Meher Qadri
When eight-year-old Maqbool laid down in front of the jagirdar’s motorcar with hundreds of children of the Trehgam village in 1946 to convince the feudal lord for the tax concessions the villagers owed him, little did the villagers know that this boy would live up to his name. This act of innocent resilience would form the foundation of a man who would not only be Maqbool by name but also be remembered as a pioneer of Kashmir’s Fight for ‘Freedom’ decades after his death.
Maqbool Bhat, the little boy would grow up to give the ultimate sacrifice of his life for Kashmir. Maqbool would become synonymous with Resistance.
Born to Ghulam Qadar Bhat of Trehgam, district Kupwara on 18th February 1938, Maqbool Bhat completed his secondary education from a local government school after which he was caught in an endeavor to cross the border with his friends. He was further admitted to St Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Baramulla and also pursued B.A. in History and Political science there. He continued his reading on religion under the guidance of Maulana Shah Abdul Wali. Maqbool initiated politics and protests during his higher education where his powerful oration also found an audience.
He headed the student activists of Plebiscite Front (PF) during Sheikh Abdullah’s stint in the jail. There were huge protests against the government. The Plebiscite Front was also targeted. Maqbool Bhatt was supposed to complete his BA that year but in order to escape arrest, he went underground till the results were declared. In1950s, Bhat along with his uncle, Aziz Bhat left for Pakistan.
In Pakistan, Maqbool went to Peshawar University to pursue Masters in Urdu Literature. He joined a local newspaper ‘Anjam’ to earn his living and write about his thoughts. He strongly believed that Kashmiris would not achieve their freedom until and unless they do not lead the struggle themselves. In an interview, he had said, “If you cannot feed yourself two times a day, how can you free this country?” in another interview he was heard saying, “After the repeated arrests of Sheikh, my mind began to run, I noticed that the nation Kashmiris are fighting for, they have no power over it. I realized that from the very start, this was our biggest fault. Study any revolution and you’ll learn that it’s the oppressed themselves who should be at the forefront and unless they don’t stand up and fight, nothing would happen”.
25 April 1965, Maqbool and his friends crossed into a village inside the Kashmir near the Pakistani city of Sialkot, and formed the Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front (JKPF). He was elected as the Publicity Secretary for this first pro-independence political organization of some significance in PaK that later gave birth to most of the pro-independence groups on the Pakistani side of Kashmir. Abdul Khaliq Ansari, the veteran pro-independence voice in Azad Kashmir and Amanullah Khan were elected president and general secretary of JKPF respectively. Students, traders, lawyers, and journalists also joined the group.
On 13th August 1965 at the residence of Major Amanullah in Peshawar Maqbool secretly formed the Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (NLF). The aim of this organization was written down in just one sentence, “All forms of struggle including armed struggle to enable the people of Jammu Kashmir State to determine the future of the State as the sole owners of their motherland” (Khan, 1992, p.112).
Maqbool Bhatt, along with three of his group members, worked underground for three months and established several guerrilla cells in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The Indian intelligence services figured on the situation and started a massive operation to capture them. On 14th September 1966, Maqbool and his three associates were spotted in Kanilavillage of Handwara and leading to a gunfight. In this encounter, Tahir Aurangzeb from Gilgit was killed and Kala Khan received injuries but they shot dead Amar Chand, an already captured CID official.
Eventually, Maqbool Bhatt, Kala Khan, and Mir Ahmed were arrested, following this, hundreds of their followers were arrested too. Maqbool, along with his two associates were tried in a Srinagar court headed by Neelkanth Ganjoo for killing Amar Chand, crossing the LOC illegally, and being an enemy agent under Enemy Act 1943 The case went on for almost two years and the verdict was given on August 1968. Maqbool Bhatt and Mir Ahmed were given a death sentence and Kala Khan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
When Maqbool was asked if he had anything to say in his defense, he said, “I have no problem in accepting the charges leveled against me, except one. I am not an enemy agent (agent of Pakistan) but I am the enemy itself. Have a good look at me and recognize me well, I am an enemy of your illegal rule in Kashmir… There is no rope that can hang Maqbool.”
Having executed a well-thought jailbreak in the bone-chilling winter of December 1968, he walked hundreds of miles on foot and crossed the LOC ‘illegally’ once again back to his base camp. Once in Pakistan, he was tried along with other NLF members for ‘Ganga’ hijacking. For about three months, from January till March, Maqbool Bhat was held in Azad Kashmir. JKNLF staged many demonstrations during these months which later led to his release on 8 March 1969.
