remember a sunny Sunday in the summer of 2001 when I was going through the daily Greater Kashmir and was immediately captivated by its Sunday supplement’s front page. The cover featured a photo of a Hangul deer, with the heading of the cover story creatively incorporated beneath its antlers. It carried Akhter Rasool’s credit.

Akhter’s name left a lasting impression on me, and I made it a point to purchase GK every Sunday to see his latest artwork. His work inspired me greatly, and I started learning a few design software programmes by dedicating countless hours to mastering various tools. As I continued to improve my digital art skills, I also began designing advertisements for a well-known welfare organisation I was working for. Despite my growing proficiency in digital art, my admiration for Akhter Rasool’s work never waned.

Around 2005, the world of animation and graphics began to capture my imagination. As a dedicated artist, I was drawn to this medium and decided to pursue it. I embarked on a journey to Bangalore to learn animation and graphics, enrolling in a reputable 3D animation institute in India. After dedicating several years to study and practice, I returned home with ambitious plans.

However, upon my return, I encountered a challenge. People were not familiar with animation and graphics, and they labelled me as a “computer operator.” This label was frustrating, as I had invested so much time and effort into mastering this creative field. Disheartened and considering a return to Bangalore or seeking opportunities elsewhere, I stumbled upon a potential turning point.

A Chance Encounter

An acquaintance informed me of a job opening at Etalaat, a daily newspaper. Although I had not heard of the paper before, I decided to give it a try. When I entered the office for the interview, I was immediately drawn to the beautiful artwork displayed on the walls of its reception area. To my surprise, the Creative Head conducting the interview was none other than Akhter Rasool himself—the very artist whose work had inspired me for years. This was the first time I had met him in person.

As I shared details about my recent certification in animation and graphics from Bangalore, Akhter Rasool recognised my potential and offered me a position as a layout designer for the newspaper. This opportunity marked a pivotal moment in my career. Working alongside Akhter Rasool allowed me to not only enhance my skills but also gain insights into the world of layout design.

Until that point, layout designers often did not receive the recognition they deserved in the media industry. However, Akhter Rasool sought to change that. He elevated the status of graphic and layout designers, offering them competitive remuneration and emphasising their crucial role in journalism. His dedication and efforts were commendable, and he tirelessly worked to highlight the importance of design in journalism.

Mentor of Designers

The recognition and praise for Etalaat‘s layout design extended beyond its local readership. Prominent journalists from Delhi, Mumbai, and other major cities often visited the newspaper’s office and were highly impressed with the quality of its layout design. This recognition from professionals in the field was evidence of the excellence that Akhter Rasool brought to the newspaper’s design department.

In Kashmir, without a doubt, Etalaat became the first daily newspaper to prioritise layout design and excel in it. The layout department occasionally received constructive feedback and suggestions from him for improving page presentation, which was a rare occurrence in the region. This collaborative approach to design allowed the newspaper to continuously enhance its visual appeal and readability.

The impact of Etalaat‘s success in layout design was far-reaching. Other major newspapers began to take the art of layout design more seriously, realising its significance in enhancing the overall reading experience. One of Akhter Rasool’s most remarkable achievements was the transformation he brought to layout design in both English and Urdu publications. His innovative and creative approach to designing pages inspired a new generation of layout designers. Many budding designers learned the basics of this craft under his mentorship and then went on to work for other newspapers and publications. This transfer of knowledge and skills had a cascading effect on the industry, leading to a significant improvement in the quality of design in Kashmir publications.

Akhter Rasool’s hard work was a turning point in the world of layout and graphic design within the region. His dedication and commitment to excellence not only raised the bar for design in the newspaper industry but also served as an inspiration for countless individuals aspiring to make a mark in the field of graphic and layout design. The impact of his work continues to be felt, and the legacy of his contributions to the industry remains a source of pride and inspiration for designers and journalists alike.

Unfortunately, my tenure at the newspaper was short-lived. Due to circumstances, Etalaat ceased publication. However, my association with Akhter Rasool did not end there. He invited me to join him at EMMRC (Educational Multimedia Research Centre), Kashmir University, where he worked as a graphic artist. The department required motion designers, and together, we collaborated on various projects and documentary films.

