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random notes on
History
Jammu ♦ Kashmir ♦ Ladakh
by Prof J I G A R M O H A M M E D

Has
Omar
Abdullah
Arrived?
1

Epilogue
because there is more to know

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www.epilogue.in Vol. 4 Issus 12 Epilogue, December 2010

3 PROLOGUE
Our Resolution for 2011
ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Dear Reader,
As always, January is a special occa-
sion for us. A time of special joy as
Epilogue's anniversary coincides with
New Year eve. For you it is a time for
resolutions as how to make best of your
life in the year and for us it is time to
plan what to offer you next 12 months.
In 2011, it is our fourth anniversary
and we step into fifth year with new
hopes, firm resolutions and a vision for
expanding the knowledge society in
Jammu and Kashmir and telling the rest
of world the best of our stories. In last
10 to 15 years Jammu and Kashmir has
seen huge expansion of print media.
There is deluge of newspapers. The
Registrar of Newspapers puts the fig-
ures in thousands but around 460 titles
are actually reported in daily, weekly
or monthly publication cycles. At least
a dozen newspapers -both in English
and Hindi -come from outside the
state. Epilogue is just a small drop in
this huge ocean of Press in Jammu and
Kashmir. Though we are small, we hit
stands only once a month, we operate
from small office with a small staff but
it is our vision, we believe, which
makes us feel large enough. While we
are proud to be part of diverse and
large media community of Jammu and
Kashmir but we find a serious flaw with
the Press in this state. Over the years,
the Press is becoming increasingly re-
gionally chauvinistic which is a danger-
ous trend for a place like Jammu and
Kashmir. It is agreed that there are
differences of opinions, perceptions
www.epilogue.in Vol. 4 Issus 12
and sentiments between three regions
but the Press can play a vital role in bridg-
ing those divides. Instead, the Press is
mostly catering to the regional senti-
ments and therefore widening the gulfs
between Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh.
At Epilogue, bridging regional divides is
at the heart of our editorial policy. In our
state, the politics of conflict and con-
flict of politics occupy major space in the
media and therefore the basics remain
unattended. While it is bit difficult for a
logistically disadvantaged monthly pub-
lication like Epilogue to attend to all is-
sues of development and bring stories
from the margins but the minimum we
can offer to the readers is the basic in-
troduction to the issues that matter. In
last four years we have focussed on key
issues month after month. As we step
into the fifth year, there is a yearlong
plan for our readers -we intend to con-
centrate more on the social sciences and
piece together the basic knowledge about
various facets of life in Jammu and Kash-
mir. Therefore the first issue of 2011 is
devoted to History. Rest of month you
will get to read on political and identi-
ties, business and economy, banking and
communication, education, healthcare
and infrastructure. We hope to arm our
readers with complete set of basic knowl-
edge about Jammu and Kashmir before
our fifth anniversary. While presenting
this first issue of New Year, we renew
our request to every reader to get in-
volved in your magazine sending your
feedback and writing for Epilogue. Wish-
ing you very a happy New Year and happy
reading in New Year.
Epilogue, December 2010
P O L I T I CS 4
TWO YEARS OF OMAR

Has Omar Abdullah Arrived?

EPILOGUE BUREAU

Battling the summer rage and numerous odds, Omar Abdullah has said more than
once that his personal credibility has suffered badly and he has gone through
lowest times of his life. The man who is branded as hangman and is asked to go
over 200 times a day can hardly enjoy the pleasure of high office he sits in. But,
for argument's sake, who could have done better in his place

A
firmed up separatist move
ment, angry youth and an ag
gressive opposition -all ingre-
dients of a deadly cocktail ensure that
even the statesmen fail in Kashmir.
Leadership qualities are exhibited
best while meeting challenges but it
needs a bit of space to do that bit.
Omar Abdullah is not a statesman by
any means that one can expect a kind
of miracle from him which statesmen
like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah could not
offer to the people of Kashmir. He
was chased too fast and hooted too
loud all along 2009 for being too young
to handle the high post of Chief Min-
ister and in 2010 all swords were out
of sheath seeking his head. Some
said he had no knowledge of ground
realities in Kashmir others felt he
ruled the state in a corporate execu-
tive style. The summer rage saw fell-
ing down of 112 unarmed civilians and
after every grave was dug voices got times eruptions spoiled many a po- said more than once that his personal
shriller for removal of Omar. Problem litical careers. Chief Minister's of- credibility has suffered badly and he has
in Kashmir is phenomenal and com- fice is the first place where change gone through lowest times of his life.
plex, it has been dragging on for de- is sought in times of turmoil. Is it The man who is branded as hangman
cades and there is a de-nova format the only place where buck stops? and is asked to go over 200 times a
and hard to pin down symptoms - at Isn't there a bit of sense in asking day can hardly enjoy the pleasure of
occasions all seems settled as life for change of leadership or mindset high office he sits in. But, for
makes fast strides and at times it at the separatist house to make argument's sake, who could have done
gives the feeling of, as Dick Cheny Valley breathe easy and talk about better in his place. That is the ques-
had said, the most dangerous place the issues, most importantly the tion no one is ready to answer. There
on earth. In fact, Kashmir stores in- violations of human rights which are questions and questions but not any
herent dangers beneath its surface are condemned as strongly by Omar fair answers. One popular question from
and it needs just a kick to throw the as by his predecessor Mufti summer rage of 2010 goes like this: why
Valley into flames. Following the de- Mohammad Sayeed or the Hurriyat Geelani at 80 is more popular among
nova format when situations were leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Kashmiri youths than Omar at 40? That
relatively calmer the people at the Battling the summer rage and anti-India sentiment reigns supreme in
helm enjoyed the credits and at other numerous odds, Omar Abdullah has Kashmir is no hidden fact. Geelani is a

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

5 POLITICS
As Jyoti Thotam of
Times Magazine writes
in late August 2010
issue that being Chief
Minister of Jammu and
Kashmir is world's
toughest job, Omar
seems to have learnt
few lessons.
diehard abhorrent of India and
he is a darling in Kashmir. Give
Omar an anti-India agenda and
see the emergence of a new hero
with sustenance guarantee for
next several decades. Then why
ask this question which no one
is comfortable with. Once you
move into Chief Minister's office,
immediately you become the top
Indian agent in Kashmir. And
when you are pushed to the wall
in Kashmir, it is safe for the
people outside the four walls of
Valley to conclude your failure.
These arguments of the consti-
tutional burden apart, Omar can-
not be exonerated so easily. Some
mistakes have to be attributed
to him -of inheritance, lineage
and complacency.
It is strongly argued that
Jammu and Kashmir needs ex-
perienced and politically mature
leaders. If this argument is based
on the age then there can't be
anything wrong than this. Before
Omar's arrival in 2009, the last
decade saw two leaders -Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam
Nabi Azad -becoming Chief Min-
isters of Jammu and Kashmir for
first time. Farooq Abdullah was
sworn in as Chief Minister four
times but his two first timer suc-
cessors -Omar's two predeces-
sors -were rated better than
Abdullah senior in terms of per-
formance and seriousness. Omar
brings more advantages and el-
ements of trust with him than any
of the Chief Ministers in last two
decades. He is accused of enter-
ing the Chief Minister's office
hands down in a smooth sail for
www.epilogue.in
What is going good
Post-August 2010 public engagements
have significantly increased. He is go-
ing to places, meeting people and let-
ting people meet him when he is in capi-
tal.
Rapport with party cadres is being
structured at personal level. Sensing that
NC President, Abdullah senior, is mostly
away in Delhi, Omar is on one-to-one
contacts with the party people.
Present administrative arrangement
seems to be best of times except need
for changes at a couple of places. In most
of 2009 performers were relegated to
oblivion and people known for ineffi-
ciency and biases ruled the key posts.
Grip on cabinet colleagues and ad-
ministration seems to have tightened.
No reports of any usual coalition troubles
during any of the 25 cabinet meetings in
2010.
Element of accountability is return-
ing, though slowly, among the security
forces. In this connection, support of
Home Minister P Chidambaram is dis-
cernible
What is not
Two years was enough time to bring
the State Accountability Commission back
to life but serious thought has been
given.
Chief Minister is personally but that
is not enough. Corruption is becoming
more vibrant top-down phenomenon and
there are not any visibly strong measures
to put check.
Blame has been shifted on the leader
of opposition PDP but Chief Minister still
owes an answer to his commitments as
why the government could not get a chair-
person for the State Information Commis-
sion.
Panchayat elections could have an
answer to many problems of dissent. No
time frame has been fixed for devolution
of powers.
Vol. 5, Issue 01
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
being grandson of Sheikh
Mohammad Abdullah. This view
has no strength. Unlike most of
the leaders in Jammu and Kash-
mir, Omar cannot be bundled as
a product of circumstances. His
way to the top office was dotted
by hard struggle, experiences of
working at high positions of re-
sponsibility and courage of ac-
cepting defeats with humility -a
quick burden of inheritance when
father pushed him as Minister in
BJP led government at Centre,
presidentship of grand old party
National Conference at a very
young age, party's loss and per-
sonal loss in election at family's
safe turf when he was projected
as Chief Ministerial candidate, six
years of a humiliating role in op-
position when he was not even a
member of Assembly, dozens of
important party leaders including
two Legislators breaking ranks
and joining the rival ruling camp.
After having gone through all this
one doesn't need to white his hair
and while away the age to con-
vince people that now he is ma-
ture enough to take the top job.
A question of legitimacy is also
raised in case of Omar Abdullah.
Politicians and political scientists
argue that Omar lacks the legiti-
macy of mandate as the vote of
2008, in Kashmir, was for Peoples
Democratic Party and he was im-
posed on Jammu and Kashmir by
Sonia Gandhi on advice of Rahul
Gandhi and lobbying by Sachin
Pilot. Let's take a look at the re-
cent political arrangements to un-
derstand the question of legiti-
macy. When Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed of Peoples Democratic
Party was cleared by the Congress
to become Chief Minister, his
party had only 16 seats in House
of 87 and alliance partner Con-
gress had 20 seats. Interestingly,
Mufti's party had no Assembly
seat at all from Jammu province.
Should there have been a ques-
tion that he lacked legitimacy;
more so, in Jammu and Ladakh?
Epilogue, January 2011
P O L I T I CS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
His predecessor, Ghulam Nabi
Azad become a Chief Minister
when his party had only 20 seats.
National Conference returned in
2008 with a far better number
and some amount of trust from
all three regions. Social media,
particularly the facebook is new
rage in Jammu and Kashmir.
Hundreds and thousands of
young and old are hooked on, en-
gaged in hot debates. In the sum-
mer of 2010 while thousands
pelted stones on the streets of
Kashmir, no less than thousands
fired more lethal salvos through
the facebook. A list of invectives
would cross 100 which were used
for Omar. His real name 'Omar
Abdullah' found an overwhelming
mention on almost all status
posts on August 15 with a shoe
flying over him at the venue of
Independence Day parade in
Srinagar's Bakshi Stadium. Hun-
dreds of comments followed. A
Policeman Ahad Jan became a
quick hero. Father Farooq said,
in a typical reaction, 'Omar has
joined the elite group of George
Bush and P Chidambaram' who
similar hurling earlier. As the
scene was widely televised, Ahad
Jan introduced Omar Abdullah as
a stable and mature leader who
is balanced and not impulsive.
While there were murmurs in the
crowd, not even once did Omar
look back to see what happened.
He did not react at all as if noth-
ing had happened. Only upon
conclusion of his Independence
Day address, the Chief Minister
said, 'somebody has thrown a
shoe, I welcome if people throw
shoes instead of stones'. A stable
body language went off as least
watched over picture of the year
and calm reaction on shoe throw-
ing was perhaps the most under-
played statement of the year. Ten
days later there was another evi-
dence of the arrival of Omar
Abdullah: a ruthlessly unsparing
reshuffle at top echelons of ad-
ministration. Perhaps some
people were parked at wrong
www.epilogue.in
6
places and the reshuffle meant
taking all square pegs off the
round tables and putting them at
places that they deserved. Sack-
ing of Works Minister Ghulam
Mohammad Saroori was another
bold step which Chief Ministers
are required to take. It involved
more than a question of moral-
ity. Saroori was reported to have
crossed lines with the Chief Min-
ister a couple of times earlier and
allegations of wrongdoings in his
department were taking rounds.
Omar's first year in office
was marred by a perception of
inefficiency and non-serious-
ness. His weekend flights to Delhi
and frequent family holidays
showed him as a man far re-
moved from the ground. Impul-
sive reactions like his response
to PDP's Muzaffar Hussain Baig's
allegations in Legislative Assem-
While there were murmurs in bly and errors of judgments as
the crowd, not even once did he made many during protests on
Omar look back to see what alleged Shopian rape and murder
reflected something missing
happened. He did not react at from key ingredients of a leader
all as if nothing had hap- charged with most sensitive re-
pened. Only upon conclusion sponsibility. As Jyoti Thotam of
of his Independence Day ad- Times Magazine writes in late Au-
gust 2010 issue that being Chief
dress, the Chief Minister said, Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
'somebody has thrown a shoe, is world's toughest job, Omar
I welcome if people throw seems to have learnt few lessons.
Which is why in latter half of his
shoes instead of stones'. A second year in office, one finds
stable body language went off a new man in charge. That, per-
as least watched over picture haps, marks the arrival of Omar
Abdullah which youth of Jammu
of the year and calm reaction and Kashmir would have looked
on shoe throwing was perhaps forward to. He has four years to
the most underplayed state- go and the job needs him to work
harder to live up to the expecta-
ment of the year. tions.
Unlike most of the leaders in Jammu and
Kashmir, Omar cannot be bundled as a product
of circumstances. His way to the top office was
dotted by hard struggle, experiences of
working at high positions of responsibility and
courage of accepting defeats with humility
Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011
7 POLITICS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR

DATELINE, NEW DELHI

Not All Weekends Are Same

EPILOGUE BUREAU

Chief Minister's Saturday sojourns to family in Delhi seem to have

ended. On 37 weekends of 2010 he was either meeting leaders in
Delhi or had public engagements back home.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, NEW DELHI SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, JAMMU

• Attends Chief Ministers' Conference on prices of essential commodi- Is in winter capital, meets people at
ties. Warns that Jammu and Kashmir could be headed for a drought, asks the residence
Centre for higher food grains allocations to meet the increased demand. Omar
said his Government has already informed the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, SUNDAY, MARCH 13,
Food and Public Distribution that the requirement of food grains for distribu- GANDERBAL
tion at affordable rates under the PDS system was much more than the cur-
rent allocation. "We in our State are heading for severe drought next summer Conducts extensive tour of his elec-
in view of low levels of precipitation during this winter. Fortunately, now rain tions constituency Ganderbal, in-
and snow have arrived and we expect some respite. Talking about the steps spects dev works, meets deputations
taken against hoarders, he said the State Government has already prescribed
stock hoarding limits for essential commodities like sugar, pulses of all vari- SUNDAY, MARCH 20, JAMMU
eties, paddy, edible oils of all brands, edible oil seeds, rice and wheat and
formed apex squads to crack down on hoarders. During 2009, the CM said Is in winter capital, meets people at
3,445 inspections and 1,213 raids were conducted as a result of which 210 residence
persons were arrested and convicted whereas 45 Fair Price Shops licences
were suspended. He said the state police has registered 449 cases, arrested SUNDAY, APRIL 17, JAMMU
449 persons and prosecuted 227 persons under sections 3/7 of the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955 during 2009. Meets various delegations at
residence in Jammu
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, NEW DELHI

• Attends Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security. Seeks the SUNDAY, JUNE 5, SRINAGAR
Centre's help in formulating a new surrender policy for youths in Pakistan
administered Kashmir willing to return to the mainstream. Omar Abdullah, Inaugurates a building in Srinagar.
who was among the first speakers at the Conference on Internal Security Expresses worries about public un-
chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, said "to encourage more mili- rest, cautions people against rumour
tants to return to State and manage their transition to civilian life, a new mongers, appeals for tolerance
surrender and rehabilitation policy of militants is under active consideration
of my Government". SUNDAY, JUNE 12, LEH

TUESDAY, MARCH 4, NEW DELHI Inaugurates Singhey Khabab Sindhu

festival; says Ladakh to be better
• Meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprises him of the secu- connected to make it all-year desti-
rity situation in the state, including growing attempts of infiltration from across nation. Is accompanied by family
the border. During the meeting, Omar complimented the Prime Minister on his
statement after meeting Saudi Arabia King Abdullah that the gulf nation should SUNDAY, JUNE 19, TULMULA
(KASHMIR)

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

8 P O L I T I CS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR

use its offices with Pakistan to stop

terror elements from operating from Visits Khir Bhawani on the occasion
that country. The Chief Minister drew of congregation of Kashmiri Pandits,
Singh's attention towards the increase says that many attempts had been
in attempts from across the border to made to damage this trait but people
push in terrorists into the state, blam- foiled the ill designs time and again
ing it for the violent incidents in Feb- exhibiting their firm faith in
ruary this year, official sources said. Kashmiriyat.

WEDNESDAY , MARCH 24, NEW SUNDAY, JUNE 26, SRINAGAR

DELHI
Presides over a meeting of a group
of Ministers and senior officers to
• Omar calls on Congress President review emerging situation in Kash-
Sonia Gandhi and discusses with her
mir after four youths were killing in
political and developmental aspects
CRPF firing
of Jammu and Kashmir. The main
agenda of meeting was to discuss
SUNDAY, JULY 10, SRINAGAR
issue of inter-district recruitment bill
which saw some irritation within the
Amidst spiraling violence in Kashmir,
ruling Coalition partners-Congress
spends a hectic day in Srinagar phon-
and National Conference. The Chief
ing up leaders of various parties, in-
Minister reportedly informed UPA
cluding Mehbooba Mufti of PDP, to at-
Chairperson that not only from rul-
tend the All Party Meeting.
ing National Conference Legislators,
the Coalition Government is also fac-
ing mounting pressure from the main
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, SRINAGAR/
Opposition party in the State-People's
LEH/DELHI
Democratic Party (PDP) for imposing
ban on the inter-district recruitment.
Chairs a meeting in Srinagar in the
He sought the help of Sonia Gandhi
morning, conducted aerial survey of
in bringing an end to political unrest the Leh area to assess the damages
over the issue in the State. due to flash floods; flies to Delhi

MONDAY, APRIL 26, NEW DELHI SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, SRINAGAR

• Chief Minister meets Home Minister P Chidambaram and discusses law and Attends several meetings in the day,
order and security scenario, prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir. Spokesman makes television address ahead of
said that Omar laid a strong emphasis on strict commitment of both the state Independence Day. Omar announces
and the central governments for upholding human rights and exhibiting zero 50,000 youth to be engaged in Gov-
tolerance against Human Rights violations. He mentioned that there has to ernment in next few months
be a coordinated effort between the Paramilitary forces as well as local police
administration to deal with the security issues so that the problems are tack-
led keeping in view the local sensitivities as well. The Chief Minister during SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, SRINAGAR
the meeting raised the issue of vacation of the Government establishments
by the Security forces at strategic locations in view of the improved security Attends meetings, meets delega-
situation in the State. tions. Assures Sikh community of
their security
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, SRINAGAR

• Calls up Home Minister P. Chidambaram and expresses his strong concern SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,
about the recent death of civilians allegedly by the troopers of central paramili- SRINAGAR
tary force CRPF. According to an official spokesman, the Home Minister assured
the Chief Minister that together the Union government and the state govern- One of the most violent days in
ment will deal with the situation. The Home Minister said the Union government Srinagar when public erupted on the
is committed to support the state government in its endeavor to bring peace and eve of Eid. Omar is in Srinagar of-
order in the state and shall do everything possible in this regard.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

POLITICS 9
TWO YEARS OF OMAR

SATURDAY, MAY 29, JAMMU fers Eid prayers at Ziarat Syed Yaqoob
Sahib Sonawar
• Congress President Sonia Gandhi is in Jammu on a brief visit. Omar holds
a one-to-one meeting with Sonia after she inaugurated a building of an NGO SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, JAMMU
of Gujjars. The two discussed issues pertaining to the development of the
state of Jammu and Kashmir and the functioning of the coalition government Reviews development works in win-
in the state. ter capital, meets deputations, indi-
viduals
SATURDAY, JULY 17, NEW DELHI
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, SRINAGAR
• Series of meetings with Central leaders, including Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh, who assured him all help and support to overcome the
Meets scores of deputations, indi-
present crisis in Jammu and Kashmir. The Chief Minister began his day with viduals in Srinagar
a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram with whom he had a detailed
discussion about the prevailing situation in the State and the steps being SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, SRINAGAR
taken to improve it. Also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and discussed
with her the functioning of his Government. This round of meetings was at Omar sees off first batch of Hajj pil-
the height of tension in Kashmir when speculations were rife over removal of grims
Omar as Chief Minister.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, SRINAGAR
SUNDAY, JULY 24, NEW DELHI

• Attends National Development Council meeting in New Delhi. Reiter- Commissions Jawahar Nagar Receiv-
ates that Jammu and Kashmir is not a problem of economics but that of ing Station in Srinagar, gets an im-
political, underlines the need for pursuing the external dialogue process and pressive reception by the residents,
first of its kinds after months of tur-
initiating internal talks with diverse political opinion in an inclusive manner.
moil
MONDAY, AUGUST 2, NEW DELHI

• Omar meets Prime Minister and other senior central Ministers includ- SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, JAMMU
ing Home Minister P Chidambaram while he was battling upsurge in violence
in the state. He said that the state needs a political initiative to deal with the Is in Jammu, attends meetings,
situation but made it clear that for that to happen a semblance of normalcy is meets deputations
a precursor. After meeting PM, Omar told a press conference "Jammu and
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18,
Kashmir is a political situation. It needs political handling. It requires a po-
KULGAM
litical package more than an economic package". By political package, the
Chief Minister said he meant dealing with issues like Armed Forces Special Chairs meeting of District Develop-
Powers Act, footprint of the security forces, rehabilitation package for young- ment Board Kulgam
sters who are across the line of control and
compensation for victims of the ongoing
trouble.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, NEW DELHI

• Meets Home Minister P Chidambaram

and emphasizes the need for political initiatives
which he has been reiterating over the last eigh-
teen months to assuage the feelings of the
people. The Chief Minister reiterated the need
to have a re-look at the AFSPA and take suit-
able steps for its amendment or revocation. He
also made out a strong case for the Union Gov-
ernment to consider relocation of armed forces
in the areas where it is not required, on need
basis. Omar urged the Union Government to
announce a comprehensive employment pack-
age for the six lakh unemployed youth of the
state.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

