Guns Under My Chinar| FREE READ: Trajectory of Resistance

BOMBS NEXT DOOR
I remember the autumn of 1948 when I was in Handwara market, in my home town, after arriving from Srinagar, where I was an intermediate class student of Sri Pratap College (SP College). While watching the golden skyline after sunset, my attention was suddenly drawn to a couple of speeding jeeps overflowing with men in civvies and uniform. The jeeps sped towards the western part of the town and disappeared into a cloud of dust on the unmetalled road. All the shopkeepers and others present in the market wondered about this unusual movement of policemen in jeeps towards the border area of Rajwar. The jeeps reportedly returned after nightfall and had sped off towards Srinagar without stopping at Handwara.

The next day, when the locals of Rajwar came to the market, a rumour spread that the Special Staff (SS) of the police, headed by Sheikh Ghulam Qadir Ganderbali, had raided the premises of the rajas of Zachaldara and Rajpora—the jagirdars (feudatories of the Maharaja). The rumour suggested that the SS had uncovered bombs concealed beneath the harvested paddy stalks belonging to the rajas. It was the first time I heard of bombs being discovered in our neighbourhood, only about 4 km from our residence. I faintly comprehended that the recovery of bombs had something to do with the ongoing Indo-Pak war.

Raja Inayatullah Khan, his brother Raja Habibullah Khan of Zachaldara and several other rajas from Rajpora had been arrested by the SS during the raid. However, Raja Ehsaanullah Khan of Rajpora had given the slip to the SS sleuths. With the help of a local guide, Akbar, he reportedly crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) via the Bungus Valley, where he settled down for the rest of his life. Several people, including Master Ghulam Ahmed (Abdul Ghani Lone’s mentor and later his father-in-law), were arrested. Subsequently, I came to know that one of my very able and dedicated teachers at Government High School, Handwara, Ghulam Hassan Ganai, a resident of Ganapora, Langate, had also been arrested. This case came to be known as the ‘Srinagar Bomb Case’.

It was also rumoured that the bombs were supplied from across the border by Pakistani secret agencies to fuel sabotage and subversion in the Valley. Many years later, in the early 1960s, Abdul Ghani Lone (who was a prominent leader of the state), belonging to the backward village of Harai in the border area of Kupwara, told me that during those times, he was a schoolboy living with the family of Master Ghulam Ahmed at Sopore, who provided him free boarding and lodging to facilitate his studies at a local high school. In those days, many generous and philanthropic city and town dwellers provided such facilities to poor students hailing from remote rural areas to enable their studies in high schools and colleges. Lone told me that because he lived with the family, he was also arrested and interrogated in connection with the bomb case but was not charged.

‘However, it would be incorrect to say that Pakistan had no sympathizers here’. Even before the Indian Army was stationed in Kashmir, a substantial portion of the state’s population, including the Muslim population of Jammu, aspired for the state’s accession to Pakistan. However, the majority preferred independence as envisaged in the Naya Kashmir Resolution of the National Conference (NC) passed in 1944. Prior to the tribal raid of 1947, a pro-Pakistan students’ outfit had already been formed under the name and style of the Pakistan Students’ Federation with Mohammad Shafi Qureshi as its president and an office in present-day Badshah Chowk, Srinagar. Ironically, it was Qureshi who established the Indian National Congress in Kashmir during the Bakshi regime. Later, he became India’s railway minister and held some gubernatorial assignments before his death.

Post accession, the first pro-Pakistan demonstrations marked by slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were held in the presence of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) commission at Sri Pratap College, Srinagar, in 1948. These latent sentiments resurfaced in 1952 with the establishment of the Political Conference by Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Kara, a hardcore senior leader of the NC. Revolting against his own party, Kara announced the formation of the Political Conference during a public meeting in downtown Sehyaar Aali Kadal, Srinagar. After the formation of the new party, he asked people to openly express their choice. The audience unanimously shouted, ‘We want Pakistan’. With the passage of time, these sentiments curved the trajectory of resistance steeply upwards, which at no stage could be crushed.

After the tribal raiders were pushed back from Shalateng, a neighbourhood in Srinagar, a group of local pro-Pakistan elements formed an underground organization in or around 1948 to carry out anti-India political activities and initiate covert acts of sabotage and subversion. Some active members of the pro-Pakistan Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (JKMC) joined hands with some deserters from the state army (now Jammu and Kashmir Rifles) and the Maharaja’s army, who had mutinied in the wake of the armed uprising in Mirpur, Poonch and adjoining areas. A few of them had also joined the tribal raiders, who attacked the state from the Valley’s western border. The headquarters of this underground outfit was established at Poonch in PoK under Captain Mannan.

The prominent founding members of the JKMC included Captain Mannan of the state army, Jahangir Khan, his brother Alamgir Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Bhat (later a minister in PoK), Ghulam Naqi, Mohammad Rafiq Shahmiri, Muhammad Aslam Khan—a retired British Army officer and the eldest son of Brigadier Rehmatullah Khan—Haji Jalal-ud-Din of Charar-e-Sharief, Abdul Rahim Waza, Raja Feroz Khan, Raja Attaullah Khan, Inayatullah Kakroo of Baramulla, Dr Abdul Majid of Anantnag, Raja Inayatullah and Raja Habibullah of Zachaldara (Handwara).
Most members of the pro-Pakistan underground cells were feudal landlords and officers of the state army. Some of them, who were the cream of the middle-rung leadership of the Muslim Conference, continued living in the state even after the senior leaders migrated to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Raja Attaullah, who had allegedly established contacts with Pakistani intelligence authorities, smuggled pony loads of Sten guns (carbines), revolvers and ammunition from PoK into the Valley via secret border routes in collaboration with Jahangir Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Bhat and Mir Abdul Rashid. Additionally, records show that 700 bombs, allegedly buried in Brigadier Rehmatullah Khan’s (father of Air Marshal Asghar Khan of Pakistan) orchard at Bagh-e Mehtab, Srinagar, were uncovered by the SS, following disclosures made by the Brigadier’s servant during interrogation. Numerous members of the underground organization were arrested during Sheikh Abdullah’s regime but on their release, many of them, including Brigadier Rehmatullah Khan, crossed over to Pakistan. Some of the migrated lot, such as Abdul Rahim Waza, returned to resettle in India with the permission of Sheikh Abdullah and his Deputy Prime Minister (Home) Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad. Ganderbali also helped many resettle. A prominent businessman, Waza died in the early 1990s. A great friend of mine, he was a great asset to the administration and always helped with the maintenance of peace.

Read more in A. M. Watali’s Guns Under My Chinar. Order your copy here: Link