I believe Akhter Rasool was one of the leading professional graphic artists in the sub-continent. His mastery of art, skills, and profession was unparalleled. Although he may have had his social shortcomings, when it came to teaching, his lessons were flawless, clear, and focused. While they could be lengthy at times, they were undeniably beneficial.

Mentor Departed

Two years ago, October 10, 2021, on a Sunday morning brought the heart-breaking news that my friend, mentor, and teacher was no longer with us. He had passed away, most probably due to a heart attack. He was in his late forties, leaving behind elderly parents, a pregnant wife, and a three-year-old son. Akhter Rasool belonged to the Jafria community, but his funeral was attended by a large number of people from various backgrounds and communities. It was a testament to the impact he had made on so many lives.

Akhter Rasool’s legacy will endure as long as graphic and layout design is used in the media and beyond. He was a professional graphic designer with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and served as a graphic artist at Kashmir University’s Educational Multimedia Research Centre. He had started his career as a freelance designer, then joined Kashmir’s leading newspaper, Greater Kashmir, for some years, and finally stepped in as the creative head of Etalaat. His contributions to the field and his dedication to nurturing emerging talent like myself will always be remembered. God had bestowed him with a soothing voice, and he recited noha on many occasions.

Last Word

My journey as an artist has been filled with twists and turns, but it was the influence of Akhter Rasool that truly shaped my path. His artistry, mentorship, and commitment to elevating the field of design were nothing short of inspirational. While he may no longer be with us in person, his legacy lives on in the art we create and the lessons he imparted. Akhter Rasool will forever remain a guiding light for artists and designers like me, reminding us of the boundless possibilities of our chosen craft.

The post  Akhter Rasool, My Mentor appeared first on Kashmir Life.

Salahuddin Ahmad Shah, a Kashmir-origin veteran broadcast journalist passed away in the United States, leaving behind a legacy of dedication to the spoken word, Syed Shadab Ali Gillani reports

Salahuddin Ahmad Shah, a veteran broadcast journalist and distinguished figure at Radio Pakistan and the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu Service, died on August 27, 2024, in the United States at the age of 97. Shah’s remarkable career at VOA spanned 35 years, and even post-retirement, he remained in the US, leaving behind a legacy deeply intertwined with his commitment to journalism and his enduring connection to his Kashmiri heritage.

Born in 1927 in Srinagar, Kashmir, Shah’s early life was shaped by the tumultuous partition in 1947. He was selected in the Indian Air Force as a pilot, but a pivotal decision by his father altered his trajectory. When faced with choosing between Delhi and Lahore on his application form, his father opted for Lahore.

As partition unfolded, Shah found himself stranded in Delhi for two months before finally reaching Lahore. Upon arrival, he was denied the job he had applied for, as the position now fell within India’s borders. Undeterred, Shah chose to remain in Lahore, where he began a new chapter, working for approximately two years before relocating to Karachi.

Filmmaker and broadcaster Zahoor Zahid is Shah’s nephew. “In Karachi, Shah embarked on his media career as an assistant editor at Radio Pakistan,” Zahoor said. “He pursued further education, earning a master’s degree, and steadily ascended through the ranks, highlighting an extraordinary aptitude for journalism.” As a correspondent, Shah regularly accompanied Pakistani presidents and prime ministers on their international trips, he added.

Eventually, Shah assumed the position of Director General of News at Radio Pakistan, where he played a crucial role in shaping the country’s broadcast journalism landscape.

In 1981, Shah made a pivotal move to the United States, joining VoA, where he would spend more than three decades honing his craft. Renowned for his exceptional expertise, meticulous approach, and expansive knowledge of global affairs, Shah’s focus extended far beyond his deep understanding of India and Pakistan, encompassing issues in Iran, Afghanistan, and global political and economic developments. His unwavering dedication to staying informed was reflected in his voracious reading habits and constant engagement with news sources worldwide. Although Shah retired from VOA about 12 years before his passing, his commitment to journalism and his Kashmiri roots remained unshakeable.

Zahoor also reflected on the tragedies that unfolded in Shah’s life over time. Shah’s personal life was marked by profound loss and remarkable resilience. “He was married and had a son, Haseeb, who tragically passed away from cardiac arrest just eight days after his wedding,” Zahoor recalled. “Haseeb was a pilot, and his sudden death left an indelible mark on Shah, profoundly affecting him for the rest of his life.”Shah’s wife passed away in 2010, deepening his sense of loneliness.