P O L I T I CS 10
TWO YEARS OF OMAR

Cabinet meetings

Index of smooth governance

EPILOGUE BUREAU

Large scale and frequent transfers and postings though remained a key feature of most of the
meetings of state cabinet in 2010 but a near total cohesion between the coalition partners
was rather more remarkable feature. Give it to the grip of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah or
political maturity of his Ministers of 25 meetings of cabinet which took place in 2010, fissures
were reported in not even one even as one meeting was boycotted by two Ministers of Congress
when amendments in Panchayati Raj act were on discussion agenda. Peaceful meetings reflect
an index of smooth governance and a large degree of comfort between coalition partners Na-
tional Conference and Congress despite the controversial issues under discussion, like rehabili-
tation of militants. Of 25 meetings held in the year, major transfers and postings were car-
ried out in 11. In its meeting on July 27, the cabinet decided to meet ever Tuesday morning.
However, meetings did not take place on all Tuesday s. In 2009, the Omar Abdullah cabinet
met 20 times. Here is a glossary of important decisions taken by Omar's cabinet in 2010

JAN 7 MARCH 12

• Cabinet sanctions release of July, 2009 install-
ment of Dearness Allowance (DA) at the rate of 5% of
basic pay raising the total DA payable with effect from
July, 2009 to 27% of pay to the State Government em-
ployees including work charge/whole time contingent paid
employees working on regular time scale.
19 senior Government officers are transferred and nine
are promoted from Time Scale KAS officers to the Selec-
tion Grade of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Ser-
vice. It also created two posts of Registrar and Joint Reg-
istrar for State Information Commission.
FEB 15
• Cabinet decided to go ahead with elections to
urban local bodies (which, however, could not be held till
the end of 2010) rejecting a proposal to extend their
tenure beyond five years.
• Nod to construction of remaining portion of Ravi
Tawi canal from Ranjit Sagar dam for irrigation of Kandi
belt of Kathua and Samba districts which will make the
State foodgrain surplus in next two decades enabling it
to even go for exports to other States. It would increase
foodgrains production by 2.66 lakh tones per annum. The
Cabinet decided to seek Rs 8599 cr compensation from
Punjab on account of power and water losses for con-
struction of Ranit Sagar dam. Approved Governor's Ad-
dress to joint session of Legislature
Cabinet approves for tabling in the Legislative Assembly
the draft legislations with regard to regularization of
adhoc and contractual appointees and reforms in the
power sector. The proposed J&K State Electricity Act, 2010
aims at paving the way for introduction of consumer
friendly reforms in the power sector in the State.
APRIL 5
• The Cabinet invokes provisions 'no work, no
wages' provisions of Essential Services Maintenance Act
(ESMA), which is currently operational, against the strik-
ing employees. Briefing about the Cabinet decision, Fi-
nance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, said that the State
Cabinet unanimously decided these measures and em-
phasized that such of the employees who will resort to
strike or remain unauthorizedly absent from their du-
ties will be dealt under the provisos of ESMA. The em-
ployees were agitating for revision of their salaries and
release of arrears as per recommendations of the Sixth
Pay Commission. The Finance Minister said that the All
Parties Delegation shall be going to meet the Prime Min-
ister in Delhi shortly for considering the special dispen-
sation of making available resources for clearing the
employees' arrears. On the enhancement in retirement
age, the Finance Minister said that it is under the con-
sideration of the Government. Since one or two parties
did not participate in the All Parties Meeting, the Gov-
ernment will consult them also on this issue.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

11
The Cabinet also approved some transfers and postings
at echelons of state administration besides placing the
services of Principal Secretary Anil Goswami at the dis-
posal of Government of India for his further posting as
Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs
MAY 12
Cabinet approves top-notch level transfers and postings
in administration. Of 25 officers transferred, 11 are from
IAS and four from IFS
MAY 14
The cabinet meets to take a brief from its sub-commit-
tee which was earlier constituted to hold discussions with
employees on the issue of their pay arrears. The Cabinet
Sub Committee briefs the Cabinet about the discussions
held on the 29th April, 2010 with the representatives of
the employees on their key demands. The Cabinet Sub
Committee is advised to hold further discussions with
the representatives of the employees.
MAY 24
• Cabinet sanctions release of January 2010 instal-
ment of 8% D.A to employees, pensioners, raising the
total Dearness Allowance payable with effect from
01.01.2010 from 27 percent to 35 percent of pay to the
State Government employees including work charges/
whole time contingent paid employees working on regu-
lar time scale.
• In another decision, the cabinet accorded sanc-
tion to the establishment of new R&B Division at Sumbal
and creation of two Superintending Engineers one each
for Ganderbal and Bandipora districts and Pulwama,
Shopian districts along-with supporting staff.
• The cabinet also accorded sanction to the pay-
ment of claim amounting to Rs 25.40lakh for reimburse-
ment to the J&K Tourism Development Corporation on
account of providing boarding facility to the officers/of-
ficials of 'Raj Bhawan at Zethyar by the JKTDC during the
year 1995 - 1996 to 1998-1999.
• The cabinet also confirmed Director General of
Police's DGP's proposal for augmenting of manpower in
SKPA Udhampur, PTS, Kathua, PTS Manigam and regular-
ization of PTI Vijaypur, STC Sheree and STC Talwara.
• The cabinet also authorized the Managing Direc-
tor Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corpo-
ration Limited to issue the Letter of Intent (LOI) to the
successful bidder namely M/S GVK Development Projects
Private Limited (GVKDPPL) for development of the 690
MW Ratle Hydro Electric Project and also authorized the
Administrative Secretary of Power Development Depart-
ment to sign the Power Purchase Agreement with the
seller.
• The cabinet revised ration money allowance to
non-gazetted personnel of Prisons and Fire and Emergency
Departments to Rs 450 per month from April1, 2010 and
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POLITICS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
subsequently to Rs 600 with effect from April 1, 2011.
• The cabinet also approved the placement of four
in-charge Superintending Engineers (R&B) as in-charge
Chief Engineers from the dates mentioned against them.
MAY 31
Massive administrative overhaul is carried out. Cabinet
approved fresh transfers and posting 34 top to middle
level officers in civil administration and 56 officers, in-
cluding two Inspectors General, in Police. Promotions are
also accorded to seven Police officers.
JUNE 28
The Cabinet meet to discuss prevailing law and order
situation in the Kashmir Valley.
JULY 27
• Cabinet constitutes Commission of Inquiry con-
sisting of Justice Syed Basher-ud-Din (Retd) as the Chair-
man and Justice Y.P. Nargotra (Retd) to probe civilian
causalities in 17 incidents in Kashmir division in which
fatalities had occurred on account of action by the State
Police/Security Forces since June 11, 2010. The Com-
mission is required to submit its report within three
months.
• The also Cabinet approved that the review com-
mittee constituted vide Government Order No. Home-
2501-(PB-V) of 2002 dated 26-12-2002 will immediately
review the cases of detention under the Public Safety
Act and make recommendations about the release of
detenues.
• The cabinet also approved a package, as a one-
time exception, in favour of the relatives of those civil-
ians, who have lost their lives since June 11, 2010 as a
result of violence attributable to the breach of law and
order and are not found directly or indirectly involved in
actual violence or instigation thereof.
• The Cabinet also approved placement of 6 in-
charge Superintendent Engineers as in-charge Chief En-
gineers.
• The cabinet also approved use of 3.75 hectares
of forest land for setting up of modern abattoir at Jagti
Nagrota in Jammu by Jammu Municipal Corporation.
• The cabinet also approved notification of 35 in-
stallments of COLA due from 1st January, 2009 to 31st
December, 2009 and 31 installments due from 1st Janu-
ary, 2010 to 30th April, 2010 for the employees of State
PSUs.
• In addition, the cabinet also approved transfers
and postings of four officers in the middle rung of ad-
ministration
• The Cabinet also approved draft transfer policy
aimed at making transfers rational, transparent and sup-
portive of good governance. It inter-alia envisages cal-
endar for transfers, tenures and delegation of powers.
Epilogue, January 2011
P O L I T I CS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
• The Cabinet also approved establishment of
Bangus Lolab Development Authority.
• The Cabinet also decided to meet on every Tues-
day at 10 a.m. In case any Tuesday is public holiday, the
meeting will be held on the following day.
• The cabinet also approved promotion of 14 of-
ficers of Legal Service and 9 officers of Accounts Ser-
vice.
• The cabinet also approved construction of auto-
mechanically operated gated barrage having approxi-
mately length of 370 meters and height of 4 meters with
sluice gates across river Tawi at an estimated cost of Rs
70 crore.
• The cabinet also approved promotion of Mr.
Jagdish Keshwan PCCF to the apex fixed scale of Rs
80,000 and promotion of Mr. Vinod Ranjan, IFS as addi-
tional PCCF.
AUGUST 3
Cabinet approves filling of teachers on Rehbr-e-Taleem
pattern in far flung areas, approves sanction to golden
handshake, absorption of 17 CONFED employees , the
absorption of these employees is approved for the Co-
operative Department against available posts of Junior
Assistants or equivalent. The cabinet also approved ab-
sorption of 45 employees of CONFED against 16 class-IV
posts available in Cooperative Department and 29 posts
to be identified by General Administration Department
in other departments.
Transfers and postings of five officers in the middle rung
of administration are also approved
AUGUST 10
• The State Cabinet met to express deep shock
and sorrow over the loss of life and property in Leh due
to the cloudbursts and flash floods. It was decided that
the Chief Minister will make an appeal to the Council of
Ministers to donate one month's or one week's salary
towards the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for relief and
rehabilitation of the flood victims in Leh and other parts
of the state. Similar appeal made to legislators and Gov-
ernment employees to donate one week's and one day's
salary respectively to augment the resources for relief
and rehabilitation.
The Cabinet also approved some transfer and postings
in administration. On the same day, through a separate
order, 29 KAS officers were transferred
AUGUST 17
• Cabinet approves amendment to the Sher-i-Kash-
mir Employment and Welfare Programme for the Youth
(SKEWPY) to broad base and further enhance its accept-
ability among the educated youth. As per the amend-
ment the age limit for eligibility to Voluntary Service Al-
liance (VSA) has now be reduced to 26 from 28 years and
there shall be no ceiling on land holdings. Moreover, the
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
12
income limit has also been raised from Rs. 50, 000/- to
Rs. 1.5 lakh per annum. The Cabinet has also approved
increase of Rs. 100 in the VSA applicable under the SKEWPY
across the board. The Cabinet also constituted a cabinet
sub-committee comprising Minister for PHE, Irrigation
and Flood Control, Minister for Agriculture Production and
Minister for Higher Education, Labour and Employment
with a view to carrying out a comprehensive review to
the implementation of the programme especially the rea-
son for its slow off take and make appropriate recom-
mendation for bringing about further improvement in its
implementation.
The Cabinet also approved transfers and postings of six
officers at key positions
AUGUST 27
In a major and daring administrative overhaul, the Cabi-
net orders transfer of top 14 IAS officers and 15 IPS of-
ficers. Among those reshuffled are administrative secre-
tary of Home department, Principal Secretary to Chief
Minister, state CID chief, Divisional Commissioner of Po-
lice and Inspector General of Kashmir Police. In wake of
the then prevailing crisis in Kashmir where lack of coor-
dination and immediate administrative responses were
cited as some of the reasons for mishandling of the situ-
ation, the state cabinet approved important changes at
top level of Civil and Police administration.
AUGUST 31
• Cabinet approves modifications in Sher-e-Kash-
mir Employment and Welfare Programme for Youth
(SKEWPY) to increase its reach conveniently to maximum
number of unemployed youth in the State. These amend-
ments were proposed by a Cabinet Sub Committee.
Through modification, the Government waives off condi-
tion of land holding for giving Voluntary Service Allow-
ance (VSA) to the unemployed youth of the State. Also
reduced the age of eligible candidates from 28 to 26 years,
the VSA will now be disbursed to the candidates in the
age group of 26 to 37 years. Government also increases
Rs 100 allowance for all categories, the VSA will now be
given in the range of Rs 600 to Rs 1200, starting from
matriculates to post- graduates and engineering and
medical graduates.
The relaxation is also given in the annual income slab,
which is raised from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh. He said
with the waiving off these conditions as many as addi-
tional 32000 unemployed youth will be brought under the
ambit of scheme, raising the total number of eligible youth
to 1.57 lakh in the State.
In a significant decision the cabinet decides to reduce
the qualifying service for getting full pensionery benefits
from 30 to 28 years so that maximum employees are ben-
efited. The decision is expected to benefit over 50,000
employees of the state. Earlier, the employees with 30
years' service were entitled to full pensionery benefits.
Epilogue, January 2011
13
SEPTEMBER 13
Cabinet takes stock of various incidents of law and order
breakdown in different parts of the State which were
prompted by reports about alleged incidents of desecra-
tion of holy Quran in the United States of America. Cabi-
net made a fervent appeal to the people of the State not
to take law in their own hands while staging protests
against the alleged incidents of desecration of holy Quran,
which only results in an avoidable loss of life and prop-
erty.
SEPTEMBER 28
Approval for three new treasuries in the state one each
at Dachhan in Kishtwar, Mandi in Poonch and Paisuru in
Kargil district; also decided that those empty trucks shall
be exempted from payment of basic toll at Lakhanpur
arriving to Kashmir valley for a period of three months
from October 1 to ending December, 2010. The decision
has been taken in view of incentvizing and encouraging
movement of empty trucks for transport of fruit to out-
side markets.
Cabinet enhanced payment of damage to movable and
immoveable property from existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10
lakh. Any person suffering loss or damage to movable
and immovable property during any counter terrorist op-
eration shall be entitled to a maximum compensation
which has been enhanced from existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs
10 lakh. Accordingly the decision has been taken that to-
tal ceiling of one lakh or 50 % of total loss whichever is
lesser has been enhanced to maximum ceiling of 7 lakh.
The cabinet further decided to fix payment of compensa-
tion for loss to movable property to a maximum of Rs 3
lakh or assessed loss whichever is less.
OCTOBER 6
Cabinet constitutes a Sub-Committee for detailed study
of the report of Prime Minister's 5th Working Group headed
by Justice Sageer Ahmed on Centre-State relations and
its pros and cons keeping in view the aspirations of people
of all the three regions of the State before making nec-
essary recommendations to the Cabinet
OCTOBER 14
In a decision which government described as landmark,
the Cabinet approved engagement of 43,000 casual/sea-
sonal labours in the departments of Power Development,
PHE, Irrigation, Flood Control, Public Works, Rural De-
velopment, Floriculture, School Education and Forests.
Of the 43,000 engagements as many as 20,500 will be
made in Jammu division and the same number in Kash-
mir division while 2,000 engagements will be made in
Ladakh region. An expenditure of Rs. 143 crores on the
scheme is proposed to be met as per the arrangement
which envisages loading of Rs. 23 crores on the cost of
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
POLITICS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
new projects under implementation, enhancing the ex-
isting provisions in the non-plan maintenance budget of
the respective departments to the tune of Rs. 40 crores
and Rs. 80 crores as maintenance provisions in the An-
nual Plan 2010-11 in different sectors. In another deci-
sion, the Cabinet approved the creation of 10 posts of
Chief Executive Officer/Secretary, Accounts Officer, Sec-
tion Officer, Accountant, Accounts Assistant, Senior As-
sistant, Junior Assistant, Driver one each and two Or-
derlies in the J&K Building and Other Construction Work-
ers Welfare Board.
OCTOBER 27
• The cabinet approves road map for settlement
of the arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission in respect of
the employees of the State Government.
• Two IAS officers BB Vyas, and Suresh Kumar are
promoted to the next higher administrative grade. Six
other IAS officers are also promoted to Super Time Scale.
• The Cabinet also approved transfers and postings
of Deputy Commissioners of Jammu, Leh, Kathua and
Ramban
• The Cabinet also approved the appointment of
MY Khan, former Chairman of J&K Bank as Chairman of
the Board of Directors of JVC for execution of Pakal Dul
and other two projects in the Chenab basin.
NOVEMBER 22
• Cabinet approves policy for rehabilitation of
former militants and others who crossed over to the Pa-
kistan administered Kashmir. The broader contours of
the policy are:
1. Those who have gone to Pak/Pakistan between
1.1.1989 and 31.12.2009 and their dependents will be
eligible for consideration under the policy.
2. The District Superintendent of Police of the con-
cerned district where the prospective returnee normally
resided before crossing over to PoK/Pakistan would be
the designated authority to whom the parents or close
relatives (in case there are no parents) of the prospec-
tive returnee or, in exception circumstances, the pro-
spective returnee himself may apply in the prescribed
Proforma.
3. All such applications would be first scrutinized
by the District Superintendents of Police and then for-
warded to CID Hqrs along-with their comments. The State
CID will then scrutinize all the applications in consulta-
tion with the Central Intelligence agencies/Security
Forces, wherever necessary, review the cases registered
against the persons and prepare a dossier based on which
a recommendations can be made about whether the pro-
spective returnee can be permitted to return.
4. The dossier so prepared will be forwarded to the
Home Department by the State CID where a final deci-
sion on whether the application should be accepted or
otherwise would be taken by a committee comprising,
Financial Commissioner (Home)- Chairman and Director
Epilogue, January 2011
P O L I T I CS
TWO YEARS OF OMAR
General of Police, Additional Director General of Police,
CID Principal Secretary, Law Department, Zonal IGPs,
Joint Secretary (K), MHA as members.
5. Formal orders would be issued by the Home De-
partment and communicated to the authorities concerned
with making arrangements for the return of the person.
6. All such former militants permitted to return
under the proposed policy would be permitted to enter
only through JCP Wagah, Attari or through Salamabad or
Chakan-da-bagh crossings on the Line of Control or
through the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New
Delhi.
7. After completion of the formalities at the cross-
ing points, the returnees and their dependents will be
escorted to the State of J&K and the District authorities
will be duly informed. A record of their entry into India
and to J&K will be maintained by the Immigration au-
thorities at the crossing point and by the J&K CID re-
spectively.
8. The wives, children and other dependants of
those returnees who have married in PoK/Pakistan dur-
ing the period 1.1.1989 to 31.12.2009, will be consid-
ered for entry into the country as per the existing laws
of the land and the necessary certificate for entry will
be issued to them.
9. Counseling Centres will be established where all
the returnees along-with their wives and children would
be lodged for a period of three months or for such longer
time as would be necessary till they are thoroughly in-
terviewed, de-briefed and all necessary documentation
is prepared.
10. The returnee shall not be entitled to any of the
special benefits or Privileges available in the existing
surrender/rehabilitation Policy.
11. No general amnesty is envisaged under this
policy and the returnees would be duly prosecuted in cases
registered against them which are of a serious nature.
However, cases registered against them for having
Our January 2009 issue focussed on the mandate of 2008; February 2009 issue outlined an
expert agenda for Omar Abdullah Government and February 2010 issue examined one-year
performance of NC-Congress coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
14
crossed over to PoK/Pakistan would be reviewed.
12. The returnees will be given training in suitable
trades or skills in ITIs or other training institutions in
order to enable their re-integration into society.
13. The conduct and behavior of the returnee will
be closely monitored by the local Police and by State CID
for a period of two years from the completion of the
counseling process.
14. The State Government will make the policy and
the application forms available on the internet (site
address to be given) so as to facilitate online registra-
tion by the returnees and their family members eligible
to apply.
Cabinet also approved transfers and postings of four
KAS officers, including a Deputy Commssioner
DECEMBER 1
Cabinet approves creation of staff for Katra Develop-
ment Authority, accorded approval to the creation of one
each post of Chief Executive officer, Secretary, Assis-
tant Town Planner, Accountant, Senior Assistant and Jun-
ior Assistant for the development Authority.
DECEMBER 10:
Setting up of State Election Commission is recom-
mended. Cabinet approves pay anomaly report, amend-
ments in Panchayati Raj Act. Also approved creation of
one post of Additional Advocate General, headquartered
at New Delhi and additional standing counsel for the
State at the Supreme Court. An IAS officer is granted
extension in service while another officer is re-employed
DECEMBER 21:
Major reshuffle in Police. Two Additional DGs, two IGs
among 87 officers transferred
Epilogue, January 2011
INTERVIEW
CROSS-LOC TRADE
'Kashmiri Goods Ought to Reach
Rawalpindi and Karachi'
ABDUL HAMEED PUNJABI, senior Vice President Kashmir Chamber
of Commerce and Industries in conversation with NADIR ALI
Nadir Ali: What is your assessment of intra-Kashmir
trade over the last two years? What is the estimated
worth of daily transactions?
Abdul Hameed Punjabi: We have an unofficial graph ac-
cording to which the estimated value of trade is around
100 crore rupees a day.
NA: What countries do you export your products to?
What is the total quantity of trade?
AHP: Handicrafts and horticulture products, as usual, re-
main our potential exports. We export them to European
countries, the US etc. We earn in foreign currencies be-
cause they do not import from us. They buy our goods
and provide payment. The estimated turn out in Kashmir
is around 1500 crores.
NA: Which sections of society benefit most from trade
in Kashmir?
AHP: Trade affects the whole of Kashmir, not just any
particular class or organization. For example, around 20-
25 lakh are involved in the handicraft industry.
NA: Which is the bigger industry in Kashmir: horticul-
ture or tourism?
AHP: These are two different sections. The tourism in-
dustry holds a lot of potential in terms of economic de-
velopment. As far as the horticulture industry is consid-
ered, we get its feedback from rural areas, which have
developed economically and socially. Hence both these
industries aid economic development in Kashmir.
NA: What about cross-LoC trade? What items do you
generally send across to Pakistan- administered Kash-
mir and what do they send to our part of Kashmir?
AHP: The governments of India and Pakistan fixed a list
of items for Cross-LOC trade. From the Indian side the
items were horticulture products like apples, cherries etc,
and handicrafts. Pakistan also formulated a list of trad-
able items to be sent across to Indian-administered Kash-
mir. Cross-LoC trade isa good initiative for Kashmir. It
has much potential to boost Kashmir's economy and de-
velop it immensely.
NA: Cross-LoC trade means trade between Indian-ad-
ministered Kashmir (IAK) and Pakistan-administered
Kashmir (PAK). If you send your products to Pakistan
(Rawalpindi, Karachi etc) directly, would you call it
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
15
cross-LoC trade?
AHP: We believe that cross-LoC trade implies trade be-
tween IAK and PAK only. But we would be interested in
sending goods to Pakistan directly as well. It would cer-
tainly boost our economy. A central point in PAK would be
advisable, like we have in Delhi. However, if we send our
products or goods directly to Pakistan, then it would not
be called cross-LOC trade but international trade.
NA: Do you believe cross-LoC trade should go forward?
AHP: Yes, we are keen on it. It is a good avenue for
profit-making. We send our items to Delhi, from where it
is exported. Cross-LoC trade could work along similar lines,
so that our items can also be exported to Rawalpindi,
Karachi etc.
NA: Cross-LoC trade is primarily a barter trade. There
is no banking transaction system, any excise depart-
ment and custom etc. Are you satisfied with this sys-
tem? Would you like to continue with barter trade?
AHP: Yes, cross-LoC trade is barter trade, which is an old
trading system. We are not satisfied with it and do not
support it at all. It does not benefit the traders. In today's
trade, money should be involved. We would like the gov-
ernments of India and Pakistan to make informed deci-
sions on cross-LoC trade. A banking transaction system,
excise department and custom services would be pre-
ferred. I believe such formalities will ensure that trade is
successful in both parts of Kashmir.
NA: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce initiated cross-
LoC trade in collaboration with other stakeholders. Did
you suggest barter trade as an option to begin with?
AHP: No, we did not suggest barter trade. Both the gov-
ernments of India and Pakistan come to this conclusion on
their own. They wanted initiatives for trade and decided
to start with the barter system. They did not fix any mo-
dalities.
NA: Given these constraints, what does cross LoC trade
signify?
AHP: It is just a symbol. It only means cross-LoC trade
can occur even though that trade (which is primarily bar-
ter trade) may not benefit Kashmiri traders adequately.
The governments of India and Pakistan should work to-
wards a better system, one that promotes trade across
LoC more profitably.
Epilogue, January 2011
 16 INTERVIEW
CROSS-LOC TRADE