In Pakistan, Maqbool Bhat was chosen as the chairman of the Plebiscite Front. Many members of the Front were not in the favour of an armed struggle but Maqbool being highly inspired by the national liberation struggles taking place around the world especially those in Algeria, Palestine, and Vietnam still went ahead and announced JKNLF as its armed wing.
In May 1976, knowing very well that he carried a death sentence on his head and if apprehended, would be sent to gallows Maqbool made one last journey home accompanied by two comrades Abdul Hamid Butt and Riyaz Ahmad Dar, he entered the Langate Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and demanded money from its Manager. Manager Magray caught hold of Bhat and raised an alarm.
Upon seeing his leader overpowered, Riyaz Ahmad, who was then just 17, and, therefore, hot blood, lost temper; he shot at the Manager and killed him. Meanwhile, villagers rushed to the spot, caught hold of all the three and handed them over to the police. In 1978, the Indian Supreme Court restored the death sentence on Maqbool. Keeping the unthinkable Escape he had pulled off in 1969 Sheikh Abdullah on the advice of his security advisors transferred Maqbool to Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
In Tihar, Maqbool would spend most of his time reading and explaining Kashmir and his fight for its freedom from both India and Pakistan to the prisoners as well as the guards. He would pray five times a day, always keep the Quran near him and recite it often. He brought two reforms in Tahir during his imprisonment. First, he argued if the jail was a correctional facility, for many, the route was via spirituality, for which access to their religious books was mandatory. Second, he wanted stationary to be allowed in the Jails so that the prisoners can engage in their intellectual pursuits. Prison rules were changed as per his demands.
Maqbool petitioned to the President of India Giyani Zail Singh for clemency on the grounds of an unfair trial. On 3 February 1984, Ravindra Mhatre an Indian diplomat in the UK, was kidnapped in Birmingham, England, and a demand to release Maqbool Bhat was put forward by the kidnappers. On 6 February 1984, members of Kashmir Liberation Army murdered the diplomat in Birmingham and were never heard from again. In their last attempt to save Maqbool Bhat after this incident Mian Sarwar, Zafar Mehraj, Muzaffar Beigh, R. M. Tufail and Kapil Sibal set up a case and pleaded that the execution of Maqbool Bhat was in gross violation of all the prescribed laws and norms.The High Court had not confirmed the death sentence passed by the Sessions Court, which was mandatory and without which none can be hanged. R. M. Tufail called it a “retributive action” and “a judicial murder”.
FINAL MOMENTS
R C Pathak from his legal team was given five minutes with Maqbool before his hanging.
While meeting Maqbool, who was wearing a black kurta pajama and a jacket, pathak avoided the topic of his hanging and informed him that he will meet him again on Monday. In answer, Maqbool asked if ‘they’ would permit them a second meeting. It seems Maqbool knew very well what was about to happen. None of his family members were allowed to meet him before the hanging.
In an article published by The Week the events were summarized by different journalists:
“Maqbool was woken up at 5:30 am by the head warden after which he took a bath and read his Namaz and The Holy Quran. The Jail superintendent, A B Shukla too had paid him a visit during the night and chatted with him for a long time. He was later served tea and the death warrant was read to him. Maqbool was also asked if he wanted to write his will, in return he said he just wanted to leave a message. He got his message recorded by the sub-divisional magistrate in English, in which he said, “There will be many Maqbool Bhat’s that will come and go, but the freedom struggle in Kashmir should continue” this message was never released and only came to the knowledge of the public after the release of Black Warrant.
Later, a dozen jail officials escorted him to the gallows where his legs were tied and his face was covered with a black hood before putting the noose over his neck.
As per the execution warrant, Maqbool was hanged at 7:30 am.
He was then wrapped in a 22-yard cloth before being lowered into a grave, followed by last rites performed by an Imam named Mohammad Khan and 10 other Muslim inmates.
Soon after his hanging high-gear security was provided to all pro-Indian politicians in Kashmir. All of Maqbool’s pictures and belongings, some of which were hidden away and sewed inside cushions, were taken away or destroyed. To keep his memory alive, the family decided to draw a painting of Maqbool on the inside of the main gate of the house.
There are still two graves awaiting his mortal remains, one in Trehgam, between the graves of his two brothers, and another at Martyr’s Graveyard, Srinagar.
***A few days after his hanging, Justice Anand’s court, oblivious to the developments started the scheduled discussion on the case but were informed about the events that had taken place. The Delhi High Court sent a notice to the government asking why he was hanged when his case was still under review in the high court. He was informed that the orders had come directly from the ‘competent authorities’ and the case was never pursued any further**
Parts of this Report have been collected from various Reports published on Maqbool Bhat over the years.