Despite these personal tragedies, Shah found solace in his frequent visits to Kashmir, a tradition he maintained regularly from 2010 until 2018. In 2019, his health prevented him from visiting, but his enduring connection to his homeland remained strong, Zahoor remembered.

Reflecting on Shah’s life and work, Kashmiri journalist Yousuf Jameel shared fond memories of their interactions. Jameel first connected with Shah through phone calls after joining VoA, where Shah would offer valuable feedback on news stories and suggest thoughtful edits.

“My first face-to-face meeting took place in 1996 when I travelled to New York to receive the International Press Freedom Award. Shah Sahab invited me to his home, where I met him and his family, including his son Haseeb,” Jameel recalled. However, by their third meeting in 2002, Shah was alone, still grieving the loss of his son.

Shah’s connection to Kashmir was profound, despite spending much of his life in Pakistan and later in the United States. His heart remained firmly rooted in Kashmir, as evident in his constant inquiries about political developments, personal updates on individuals he knew, and ongoing discussions about the region’s situation. Jameel recounted Shah’s consistent engagement, noting how he would often reach out to discuss not only major incidents but also personal matters, such as inquiries about the journalist’s family members.

Shah’s last sojourn in Kashmir was in August 2023, but his visit was curtailed due to illness. During this trip, he articulated a profound desire to spend more time in his ancestral homeland. He had even made meticulous arrangements for his eventual return to Kashmir, including reserving burial plots and making provisions for his body to be transported back to Kashmir in the event of his passing elsewhere.

Throughout his life, Shah harboured a deep appreciation for Kashmiri culture and language. “He used to lament the loss of the Kashmiri language among the diaspora, emphasising that language is a core component of cultural identity,” Zahoor said. Shah’s commitment to preserving his heritage extended to his friendships with prominent literary figures, including celebrated Pakistani poets and authors such as Ibn Insha and Rahman Rahi. His literary connections and cultural pursuits exemplified his profound respect for the arts and his enduring love for the land of his birth.

Zahoor said Shah was a paragon of integrity, a gifted journalist, and a polyglot of remarkable skill. His early forays into cultural pursuits, friendships with luminaries like Balraj Sahni, and contributions to journalism all underscored his multifaceted talents and unwavering dedication to his craft.

Zahoor recalled that Shah’s linguistic expertise was particularly evident in his mastery of Kashmiri, which he spoke with greater fluency than many others. He often exhorted others to embrace the richness and depth of the Kashmiri language.

The post Shah of Journalism appeared first on Kashmir Life.

An engineer-turned-author from Srinagar, Amir Suhail Wani is navigating the intersection of faith and modernity, Syed Shadab Ali Gillani  reports

Amir Suhail Wani, an engineer by training and an author by profession finds himself at the intersection of faith and modernity. His true passion lies in the realm of words, a passion that has led him to become a thoughtful voice on Kashmir’s evolving spiritual landscape. Amir, a resident of Srinagar, was born in an era where faith was paramount amongst society’s members; he has also witnessed a gradual yet unmistakable shift in societal attitudes towards religion.

“The friends and neighbours I remember, once so certain in their beliefs, now grapple with a growing awareness of atheism,” Amir observes. “Whether openly discussed or silently acknowledged, the erosion of religious significance is palpable. Once a cornerstone of identity and community, religion has receded into the background of many lives.” Amir notes this with quiet resignation, sensing the collective unease as the once-firm ground of spiritual belief gives way to doubt and indifference.

The Upbringing

“I have been fortunate to have a supportive family comprising my father, mother, brother, and two sisters,” Amir begins. “My siblings played an incredible role in my education, while my mother ensured I remained independent by treating me like any other physically fit child.”

Amir’s brother introduced him to Islamic Mysticism and Iqbaliyat, kindling a passion for Kashmiri Sufi Poetry. His sisters enabled him to attend school during a period when he was unable to walk. “Their support has been instrumental in my journey,” Amir acknowledges.

Amir reserves special praise for his mother, Fareeda. “She has been a constant source of guidance, steering me through life’s challenges with infinite sacrifices, unconditional care, and a values-based upbringing rooted in love, compassion, and unwavering commitment to religion.” Despite facing resource constraints, she ensured her children received an education, becoming fruitful contributors to the family and society. She is his primary guide to understanding social intricacies and his go-to resource for folklore and oral history queries.