'Remittance is the
NA: What needs to be done to enhance cross-LoC trade?
AHP: We have already taken decisions on improving cross-LoC trade.
Communication should be very easy. Without communication, no trade
is possible. Also, buyers and sellers should have the opportunity to meet.
Kashmiri traders from both sides of the border should visit the other Way Forward for
side and meet their potential traders and buyers. This would enable
them to determine the market preferences. It would be immensely ben-
eficial for traders.
Cross-LoC Trade'
SHAKEEL QALANDER,
NA: Has the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce taken any initiatives for
the development of Kashmir trade? President Federation Chamber
AHP: We have been working very hard to develop trade in Kashmir. In of Industries, Kashmir, in an i
2008, we made a number of suggestions to the government of India for nterview to NADIR ALI
Cross-LoC trade, on the premise that it would be very advantageous for
trade in Kashmir Nadir Ali: What is your assessment of
the cross-LoC trade over the last two
NA: How can more Kashmiri products and items enter the interna- years? What are the problems and pros-
tional market? pects associated with this trade?
AHP: Exports can be made from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. Our prod-

S
ucts go to Europe and the US, among other places. However, we would hakeel Qalander: Cross-LOC trade was
also like to export our goods to the Middle East, Gulf countries and initiated as a Confidence Building Mea-
Central Asia. Recently Central Asia has opened a new door for trade. It sure (CBM) in 2008, when the political situ-
would thus help if we could also export our goods from Pakistan-admin- ation in Kashmir was worsening. The gov-
istered Kashmir. ernments across both sides responded posi-
tively and the process began in earnest.
NA: Over the last three years we have witnessed frequent strikes Our Chamber has always been keen that
and curfews in Kashmir. Can you give us some idea of the losses suf- goods produced in J&K is made tradable
fered? across the border and vice-versa. When
AHP: Curfews and strikes mean a loss of around 100 crore rupees a day. formal trade relations actually began, we
This year we had 114 such days, so we lost 114 x 100 crore rupees, told the governments of India and Paki-
approximately. stan that they should provide us modali-
ties on how to operate this process. The
NA: Did you talk to the State and Central governments for compen- governments decided to start with around
sation? 21 items from either side, these products
AHP: We do want to be compensated for the losses suffered. Kashmir is were to be traded with each other. But,
a political issue and it needs a political solution. If the government is the trading items that we were interested
not willing to address this issue it would have an adverse affect on our in were not allowed. This was a disadvan-
traders and business community. So I would suppose compensation is tage because of the restricted tradable
must for Kashmiri traders to help sustain their enthusiasm. items.
The other disadvantage was the poor in-
NA: Should a specific relaxation be offered to Kashmiri traders for frastructure at hand. We wanted a big scan-
international trade? ner; one that could scan our big trucks and
AHP: Marketing is essential. Communities like the United Nations should check goods and items. Another distinct
intervene. They have many organizations to assist traders and business disadvantage was that the bridge connect-
communities in conflict zones. We appeal to the UN to intervene in this ing us to Pakistan- Administered Kashmir
matter, especially since the economic situation in Kashmir is quite un- (PAK) had a very low capacity of only one
stable. For the last twenty years the business community has suffered ton. This made it quite unviable and costly.
significantly. Kashmir is political issue and until and unless it is not We did have a variety of goods which were
solved politically, trade and business will not pick up in Kashmir in the big in volume and less in terms of price,
real sense. but the transportation cost was very high.
What this meant was that goods generally
NA: Prior to the 1990s, handicraft trade had a huge potential in heavy but low on cost could not be traded
Kashmir, but since then it has been on the decline. What are the due to huge transportation costs.
reasons for this down curve? Another important issue is telephone com-
AHP: There are three reasons for this. First is the worldwide economic munication across the LoC. Unfortunately
recession. However, even then we exported 1500 crore rupees of Kashmiri people from our side of Kashmir cannot
handicrafts in 2009. But it was our individual effort and the fact that Kashmiri make phone calls to the other side, although
handicraft has its own brand name that aided sales. The second reason has they can call us from their side. This means
to be the political unrest in the Valley. It has obviously impacted the handi- that Kashmiri traders have not been able
craft industry. Also, I would say that the tastes and preferences have al- to build healthy and sustained relationships
tered considerably in the present times, such as in Europe. with traders from Pakistan- administered
Kashmir. We appealed the government that

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

INTERVIEW 17
CROSS-LOC TRADE

traders be allowed telephone communication across LoC. However, the govern- men. Thus, similar schemes are being
ment allowed some phone connections only after a year and a half (Our chamber created for the farmers. I believe that
was among the recipients). How is a trader from Pulwama or Kupwar expected to thus far only traders and exporters have
come to our office to make phone calls to Pakistan administered Kashmir? Trad- benefited, not farmers and artisans.
ers would have to dedicate one entire day just for one phone call. This to me is It is time to change this trend.
the biggest disadvantage in Cross-LoC trade. Without proper communication
facilities good trade relations is impossible. We want communication with the NA: What steps should be taken to
PAK traders, who have established modes of communication with us. We would enhance trade?
like the Indian government to provide us with similar facilities. SQ: The first step is to increase pro-
Another serious disadvantage is the barter system which is dated, and our trad- duction and productivity. We have to
ers are not happy with because it has no provision for information regarding strengthen growth impulses. Our
buyers and the people who are supposed to be approached for receiving pay- handicrafts products are on the wane.
ments from. We want the remittance system instead. During the 1970s, 15 lakh artisans were
involved in the handicraft industry.
NA: How can the above issues be addressed? Today, the number has come down to
SQ: The important point is 'remittance'. The Remittance system is very impor- 2.5 lakh. It is a matter of serious con-
tant for Cross-LoC trade. In fact, remittance is the solution to most of our prob- cern. In the horticulture industry, pro-
lems. At the moment, we don't know who is paying and who is taking our goods. duction is quite less, especially in com-
We suggested the idea of a dual currency system in Kashmir that can be realized parison to other places that have
if accounts are maintained with two separate banks. It was proposed to the equivalent areas of arable land. There
government of India and the Reserve Bank that the J&K Bank should open Nostro should be good Universities and scien-
and Vostro accounts(The account a correspondent bank holds on behalf of a for- tists educating farmers about land use
eign bank). and cultivation.
This implies an account in any state bank of Pakistan, whose branch is in
Muzaffarabad or Pakistan- Administrated Kashmir, albeit in Pakistani rupees. In NA: What would international trade
addition, Pakistan- Administrated Kashmir should also open Nostro and Vostro offer us?
accounts with the J&K Bank in Indian rupees. All transactions should then be SQ: I think international trade holds
maintained through these two accounts. This would benefit Kashmiri traders on promise. When trade activity is
both sides. Unfortunately this did not happen. It would also have had other posi- strengthened, there is obvious eco-
tive impacts. We could have used their currency and they could have used ours. nomic development. We have a lot
I am sure that if the governments of India and Pakistan work towards this end, it of resources here, both natural and
would be economically beneficial to both sides of Kashmir. human. We are capable of producing
Two months back I was approached by the Indian government. They said that the an immense range of exportable
RBI had decided to open an Escrow account (A separate bank account for keeping items which can be exported nation-
money that is the property of others) in the J&K Bank, in Indian rupees which ally and internationally.
would be converted into dollars, instead of a Vostro account. Trade would be
carried out in dollars and its conversion would be in Indian rupees, and the trans- NA: Should there be any specific in-
actions would be carried out accordingly. Subsequently, we spoke to the President ternational trade relaxations for
of Pakistan's Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Zulfikar Abassi, on this issue. However, Kashmir traders?
he did not show any inclination, citing the Nostro and Vostro accounts (dual SQ: There need to be some special
currency system) as a better option. Currently, we do not have either the VNsotro interventions. We have raised some
and Vostro accounts or Escrow. demands and the government is giv-
Over the last two years, cross-LoC trade has amounted to a total of 300 crore ing them due consideration. We do
rupees. But this trade should not be restricted only to sending items from our not have an Inland Container Depot.
respective Kashmirs. Goods and items from other Indian states can also be trans- Ours goods go to Mumbai, Delhi, Ban-
ported across the LoC in Kashmir. If it entails custom duties, the traders should galore etc for export purposes. If we
pay them here. If the government of India opens this window for trade, our local have an Inland Container Depot in our
traders would be immensely benefited. state, people will be able to book ex-
port material in Kashmir and hence
NA: If you send your products directly to Rawalpindi or Karachi in Pakistan, save on transportation costs. The
would it be cross-LoC trade or international trade? government of India has provided
SQ: It would be international trade and not Cross-LoC trade. This is why I said funds for an Inland Container Depot
that if goods are sent directly to Pakistan and it entails tax, people would have to which is under construction at
pay the tax. They should be prepared for it. Rangrate, Srinagar. It is expected
to be completed by next year. We
NA: Which class or section benefits most from the trade? would also expect interventions in
SQ: Exporters benefit considerably from handicrafts, but we would like the arti- other areas. Our crafts sector also
sans to reap equal gains. We are creating schemes with the help of the govern- need to modernize. Things are gradu-
ment to ensure that artisans export their own products and secure benefits. In ally improving. Let us hope for the
the horticulture industry, farmers should get their due profit and not the middle best.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

18
Yesterday, today and if
it is there, a tomorrow…
PREETI BAKAYA
1947 to 2010 is a long time and yet it's like we are stuck in a time warp when it
comes to Kashmir. The generation which should be talking about 2020 or 2050 is
talking about 1947. If they have to look back, why don't they look back at the
achievements of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin "Badshah", the poetry of Majhoor and the
philosophy of Lal Ded and Nund Rishi?
R
ecently I came across a status
update by one of my Kashmiri
Muslim friend on Facebook. The
update was on the 1947 massacre of
Kashmiri Muslims in Jammu, in which
he lost his grandfather who left be-
hind a young wife and son. While not
meaning to be offensive I did not
express sympathy or comment on it.
My reasons were twofold; one that I
did not have enough knowledge of the
incident and while I felt sad for the
family, I didn't think it was right to
have the religious incident mentioned
60 years later, triggering a series of
unrelated comments on the social me-
dia page.
If any of us read the political and
religious history of Kashmir, there are
more incidents involving violence and
bloodshed than peace and prosperity.
At times it is a marvel that despite
so much blood and gore, the valley
still managed to produce ideas of
Kashmiriyat, Sufi philosophy and a
beautiful artistry of various hues. As
carriers of such a tumultuous past,
have we learnt anything from it ex-
cept to continue to be pallbearers of
such hatred?
If today as a Kashmiri Pandit I
start quoting the violent conversion
of my community in the state, then I
will not be able to have even a de-
cent conversation with any of my
Muslim brethren. Is that the kind of
future we are looking at in Kashmir?
If the 1947 accession treaty signed
by a runaway Maharaja is such a sore
www.epilogue.in
point amongst his largely Kashmiri
Muslim population, when already 60
years have passed and we have the
fourth or the fifth generation getting
killed and maimed, are we now go-
ing to ensure that the next few gen-
erations also continue to suffer?
The state of turmoil today is not
in Jammu or Ladakh. It is only
If any of us read the political
and religious history of
Kashmir, there are more
incidents involving violence
and bloodshed than peace
and prosperity. At times it is
a marvel that despite so
much blood and gore, the
valley still managed to pro-
duce ideas of Kashmiriyat,
Sufi philosophy and a beauti-
ful artistry of various hues.
As carriers of such a tumul-
tuous past, have we learnt
anything from it except to
continue to be pallbearers of
such hatred?
amongst the Kashmiri Muslims of the
valley who-along with the 1947 ac-
cession treaty, years of pro-Pakistan
inclination leading to the central gov-
ernment in India suffering from a
fear psychosis and the militarization
of the valley-do not want to have
Vol. 5, Issue 01
NATIVE NARRATIVE
TIME WARP SYMPTOMS
anything to do with India. Their ha-
tred is partly justified as the last 20
years have created a parallel gover-
nance of the forces, leading to a more
military than civilian form of admin-
istration.
Recent events in the valley showed
an unfamiliar aspect of Kashmir to In-
dia. It lifted the news censorship that
had evaded the valley for the last two
decades. The Indian media has
started questioning and airing the
viewpoints of the youth of the valley.
Many of them are studying and work-
ing across India. One of them men-
tioned to me that as soon as you are
out of the Jawahar Tunnel, you real-
ize you are entering a completely dif-
ferent world altogether. A world where
no one stops you for random checks
and asks you for an ID after every one
km. However none of them has ever
stopped for a minute to ask why is it
that the armed forces are in the val-
ley and not in Jammu or Ladakh? Why
did the militarization of the valley
take place in 1990? Did they expect
the government of India to sit qui-
etly and allow the Afghan Mujahiddens
and other foreign mercenaries to take
control of a state of their country?
The sequence of violence has to
stop somewhere. We, Kashmiris to-
day are caught in the cycle of finger
pointing and history digging. Our past
is very tumultuous, where each reli-
gion and ethnicity has lost much.
When the Kashmiri Muslims ask for a
redressal mechanism of the abuses
Epilogue, January 2011
NATIVE NARRATIVE 19
TIME WARP SYMPTOMS

by the forces, the Pandits too ask for a similar redressal of the rapists of country is trying to understand them
Sarla Bhat and other Pandit women as well as killings of many, for which the and extend a hand of peace and
fingers of accusation are hurled towards Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah and Bitta friendship, they cannot again go back
Karate. in their cocoon. It is a strange di-
1947 to 2010 is a long time and yet it's like we are stuck in a time warp chotomy where the rest of India looks
when it comes to Kashmir. The generation which should be talking about 2020 upon Kashmir as its own but they
or 2050 is talking about 1947. If they have to look back, why don't they look have always refused to be a part of
back at the achievements of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin "Badshah", the poetry of the country. This stubborn refusal is
Majhoor and the philosophy of Lal Ded and Nund Rishi? Yes India is respon- quite an enigma to many in India. The
sible but so are the people of the valley. You cannot propogate love for an latter has tried to assimilate and ad-
enemy neighbour to a country of which you are geographically a part of and just to the religious and ethnic back-
think that it will not evoke suspicion. You cannot expect that you will have grounds of varied communities and
unemployed mercenaries running amok in your state with the armed forces religions. Of course there are prob-
of the country standing aside and letting them do it. lems and differences. Even a nucleur
It is not only the body count which is a part of the tragedy in Kashmir. The family has differences and we are
very fabric of the society - its culture and heritage is now in shreds. Kashmiris talking about a nation of more than a
cannot have another generation lost to violence, anger and frustration. You billion. Kashmiri Muslims want azadi
cannot have battle-hardened men, women and children in the 21st century from India. However it is also time
when the rest of the country is enjoying a peaceful period of economic growth. that they took azadi from the shack-
You cannot have young boys suddenly falling dead or disappearing because of les of continuous quoting of history
an event that happened 60 years back. textbooks where every party, includ-
Indians today want peace in Kashmir. Recently, when Kashmiri Muslim youth ing they themselves stand accused.
outside the valley organized candle lights for those dying in the valley, they The next generation of Kashmir needs
were not alone. Young Indians were standing next to them with the media a future and not a scenario "where
and intelligentsia questioning the governance tactics. If Syed Ali Shah Geelani we did this to you, so I will do this to
spoke on a podium in central Delhi, his audience did not only include Kashmiri you" so that by the time anything is
Muslims. There were many Indians also who wanted to know what exactly was ever resolved we are all ghosts haunt-
happening in the vale. Kashmiris need to realize that when the rest of the ing our future for time immemorial.

It is not only the body count which is a part of

the tragedy in Kashmir. The very fabric of the
society - its culture and heritage is now in
shreds. Kashmiris cannot have another
generation lost to violence, anger and
frustration. You cannot have battle-hardened
men, women and children in the 21st century
when the rest of the country is enjoying a
peaceful period of economic growth. You
cannot have young boys suddenly falling dead
or disappearing because of an event that
happened 60 years back.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

