A friend forwarded me a post on X by Ahmad Ali Fayyaz, a journalist, about the ambiguous attitude of Kashmiris towards Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. Without taking sides, Fayyaz juxtaposes the emotional sendoff Kashmiris gave him on his passing in 1982 with the vilification he has been subjected to subsequently. He then poses the charge of ‘treachery’ laid against Sheikh Abdullah in recent times, without expressing an opinion, but contrasting the charge with the reality of the grief at his passing.

Traitor, or gaddaris a term I have often heard Kashmiris use with reference to the Sheikh. Ahmad Ali Fayyaz did well to highlight the issue, because the ambiguity lies in the Kashmiri attitude, not in the Sheikh, as I shall try to explain below.

For a proper understanding of the Sheikh’s role we have to go back to the 1930s and the birth of the Muslim Conference, when Pakistan was not even a concept and Kashmir merely a component of a Princely State. Under the Dogra rulers Kashmiri Muslims were a discriminated lot in terms of employment. In 1925 Kashmiri Pandits had conducted a campaign to protect their share of jobs against Punjabi (mainly Hindus) officials brought in from by the Ruler for their administrative skills. Sheikh Abdullah himself failed to obtain the job of a college lecturer and had to become a school teacher instead.The Muslim Conference agitated for the rights of Muslims for jobs in the administration, political representation, and the rights of the cultivator. In these goals, it is fair to say, Sheikh Abdullah with his modern outlook and radical economic and social agenda had all Kashmir’s Muslims  behind him. His skirmishes with the Mirwaiz after 1934 resulted decisively in a victory for the Sheikh.

After the National Conference was formed in 1938 hiving off the Muslim Conference Sheikh Abdullah continued to reign in Kashmiri hearts. His agenda, which was expanded in 1946 with the Quit Kashmir movement to expulsion of the Dogra dynasty, remained faithful to the original programme. It had nothing to do with the Lahore Resolution of 23rd March 1940 which led to the creation of Pakistan.  

Now, his followers and Kashmiris in general, knew he........

© Greater Kashmir