Amir Suhail Wani’s journey took a pivotal turn at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering in 2016. However, life after graduation did not unfold as he had envisioned. Born with cerebral palsy, which affects his speech and motor functions, Amir faced unforeseen challenges. “It is a condition I have had since birth, but I have made significant improvements over the years, striving to overcome my physical limitations in every possible way,” he explains.

The crisis, however, prevented him from pursuing jobs that required relocation outside Kashmir. This left him at a personal and professional crossroads. Yet, from this struggle emerged an unexpected path – writing.

An Alternative

Amir has long been a latent passion, simmering in the background of his life since he submitted an article to a local editor’s office as a young student. “That early dream found fulfilment in 2011 when a local newspaper published my first piece,” he recalls. “From that moment on, my pen has never ceased to capture the intricacies of life, faith, and society.”

Amir’s writing is a thoughtful exploration of two primary subjects: society and spirituality. “My work traverses a wide range of topics, from the mundane to the metaphysical, reflecting a mind deeply engaged with the world around me,” he explained. His writing often returns to the intersection of religion, literature, and philosophy – a sphere where once-cherished discourses are fading, with profound implications for a society that previously held these subjects dear.

He also touches on the relationship between youth and religion, which he describes as “marked by a profound disconnect.” He elaborates: “The traditional teachings, often delivered by out-of-touch religious leaders, fail to resonate with young people navigating the complexities of modern life. This disconnect has fostered a quiet crisis of faith, leading many to question the very existence of God or the relevance of religious practices.”

In 2019, Amir published his debut book, Lights from Sinai, which explores these issues through a philosophical lens. Citing influences such as René Guénon, Frithj of Schuon, and Martin Lings, among others, Amir critiques the prevailing intellectual landscape, which he argues is often hostile to traditional religious values.

The Book

“It explores the tensions between post-modern scepticism and spiritual yearning, proposing that a return to a more profound, spiritually grounded worldview could provide the moral and existential clarity that many seek,” Amir said. “I do not advocate for a blind return to the past, but for a conscious re-engagement with spiritual traditions, adapted to contemporary contexts.”

In his introspective musings, Amir also examines the role of family and community in this spiritual crisis. He posits that the root of the problem lies not only in external societal changes but also within the home. Parents and elders, often grappling with doubt or complacency, fail to provide a robust religious foundation for their children.

“The traditional stories and arguments that once sufficed are now inadequate in a world dominated by scientific inquiry and rational thought,” he said, advocating for a more nuanced, intellectually honest approach to religious education – one that respects intelligence and curiosity.

Awaiting Renaissance

Despite the challenges, Amir remains sanguine. He envisions the potential for a spiritual renaissance, led by those who approach faith not as a set of rigid rules but as a living, breathing quest for truth. “I believe that the future lies with those who seek a deeper understanding of the divine, not out of obligation, but from a genuine desire to explore the mysteries of existence,” he eloquently puts it.

Amir views this narrative not as a personal tale but as a reflection of a broader societal shift. It encapsulates the tension between tradition and modernity, faith and doubt, community, and individuality – a poignant reminder of the complexities of our times.

A Teacher

Amir actively engages with institutions of higher learning as a guest lecturer, sharing his expertise and inspiring students at the University of Kashmir and the Islamic University of Science and Technology. His association with All India Radio Srinagar enables him to reach a broader audience, broadcasting scripts on various themes that resonate with the public.

Professionally, Amir has made significant contributions as an engineer at SA Power Utilities and as a Social Innovations Officer at ELFA International, a prominent Kashmir-based NGO. His involvement in the advisory board of Aab-e-Rawan, a culture-centric NGO, underscores his commitment to promoting the rich cultural heritage of Kashmir.

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Syed Muzaffar Kashani, a distinguished broadcaster and gemmologist, passed away on January 2, 2025, after a brief and brave battle with a brain haemorrhage, fulfilling his lifelong wish to die in his homeland of Kashmir, writes Ikhlaq Qadri 

The midday call from a friend delivered a jolt: Papaji had suffered a stroke, and the next 72 hours were critical. The line went dead, leaving the news heavy with uncertainty. The full scope of the crisis had yet to unfold, but the consequences were deeply unsettling.