IN FOCUS
HISTORY
Historiography in Kashmir
PROFESSOR JIGAR MOHAMMED
H
Author teaches history at the istoriography was one of the
University of Jammu most effective and popular
medium of intellectual exer-
cises of the world during medieval
period. The Arabs. Persians and Cen-
tral Asians made the historiography
a source of discovering themselves
and others in terms of their achieve-
ments and failures from the 7th cen-
tury onwards. But the science of his-
toriography was absent in the Indian
sub-continent before the 12th century.
It was Kashmir which invented the
science of historiography during the
12th century A.D. Kalhan was the first
historian of Kashmir who produced
first historical work entitled the
Rajatarangini. It is important to men-
tion that the historiography's first and
foremost component is the source of
information from which a historian
derives information pertaining to the
theme of his or her work. A writing
which does not mention the source
of its information is not a history
writing. Kalhan was the first writer
who established the method of using
the sources of information pertain-
ing to various historical event con-
cerning with the past and present.
Kalhan wrote his Rajatarangini in
A.D.1148-49 in the Sanskrit. It is
edited and translated by Sir M.A.
Stein. It is known that Kalhan was the
son Lord Campaka, a very capable
minister of King Harsha (1089-1101)
of Kashmir. Kalhan presents his work
in form of the narrative poem. He
covers the historical events of Kash-
mir from earliest times to the 12th
century A.D. Kalhan collected infor-
mation from the popular traditions,
Nilmatapurana, Kshemendra's
Nrpavali, Helaraja's Parthivavali, the
Chavillakara, the Mahatmyas and in-
scriptions etc. He has used these
sources very meticulously. According
to Romila Thapar, one of the most
expert modern historians, "Kalhan's
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
20
use of inscriptions as source mate-
rial is a strikingly original element in
his historical writing. He refers to
inscriptions found in temples, the
prashastis (eulogies) on past kings,
the inscriptions referring to grants,
mainly of land of revenue, made by
earlier rulers. The reference to in-
scriptions in itself is not what is so
important as the fact that he uses
the information they contain as a le-
gitimate source of history." (Romila
Thapar, 'Historical Ideas of Kalhan as
Expressed in the Rajatarangini' in
Mohibul Hasan (ed.), Historians of
Medieval India, Delhi, 1968, pp.1-2).
The introduction of the historiog-
raphy by Kalhan gave a concept of
regional identity to the Kashmiris.
The latter started dialogue between
their past and present and assessed
themselves in the light of the histori-
cal events in the past. Kalhan's his-
toriography created the time con-
sciousness in Kashmir. It provided
information about the stages of so-
cial changes in Kashmir period-wise.
It is important to mention that Kalhan
mentions both the mythological and
historical versions of the origin and
growth of Kashmir in terms of his-
torical geography, political develop-
ments and socio-economic life. For
Kalhan, before human settlement in
Kashmir it was a lake. It was drained
by Kashyap Rishi and became fit for
habitation. Similarly, Kalhan traces
the emergence of kingship in Kash-
mir from the Mahabharat period. He
mentions Gonada I as the first king
of Kashmir, a contemporary of the
Mahabharat period.
Kalhan's historiography estab-
lished a tradition of preservation and
propagation of the people making the
history of Kashmir in multi-dimen-
sional forms. Kalhan records both the
indigenous and outsiders who partici-
pated in the history of Kashmir in a
given period. Kalhan makes Kashmir
as part of the Mauryan empire under
it emperor Ashoka (B.C. 273-232).
Ashoka is credited with the founda-
Epilogue, January 2011
21
tion of the city of Srinagar and the
founder of the Buddhism in Kashmir.
Kalhan presents Ashoka as the pro-
moter of the Buddhism in terms of
the building Stupas. Kalhan,s depic-
tion of the rule of Ashoka and his son
Jaluka also made Kashmiris aware of
the rule of others in Kashmir. More-
over, he presents Kashmir to be
known to the world, since outsiders
worked politically as well as socially.
Kalhan also apprises the
Kashmiris of the religious changes in
Kashmir during the ancient and early
medieval period which created multi-
colours society in terms of the fol-
lowers of the diverse religious trends.
The Nagas, a popular cult of Kash-
mir, the Brahmanism and the Bud-
dhism are presented in forms of reli-
gious changes in accordance with the
people's inclinations. Similarly, he also
shows the existence of the fatalism
in Kashmir society. He ascribes the
occurrence of famine to the will of
the gods and prayer of the queen as
the source of the removal of the mis-
eries of people. His mention of the
witch-craft in Kashmir shows people's
superstitious believe. Through put-
ting these beliefs in historical man-
ner Kalhan contributes to spread a
message of social changes as a con-
tinuous process of the history of Kash-
mir. He also establishes that Kash-
mir incorporated new religious trends
either emerged at local level or came
from outsides. His historiography
conveys people that religious changes
were inevitable in a given society
from the ancient period onwards.
More importantly, it speaks of
Kashmir's tradition of accepting
changes as the historical develop-
ments and welcoming the new trends.
The introduction of historiography
by Kalhan made it possible for the
Kashmiris to estimate their political
capacity and strength of their region
in a given period. They also found the
prime movers of the history of their
own state. Kalhan ascribes the sta-
bility and strength of the state to
those rulers who believed in huge ter-
ritorial aggrandizement. He high-
lights the significance of the huge
conquests of King Lalitaditya -
Muktapida (A.D. 725-53), belonging
www.epilogue.in
to the Karkota dynasty. He is not only
described as a conqueror of many
states of the north, south and east
India, but also as a conqueror of Ti-
bet and some parts of the Central
Asia. Kalhan gives huge credit to
Lalitaditya for appointing some intel-
ligent persons in his court. Lalitaditya
is shown to be provider of opportu-
nity to the persons of multiple back-
ground, virtually making Kashmir as
a region of multi-culturism. Kalhan
mentions that one of the most intel-
ligent courtiers of Lalitaditya be-
longed to the Central Asia (Tukhara),
known as Cankuna. The description
of the conquests of Lalitaditya shows
the assertion of the armed power of
Kashmir and its participation in the
world trend of the warfare. More im-
portantly, it also presents the
Kashmiris' vision of world, according
to which, though whole world was
inhabited by the persons of different
ethnic backgrounds, all could be
brought together by a statesman and
strategist like Lalitaditya. Thus the
historiography introduced a concept
of the empire building with the inclu-
sion of multi-identities.
Kalhan's historiography associated
a warrior with construction and jus-
tice. According to Kalhan, "There was
not a town or village, or island, or
river, or seas, where he (Lalitaditya)
did not raise triumphal monuments.
These monuments he named accord-
ing to the event or the time. When
he set out on his expedition, he felt
certain of conquest and built a town
named Sunishchitpur, or the "City of
Certainty". When in his pride of con-
quest, he built another named
Darpitipura, or the "City of Pride," in
which he set up an image of Keshva.
And when his conquest were over, and
he was enjoying the fruits of his vic-
tories, he raised another city which
he named Phalapura (Phala signifies
fruit or effect). He completed
Parnotsa and built a house for amuse-
ment named Krirarama, the name
indicating the purpose of the build-
ing. In the kingdom of the females
he set up an image of Nrisingha-un-
supported by any thing but placed in
the air between two loadstones, one
above and one below. When he was
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
out in conquest, is viceroy built a
town after the king's name, but he
incurred the king's anger. In the town
of Lalitpura, there was an image of
the sun, to which he bestowed the
city of Kanyakubja with the adjoin-
ing lands and villages. At Hushkapura
he built an image of the god
Muktasvami and built a large monas-
tery with a stupa for the Buddhists.
He set out on his conquest with one
koti (ten millions) of cirremt cois. On
his return he bestowed eleven kotis
to Bhutesha for his purification. He
raised the stone-house of
Jeshtarudra and bestowed many vil-
lages and lands to it. He also planted
a series of machines at Chakradhara
to draw water from the Vitsta. Also
he raised a strong wall of stone round
the temple of the sun. He erected a
town adorned with vines, and for the
spiritual benefit of the people, and
bestowed it with many villages to god
Vishnu." (Kalhan, Rajatarangini,I Eng.
Tr. by Jogesh Chunder Dutt in Kings
of Kashmira, pp. 70-71).
Kalhana conceives a ruler to be
visionary. His historiography estab-
lishes that though both the liberal and
bigot rulers were the parts of history,
it was the liberal and visionary ruler
who made not only the history of his
own, but also made parts of the his-
tory of his own kingdom. For him,
Lalitaditya was very much respectful
to both the Brahmanism and Bud-
dhism. Kalhan narrates the contribu-
tions of Lalitaditya to the building
of both the Hindu temples and Bud-
dhist monasteries in a very lucid man-
ner. According to Kalhan, "He built a
beautiful town named Parihaspura.
Here he set up a silver image of
Vishnu, named Shiparihasakeshva,
and another gold named,
Shrimuktakeshva, also an image of
Mahavarsha, the mail of this last im-
age being made of gold. He also set
up a silver image of
Govardhanadhara. He planted a
single piece of stone fifty-four cubits
high, on which was planted a banner,
on the top which he set up an image
of Garura. He likewise built a temple
of Buddha, which had a square court-
yard, also a chaitya, and a monas-
tery. The image of Muktakeshva was
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
built of eighty-four thousand tolas of
gold, that Shriparihasakeshava was
built of eighty four thousand palas of
silver. The image of Buddha which he
set up was built of eighty four thou-
sand prasthas of brass. The monas-
tery which had a squire court-yard and
the chaitya, were built for eighty-four
thousand pieces of the current coin.
The rich king built gods of gold and
silver by the side of the great gods
of the country." Kalhana's historiog-
raphy set a trend of publicizing the
constructive activities of the rulers
so that society was to be mobilized
in the same direction. Along with the
ruler's constructive activities Kalhan
also highlighted the constructive ac-
tivities of other persons hold some
political power. Kamlawati , the queen
of Lalitaditya , is also shown as a rich
person and the builder of a silver of
image of Lord Vishnu.
Chakramardika, another queen of
Lalitaditya has been shown as a
founder of a town named Chakrapura
with seven thousand houses. Thus
through historiography Kalhan pre-
sents women of Kashmir as the par-
ticipants in socio-economic develop-
ments of the region. The political
powers of the queens of Kashmir such
as Sugandha and Didda are narrated
by Kalhan in such a way as they made
history for themselves.
The Sanskrit historiography of
Kashmir not only produced a biogra-
phy of the region of Kashmir, but also
the adjoining states and other con-
temporary regions of India and for-
eign countries find some space. Some
of the important areas of Jammu hills
such as Rajouri, Punch and Kishtwar
1420-70
Sultan Zainul Abidin and
Hindus of Kashmir
www.epilogue.in
etc. are presented by Kalhan with their
historical events. Kalhan mentions
Rajouri as Rajapuri and Kishtwar as
Kashtwata. Through his history writ-
ing Kalhan established that a region
was not surviving in exclusive term.
But it was very much associated with
the others. He established that the
history moved around the multi-iden-
tities of a region. His narratives show
that the political, religious changes
in Kashmir were usual phenomena.
He has shown that the historical
changes took place in Kashmir in a
very usual manner. The Nagas,
Shaivites, Vaishnavites, Buddhist and
some others emerged and grew in
different phases. All these cults found
their own followers in the region.
Similarly, Kalhan shows that dynastic
changes in terms of political power
were also took place in continuous
processes. No dynasty was everlast-
ing in terms of retention of its rule
in Kashmir. The Karkota, Utpala,
Gupta and Lohara dynasties of Kash-
mir contributed to the political, so-
cial and economic developments in
Kashmir. But common people of Kash-
mir did not identify themselves to any
particular ruling dynasty. The dynas-
tic changes did not influence the work
culture in Kashmir. For the common
people, dynastic changes were just
transfer of power from one dynasty
to another. They identified them-
selves more with their socio-eco-
nomic problems than the ruling dy-
nasties.
However, Kalhan established that
historiography created a mingling of
diverse thoughts, religious and lin-
gual identities. He has shown that
T
he establishment of the Sul
tanate in Kashmir during the
fourteenth century A.D. made
a great impact on the socio-politi-
cal and economic life of Kashmir.
Vol. 5, Issue 01
22
both the centripetal and centrifugal
tendencies were parts of history of a
region. Similarly, both the construc-
tive and destructive elements were
parts of the history of a region. But a
region flourished in a popular man-
ner when the constructive elements
outnumbered the destructive ele-
ments. And these constructive ele-
ments belonged to multiple back-
grounds. Uniformity was not the
popular and dominant historical
trends of Kashmir. Kalhan shows that
both the king Lalitaditya and
Awantivarman (855-83) belonged to
two different dynasties of Kashmir,
former from the Karkota dynasty and
later from the Utpala; but both of
them brought huge dividends for
Kashmir in terms of economic devel-
opments, promotion of the art and
architectures and social justice.
The emergence of historiography
in Kashmir made people conscious of
their regional identities. They not
only realized the significance of his-
torical sources in knowing the phases
of the social changes at regional level,
more importantly, they made history
writing one of the most effective
means of preservation and promotion
of the heritage of the region. It is
important to mention that Kashmir
is one of the few hill states of India
which historical heritage are well
documented in historical terms. The
local crafts and craftsmen represent
their regional identity in various parts
of world with a sense of historical
pride. Thus the historiography has
been instrumental in making dialogue
between past and present in a con-
tinuous process.
Though the ruling class of the Sul-
tanate of Kashmir followed the con-
cept of despotism in political terms,
inclusiveness remained the dominant
trend of the socio-political life of
Epilogue, January 2011
23
Kashmir. It is important to mention
that in early fourteenth century, i.e.
before the establishment of the Sul-
tanate Kashmir faced a serious law
and order problems. Udayandeva
(1323-39), the Damra ruler, was too
weak to deal with both the foreign
invaders and the recalcitrant feudal
lords of Kashmir. One Shah Mir, who
was appointed as an officer in Kash-
mir by its famous Damra ruler
Suhadeva (1301-23), was given the
resposiblity to restore law and order
in Kashmir by Udayandeva. Shah Mir
worked very sincerely for protection
of the life and property of the people
of Kashmir. Consequently, both the
nobility and masses of Kashmir
treated him as their saviour. After the
death of Udayandeva in 1339 his
queen Kota Rani acquired the sover-
eignty of Kashmir. But she was not
comfotable with the increasing power
of Shah Mir. Therefore, She decided
to reduce the political infuence of
Shah Mir in Kashmir. But she failed in
her design. Contrary to it Kota Rani
was captured and imprisoned by Shah
Mir. After some times she died. Shah
Mir usurped the political power of
Kashmir and founded Sultanate there.
He entitled himself as Shamsuddin
(1339-42) and became the first Sul-
tan of the Sultanate of Kashmir. His
dynasty is known as Shah Mir. It is
believed that he belonged to the Khasa
tribe. His dynasty ruled Kashmir over
two centuries and produced some very
powerful and enlightened rulers. Ex-
cept Sultan Sikandar (1389-1413) al-
most all the rulers ruled Kashmir on
the concept of peace with all.
Among the rulers of medieval
Kashmir, Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin(1420-
70) was, however, unsurpassed for his
tolerance, generosity, liberal outlook
and rational approach as well as jus-
tice. His sagacious and liberal poli-
cies provided opportunity to the per-
sons of the different social back-
ground to exhibit their skills in vari-
ous fields such as army, agricultural
and industrial productions, literature,
art and architecture. During the reign
of Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin the Hindus
of Kashmir enjoyed all types of free-
dom in terms of their representation
in the bureacracy, performance of
www.epilogue.in
their religious practices and respect
to their sentiments.
Under Zainul Abibidin the
Hindus occupied prime posts in al-
most each administrative institu-
tion of the state. The Sultan ap-
pointed Shiva Bhatta, a Kashmiri
Brahman, as his court physician.
The latter was treated his most con-
fidant by the sultan. Shirya Bhatta,
a Kashmiri Brahman, was appointed
the suprintendent of the Sultan's
court of justice. He acted as one of
the chief advisors of the sultan. It
is known that Shirya Bhatta utilised
the sultan's favour in elevating the
position of the Kashmiri Brahmans.
The extent of ths Sultan's faith in
his ability and efficiency may be
estimated from the fact that the Sul-
tan never turnd down any proposal
of Shirya Bhatta. The Sultan ap-
pointed Kapur Bhatta and Rupya
Bhatta as his personal physician and
astrologer respectively. Most of the
Sultan's Pratiharas (minister-in-
waiting) belonged to Hindu commu-
nity. Abhimanyu, Aajanak and Rig
were the prominent Prahtihars of
the Sultan. On his birth day Zain-
ul-Abidin appointed Jaya Simha the
governor(Bhupati) of Rajouri. Jaya
Simha performed his services to the
state sincerely and proved his worth
for the betterment of the Sultanate
of Kashmir. Impressed by the sin-
cerity and loyalty, the sutan re-
warded him with the responsibility
to work for the welfare of the Brah-
mans. Jaya Bhatta, another
Kashmiri Brahman, was appointed
as a treasurer and also acted as the
incharge of the distribution of the
charity. The sultan extended One
crore dinars to Jaya Bhatta for dis-
tribution as charity. Two of the
sultan's commanders, Daulat Chand
and Malik Autar Chand, belonged to
the Hindu community. Zain-ul-Abidin
trusted Malik Autar Chand very
much and treated him promoter of
the interests of his Sultanate. It is
evident that for the conquest of
Kashgarr in Ladakh, Zain-ul-Abidin
selected Malik Autar Chand to lead
the army. The latter led the success-
ful expedition of Kashghar and
brought it to the Sultanate of Kash-
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
mir. Zail-ul-Abidin also appointed
Tilakcharya, a Buddhist, as one of his
prominent counsellors.
Zain-ul-Abidin appreciated the
intellectual capabilities of the Sanskrit
scholars and treated them promoter of
knowledge in Kashmir. He provided
them favourable atmosphere for intel-
lectual exercise. Jonaraja, Srivara,
Yodha Bhatta and Autara, all Kashmiri
Brahmans ans Sanskrit scholars, re-
ceived tremendous royal patronage.
More importantly, the Sultan extended
large financial support to them in terms
of land grant (gramahemadyaugrah).
The Sultan also commissioned Jonaraja
and Srivara to restart the writing of
the Rajatarangini from the period of
the death of Kalhan.
To respect the Hindu senti-
ments Zain-ul-Abidin started to cel-
ebrate the Hindu festivals such as
Nagayatra, Ganachakra, Vitisa and
chantra etc. Similarly, the Sultan par-
ticipated in the Jain festival with the
monks of the Sri Jainvatika. The Sul-
tan also opened free kitchen for the
welfare of the Hindu devotees. He un-
dertook the pilgrimage of the Hindu
sacred places such as Sharda,
Amarnath, Vijayeshwara, Naubandhana
and Lord Vishnu's foot mark at Konsar
lake. Most importantly, Zain-ul-Abidin
was the first ruler of the medieval
world who prohibited the cow slaugh-
tering in his state. He also paid great
respect to the Hindu scriptures, phi-
losophy and rituals. He used to listen
the Nilmatpurana and other Shastras.
He enjoyed to listen the Gitagovinda
from Srivara. To widen the scope of
the Hindu scriptures Zain-ul-Abidin or-
dered the translation of the Sanskrit
works into Persian and other non-San-
skrit languages. The Sanskrit works
such as Rajatarangini(Kalhan),
Brihathakatha, Dasavatara,
Hatheshwara and Puranas were trans-
lated into Persian under Zain-ul-Abidin.
All the expenses of the translation
works were born out by the state trea-
sury. Under Zain-ul-Abidin the Hin-
dus of Kashmir not only enjoyed a
dominant socio-political status, but,
more importantly, they also found an
opportunity to work for the progress
of Kashmir under the concepts of mu-
tual trust, mutual co-operation, reli-
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
gious tolerance and inclcusiveness.
It is important to mention that the
Kashmiri Brahmans legitimised the
policies of Zain-ul-Abidin in terms
of socio-economic developments
and religious freedom. Jonaraja and
Srivara, contemporary Kashmiri his-
torians belonging to the Brahman
Annexation of Kashmir
to the Mughal Empire
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families, call Zain-ul-Abidin as an
incarnationof Lord
Vishnu(Vishnuavatara), his rule as
the Rama Raj, his capital as Dwarika
and his age as the Satyuga. Thus un-
der Zain-ul-Abidin, the Hindus lived
with dignity and pride. The inclusive
form of the governance of Zainul
A
rchaeological and historical
studies show that Kashmir has
been one of the most ancient
regions of the Indian sub-continent.
From ancient period onwards dynas-
tic changes in terms of political domi-
nation in Kashmir were usual phe-
nomena. Both indigenous and non-
indigenous warrior groups ruled Kash-
mir. It is known that the Mauryan King
Ashoka (273-232 B.C.) was the first
non-indigenous king who established
his rule in Kashmir and made certain
socio-political changes including in-
troduction of the Buddhism. Similarly
Kanishka, the Kushan ruler, also con-
quered and ruled Kashmir in the first
and second century A.D. However, till
first half of the 16th century A.D. the
kingdom of Kashmir was largely ruled
by its indigenous ruling families who
believed in both the maintenance of
independent political authority in
Kashmir and its territorial expan-
sion. The ruling dynasties such as the
Karkota, Gupta, Lohara and Damra
worked for the socio-economic and
political developments in Kashmir.
When in 1339 Shah Mir founded Sul-
tanate in Kashmir several adminis-
trative and socio-economic changes
were made in Kashmir. The Sultans
such as Shamsuddin or Shah Mir
(1339-42), Alauddin (1343-54),
Shihabuddin(1354-73), Qutubuddin
(1373-89) and Zainul-Abidin (1420-
70) intensified the processes of cul-
tural developments in Kashmir and
conquered some of the neighbouring
Vol. 5, Issue 01
24
Abidin retained them as the major
sharer of the political power of Kash-
mir. They not only practised and pro-
fessed their religion with confi-
dence, but, more importantly, the
Hindus of Kashmir also acted as a
dominant religious group in terms of
the holding of the executive power.
areas. But after the death of the Sul-
tan Zainul-Abidin, political stability in
Kashmir started to diminish because
of struggle for throne among his suc-
cessors.
When Zahiruddin Muhammad
Babur founded Mughal rule in the north
India he tried to introduce his rule in
Kashmir. Though an army sent by
Babur defeated the army of Kashmir,
Mughal army collected wealth and left
Kashmir. After Babur's death, his son
Kamran also attacked Kashmir, but he
was defeated by the army of Kash-
mir. Mirza Haider Dughlat was the
first Mughal who conquered Kashmir
in 1540 and established his political
dominance in Kashmir. Though Mirza
Haider Dughlat virtually acted as the
sovereign of Kashmir for eleven
years, he did not declare himself as
the ruler of Kashmir. He made Nazuk
Shah as the Sultan of Kashmir. How-
ever, Mirza Haider Dughlat formulated
all the major policies of Kashmir and
kept Nazuk Shah as the approver and
legitimizer of his policies. When Mirza
Haider Dughlat died in 1551, Kash-
mir again faced the political crisis.
After ten years of his death the rule
of Shah Mir dynasty came to an end.
In 1561 the Chaks, a dominant tribe
of Kashmir, under the leadership of
Ghazi Chak, dethroned Sultan Habib
Shah (1557-61), the last Sultan of
Shah Mir dynasty, and laid the foun-
dation of the rule of the Chak dynasty.
Ghazi Chak (1561-63) was declared
as the sultan of Kashmir. Ghazi Chak,
Epilogue, January 2011
25
Husain Shah (1563-70), Ali Shah
(1570-78) and Yusuf Shah Chak (1579-
86) were the four important sultans
of Chak dynasty. But under Yusuf
Shah Chak several administrative
problems emerged in Kashmir. Though
Yusuf Shah Chak was a very gener-
ous ruler, he lacked administrative
qualities. Very soon he became very
unpopular because of neglecting his
administrative duties. He failed to
suppress his opponents. Ultimately,
Yusuf Shah Chak abdicated his throne
in favour of Lohar Chak.
Lohar Chak ruled Kashmir for thir-
teen months. But in 1580 Yusuf Shah
Chak decided to regain his lost sov-
ereignty. For that he made contact
with Man Singh, the Mughal gover-
nor of Lahore. Man Singh asked Yusuf
Shah Chak to meet the Mughal Em-
peror Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar
(1556-1605) at Agra. Yusuf Shah ac-
cepted the advice of Man Singh and
went to Agra. Akbar welcomed Yusuf
Shah Chak and agreed to help him in
restoration of his sovereignty in Kash-
mir. It is important to mention that
the Mughal emperor Akbar believed
in Centralised political authority. Ac-
cording to his political theory, local
ruling class was to be granted politi-
cal autonomy by the Mughal emperor
within the Mughal empire. Therefore,
he promised Yusuf Shah Chak to pro-
vide him military assistance for the
reestablishment of his rule in Kash-
mir and making the latter a tributary
of the Mughal empire. Akbar sent his
army under the commond of Raja Man
Singh, the most competent and
trusted army officer of the Mughal
empire, for the help of Yusuf Shah
Chak in Kashmir. But when Yusuf Shah
Chak was on way from Agra to Kash-
mir he became suspicious of the
Mughal help to him in terms of his
political authority. He thought that
the restoration of his authority in
Kashmir with the Mughal assistance
could make him a weak ruler and he
had to depend on the Mughal for the
maintenace of his authority in Kash-
mir throughout his life. Therefore, he
adopted a diplomatic policy to avoid
the entry of the Mughals in Kashmir.
He requested Raja Man Singh not to
accompany him to Kashmir so that he
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could garner large socio-political sup-
port of the Kashmir. Raja Man Singh
accepted the request of Yusuf Shah
Chak and the latter entered Kashmir.
He defeated his rivals and reestab-
lished his rule in Kashmir.
After his success in Kashmir, Yusuf
Shah Chak was expected to invite
Raja Man Singh to Kashmir. But this
never happened. Raja Man Singh felt
to be deceived by Yusuf Shah Chak
and decided to take action against
the latter. The Mughal emperor Akbar
declared that India from Kabul to the
sea was one counrty. Therefore there
could be only one sovereign power and
one empire; others were to be tribu-
taries of the Mughal empire. Describ-
ing Akbar's perception of India's
boundaries the famous historian Abul
Fazl of Akbar's court writes,
"Hindustan is described as enclosed
on the east, west and south by the
ocean, but Ceylon, Achin, Molacca and
considerable number of islands are
accounted within its extent. To the
north is a lofty range of mountains,
part of which streches along the ut-
termost limits of Hindustan, its other
extremity passes into Turkestan and
Persia. An immediate region lies be-
tween this and the vast frontier of
China, inhabited by various races,
such as Kashmir, Great and Little Ti-
bet, Kishtwar and others." (Ain-i-
Akbari, Vol.III, Eng. Tr. by Colonel
H.S. Jarret, Corrected and further
annotated by Sir J.N. Sarkar, Delhi,
1994, p. 1). To act in accordance with
his political theory Akbar decided to
make all the states, from Kabul to
south, as the tributaries of the Mughal
empire. Strategically, Kashmir was a
very important state from Mughal
point of view. It was closely associ-
ated with Central Asia and the Uzbeks
were one of the worst rivals of the
Mughals. It is important to mention
that Babur was expelled from Central
Asia by the Uzbek leader Shaibani
Khan. Therefore, the Mughals were
very cautious of the Uzbeks and de-
cided to keep Uzbeks far from the
frontiers of the Mughal empire. More-
over, Kashmir was ruled by Mirza
Haider Dughalat, an ancestor of
Akbar, therefore, Akbar thought to
bring Kashmir under his control. It is
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
important to mention that from very
beginning the Chak Sultans sent rich
gifts to Akbar which were symbol of
their loyalty to the Mughal emperor.
But when Yusuf Shah Chak failed to
express his gratitude to Akbar after
regaining his rule in Kashmir, Akbar
took it as a rebellious attitude of
Yusuf Shah Chak.
To realise Yusuf Shah Chak that
he was a vassal of the Mughal em-
pire Akbar ordered him to appear at
the Mughal court. But Yusuf Shah Chak
sent his younger son to the Mughal
court. Akbar did not accept the ac-
tions of Yusuf Shah Chak and once
again asked his personal appearance
at the Mughal court as a symbol of
his loyalty to the emperor. But again
Yusuf Shah Chak sent his son Yaqub
Chak to the Mughal court. Akbar was
very much annoyed with the attitude
of Yusuf Shah Chak and decided to
take action against him. In August,
1585 Akbar went to Kabul for admin-
istrative purpose. In October, 1585,
Akbar left Kabul, but when he reached
Kalanaur (in Punjab) he sent his two
officers, Hakim Ali Gilani and
Bahauddin Kambu to Kashmir to bring
Yusuf Shah Chak with them. Mean-
while, Yaqub Chak who was with
Akbar left Mughal camp and came to
Srinagar before the arrival of the
royal envoys. The escape of Yaqub
Chak from the royal camp with per-
mission of the emperor was very
much resented by the latter. Yusuf
Shah Chak was also very much
distrurbed with the arrival of his son
in Srinagar without permission of the
Mughal emperor. After some time the
Mughal envoys, sent by Akbar, also
came to Srinagar and told Yusuf Shah
Chak that he had to go to Kalanaur to
meet the Mughal emperor. Yusuf Shah
Chak received these envoy honourably
and agreed to accompany them to the
Mughal Court. But the decision of
Yusuf Shah Chak to meet the Mughal
emperor was opposed by his nobles
and army. Therefore, Yusuf Shah Chak
cancelled his plan to meet the Mughal
emperor. When the two Mughal en-
voys came back from Srinagar to the
Mughal court and told the attitude of
Yusuf shah Chak, his nobles and
armymen Akbar decided to change his
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
policy of Kashmir.
When Akbar failed to establish his
sovereigned in Kashmir through ne-
gotiation and peaceful means and
found that his theory of kingship was
not accepted by Yusuf Shah Chak, he
decided to follow the policy of war
against the latter. It is important to
mention that some of the Kashmiris
had already approached the Mughal
emperor for the removal of Yusuf
Shah Chak. In December 1585, Akbar
sent army under Mirza Shah Rukh,
Raja Bhagwan Das and Shah Mahram
to attack Kashmir. The Mughal em-
peror ordered Haider Chaka and
Shah Yaqub Sharfi (both of them
were Kashmiri and anti-Yusuf Shah
Chak, to guide the Mughal army to
Kashmir. The Mughal army followed
the route of Pakli and reached
K a s h m i r. H o w e v e r, w h e n t h e
Kashmiris came to know about the
arrival of the Mughal army they
compelled Yusuf Shah Chak to check
the advancement of the Mughal
army. Though Yusuf Shah Chak
never wanted to come into conflict
with the Mughal emperor, he re-
sisted the entry of the Mughal
forces in Kashmir. Since it was the
winter season, the snow and other
weather adversaries did not allow
the Mughals to achieve any success
against the Kashmiri force. Though
Kashmiri forces succeeded in check
the advancement of the Mughal
force, Raja Bhagwan Das decided
to make negotiation with Yusuf
Shah Chak for the establishment of
Akbar's sovereignty in Kashmir. He
sent his two agents with a letter
stating that the present defeat of
the Mughals did not mean that they
would leave Kashmir. He warned
Yusuf Shah Chak very soon an other
Mughal force was expected to ar-
rive Kashmir to suppress the
Kashmiri resistance and it was bet-
ter for Yusuf Shah Chak to visit
Mughal court. Ultimately, Yusuf
Shah Chak agreed with the proposal
of Raja Bhagwan Das and in Febru-
ary 1586 he reached the Mughal
camp. But the Kashmiris continued
their resistance against the
Mughals and declared Yaqub Chak,
the son of Yusuf Shah Chak as the
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new Sultan. Again the Mughals
faced the weather problems i.e.
snow, cold, rain and scarcity of
food. Therefore, he opened nego-
tiation with Yaqub for peace.
Though the latter agreed the peace
proposal of Raja Bhagwan Das,
peace was signed between Yusuf
Shah Chak and the Mughals. Ac-
cording to the agreement, Yusuf
Shah Chak accepted the sover-
eignty of Akbar and promised to
send son Yaqub to the Mughal
Court. The Mughals agreed to leave
Kashmir and promised that the
throne of Kashmir to be retained
by Yusuf Shah. Yusuf Shah accom-
panied Raja Bhagwan Das and at
Attock he met the Mughal emperor.
Akbar welcomed Yusuf Shah Chak,
but did not allow him to retain the
sultanship of Kashmir. Akbar im-
prisoned Yusuf Shah Chak. Raja
Bhagwan Das felt very much humili-
ated with the treatment meted out
to Yusuf Shah Chak. But Akbar re-
tained Yusuf Shah Chak under the
custody of Raja Todar Mal for two
and a half years. Afterwardshe re-
leased Yusuf Shah Chak and as-
signed him a mansab (rank) and
sent him to Bihar.
However, the Kashmiris contin-
ued their resistance against the
Mughals under the leadership of
Yaqub Chak. But very soon Yaqub
Chak lost the support of some of
his powerful nobles because of his
arbitrary and fanatic policies. The
dissatisfied Kashmir nobles ap-
proached the Mughal emperor
against Yaqub Chak. The Mughal
emperor sent an army under the
command Qasim Khan to attack
Kashmir and dethrone Yaqub Chak.
Consequently, in September 1586
Qasim Khan attacked Kashmir.
Though Yaqub Chak marched to
check the Mughal advancement, he
was deserted by his own nobles who
allied themselves with the
Mughals. Ultimately, dissession
among the Kashmiri nobles led to
the success of the Mughals in Kash-
mir. Finding himself in a very ad-
verse situation in Kashmir Yaqub
fled to Kishtwar. The Mughal con-
quest of Kashmir in 1586 led to the
Vol. 5, Issue 01
26
introduction of Mughal administra-
tion there and its annexation to the
Mughal empire. Qasim Khan was
appointed as the first Mughal gov-
ernor of Kashmir. Although Yaqub
Chak tried to recapture Kashmir
many times, he was unsuccessful.
In 1589 Akbar came to Kashmir.
Yaqub Shah Chak submitted before
the emperor. Thus the processes of
annexation of Kashmir were com-
pleted. With it annexation to the
Mughal empire, Kashmir was de-
clared a part of the Mughal Suba of
Kabul. Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari men-
tions Kashmir as a Sarkar (district)
of the Suba of Kabul. Since the
Mughal emperor Akbar believed in
policy of Sulh-i-Kul (peace with all)
accelerated the processes of the
cultural developments in Kashmir.
He founded a new city Nagar Nagar.
Akabr intorduced garden culture in
Kashmir and laid out the gardens
such as Nasim Bagh, Hari Parbat
garden and Wah Bagh. He also
brought cherry(Shahalu) from Kabul
and planted it in Kashmir. The pro-
cesses of Cultural development in
Kashmir under Akbar were intensi-
fied by his successors. The Mughal
emperor ensured that the fruits of
developments in Kashmir were to
be shared and enjoyed by the
Kashmiris. The Mughals contrib-
uted to the development of tourist
places in Kashmir on large scale.
At the time natural calamity huge
financial support was extended to
the Kashmiris by the Mughal em-
peror. Thus the annexation of Kash-
mir to the Mughal empire led to the
strengthening of the security of its
frontier and end of the political in-
stability in Kashmir. Under the
Mughals Kashmir was connected
with different parts of India as well
as other countries. The arts and
crafts of Kashmir received huge
publicity during the Mughal period.
Several Kashmiris were provided
opportunity to exhibit their skills
in the Mughal empire. Akbar got
Kalhan's Rajtarangini translated
into Pe r s i a n . A K a s h m i r i
calligraphist in the Mughal court
was honoured with the title of
Zarrin qalam or golden pen.
Epilogue, January 2011
27
Empire and Regional Identities:
Kashmir under the Mughals
Part-I
M
ughal emperor Jalal-ud-din
Muhammed Akbar initiated
the policy of defining the
boundary of the Mughal India. He de-
clared that India was a country spread-
ing from Kabul to the Sea or South
India. He planned to introduce Mughal
rule in whole India. He devised two
methods for the introduction Mughal
rule in different areas from Kabul to
South India: 1. through the policy of
annexation and 2. through making
tributary states. The concept of
Akbar's empire is well defined by Abul
Fazl, a court historian, "Hindustan is
described as enclosed on the east,
west and south by the ocean, but
Ceylon, Achin, the Moluccas, Malacca
and a considerable number of islands
are accounted within its extent. To the
north is lofty range of mountains, part
of which stretches along the uttermost
limits of Hindustan, and its other ex-
tremity passes into Turkestan and Per-
sia. An immediate region lies between
this vast frontiers of china, inhabited
by various races, such as Kashmir,
Great and Little Tibet, Kishtwar and
others. This quarter may therefore
be likened to another ocean . With all
its magnitude of extent and harvests
and the equable temperament of its
people.". Abul Fazl' mention clearly
shows that for Akbar Kashmir was to
be part of the Mughal empire .Conse-
quently, whe Akbar started the empire
building process in India he decided
to bring Kashmir under the
Mughals.After its conquest Akbar an-
nexed Kashmir to the Mughal empire
in 1586. Since it was the policy of
Akbar to recognize and maintain re-
gional identities of his empire, he
treated Kashmir as a distinct region
and worked for the preservation and
propagation of both tangible Although
the Mughals followed the concept of
huge territorial aggrandizement, they
believed that the regional identities
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
were to be protected and were to be
the means of the strength of the
Mughal Empire. When the Mughal
Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar
(1556-1605) annexed Kashmir to the
Mughal empire in 1586, he initiated
the policy of integration of Kashmir
with his empire through the concept
of the mutual respect and cooperation.
He perceived that Kashmir was a re-
gion which consisted of physical envi-
ronment different from other parts of
India. He also understood that Kash-
mir was a region which people were
mostly ruled by its indigenous rulers
from ancient period onwards. For
Akbar, Kashmir had huge potentiali-
ties of the expansion of horticulture
and trade and commerce. However,
Akbar first decided to record the re-
gional identities of Kashmir so that
he could formulate a policy getting
social legitimacy of his rule in Kash-
mir. Akbar's work of tapping the local
identities of Kashmir was accom-
plished by his court historian Abul Fazl.
When the latter recorded the history
of Kashmir he gave more emphasis on
the land and its people. Abul Fazl de-
fined the identities of Kashmir cover-
ing the features from its boundary to
pre-Mughal rulers of Kashmir from
ancient period onwards. Describing
the boundary of Kashmir Abul Fazl
writes, "It (Kashmir) lies in the third
and fourth climates. Its length from
Qamber Ver to Kishan Ganga is 120
kos, and it breadth from 10 to 25 kos.
On the east are Paristan and the river
Chinab; on the south-east Banihal and
the Jammu mountains; on the north-
east, Great Tibet (Tibet-i-Kalan, i.e.
Ladakh); on the south-west, the
Gakkhar country; on the north-west,
Little Tibet (Baltistan or Tibet-i-
Khurd). It is encompassed on all sides
by the Himalayan ranges. Twenty six
different roads lead into Hindustan,
but those by Bhimbar and Pakli are the
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
best and the generally practicable on
horseback. The first mentioned is the
nearest and it has several routes of
which three are good; viz., (1) Hast
Bhanj which was former route for the
march of troops; (2) Pir Panjal, which
His Majesty (Akbar) has thrice tra-
versed on his way to the rose garden
of Kashmir. If on these hills an ox or a
horse be killed , storm clouds and wind
arise with a fall of snow and rain; (3)
Tangatala." The writings of Abul Fazl
on Kashmir show that the Mughal
emperor Akbar felt it necessary to
highlight the local characteristics of
Kashmir for making it an integral
part of his empire. He found it ef-
fective to associate the Kashmiris
with the Mughal empire though re-
specting their natural heritage and
socio-economic life. For Abul Fazl,
"The country (Kashmir) is enchant-
ing and might be fittingly called a
garden of perpetual spring surround-
ing a citadel terraced to the skies,
and deservedly appropriate to be
either the delight of the worldling
or retired abode recluse. Its streams
are sweet to the taste, its water-
falls music to ears, and its climate
invigorating. The rainfall and snow-
fall are similar to that of Turkestan
and Persia and its periodical rains
occur at the same season as in
Hindustan. The lands are artificially
watered or dependent on rains for
irrigation. The flowers are enchant-
ing and fill the heart with delight.
Violets, the red roses and wild nar-
cissus cover the plains. To enumer-
ate its flora would impossible. Its
spring and autumn are extremely
beautiful. The houses are of wood
and of stories and some of more,
but its not enclose them. Tulips are
grown on the roofs which present a
lovely sight in the spring time.
Cattle and sundry stores are kept in
the lower storey, the second contains
family apartments, and in the third
and fourth are the household chat-
tels. On account of the abundance
of wood and earthquake, houses of
stone and bricks are not built, but
the ancient temples inspire aston-
ishment. At present day many of
them are in ruins. Woollen fabrics
are made in high perfection, espe-
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cially shawls which are sent as valu-
able gift every clime. But the bane
of the country is its people, yet
strange to say, not withstanding its
numerous population and the scanti-
ness of the means of subsistence,
thieving and begging are rare. Be-
sides plums and mulberries, the
fruits are numerous. Melons, apples,
peaches, apricots are excellent. Al-
though grapes are in plenty, the finer
qualities are rare and the vines bear
mulberry trees. The mulberry is
eaten. Its leaves are reserved for
silkworm. The eggs are brought from
Gilgit and Little Tibet, in the former
of which they are produced in abun-
dance and are of more choice. The
food of people is chiefly rice, wine,
fish and various vegetables, and last
mentioned they dry and preserve.
Rice is cooked and kept overnight to
be eaten. Though shali rice is plen-
tiful, the finest quality is not obtain-
able. Wheat is small in grain and
black in color, and there is little of
it, and little consumed. Gram and
barley are nowhere found. The have
species of sheep which they call
handu, delicate and sweet in flavor
and wholesome. Apparel is generally
of wool, a coat of which will last for
some years." Abul Fazl's these narra-
tives of the characteristics of Kash-
mir in terms its agricultural and arti-
sans' productions, built heritage, na-
ture of houses and food items etc.
helped the Mughal emperor to admin-
ister Kashmir in a way that could en-
sure the survival of the local identi-
ties. The Mughals found the
Kashmiris hard working persons and
very much devoted to the concept of
the self-reliance. To propagate and
encourage the skills of the Kashmiris
the Mughals gave huge space to them
in their literary works. Appreciating
the skills and hard works of the
Kashmiris Abul Fazl writes, "There are
artificers of various kinds who might
be deservedly employed in the greate
cities…The carriage of goods is ef-
fected by the boat, but men also carry
great loads over the most difficult
country. Boatmen and carpenters
drive a thriving trade. The Brahman
class is very numerous. Although Kash-
mir has a dialect of its own, their
Vol. 5, Issue 01
28
learned books in the Sanskrit lan-
guage. They have a separate charac-
ter which they use for manuscript
work, and they write chiefly on Tuz
which is the bark of a tree, worked
into sheets with some rude art and
which keeps for years. All their an-
cient documents are written on this.
Their ink is so prepared as to be in-
delible by washing. Although, in an-
cient times, the learning of the Hin-
dus was in vogue, at present day,
various sciences are studied and their
knowledge is of a more general char-
acter. Their astrological art and as-
tronomy are after the manner of the
Hindus… Their musicians are exceed-
ingly many … the most respectable
class is that of the Brahmans, who
notwithstanding their need of free-
dom from the bonds of tradition and
custom, are true worshippers of
God." Mughals respected the reli-
gious and political sentiments of the
Kashmiris. Recoding the sacred places
of the Hindus of Kashmir Abul Fazl
writes, "The whole country is re-
garded as holy ground by the Hindu
sages. Forty five shrines are dedi-
cated to Mahadeva, sixty four to
Vishnu, three to Brahma, and twenty
two to Durga. In seven hundred places
there are graven images of snakes
which they worship and regarding
which wonderful legends are told."
Through the identification of the vari-
ous aspects of the Kashmiri cultures
the Mughal emperor Akbar started the
processes of the inclusion of the
Kashmiris in the Mughal empire. He
appointed them in the Mughal admin-
istrative institutions as calligraphists,
revenue officials, horticulturalists,
poets and musicians etc. He encour-
aged the participation of the
Kashmiris in the trade and commerce
of the empire. More importantly,
Akbar made the route of Kashmir to
Delhi safer and beneficial for the
Kashmiris. It is evident that he spent
large sum to construct a road from
Rajouri via Punch to Kashmir, which
became famous as the Mughal road.
It was the concept of the coalition be-
tween the region and empire for socio-
economic development which intensi-
fied and strengthened the processes
of the integration of Kashmir with the
Mughal empire.
Epilogue, January 2011
29
Part II
K
ashmir has one of the histori
cal regions of the Indian sub-
Continent from ancient period
onwards. Its people not only made his-
tory of their own, but more impor-
tantly they also participated in the
processes of the making of the his-
tory of the other regions of the In-
dian sub-Continent. Kashmir was the
region which introduced the art of his-
toriography. Kalhan not only con-
structed the history of Kashmir, but
also incorporated the historical
events of other regions showing his-
toricity of them. The establishment
of rule of the Mauryan and Kushans
in Kashmir led to the introduction and
spread of Buddhism there. Before its
annexation to the Mughal empire by
the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin
Muhammad Akbar (1556-1605) Kash-
mir was mostly ruled by the native
rulers. The Karkota was the first na-
tive ruling dynasty which widened the
contacts of Kashmir with other re-
gion. It is well established fact that
its ruler Lalitaditya Muktapida (725-
53 A.D) was one of the most success-
ful conquerors of the world of 8th
century A.D. The rulers of the Utpala,
Lohara, Gupta and Damra dynasties
maintained and strengthened the re-
gional identity of Kashmir in terms
of social and economic developments.
Kashmir was only the region of India
where women exercised socio-politi-
cal authority in a big way. It produced
three queens, Sugandha (904-06),
Didda (958-1003) and Kota Rani
(1338-39) exercised huge political
authority and established that women
were eligible to acquire and command
political power.
With the establishment of
the Sultanate under Shamsuddin Shah
Mir in 1339 the processes of the ter-
ritorial expansion and cultural con-
tacts of Kashmir were intensified. The
sultans of Kashmir, Shah Mir to Yusuf
Shah Chak (1339-1586) largely re-
spected the sentiments of the people
of multi-social backgrounds and en-
gaged the latter in the constructive
works. Under the Sultanate of Kash-
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IN FOCUS
HISTORY
mir many new crafts such as papier-
machie, shawl-weaving, carpet mak-
ing, calligraphy and sericulture etc
were introduced. Sultan Zainul Abidin
(1420-70) encouraged Kashmiri, San-
skrit and Persian literatures in Kash-
mir. Both the Sufism and Bhaktism
flourished in Kashmir under the Sul-
tans. It is important to mention both
Nuruddin Rishi or Nand Rishi and Lal
Ded or Lalleshwari, the voices of the
subalterns of Kashmir developed and
propagated the concepts of dignity
of labour and inclusion during the
Sultanate period.
However, in 1586-87 Kashmir
was annexed to the Mughal empire
by the Mughal emperor Akbar. First
time Kashmir became a part of the
Mughal empire, famous all over world
for its political grandeur and eco-
nomic prosperity. Since Akbar be-
lieved in the concept of pluralism, he
treated the regional identities of
Kashmir as important as his own.
Abul Fazl, a court or official histo-
rian of Akbar and author of the
Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, was in-
structed by the Mughal emperor to
give due space to the regional iden-
tities in his historical works. Conse-
quently, Abul Fazl discovered various
cultural and physical identities of
Kashmir and incorporated in his
works so that others could know the
characteristics of the Kashmiri cul-
ture. The Mughals not gave huge pub-
licity to the existing cultural identi-
ties of Kashmir through their literary
works, but they contributed signifi-
cantly to the tracing of the history of
Kashmir. Abul Fazl in his Ain-i-Akbari
records some of the historical events
of Kashmir showing how the
Kashmiris worked to make them-
selves politically and economically
noticeable by the world. The sincer-
ity of the Mughals to the cause of the
Kashmiris in terms of their history
and culture can be estimated from the
fact that when Abul Fazl initiated the
processes of the discovery of the his-
torical changes and developments in
Kashmir. He tried his best to see them
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
from the sources of Kashmir. Abul fazl
found that the Rajtarangini was the
most authentic source of the history
of Kashmir. Consequently he utilized
it for the tracing of the history of
Kashmir.
Abul Fazl discovers that his-
torical developments of Kashmir in an
inclusive way. His works contain the
historical events from the policies
and achievements of the political
masters to the Amarnath shrine of
Kashmir. It is important to mention
that the Mughals had a very strong
tradition of historiography and their
history books were consulted through-
out India during the 17th and 18th
centuries. Since the Mughals had es-
tablished a coalition form of the gov-
ernment, the description of the re-
gional identities became a most
popular medium of the interactions
among multiple identities of India.
To give a definite shape to
the historical developments of Kash-
mir Abul Fazl studied the
Rajatarangini and collected informa-
tion from it regarding the history of
Kashmir from earliest period to the
first half of the 12th century A.D. Abul
Fazl gives all credit to the Mughal
emperor Akbar for tracing the histori-
cal and natural heritage of Kashmir.
The extent of the Mughal emperor's
interests in the heritage of Kashmiir
can be estimated from some of the
narratives of Abul Fazl. According to
one of the narratives of Abul Fazl,
"When the Imperial standards
(Mughals) were for the first time born
aloft in this garden of perpetual
spring, a book called Raj Tarangini
written in Sanskrit tongue contain-
ing account of the prices of Kashmir
during a period of some four thou-
sand years, was presented to His
Majesty (Akbar). It had been the cus-
tom of that country (Kashmir) for its
rulers to employ certain learned men
in writing its annals. His Majesty who
was desirous of extending the bounds
of knowledge appointed capable in-
terpreters in its translation which in
a short time was highly accomplished.
In this work it is stated that the whole
of the mountainous region was sub-
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merged under water and called Sati
Sar. Sati is the name of the wife of
Mahadev, and Sar signifies the a
lake. One day of Brahma comprises
14 manavantras. Up to the 40th year
of the Divine Era, of the seventh
manvantara, at which time Kashmir
began to be inhabited, 27 (Kalpas)