What followed was a blur of helpless hope: hands raised in prayer, eyes swollen with emotion, and hearts weighed down by the moment’s gravity. It was Friday, December 27, 2024. Exactly 144 hours later, another call arrived, marking the end. “Papaji left us for his eternity,” the voice said. “He was in more of a hurry than us.”

The 144 Hours

What transpired in the long 144 hours of life was a tragedy.

On December 27, 2024, Papaji, to his loved ones and Syed Muzaffar Kashani to the world, left his Noida home in good health to offer Friday prayers. The weather in Delhi was drizzly, and his son, Syed Sarwar Kashani, who affectionately called him ‘Sarwar Jaan,’ insisted on accompanying him by car.

After prayers, the father and son went home, their final journey together in Delhi. During the ride, they discussed MaamToath, as Papaji was concerned about his ailing maternal uncle.

Once home, Papaji retreated to his room, possibly to use the phone. He was called three times to have lunch, responding twice, but there was no answer to the third.

When one of the family members went to see him, he was found struggling on his bed, visibly weakened. His hands trembled as he tried to hold a glass of water. He was quickly taken to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed a brain haemorrhage.

The medical team did all they could, and the family and well-wishers did what was necessary, holding on to hope amidst uncertainty. Emotions fluctuated between denial and acceptance, like the ceaseless tide of the sea.

Desperate, talked to so many doctors to know about the ailment and possible treatment. Requested friends to seek opinions. Some responded warmly. Some avoided coldly. Gratitude to all of them.

Unaware of the Almighty’s plan, Papaji’s son visited him in the ICU. To his surprise, Papaji opened his eyes, held his hand, and tears flowed. He was alert and even reacted to a minor mistake in the Quranic verses being recited. This sensitivity in sensing the mistake sparked a fleeting moment of hope, and that night, we all slept in relative peace. However, the delicate balance between improvement and decline lingered.

By December 31, 2024, his condition deteriorated, and doctors placed him on a ventilator, signalling the severity of the situation. However, we surrendered our will to the Almighty, trusting that the right steps were being taken.

As Papaji fought for his life, his ‘Sarwar Jaan’, standing in the corridor, became more attuned to his father’s lifelong wish to begin his eternal journey in Kashmir. Though against the rationale, the following day a decision was made to take him back to the Valley. This was not to prolong his life but to ensure a peaceful departure. With consent granted, arrangements were made for a fully equipped ambulance.

The journey began on the evening of January 1, 2025. During the trip, there were silent moments of conversation, and Papaji seemed at peace, even smiling at the decision to return him home. Preparations for hospital beds in Kashmir were made along the way. After approximately 14 hours, as the ambulance neared Kashmir, Papaji began to slip away. Near Qazigund, a medical staff member declared him dead. His final wish—to die in Kashmir—had been fulfilled.

The Multi-Talented Man

Syed Muzaffar Kashani, born into a family of traders in Khwaja Bazar, Nowhatta, around 1946, began his career in 1964 as a teacher before moving into broadcasting. He joined Radio Kashmir Srinagar, where he excelled in various roles, including announcer, newsreader, translator, producer, and eventually broadcaster.

Just two weeks before his death, he recorded a message for Radio Kashmir, urging the youth to resist drug addiction and focus on progress. He delivered the message in both Urdu and Kashmiri, in his signature vibrant style.

Kashani’s career also included a significant stint in Delhi during the 1975 emergency. Known for his clear, articulate language, he became affectionately dubbed “Kashmir’s Kashani with a Hyderabadi accent.” During his time in Delhi, he cultivated a passion for gemmology, studying it scientifically rather than through traditional inheritance. This dedication made him one of Kashmir’s foremost gemmologists.

The Familial Familiarity

The bond between the Qadri and Kashani families spans decades, founded on respect and shared history. Both families came from the same area in the old city, fostering a relationship of reverence. Our forefathers were well-acquainted, and later, Kashani Sahib became a close friend of my father. While professional duties sometimes interrupted contact, mutual concern for each other’s well-being remained. The most recent inquiry came from him just days before his hospitalisation. “Myoan yaar cha theekh” (How is my friend doing)

As the generations passed, the friendship between our families endured. Each meeting with him was treasured. Kashani Sahib, with his warmth and thoughtful words, left a lasting impression. His presence was a blessing.

A man full of life, his departure has left an irreplaceable void.

May his soul rest in peace.

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