each of four cycles (yug) as before
mentioned, have elapsed and of the
twenty-eighth three cycles and of the
fourth cycles, 4701 solar years. And
when, according to the legend which
they relate, the waters had somewhat
subsided, Kasyapa who is regarded as
on of the most sublime among the
ascetics, brought in the Brahmans to
inhabit the new region. When men
began to multiply they sought to have
a just ruler over them and experi-
enced elders, solicitous of the public
weal met together in council and
elected to the supreme authority one
who was distinguished for his wis-
dom, his large understanding, his
comprehensive benevolence and his
personal courage." (Ain-i-Akbari,
Vol.II, English translation, pp.375-
76). It is very interesting and knowl-
edgeable to mention that the Mughals
tapped the information pertaining to
the origin and growth of socio-politi-
cal system of Kashmir in a historical
perspective. Abul Fazl approximates
the age of society and polity of Kash-
mir in accordance with the social and
political changes in the region. For
Abul Fazl, Ugnand was the first king
of Kashmir who ruled 4044 years prior
to 1595-96 A.D. Narrating the nature
of the political power of the early
kings of Kashmir Abul Fazl writes, "
Ugnand fell by the hand of Balbhadra,
the elder brother of Kishan in the
battle fought at Mathura between
Kishan and Jarasandha raja of Behar.
Damodara (his son), to avenge his
death marched against some of the
relations of Kishan who were hasten-
ing to a marriage festival in Qandhar,
and was killed fighting on the banks
of the Sind…Thirty five princes suc-
ceeded, but through their tyranny
their names are no more remem-
bered. When Lavah ascended the
throne, their justice was universally
Vol. 5, Issue 01
30
administered and deeds met their
just recognition. He founded in
Kamraj the great city of Lavapur the
ruins of which still to be traced." The
Mughals accepted that the Rajas and
Sultans of Kashmir were very much
conscious to their power and prestige.
According to Abul fifty three kings
reigned Kashmir during 1266 years.
Abul Fazl's lists of the rulers of Kash-
mir mentions Ugnand as its first king
and Yaqub Khan as the last sultan be-
fore the establishment of the Mughal
rule in Kashmir.
Once the Mughals made Kash-
mir part of their Indian empire, they
devised a plan to keep the works of
the previous rulers of the state
memorable so that local people could
make their histories as the sources
of their inspiration. Abul Fazl men-
tions that Raja Pravarasena, a ruler
of the ancient Kashmir, earned a huge
fame through his good governance
and constructive activities. Describ-
ing the achievements of the Raja Abul
Fazl writes, "Pravarasena was univer-
sally distinguished for his justice and
liberality. He founded Srinagar, the
capital of the country (Kashmir) ren-
dered it populous during his reign with
600,000 houses." Similarly Raja
Lalitaditya of 8th century A.D. Kash-
mir has been portrayed by Abul Fazl
as one of the most powerful warriors
of the world in terms of his territo-
rial aggrandizement. For Abul Fazl,
"Raja Lalitaditya devoted himself to
the prosperity of his kingdom and in
the strength of the divine aid over-
ran Iran, Turan (Central Asia), Fars,
Hindustan, Khata, and the whole hos-
pitable globe, and administered his
dominions with justice. He died in the
mountains of the north, and it is said
tha he was turned into stone by the
curse of an ascetic, but others relate
the story differently."
Through the identification of
the political changes in Kashmir from
the ancient period onwards the
Mughals preserved and propagated
that the Kashmiri ruling families fol-
lowed the despotism which was most
effective form of the government of
the ancient and medieval period. But
Epilogue, January 2011
31
the Mughals also presented many
Kashmiri rulers as enlightened and
just. Abul Fazl found that the Sultan
Zainul Abidin made Kashmir an active
participant in Asia in terms of terri-
torial expansion, public welfare ac-
tivities, economic developments and
promotion of knowledge. Abul Fazl
make the works of Zainul Abidin
memorable in these words, "Zainul
Abidin overran Tibet and Sind. He was
a wise prince, devoted to philosophi-
cal studies and it was his fortune to
enjoy universal peace. He was re-
garded by high and low as a special
servant of God and venerated as a
saint. He was credited with the power
of divesting himself of his corporal
form, and he foretold that under the
dynasty of the Chaks, the sovereignty
of Kashmir would be transferred from
that family to the monarchs of
Hindustan, which prediction after a
period of years was accomplished. His
benevolence and love of his people
induced him to prohibit the slaugh-
tering of cows, as well as penalties
and presents of all kinds. He added
somewhat to the measure of the
Jarib. His private revenues were
drawn from copper mines. He often
personally administered medicinal
remedies and resolved all difficult un-
dertakings with ease. Robbers were
employed in chained gangs on public
works. His gentleness of disposition
dissuaded men from the pursuit of
game, and he himself ate no flesh or
meat. He caused many works to be
translated from the Arabic, Persian,
Kashmiri and Sanskrit languages.
During his reign musician from Per-
Formation of Jammu
and Kashmir state
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sia and Turkestan flocked to his
court; among them Mulla Undi, the
immediate pupil of the famous
Khwajah Abdul Qadir arrived from
Khurasan and Mulla Jamil who in sing-
ing and painting was pre-eminent
among his contemporaries, Sultan
Abu Said Mirza sent him presents of
Arab horses and dromedaries from
Khurasan and Bahlol Lodi King of
Delhi and Sultan Mahmud of Gujarat
were in friendly alliance with him."
The Mughals identified the reli-
gious centres of Kashmir. Abul Fazl
depicts them in terms of their loca-
tion, religious sanctity and existing
structural conditions. He gives a
graphic picture of Amarnath shrine.
According to him, "Between Great
Tibet (Tibet-i-Kalan or Ladakh)
…Parganah (Dachchhinparah) is a
cave which an image in ice called
Amar Nat. It is considered a shrine
of great sanctity. When the new moon
rises from her throne of rays, a
bubble as it were of ice is formed in
the cave which daily increases little
by little fro fifteen days till it is some-
what higher than two yards; with the
waning moon, the image likewise
begins to decrease, till no trace of it
remains when the moon disappears.
They believe it to be the image of
Mahadeva and regarded it as a
means (through supplication) of ful-
fillment of their desires. Near the
cave is a rill called Amraoti, the clay
of which is extremely white. The
snows of this mountainous tract no-
where melt, and from the extremely
cold, the straitness of the defiles and
the rough inequalities of road, they
T
he state of Jammu and Kash
mir came into existence in
1846. It cosists of three cultural
zones, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
But before the formation of the state
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
are surmounted with great toil." But
Abul Fazl identifies Martand in a di-
lapidated condition. He narrated it in
these words, "Matan (Martand)
stands upon a hill and once possessed
a large temple. There is a small pool
on the summit, the water of which
never decreases. Some suppose this
to be the Wall of Babylon, but at the
present day there is no trace of any-
thing but ordinary pit." Through the
recognition and propagation of the
local identities of Kashmir the Mughals
realized the Kashmiris that the latter's
regional identities deserved to be
highlighted and historically they were
as useful as other identities of the
Mughal India. It is well accepted that
the Mughal emperor Akbar practiced
and propagated the concept of 'peace
with all' (Sulh-i-Kul), largely followed
by his successors. Consequently, the
literary men followed the concept of
inclusion in selecting themes of their
writings. Since Kashmir was an impor-
tant frontier region of the Mughal em-
pire, the Mughals understood it a their
duty to it respecting the local identi-
ties. The descriptions of these iden-
tities by the Mughal literary works
show that they treated the Kashmiris
as the makers of their own histories.
The Mughals also accepted that both
empire and region could work together
when the latter's cultural identities
were respected by the empire. The
Mughals' policy of the treating the re-
gional identities as the basis of the
strength of a region led to the inten-
sification in the process of the asso-
ciation of the Kashmiris with the
Mughal empire.
these regions represented various
types of political identities. It is
known that the modern Jammu re-
gion was divided into twenty two
principalities. The major states of
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
Jammu region were Jammu, Mankot,
Jasrota, Lakhanpur, Samba, Bhau,
Bhoti, Chanehni, Bandralta, Kishtwar,
Rajouri, Punch, Bhimbher and Khari-
Khariyali etc. These states of Jammu
region were ruled by the Rajputs be-
longing to both the Hindu and Mus-
lim communities. Raja Ranjit Dev
(1733-82) was only the king of Jammu
who tried to bring all these states
under his control through the con-
quests. Otherwise, fragmented politi-
cal authority was the dominant trend
of Jammu region upto the early 19th
century. Similarly, Kashmir was a
separate political entity. Though in
1586 it was annexed to the Mughal
empire by the Mughal emperor Jalal-
ud-din Akbar (1556-1605), socio-po-
litically it maintained its identity. In
1753 Mughal rule came to an end in
Kashmir and it was replaced by the
Afghan rule. The Afghans ruled Kash-
mir for about 66 years (1753-1819).
The modern Ladakh region was also
divided into several principalities.
Lahchen and Namgyal were the ma-
jor dynasties which ruled major parts
of Ladakh.
The processes converting the dif-
ferent political entities of the mod-
ern Jammu and Kashmir in one po-
litical unit started in early 19th cen-
tury. It was Maharaja Ranjit
Singh(1800-39) of Lahore Darbar who
decided to conquer the states of
Jammu and Kashmir regions. In 1808
Maharaja Ranjit Singh compelled Jit
Dev, the last king of Jammu state, to
accept his sovereignity and in 1816
annexed Jammu to the Lahore
Darbar. After its annexation to the
Lahore Darbar Jammu was assigned
in Jagir to Prince Kharak Singh, the
son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. But the
rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was
opposed by the local people of Jammu
under the leadership of Mian Dido.
Though Mian Dido was a Jamwal
Rajput and belonged to a branch of
ruling family of Jammu, he fought for
the cause of common people of
Jammu. He received huge support of
the common people of Jammu against
Maharaja Ranjit Singh rule. He
emerged as a folk hero. The resis-
tance of Mian Dido against the rule
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of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was so
strong that it became very difficult
for the latter to successfully run the
administration of the state. Finally,
Maharaja Ranjit Singh decided to
utilise the services of Gulab Singh, a
Dogra army officer working under
him.
Gulab Singh, born on October 21,
1792, joined the services of Maha-
raja Ranjit Singh in 1810. Though
Gulab Singh started his career as a
trooper under Maharaja Ranjit Singh,
his courage, chivalry and sincerity
brought him to the post of a com-
mander of an army of the Maharaja.
The latter found Gulab Singh as the
most competent and suitable army
commonder for the suppression of
Mian Dido. Consequently Gulab Singh
was sent to Jammu by Maharaja
Ranjit Singh to overpower Mian Dido.
Gulab Singh worked in accordance
with the expectation of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh and in 1820 defeated and
killed Mian Dido. The success of
Gulab Singh against Mian Dido im-
pressed Maharaja Ranjit Singh so
much that the latter assigned him the
duty of conquering other states of
Jammu hills and annexing them to
Lahore Darbar. Gulab Singh con-
quered Kishtwar and Rajouri and
other states of Jammu hills. More im-
portantly, Maharaja Ranjit Singh
honoured Gulab Singh with the title
of Raja. In June 1822 Gulab crowned
himself as the king of Jammu on the
bank of Chenab river. Raja Gulab
Singh appointed Zorawar Singh
Kahaluria as his Wazir. In 1834
Zorawar, ordered by Gulab Singh, at-
tacked Ladakh and defeated its ruler
Tsepal Namgyal and after two years
Ladakh was annexed to the Jammu
Kingdom.
As far as Kashmir was con-
cerned, it was conquered and an-
nexed to Lahore Darbar in 1819. The
rule of Lahore darbar in Kashmir
continued upto 1846. However,
when Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in
1839 the strength of Lahore Darbar
started to be weakened. The weak-
ness of Lahore Darbar in Kashmir
after 1839 paved the way for the
change in the political life of Kash-
Vol. 5, Issue 01
32
mir.
In 1845 the British forces at-
tacked Punjab and first Anglo-
Punjab war was fought. The British
defeated the army of Lahore Darbar
and compelled its ruler Dalip Singh
to sign a treaty. Raja Gulab Singh
plalyed a vital role in signing the
treaty between Maharaja Dalip
Singh and British on March 9, 1846.
It is called treaty of Lahore. Accord-
ing to one of the clauses of the
treaty, Maharaja Dalip Singh ac-
cepted Gulab Singh as an indepen-
dent sovereign. Afterwards, British
Viceroy Hardinge devised a plan to
hand over Kashmir and other hill
territories to Gulab Singh on the
condition of payment of war
idemnity. Consequently, on March
15, 1846 the British governent con-
ferred the title of the Maharaja on
Raja Gulab Singh and on March 16,
1846 signed a treaty with Maharaja
Gulab Singh. It is called the treaty
of Amritsar. According to the treaty,
British agreed to hand over Kash-
mir and other hill territories to Ma-
haraja on the condition of the pay-
ment of Rupees seventy five lakhs
as war idemnity to the British. Ma-
haraja Gulab Singh accepted the
condition and received Kashmir.
Though Maharaja Gulab Singh paid
Rupees seventy five lakhs to Brit-
ish in lieu of Kashmir, he did not
acquire independent position . He
remained as a tributary of the Brit-
ish Government. The treaty of
Amritsar consists of ten articles.
According to the Article 10, "Maha-
raja acknowledges the supermacy of
of the British Government, and will,
in token of such supermacy, present
annually to the British government
one horse, twelve perfect shawls
goats of approved breed (six male
and six female) and three pairs of
Kashmiri shawls". (S.D.S. Charak
(Tr.), Gulabnama, Delhi, 1977,
p.422). Thus the through the pay-
ment of seventy five rupees Maha-
raja Gulab Singh did not purchase
Kashmir from the British Govern-
ment. Bsut he paid the amount as
war idemnity and occupied Kashmir
as a tributary power of the British
Epilogue, January 2011
33
India. With occupation of Kashmir
on March 16, 1846 Maharaja laid
the foundation of Jammu and Kash-
mir, consisting of three cultural
zones, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Thus Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh
were politically united by Maharaja
GulabSingh and concept of political
fragmentation in these region was
ended by him. It was Maharaja Gulab
Oral Traditions and History
of Jammu Hill States
www.epilogue.in
Singh's efforts which resulted in the
formation of Jammu and Kashmir
state. The formation of Jammu and
Kashmir state not only accelerated
the process of the socio-economic
development in the state under Ma-
haraja Gulab Singh and his
successros, but the unity of Jammu
and Kashmir state is instrumental
for the strength of the people of the
I
t is customary among the common
people to narrate historical events
and keep alive the collective
memory in the form of folktales and
folk songs. In the different parts of
the Indian subcontinent, the wander-
ing singers present folktales and folk
songs in the form of public perfor-
mances in the rural areas. These sing-
ers are known by such names as
mirasis, jogis and faqirs. They en-
tertain the people with songs/stories
describing the heroic deeds of past
heroes or narrate the resistance
against foreign invaders. Moreover,
these singers also sing songs in the
memory of local deities, rituals, cus-
toms and other cultural develop-
ments. It is important to mention
that these singers' songs did not re-
strict themselves to the events of a
particular chronological span. In-
stead, they incorporated the events
of different periods in their stock of
themes. Similarly, it is a common
practice for the people in India to
quote legends, myths and supersti-
tions in support of their actions,
thoughts and beliefs. Besides, a large
number of jokes and satires have
been manufactured at the popular
level against the deeds of people be-
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
three regions, Jamm, Kashmir and
Ladakh. All these three regions are
inter-dependent on each other for
their socio-economic growth. More
importantly, they the collective re-
pository of cultural heritage of the
state. The state of Jammu and
Kashmir fosters the composite cul-
ture and encourages the people to
grow in differences.
longing to the diverse (other/alien)
social groups. However, the oral tra-
ditions in various forms tends to re-
move, to a large extent, the diffi-
culties and hindrances caused by the
non-availability of written records,
hitherto considered essential for re-
constructing the history of a region,
race, people and period. It has al-
ready been pointed out that many
societies or communities or social
groups (and regions) of India do not
possess adequate and suitable his-
torical records, either in the form of
archaeological remains or written
documents. In such a scenario, the
availability of oral evidence inspires
the people to trace their own history.
The modern Jammu region is
quite poor in terms of the availabil-
ity of written records. It is quite well
known that the region was divided
into twenty two Rajput principalities
during medieval period, particularly
from the fifteenth century onwards.
These principalities were ruled by lin-
eages that were both Hindu and
Muslim. For example, the rulers of
Jammu, Jasrota, Bilawar, Bhadrawah
and Mankot belonged to the Hindu
Rajput dynasties,, whereas the rul-
ers of Rajouri and Punch belonged
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
to the Muslim Rajput dynasties.
Though some Mughal chronicles pro-
vide scattered information regarding
the socio-political and economic life
of these principalities, there are
hardly any indigenous source in local
or non-local languages, providing in-
formation regarding the past. J.
Hutchison and J. Ph. Vogel, the au-
thors of the History of the Punjab Hill
States, the pioneer work on the his-
tory of Jammu hill states, depend
mainly on the traditional genealogi-
cal tables (Vanshawalis) for tracing
the dynastic history of these petty
chiefdoms. But as far as the oral tra-
ditions are concerned, they yield rich
data regarding the historical devel-
opment in the region. Highlighting the
importance of the oral traditions in
historical perspective, Hutchison and
Vogel write, "…common tradition is
often useful in throwing light on the
events of past, and much informa-
tion of a fairly reliable character has
come down to us through this chan-
nel. In the hills social conditions have
been prevalent from remote times,
which give to traditionary lore an im-
portance and credibility which it would
not elsewhere possess. Till compara-
tively recent years the hills were al-
most entirely isolated from the
plains. The rugged character of the
country made invasion difficult and
conquest practically impossible. This
is the chief reason why we read of so
few dynastic changes…Nor is this
claim to ancient lineage confined to
the families of the ruling chiefs. Many
Brahmans also can prove, by the title
deeds to their possession, that their
ancestors have held their lands in
unbroken tenure for many centuries,
and in some cases of nearly thousand
years. Even the common farmers, in
numerous instances, reside in same
villages and till the same lands as
their ancestors have done from time
immemorial. And families older than
even these are to be found in the hills
- the descendents of petty chiefs
called Ranas and Thakurs, who ac-
cording to common tradition, held
independent rule in the dim and misty
past, long before the Rajas appeared
on the scene. If to all this be added
the glamour and romance of the hills:
the conservative character of the
people and their devoted attachment
to their hereditary chiefs, and their
native land in all its interests: we
have those conditions, in full mea-
sure, which tend foster a love of tra-
ditionary lore, and to create an at-
mosphere most favourable for its
transmission, with remarkable accu-
racy of detail, to posterity." The
statement of Hutchison and Vogel
seems to be correct in the light of
the specific socio-political conditions
of the Jammu hill states. It may be
mentioned that almost all castes and
tribes, inhabiting the hills, practiced
agriculture and animal rearing as ba-
sis of their livelihood. All the social
groups maintained their indigenous
traditions. Instead of depending on
the imperial records, the people of
Jammu hills generally quoted the oral
traditions while tracing their past.
The oral traditions of Jammu
hills are available in form of heroic
ballads, folk stories, (lokgatha) folk
songs etc. These traditions contain
a great variety of historical themes.
Moreover, the oral traditions are avail-
able in different languages and dia-
lects of the region. Though the Dogri
is the major language in terms of the
making of oral traditions, some other
dialects such as Bhadrawahi and
Kishtwari have also been employed for
making stories, songs and proverbs.
The oral traditions are preserved by
the people in accordance with the
themes. For instance, the ballads
known as karaks are sung to narrate
the life and works of a saint of the
area concerned. These are sung by
hereditary and professional singers
known as garadi. Similarly, the bal-
lads sung to describe the valorous
deeds of the warriors are called bars.
However, all types of oral traditions
contain some basic ingredient that
can be used for reconstructing at least
some aspect of an otherwise hazy
past. Generally, the origin of all the
states of Jammu region is traced on
the basis of oral traditions. For in-
stance, one of such traditions shows
that Jammu was an ancient state. Its
firs king was Angibaran, who was a
brother or kinsman of the ruler of
Ayodhya. Another oral tradition shows
34
that the state of Jammu was founded
by a king called Jammu-Lochan. Ac-
cording to this tradition, "Jammu-
Lochan on becoming Raja wished to
found another town as his capital and
name it after himself. With this in
view he went out hunting one day
accompanied by his officials, and
crossing the Tawi (river) he saw in
the jungle a deer and tiger drinking
at the same tank. Being surprised at
the sight he returned to his tent, and
calling his ministers enquired the
meaning of such strange occurance.
They replied that the explanation lay
in the fact that the soil of the place
excelled in virtue, and for that rea-
son no living creature bore enmity
against another. The Raja, therefore,
came to the conclusion that this was
just the kind of site he was in search
of, and founded a new town calling
Jambupura." Similar types of oral
evidences are available pertaining to
the political developments from an-
cient to medieval times. Another oral
tradition of Bhadrawah state (situ-
ated in the modern Doda district of
the Jammu region) mentions that
Nagpal, a king of the sixteenth cen-
tury, accepted the Mughal sover-
eignty. Another oral tradition shows
that a poet of the eighteenth century
Bhadrawah composed a poem to
please the reigning king. The follow-
ing Dogri couplet substantiates the
point:
Kad chhutta munh jalda karne gilra
Sumpat Pale ki kian rijhana
This couplet may be translated as
"Being dumb and dwarf with a goitre
on neck, I do not know how to please
the Raja Sampat Pal.
In the Jammu hills the local
heroes, struggling for the protection
of the interests of the common
people, have always been treated as
the local deities from the early medi-
eval period onwards. The main rea-
son behind the their immense popu-
larity was their selfless struggle that
inspired the local people to fight for
their their socio-economic rights. The
local heroes inspired the common
people to raise their voice against an
oppressive state and the tax-collec-
tors' exploitative methods. These
35
struggle of the local heroes is pre-
served in the oral traditions. Some
local heroes such as Baba Jitto and
Mian Dido have acquired an iconic
status in the oral traditions of the
Jammu region. These oral traditions
are available in form of Karak and
sung by the singers till date. Profes-
sor Ram Nath Shastri has collected a
large number of such oral traditions
pertaining to the lives of Baba Jitto
and Mian Dido and other local heroes
and has utilised them in highlighting
their contribution to the socio-eco-
nomic developments in the Jammu
region. His book entitled Duggar de
Lok Nayak, written in the Dogri lan-
guage, is largely based on the oral
traditions of the region. These oral
traditions narrate both the life and
works of these local heroes. For in-
stance the following oral tradition
describes the birth of Baba Jittoo:
Ghar Rupa de thaugar truthe
Aund narain lai
Bhale nashtar janam Babe da
Naren mangal gai
The above couplet may be trans-
lated as : "God was pleased with
Rupa and brought all hope to fruition.
The Baba was born under an auspi-
cious constellation and the women
folk sang their blessings." The above
karak is not only source of the birth
of the Baba. But it does indicate the
name of his mother i.e. Rupa. In the
Indian society, generally the father's
name was recorded during medieval
and early modern times. In this case,
however, it was the name of the
mother that has been recorded. It
appears that among the peasant
families of the Jammu hills, the
women acted as the prime movers of
their respective families.
The following karak focuses on
the marriage of Baba Jitto:
Magh mahine naveen the lagen
Ditta baya rachai
Sheel vanti nek kule di
Lale Babe bayai
Magh mahine naveen the lagen
Ditta baya rachai
Sheel vanti nek kule di
Lale Babe bayai
The above couplet may be translated as
: "Marriage preparations were set afoot
on the ninth of the month of Magh. Baba
was wedded to a gentle and well born girl."
Oral traditions of Jammu hills
cover multiple cultural developments
which took place during the medieval and
modern periods. Besides the local heroes,
the historical events pertaining to the
ruling classes, caste system, local festi-
vals and customs are narrated by the the
oral traditions of the Jammu hills. The
collection, compilation and translation of
these oral traditions may be very helpful
in the construction of the history of the
Jammu hills. Though there is a need of
the authentication of these oral traditions
for these uses in historical terms, one
may contribute to the making of history
of Jammu hills through the establishment
of the historiocity as reflected in these
oral traditions.
History of Ladakh in the Mughal His-
torical Sources
Ladakh's cultural relations with Cen-
tral Asia and parts of India can be traced
from the ancient period. During the me-
dieval period the process of Ladakh's in-
teraction with the different parts of Asia
was intensified. It is known that Mir
Sayyid Ali Hamdani, a sufi of Persia, vis-
ited Ladakh in 1383 en route to
Turkestan. It was medieval period when
the people of the neighbouring states of
Ladakh came closer to the Ladakhis
through commercial, literary and reli-
gious activities. It is an established fact
that some of the Central Asians were well
versed to the routes to Ladakh during the
medieval period. It is substantiated from
that the Central Asians invaded Ladakh
frequently from the first half of the 16th
century onwards. Though it was Mirza
Haidar Dughlat invasion in 1532 which
influenced the political life of Ladakh very
much, there are references to the Cen-
tral Asian invasions on Ladakh prior to
it. Mirza Haidar Dughlat himself admits
that his predecessors invaded Ladakh.
When Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur es-
tablished the Mughal empire in the north
India, Mughals' cultural contacts with
Kashmir and Ladakh were further
strengthened and expanded. The Mughals
themselves came to India from Central
Asia. Consequently, they retained their
contacts with Ladakh.
Since the Mughals planned to
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
make their Indian empire stron-
gest and largest in the world in
terms of territorial expansion and
economic prosperity, they made
Ladakh a part of Mughal India.
More importantly, the Mughals
made a policy to acquire the
knowledge of cultural life of the
conquered areas. The acquisition
of the knowledge of the cultural
life of the conquered and
neighbouring areas of the Mughal
empire was not only the part of
the intellectual activities of the
contemporary historians and pro-
fessional writers, but the Mughal
emperors themselves were very
much interested in collecting the
information pertaining to the
various cultures. In his autobiog-
raphy the Mughal emperor
Jahangir (1605-27) not only men-
tions the events of his own em-
pire, but he also incorporates
some information of the non-
Mughal empire areas such as Ti-
bet and Ladakh. He mentions
that with the exceptions of shawls
other woollen materials were
manufactured of better quality in
Tibet. The wool for good quality
of shawls was imported to Kash-
mir from Tibet and Ladakh. The
goat which produced the wool for
the Kashmiri shawls was peculiar
to Tibet. Similarly the historians
of the Mughal period make men-
tion of the known historical facts
pertaining to Ladakh in their own
account.
The Mughals' curiosity to
have information of the socio-
economic and political aspects of
the different neighbouring areas
of their empire inspired the con-
temporary historians to widen the
scope of their literary works. Con-
sequently Ladakh found impor-
tant space in the historical
sources of the Mughal empire.
During the 17th century A.D. the
Mughal emperors' particularly
Shihabuddin Muhammad
Shahjahan (1628-58), extended
the boundary of India upto the
Transoxiana region. Ladakh was
well connected with Central Asian
countries. Both the commercial
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
and diplomatic contacts of Ladakh was
intensified with the Central Asian
Countries because of Ladakh being
situated on one of the route between
the Central Asia and North India. The
historical works of the Mughal em-
pire during Shahjahan's period made
Ladakh one of new themes of their
regional studies.
Some aspects of the history and
culture of the seventeenth century
are very well depicted in the
Shahjahan Nama, a famous Mughal
source dedicated to the Mughal em-
peror Shahjahan (1628-58). It was
written by Inayat Khan. The latter
belonged to an aristocratic back-
ground. His father Zafar Khan was the
governor of Kashmir and was assigned
the work of the conquest of Ladak
and Tibet by the Mughal emperor
Shahjahan in 1637. Inayat Khan held
the post of superintendent of the Royal
library (Darogha-i-Kutub Khana) un-
der Shahjahan. Thus Inayat Khan had
both the opportunity and capability
of gathering information from differ-
ent quarters about the events of
Ladakh. Being the superintendent of
the Royal Library he enjoyed large
facilities in terms of the collection of
the book. His social background en-
abled to collect materials about the
political and socio-economic life of the
seventeenth century Ladakh.
The Shahjahan Nama gives vari-
ous types of information such as po-
litical relations between the Mughals
and Tibet and the Mughals and
Baltistan, the forts, the trade routes,
agricultural and horticultural produc-
tions and the zamindars etc. of
Ladakh and Tibet. It is known that
Shahjahan was the first Mughal em-
peror who extended the Mughal em-
pire up to Ladakh and Tibet. The
planning of the conquest of Tibet has
been described by Inayat Khan in a
very systematic way. For him the sub-
jugation of Ladak and Tibat was one
of the most prospering events of the
Mughal empire. He not only gives an
explicit description of the conquest
of Tibet and Ladakh, but also dis-
closes that Shahjahan's father
Jahangir planned to establish the
Mughal sovereignty in Ladakh, but he
did not succeed. According to him,
"Although it had been a favourite
project with the late emperor
Jahangir to subdue the country of Ti-
bet, the contemplated enterprise had
never been carried into execution.
During the period of his governing
Kashmir, Hashim Khan, son of Qasim
Khan Mir Bahr, once collected at the
late emperor's command an army of
soldiers and zamindars, and set out
on the expedition. However, finding
it impossible to penetrate into the
country, he completely failed in his
attempt, and after great number of
his force were killed and many more
taken as prisoners, he effected a di-
sastrous retreat."
Shahjahan appointed Zafar Khan
as the commander of the army for
the conquest of Tibet in 1637. Zafar
Khan collected an army of 2000 cav-
alry and 10000 infantry out of the
provincial troops, his own followers
and those of the zamindars. After-
ward, according to Inayat Khan, fol-
lowed the route of Gurach, which was
64 kos (two miles) far from Tibet.
This was very difficult route. But Zafar
Khan successfully made journey
through this route and reached a vil-
lage called Sadpara. Inayat Khan
found a very useful gorge at Sadpara
village, which was used by the local
people for defence purpose. He men-
tions: "…there (Sadpara) is a narrow
gorge with a torrent flowing through.
By throwing a dam across this, the
enemy had formed a large lake which
blocked up the road through the cen-
tre of the pass, while on both sides
there were frowning precipices. On
one side, where it was just possible
to climb the steep ascent, they had
built up a strong wall of stone and
mortar from the water's edge to the
summit of the mountain so as to
present anyone from passing that
way the opposite side being naturally
so inaccessible as not to require the
precaution. The natives of Tibat had
fortified this place long ago, so that
whenever any invading army might
advance against their country, they
could ascend the heights and arrest
their further progress. In fact, it was
at this very spot that Hashim Khan,
when he marched against Tibat, was
defeated and forced to retreat."
36
Abdal, a chief (Zamindar) of Tibet,
gave tough resistance to the Mughal
force. He posted his army men along
the height to check the advancement
of the Mughal army. Consequently,
Zafar Khan had to change his strat-
egy and divide his army in three col-
umns so that Abdal's army was to be
attacked from different directions.
Inayat Khan again mentions that
when his father's army reached
Skardu, it became very difficult for
him to make further advancement.
The forts of Tibet were the main ob-
struction in the way of the Mughal
victory of it.
The Shahjahan Nama's description
of the forts of Ladakh is very useful
for the study of the heritage and ar-
chitectural activities of Ladakh and
Tibet. It mentions that there were
thirty seven forts in Tibet and
Ladakh. Ianyat Khan was very much
impressed from the strength of the
forts of Ali Rai, Shigar, Garewcha and
Ganjak. According to him these forts
helped the local rulers and people con-
siderably against the Mughal forces.
He writes, "As soon as my father
(Zafar Khan) saw the loftiness and
strength of the two forts, he felt con-
vinced that it would be immensely
difficult to capture them either by
storming or siege. The whole period
for military operations in Tibet does
not exceed two months, and if an
army were to stay longer than this,
the passes would become closed by
snow and return would be rendered
impracticable. Moreover, should the
winter happen to be protracted one,
the troops would all perish for want
of provisions." But Inayat Khan also
mentions that the soldiery and peas-
antry of Tibet were highly dissatis-
fied with Abdal's rule. Such situation
helped Zafar Khan and the latter ex-
ploited it. However, after a long chase
the Mughal succeeded in capturing
Abdal. Inayat Khan gives a long de-
scription of the battle between the
Mughas and the Ladakhis. He also
mentions that some Tibetans were
recruited in the Mughal army."
There were two major two of
Ladakh and Tibet which attracted the
attention of Inayat Khan very much,
first through Gurach and through Lar.
37
Both of these routes created difficul-
ties for the travellers because of the
existence of high mountains, diffi-
cult passes and innumerable gorges.
He mentions Ladakh a weak country
in terms of cultivation. Wheat and
barley were the chief crops of the
region. The total revenue of Ladakh
was one Lakh of rupees. But it was
rich region for the extraction of gold
and horticulture. He observes, "It
contains one stream from the bed of
which minute particles of not over
pure gold are extracted by washing
its slit, which privilege is formed out
at a yearly rent of nearly 2000 tolas
of gold. Most of the species of fruits
indigenous to a cold climate such as
apricot, peach, melons and grapes
Rajput Rulers and Sufis of Jammu
www.epilogue.in
thrive well in Tibat and the fruit is of
excellent flavour. There is also a va-
riety of reddish apple, the inside of
which resembles in redness. The
mulberry, cucumber, apricot, peach,
melon and grape all blossom at the
same season there." This shows that
the Shahjahan Nama of Inayat Khan
not only describes the exploits of the
Mughals in Ladakh and Tibet, but
more importantly it also contains his-
torical facts concerning the socio-eco-
nomic activities, heritage and politi-
cal situation of these regions.
The description of Ladakh by the
author of the Shahjahan Nama pre-
sents the Mughal perception of
Ladakh and Ladakhis. It enables the
modern historians to study the his-
I
t is an established fact that the
Rajput rulers of the various parts
of India welcomed the arrival of
all those who were willing to work and
contributed to the flourishment of
their states. Similarly, the political life
of Jammu state has also been domi-
nated by the Rajputs from early me-
dieval period onwards. The Dev
Rajput dynasty of always welcomed
the diverse shades of thought, social
trends and persons of the different
art and crafts. They believed in the
concept of justice in diversity and dis-
couraged the concept of uniformity.
The arrival of sufism was one of the
most important social developments
of medieval Jammu. The socio-politi-
cal history of Jammu shows that the
Dev Rajput rulers of Jammu treated
the Sufis and their shrines as the
important sources of cultural devel-
opment in their state. They not only
provided favourable atmosphere for
the flourishment of the Sufi's philoso-
phy of the Unity of Being, but, more
importantly, they also established so-
cial contact with them and worked for
their settlement and maitenance of
their their shrines.
From the 13th century onwards
sufism became one of the popular
Vol. 5, Issue 01
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
torical development and changes in
Ladakh from others point of view.
Though the historians of the Mughal
empire were very much influenced by
the Persian trends of historiography,
they did not underestimate the con-
tribution of the Ladakhis to mainte-
nance and flourishment of the re-
gional identities. The mentions of the
Shahjahan Nama pertaining to the
history and culture of Ladakh convey
that the Ladakh was treated one of
the well established historical regions
of the 17th century world and the
Ladakhis as a regional identity well
placed on the map of the world. The
Mughal sources contributed to the
propagation of Ladakh's cultural iden-
tity in non-Tibetan speaking regions.
philosophies in the Jammu hills and
the activities of the Sufis received
tremendous social support. The sufis
performed different types of the ac-
tivities. Most of the Sufis of the
Jammu hills performed miracles
(Kashf wa Karamat). Some of the
miracles of Pir Roshan Ali Shah are
mentioned by the Rajdarshani. It is
said that the king of Jammu was so
much impressed from the miracles of
Pir Roshan Shah Wali that he came to
meet the sufi. The king is known as
Raja Sarab-li- Dhar. The later was so
much influenced with the miracles of
the Pir that he requested the Pir to
settle in Jammu. The Pir accepted the
offer of the king and settled down at
Jammu. The king of provided all types
of facilities to the Pir. Another
miracle, narrated by Rajdarshani is
associated with the death of Pir
Roshan Shah Wali. Ganeshdas
Badehra, the author of Rajdharshani,
found the shrine and Khanqah of Pir
Roshan Wali to be very popular and
thriving during the 19th century. Nar-
rating the arrival,meeting of the Pir
with the Raja and his death
Ganeshdas Badehra writes, "…a long
man of towering body named Roshan
Shah Wali, one of the close associ-
Epilogue, January 2011
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
ates of the Prophet, of an Arab-like
gait, came to the chakla of Jammu
like a Faqir and met Raja Sarab-li-
Dhar and gave him the tidings of
safety, that the army of Islam would
not endanger his life and faith, nor
would it harm Jammu. But the coun-
tries of the Punjab and Hindustan
would be trampled under hoofs of the
seeds of the Musalman. "So I a feeble
ant, has been deputed by the Holy and
popular Rasul to guard Jammu." He
uttered such words, took off his skull
from his head like turban, walked
headless for some steps and going
near the Gumat gate, sat in side and
gave up the ghost. They buried him
there as per his will. His Khanqah
exists to this day and enjoys the same
reverence."
About the Pir Mitha it is famous
that once he tied his horse nearby
his hut and went out of his home.
After some time the horse felt
thirstyness, there was nobody to
provide water to the horse. But
suddenly a fountain was raised and
two trees sprang up. The horse
drank the water and ate the leaves
of the trees and met his both
thirstiness and hunger. Another
miracle associated with Pir Mitha
shows that he possessed merit to
cure a patient with his action. Ac-
cording to a hagiographical story,
a queen of Jammu fell ill and she
could not recover for long time de-
spite all the royal efforts. Pir Mitha
came to know about the illness of
the queen through some of the
royal water carriers (Bhishtis). It is
known that during fifteenth cen-
tury water supply to the royal pal-
ace, situated at modern Dalpatian
Mohallah, was maintained by the
water carriers through the river
and wells. Generally the water car-
riers carried water from Peer Koh
to the palace. The house of Pir
Mitha was situated at a place from
which the water carriers went to
Peer Koh. Once when a water car-
rier, carrying water from Peer Koh,
reached at the near the house of
Pir Mitha, the latter asked about
the illness of the queen. When he
came to known that queen's con-
tinued to suffer from the disease
www.epilogue.in
he touched the water pot of the
water carrier. The latter did not ap-
prove the action of Pir Mitha and
threw all the water decalaring it to
have become impure. But whenever
that water carrier passed by the
house of the Pir he touched the wa-
ter pot. Ultimately, the water car-
rier carried the water, touched by
the Pir, to the palace. When the
queen drank this water she recov-
ered from the disease. It was a
matter of surprise for all including
the King. When the King came to
know that it was the miracle of the
Pir which cured the queen he be-
came his follower. It is known that
after the death of the Pir his shrine
received continous royal patronage.
Several such types of miracles are
associated with the almost all the
sufis of the Jammu hills. But these
miracles had great significance in
terms of the popularity of the sufis.
A large number of the persons be-
came the followers of the sufis.
Several persons became the
disciples(Murids) of the Sufis.
Through the narration of these
miracles the sufis' life and works
are kept alive from the days of the
sufis concerned to modern times.
It may be mentioned that not
only the common people of Jammu
hills work together in terms of pro-
tecting the shrines and propagation
of the teachings of the sufis, but
the Maharajas of Jammu from Ma-
haraja Gulab Singh onwards worked
for the preservation of these
shrines. It is known that Gulab
Singh, as a jagirdar of Maharaja
Ranjit Singh, requested the Maha-
raja for the grant of land to the
shrine of Shah Ghulam Badshah,
situated in Rajouri district. Maha-
raja accepted the request and
granted land for the expenses of
the shrine. Similarly, Maharaja
Gulab Singh granted fifty Kanal
lands to the shrine of Pir Wali Shah
at Katra in Udhampur district. Both
Maharaja Ranbir Singh (1857-85)
and Maharaja Pratap Singh ex-
tended financial support and reno-
vated a number of the sufi shrines
of Jammu hills. More importantly,
Jai Singh, the king of Kishtwar, ac-
Vol. 5, Issue 01
.38
cepted Islam under the influence of
Sayyid Farid-ud-din Qadiri during
the 17th century and received the
title of Bakhtiyar Khan. Baba Jiwan
Shah was very much respected by
the Maharaja Pratap Singh (1885-
1925) and his brother Amar Singh.
It is known that Maharaja Pratap
Singh extended financial support to
Baba Jiwan Shah both in cash
(wazifa) and kind to meet the ex-
penses of his mystic activities. The
Maharaja loved to meet the Baba.
Therefore, he frequently invited
the Baba to his palace. Maharaja
is said to have presented a hukka
and a dhoosa to the Baba during
his visit to the palace.
It is known that Maharaja
Pratap Singh respected the sufis
and their shrines very much. He
constructed a road upto the shrine
of Mian Muhammad Ibrahim.
Therefore people started to call
him Rah Baba. This shows that
people accepted that the sufi was
the source of the construction of
the road and also his activities
were respected by the Maharaja.
The tradition of the annual com-
memoration of the death anniver-
sary (Urs) and people's visits to the
sufi shrines on every Thursday
were instrumental in organisation
of the commercial activities around
the sufi shrines. Thus these sufis
and their shrines worked for inter-
connecting the people of one area
to other and the route followed by
the visitors became the means of
socio-economic development. The
sense of isolation, prevailing in
hills, was converted into binding
force. It is important to mention
that the extension of the royal pa-
tronage to the Sufis and their
shrines in Jammu shows that the
Rajput ruling class of Jammu
worked for the promotion and
propagation of the diverse cultures
and philosophies. It was the accep-
tance of the concept of unity in dif-
ferences by the ruling class of
Jammu which inspired them to
found Jammu and Kashmir state in
1846 under the leadership of the
Maharaja Gulab Singh.
Epilogue, January 2011
39
History of Ladakh in the
Mughal Historical Sources
L
adakh's cultural relations with
Central Asia and parts of India
can be traced from the ancient
period. During the medieval period
the process of Ladakh's interaction
with the different parts of Asia was
intensified. It is known that Mir
Sayyid Ali Hamdani, a sufi of Persia,
visited Ladakh in 1383 en route to
Turkestan. It was medieval period
when the people of the neighbouring
states of Ladakh came closer to the
Ladakhis through commercial, liter-
ary and religious activities. It is an
established fact that some of the
Central Asians were well versed to the
routes to Ladakh during the medieval
period. It is substantiated from that
the Central Asians invaded Ladakh fre-
quently from the first half of the 16th
century onwards. Though it was Mirza
Haidar Dughlat invasion in 1532 which
influenced the political life of Ladakh
very much, there are references to
the Central Asian invasions on
Ladakh prior to it. Mirza Haidar
Dughlat himself admits that his pre-
decessors invaded Ladakh. When
Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur estab-
lished the Mughal empire in the north
India, Mughals' cultural contacts with
Kashmir and Ladakh were further
strengthened and expanded. The
Mughals themselves came to India
from Central Asia. Consequently, they
retained their contacts with Ladakh.
Since the Mughals planned to
make their Indian empire strongest
and largest in the world in terms of
territorial expansion and economic
prosperity, they made Ladakh a part
of Mughal India. More importantly,
the Mughals made a policy to acquire
the knowledge of cultural life of the
conquered areas. The acquisition of
the knowledge of the cultural life of
the conquered and neighbouring ar-
eas of the Mughal empire was not only
the part of the intellectual activities
of the contemporary historians and
professional writers, but the Mughal
emperors themselves were very much
interested in collecting the informa-
tion pertaining to the various cul-
tures. In his autobiography the
Mughal emperor Jahangir (1605-27)
not only mentions the events of his
own empire, but he also incorporates
some information of the non-Mughal
empire areas such as Tibet and
Ladakh. He mentions that with the
exceptions of shawls other woollen
materials were manufactured of bet-
ter quality in Tibet. The wool for good
quality of shawls was imported to
Kashmir from Tibet and Ladakh. The
goat which produced the wool for the
Kashmiri shawls was peculiar to Ti-
bet. Similarly the historians of the
Mughal period make mention of the
known historical facts pertaining to
Ladakh in their own account.
The Mughals' curiosity to have in-
formation of the socio-economic and
political aspects of the different
neighbouring areas of their empire
inspired the contemporary historians
to widen the scope of their literary
works. Consequently Ladakh found
important space in the historical
sources of the Mughal empire. Dur-
ing the 17th century A.D. the Mughal
emperors' particularly Shihabuddin
Muhammad Shahjahan (1628-58),
extended the boundary of India upto
the Transoxiana region. Ladakh was
well connected with Central Asian
countries. Both the commercial and
diplomatic contacts of Ladakh was
intensified with the Central Asian
Countries because of Ladakh being
situated on one of the route between
the Central Asia and North India. The
historical works of the Mughal em-
pire during Shahjahan's period made
Ladakh one of new themes of their
regional studies.
Some aspects of the history and
culture of the seventeenth century
are very well depicted in the
Shahjahan Nama, a famous Mughal
source dedicated to the Mughal em-
peror Shahjahan (1628-58). It was
written by Inayat Khan. The latter
belonged to an aristocratic back-
ground. His father Zafar Khan was the
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
governor of Kashmir and was assigned
the work of the conquest of Ladak
and Tibet by the Mughal emperor
Shahjahan in 1637. Inayat Khan held
the post of superintendent of the
Royal library (Darogha-i-Kutub Khana)
under Shahjahan. Thus Inayat Khan
had both the opportunity and capa-
bility of gathering information from
different quarters about the events
of Ladakh. Being the superintendent
of the Royal Library he enjoyed large
facilities in terms of the collection
of the book. His social background
enabled to collect materials about the
political and socio-economic life of
the seventeenth century Ladakh.
The Shahjahan Nama gives vari-
ous types of information such as po-
litical relations between the Mughals
and Tibet and the Mughals and
Baltistan, the forts, the trade routes,
agricultural and horticultural produc-
tions and the zamindars etc. of
Ladakh and Tibet. It is known that
Shahjahan was the first Mughal em-
peror who extended the Mughal em-
pire up to Ladakh and Tibet. The
planning of the conquest of Tibet has
been described by Inayat Khan in a
very systematic way. For him the sub-
jugation of Ladak and Tibat was one
of the most prospering events of the
Mughal empire. He not only gives an
explicit description of the conquest
of Tibet and Ladakh, but also dis-
closes that Shahjahan's father
Jahangir planned to establish the
Mughal sovereignty in Ladakh, but he
did not succeed. According to him,
"Although it had been a favourite
project with the late emperor
Jahangir to subdue the country of
Tibet, the contemplated enterprise
had never been carried into execu-
tion. During the period of his gov-
erning Kashmir, Hashim Khan, son of
Qasim Khan Mir Bahr, once collected
at the late emperor's command an
army of soldiers and zamindars, and
set out on the expedition. However,
finding it impossible to penetrate
into the country, he completely failed
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
in his attempt, and after great num-
ber of his force were killed and many
more taken as prisoners, he effected
a disastrous retreat."
Shahjahan appointed Zafar Khan
as the commander of the army for
the conquest of Tibet in 1637. Zafar
Khan collected an army of 2000 cav-
alry and 10000 infantry out of the
provincial troops, his own followers
and those of the zamindars. After-
ward, according to Inayat Khan, fol-
lowed the route of Gurach, which was
64 kos (two miles) far from Tibet.
This was very difficult route. But Zafar
Khan successfully made journey
through this route and reached a vil-
lage called Sadpara. Inayat Khan
found a very useful gorge at Sadpara
village, which was used by the local
people for defence purpose. He men-
tions: "…there (Sadpara) is a narrow
gorge with a torrent flowing through.
By throwing a dam across this, the
enemy had formed a large lake which
blocked up the road through the cen-
tre of the pass, while on both sides
there were frowning precipices. On
one side, where it was just possible
to climb the steep ascent, they had
built up a strong wall of stone and
mortar from the water's edge to the
summit of the mountain so as to
present anyone from passing that
way the opposite side being naturally
so inaccessible as not to require the
precaution. The natives of Tibat had
fortified this place long ago, so that
whenever any invading army might
advance against their country, they
could ascend the heights and arrest
their further progress. In fact, it was
at this very spot that Hashim Khan,
when he marched against Tibat, was
defeated and forced to retreat."
Abdal, a chief (Zamindar) of Tibet,
gave tough resistance to the Mughal
force. He posted his army men along
the height to check the advancement
of the Mughal army. Consequently,
Zafar Khan had to change his strat-
egy and divide his army in three col-
umns so that Abdal's army was to be
attacked from different directions.
Inayat Khan again mentions that
when his father's army reached
Skardu, it became very difficult for
him to make further advancement.
The forts of Tibet were the main ob-
struction in the way of the Mughal
victory of it.
The Shahjahan Nama's description
of the forts of Ladakh is very useful
for the study of the heritage and ar-
chitectural activities of Ladakh and
Tibet. It mentions that there were
thirty seven forts in Tibet and
Ladakh. Ianyat Khan was very much
impressed from the strength of the
forts of Ali Rai, Shigar, Garewcha and
Ganjak. According to him these forts
helped the local rulers and people
considerably against the Mughal
forces. He writes, "As soon as my
father (Zafar Khan) saw the loftiness
and strength of the two forts, he felt
convinced that it would be immensely
difficult to capture them either by
storming or siege. The whole period
The natives of Tibat had
fortified this place long
ago, so that whenever
any invading army might
advance against their
country, they could as-
cend the heights and
arrest their further
progress. In fact, it was
at this very spot that
Hashim Khan, when he
marched against Tibat,
was defeated and forced
to retreat." Abdal, a
chief (Zamindar) of Tibet,
gave tough resistance to
the Mughal force. He
posted his army men
along the height to check
the advancement of the
Mughal army.
for military operations in Tibet does
not exceed two months, and if an
army were to stay longer than this,
the passes would become closed by
snow and return would be rendered
impracticable. Moreover, should the
winter happen to be protracted one,
the troops would all perish for want
of provisions." But Inayat Khan also
mentions that the soldiery and peas-
antry of Tibet were highly dissatis-
fied with Abdal's rule. Such situation
helped Zafar Khan and the latter ex-
ploited it. However, after a long chase
the Mughal succeeded in capturing
Abdal. Inayat Khan gives a long de-
scription of the battle between the
Mughas and the Ladakhis. He also
40
mentions that some Tibetans were
recruited in the Mughal army."
There were two major two of
Ladakh and Tibet which attracted the
attention of Inayat Khan very much,
first through Gurach and through Lar.
Both of these routes created difficul-
ties for the travellers because of the
existence of high mountains, diffi-
cult passes and innumerable gorges.
He mentions Ladakh a weak country
in terms of cultivation. Wheat and
barley were the chief crops of the
region. The total revenue of Ladakh
was one Lakh of rupees. But it was
rich region for the extraction of gold
and horticulture. He observes, "It
contains one stream from the bed of
which minute particles of not over
pure gold are extracted by washing
its slit, which privilege is formed out
at a yearly rent of nearly 2000 tolas
of gold. Most of the species of fruits
indigenous to a cold climate such as
apricot, peach, melons and grapes
thrive well in Tibat and the fruit is of
excellent flavour. There is also a va-
riety of reddish apple, the inside of
which resembles in redness. The
mulberry, cucumber, apricot, peach,
melon and grape all blossom at the
same season there." This shows that
the Shahjahan Nama of Inayat Khan
not only describes the exploits of the
Mughals in Ladakh and Tibet, but
more importantly it also contains his-
torical facts concerning the socio-
economic activities, heritage and
political situation of these regions.
The description of Ladakh by the
author of the Shahjahan Nama pre-
sents the Mughal perception of
Ladakh and Ladakhis. It enables the
modern historians to study the his-
torical development and changes in
Ladakh from others point of view.
Though the historians of the Mughal
empire were very much influenced by
the Persian trends of historiography,
they did not underestimate the con-
tribution of the Ladakhis to mainte-
nance and flourishment of the re-
gional identities. The mentions of the
Shahjahan Nama pertaining to the
history and culture of Ladakh convey
that the Ladakh was treated one of
the well established historical regions
of the 17th century world and the
Ladakhis as a regional identity well
placed on the map of the world. The
Mughal sources contributed to the
propagation of Ladakh's cultural iden-
tity in non-Tibetan speaking regions.
41
Relevalence of Sufism in
Contemporary India
The socio-religious movements
have been a continuous process of
dialogue between past and present
in terms of social changes and de-
velopments in a given civilization.
Medieval world witnessed numerous
types of social changes which influ-
enced the life and culture of the
mankind. Some of the social devel-
opments of the medieval period con-
tinued to be a source of global unity,
peace and happiness in the modern
world. From its emergence in early
medieval period till the date Sufism
has been accepted as a concept of
fostering universal brotherhood. It
is an established fact that the mod-
ern world has made tremendous
progress in the scientific and eco-
nomic fields. The man of the con-
temporary world is more fortunate
in terms of educational facilities,
transport, communication, food and
dress etc. But it is also an estab-
lished fact the man of the modern
world is facing larger political and
socio-economic problems. Existence
of the problems is not a new phe-
nomena of the modern world, but
the social tensions, evils, territo-
rial aggrandizement, suppression of
the rights of the common people,
religious persecution and property
disputes have been prevailing in the
world since the ancient times. How-
ever, in every age people invented
some methods for the minimization
of their tensions and conflicts. It is
known that during the ancient pe-
riod when social tensions and evils
emerged in the different parts of
the world and importance of the
common people and dignity of work
were threatened, various types of
religions, social organizations and
movements emerged to restore the
dignity of the human beings. For
example the Budhism, Jainism,
Christianity and Islam emerged
against the social injustice of the
period. The foundation of Islam by
Prophet Muhammad led to the emer-
gence of equality among the Mus-
lims and all types of prejudices,
superstitions and exploitations were
challenged and a process of the
elimination of the social evils
started in Arabia.
However, the emergence of
the Sufism, ans offshoot of Islam,
intensified process of the social jus-
tice and social service to the man-
kind. It is established fact that the
sufism emerged as a social protest
against the emergence of the king-
ship in the Islamic world. But it did
not confine to the Muslim countries.
In the last decade of the 12th cen-
tury the Sufism entered India as a
social movement. The Chishti Silsila
was the first sufi order which ar-
rived in India. At the arrival of this
Silsila the Muslim population in In-
dia was negligible. But the Chishti
sufis did not find any difficulty in
performing their activities. Within
short period they became very
popular in India. The social popu-
larity of the sufis was not estab-
lished because any political or eco-
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
nomic grandeur, but their social ac-
tivities meant for the common
people brought them great fame. A
large number of people found the
activities of the sufis as the source
of their peace and progress. The
Chishti Sufis' main activities were
to organize social discussion at
their khanqah(houses) to provide
financial support to the needy, im-
part education, organize audition
party(Sama), keep themselves far
from the state, preach the philoso-
phy of the Unity of Being(Wahadat-
ul-Wajud), promote vernacular lan-
guage, establish dignity of labour
and adjust oneself according to the
local environment. All these activi-
ties were meant for the people of
each section of the Indian society
irrespective of religion and caste.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the
founder of the Chishti silsila in In-
dia, declared that helping the poor
and needy was the highest form of
devotion. Farid-ud-din Ganj-I
Shakar, popularly known as Baba
Farid introduced langar(free
Kitchen) for the welfare of the poor.
Amir Khusro wrote loris and pahelis
which are still popular among the
common people of India. The Chishti
Sufis established the concept that
poverty knows no religion. All these
activities of the Sufis were very
much appreciated by the Indian so-
ciety. The sufis' khanqah became a
place of social gatherings and meet-
ing place of the Islam and Hindu-
ism. The popularity of the sufis can
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
be estimated from the fact that af-
ter their death their shrines became
the places of worship, a symbol of
Indian Islam.
In the contemporary world each
nation, society, community and so-
cial group are trying to establish
their domination on each. The con-
cept of exclusiveness is the main
trend of the contemporary world.
People of one community understand
the people of other community as
their rival and others. The pro-
cesses of establishing domination
on the others and to adopt the life
of exclusiveness are the causes of
international conflicts, social ten-
sion, economic crisis and law and
order problem all over the world,
particularly in the Asian continent.
It is important to mention that the
teachings and practices of the
Chishti sufis discourage and are
helpful in eliminating the causes of
the people's miseries. During me-
dieval period the Chishti sufis es-
tablished that concept of oneness
was strongest source of peace and
happiness. It is known that during
the medieval period there were two
ways to make people loyal to a par-
ticular authority and social group,
firstly, it was theology and secondly
the armed power. None of them was
possessed by the common people
But the Chishti Sufis did not take
help of any of them in establishing
their base in the Indian society. They
believed that performance of social
service was the most important
duty of the human being. They dis-
carded the concepts of others and
exclusiveness. Their philosophy of
the Wahadat-ul-Wujud(Unity of Be-
ing) determines the places where
people of different social back-
ground can sit together and contrib-
ute to the better of society collec-
tively. For the creation of oneness
and inclusiveness the Chishti Sufis
recommend the performance of so-
cial services and continuos social
mingling.
According to the Chishti
Sufis' philosophy and practices, no
place of the world can be called
backward. Every area has potenti-
alities of the progress provided the
people work sincerely for that. For
example, when Chishti Sufis came
to India they established their cen-
tres of activities without any con-
sideration of the prominence of the
place. Contrary to it they settled at
the places which were inhabited by
the common people. It is known that
when Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
came to Ajmer and settled their, it
was predominantly Hindu populated
area and a seat of the power of the
Chauhan Rajputs. But Khwaja
Moinuddin Chishti decided to make
Ajmer as his permanent residence.
His disciple Shaikh Hamiduddin
settled at Suwal, a village in Nagaur
in Rajputana. It is understood that
he was earliest Muslim settled in
the village. Khwaja Qutubiddin
Bakhtiyar Kaki, another disciple of
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Through
his association with the people in
terms of organizing assembly of
people he became one of the
favourites of local population. His
large social support may be justi-
fied from the fact that Qutubuddin
Aibak(1206-10), the Turkish ruler,
constructed Qutub Minar at Mehrauli
in the name of the Sufi Qutubuddin
Bakhtiyar Kaki. This shows that
Bakhtiyar Kaki realised the people
that difficulties of an area were to
be solved by the people themselves.
Similarly, it is duty of a person
to perform their duties which en-
courage inclusiveness. Khwaja
Moinuddin Chishti used to say that
the generosity was the effective
source of the people's happiness. He
remarked that the trust in God of
only those persons is confirmed who
do not cause problems for
humanity(Khalq-i-Khuda). He de-
fines three duties of a person as
highest form of the devotion to the
God: 1. To redress the miseries of
those in distress(Fariyad rastee), 2.
To help the need (Bechargan) and
42
3. To feed the hungry(Gursigan).
Nizamuddin describes two types of
devotion to the God: 1.
Intransitive(lazmi) and 2.
Transitive(mutaaddi). According
to him, "The intransitive devotion
is that by which only the devotee
gets benefited, and that consists
of prayer, hajj, fasting, the rep-
etition of litanie(awrad wa
tasbihat) and similar other things.
But the transitive devotion is that
which comes forth in the form of,
for example, expending on and
being helpful to others out of sheer
love for their good and comfort and
the reward of this transitive is
immense and immeasurable. In
transitive devotion sincerity is the
first accepted by the Almighty,
while the acts of transitive devo-
tion are acceptable (to God) and
would be rewarded in whatever
form they are performed".9 Re-
garding feeding the people
Nizamuddin Aulia observed, "A pi-
ous man has stated that serving
food worth only a dirham before
friends carries reward of more
than a sadaqah(charity) of twenty
dirhams". He advised his disciples
that whenever a visitor came to
them first they had to
greet(salam), then serve him with
food and make conversation with
him.
For the welfare of people
the Chishti Sufis propagated the
offering of charity(sadaqah) to the
needy. Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia re-
marked that charity was to be
given with full sincerity and truth-
fulness. He puts five conditions for
the giver of the charity: 1. Legiti-
mate earning, 2. The intention of
giving it to a man of good charac-
ter so; that it might not be spent
wrongly, 3. Cheerfulness, humility
and open heartedness, 4. Complete
secrecy in giving it and 5. After
giving it the giver had never talk
or reveal to any body. To encour-
age circulation of wealth among
the people the Chishti sufis dis-
43
couraged the accumulation and
hoarding of wealth. They encour-
aged the renunciation of wealth.
Regarding the renunciation of
wealth Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia ob-
serves "This is no renunciations
that one strips himself to the skin,
ties the langota around his waist and
retires(to a corner). The true re-
nunciation is in that one puts on
(proper) clothes and takes his food
as usual, he is contented with what-
ever reaches him, has no inclina-
tion to accumulate that and refuses
to be attached to anything. This is
Renunciation". The concept of the
renunciation of wealth laid by the
sufis is very much applicable to the
contemporary world. It is generally
happened that people of certain ar-
eas face starvation because of some
natural calamity or non-availability
of sufficient resources for survival.
But if the people of fertile areas,
controller of resources and wealthy
persons share a small part of their
wealth and resources with the needy
the problem of food may be mini-
mized to a great extent.
The Chishti Sufis advised
people that social services were not
to be performed in speech but they
are to be in deed. It is known that
Baba Farid introduced langar(open
kitchen).14 By organizing the open
kitchen Chishti sufis not only en-
abled the poor and needy to feel se-
cured in meeting their hunger, but
more importantly they provided op-
portunity to the downtrodden to par-
ticipate in food party without any
complex. The concept of open
kitchen is not simply an act of help-
ing the needy, but it very helpful in
bring people closer to each other
and creating the concept of inclu-
siveness. In the contemporary world
a great disparity exists in terms of
class, religion and caste. On the ba-
sis of these disparities the concept
of others is widened between privi-
leged and non-privileged people. As
such the application of Sufis' meth-
odology for providing food to the
needy may help in shortening social
disparity.
The Chishti Sufis practiced
the distribution of wealth among the
needy and poor as service to the hu-
manity. It is established fact that
most of the Chishti Sufis accepted
unasked donation or charity(futuh).
They hardly spent the donation on
their maintenance, but whatever
donation they received was meant
for the welfare of the common
people. They distributed the dona-
tion within the day on which it was
collected. Nothing was to be saved
for the next day. Shaikh Nizamuddin
Aulia advised his disciples to use
only one-tenth part of the received
unasked charity for their personal
expenditure. He did not accept any
futuh which could be instrumental
for the publicity of the giver or dis-
tributor. He prescribed the follow-
ing rules for the acceptance of the
futuh: 1. No guaranteed payment
could be accepted, 2. To accept only
the unconditional payment, 3. No
acceptance of immovable property
such as lands, villages and build-
ings, 4. Nothing was to be saved for
tomorrow and 5. To accept Futuh ac-
cording to the need and capacity
of distribution. It seems that the
Chishti Sufis formulated the said
rules so that wealth collected in form
of charity was to make the collec-
tor as an exploiter. It is important
to mention that Chishti Sufis were
against all types burden imposed
upon the people. They thought that
wealth was meant for whole society
not for an individual. According to
Sayyid Muhammad bin Kirmani,
"Some time futuh and Nazrana came
to khanqah large quantity.
Nizamuddin Aulia started to
weep(because of difficulty how to
distribute), but when he heard that
all futuh had been distributed (ac-
cording to prescribed rules) among
the poor he realized great comfort".
It is said that once Shaikh
Nizamuddin Aulia was walking on
side of Jamuna river, he saw that
an old woman was fetching water
from a well. He was very much sur-
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
prised and asked the woman when
Jamuna river was so was so near to
her why was she taking so much
pain drawing the water from the
well. She replied that the water of
Jamuna was so sweet and pure that
it increased the hunger very much
which she was unable to meet with
her resources. Nizamuddin Aulia
realized the poor condition of the
woman and ordered his disciple
Iqbal to "go and ask her how much
she needs for her daily expenses and
send her expenses every month
without failing".He instructed his
disciples to provide two times food
which was justified. He also told
that it had always been a righ-
teous act of to feed the people.17
It is important to mention that the
Chishti Sufis extended these help as
their duty to society and to get any
fame. Since during the contempo-
rary world people stress mainly on
the collection and expenditure on
the personal maintenance, there are
hardly any sense of satisfaction
among the people. On the contrary
people are trapped in social tension
irrespective of social background.
Thus here lies the relevance of prac-
tices of the Chishti Sufis that the
collection and distribution of the
wealth are to go parallel.
The Chishti Sufis stressed
on the enjoyment of the fruits of
development with limits so that all
member of society could enjoy
them. More importantly, they them-
selves used minimum food, cloth
and lived in ordinary houses. They
preferred to live in poverty. Both
Khwaja Moinuddin and Khwaja
Bakhtiyar Kaki did not have their
own houses. Baba Farid always lived
in brickless(Kutcha) house. Even
this also was built during last stage
of his life. When a disciple of Baba
Farid expressed his desire to built
a masonry house for him, he told
his disciple, "Masud will not put
brick on brick". Shaikh Najijb-
Uddin Mutawakkil, brother, of
Baba, Farid lived in a thatched
house(Chhappar) along with his wife
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
and children throughout his life.
Shaikh Nizamudin Aulia did not have
any house in Delhi for many years.
Ultimately, he built a thatched
house at Ghiyaspur.20 By living in
simple and small the Chishti Sufis
established that a house was to be
according to the need of the family.
Now-days some people build pala-
tial houses and large number of
people live without roof. Such type
of distinction is an important cause
of the social tension in the modern
world. Sufis' life style in terms of
houses may not only provide house
every body, but it may create con-
genial atmosphere for the people.
The Chishti Sufis always took
small quantity of food and its qual-
ity was very simple. In no way the
quality of the food of the Sufis was
better than the food of the down-
trodden and subalterns. Generally,
they observed fast throughout their
life. When they broke their fast
they took very simple things. Baba
Farid broke his fast with Sharbat
which was brought to him in a bowl
with some raisin in it. He distrib-
uted half or about two-third of it
among the people present in the
Majlis by mixing it with water in a
drinking vessels. The remaining of
one-third of the Sharbat he took
and even out of it he gave some-
one to whosoever he wished. Be-
tween Iftar and namaz he was given
two loaves of bread. He broke one
of the two loaves to pieces and dis-
tributed them among the people
around. The other loaf he himself
ate and even out of that he offered
some to whosoever he wished and
thereafter he did not eat till the
time of Iftar of next evening.20 It
may be mentioned that in modern
times large expenditure and vari-
eties of food are understood as a
symbol of higher status. But the
persons of such thinking do not un-
derstand that their extravagancy
cost a large section of society
heavily. They should understand that
the Chishti Sufis lived long because
of their moderate habit of taking
food and to be concerned about the
food of the others.
The medieval period was an age
of despotism and persons of armed
background were understood the
most dominant section of society.
But during the same period the sufis
successfully promoted the concept
of non-violence and created a large
followers. They preached people to
promote social harmony and discard
the means of animosity. Nizamuddin
Aulia observed, "there are two
things: lower self(nafs) and
heart(Qalb). The former has acri-
mony, violence and discord in it
while the latter, besides other vir-
tues, has peace, acquiescence, be-
nignity and kindness. If one behaves
under the spell of the nafs, the
other's response should be from the
side of the qalb. This would rest the
nafs being overpowered. But if any-
body confronts nafs with nafs, there
will be no end to animosity and dis-
cord. He further observes, "If a man
places thorns (in your way) and you
do the same, it will be thorns ev-
erywhere". In the contemporary
world when arms race is understood
the solution of all problems the non-
violence philosophy of the Sufis may
be a guide to happiness and peace.
. Four important Sufi Silsilas, the
Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri and
Naqshbandi, came to India during
the period from 13th to 16th cen-
tury. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the
founder of the Chishti Silsila in In-
dia, was the first Sufi who intro-
duced sufism as an universal social
philosophy and way of life in India.
Up to the sixteenth century almost
all parts of India realised the pres-
ence of the sufis of the different
Silsilas. Almost all the Sufis of all
Silsilas, settled in different parts of
India, started their activities in
form of social service. It is impor-
tant to mention that the sufis of
India received social acceptance in
terms of spread of their philosophy.
Though the early sufis came to In-
dia as the foreigners, their social
activities made them as promoters
44
of the opinion of the indigenous
people.
Although the sufis declared Is-
lam as the basis of their activities,
they started to work in the non-Mus-
lim dominated areas. They success-
fully spread their message of the so-
cial service in different parts of In-
dia. The main reasons behind the
success of the Sufis of the differ-
ent silsilas were their philosophy,
interactions with the different sec-
tions of the Indian society and their
adjustment in accordance with the
local environment. Most of the Sufi
orders of India worked on the prin-
ciples of the philosophy of Wahadat-
ul-Wujud or Unity of Being. Under
this philosophy the sufis treated
whole world as one social unit. They
propagated their philosophy among
the people of the different social
order. They never made the unifor-
mity as the basis of the propaga-
tion of their philosophy. Conse-
quently, all the people realised that
the philosophy of the Unity of Being
was source of their inspiration. It
provided sense of equality to the
persons of the different religions,
sect, castes and classes. It is im-
portant to mention that when the
sufis propagated their philosophy,
they did not attack the local prac-
tices and beliefs. They only propa-
gated that each segment of society
was important in eyes of the God.
Each areas had potentialities of the
peace and progress. No social hier-
archy existed on the basis of na-
ture of the population of the dif-
ferent areas. It is evident that that
most of the sufis settled in those
areas which were not socio-eco-
nomically well established and fa-
mous. Shaikh Farid-ud-din Ganj-I-
Shakar, popularly known as Baba
Farid, settled in Ajodhan which was
virtually a desolated and unknown
place before his settlement. Simi-
larly, Nizamuddin Aulia settled at
Ghiyaspur in Delhi, a place of com-
moners.
During their life times the
sufis worked for the promotion of
45 IN FOCUS
HISTORY

(1296-1316) respected the sufis national identities. The sufi shrines

peace and cooperation among the
very much and visited the Khanqah act as the meeting places of the dif-
persons of different beliefs. It was
of the Chishti sufis Qutub-ud-din ferent cultures.
a regular activities of the sufis to
Bakhtiyar Kaki, Farid-ud-din Ganj- Apart from the usual weekly vis-
organise social discourse at their
I-Shakar and Nizamuddin Aulia re- its, all the sufi shrines organise an-
Khanqahs and such types of dis-
spectively. Even Qutub-ud-din nual Urs(death anniversary) of the
courses were open to all. Even
Aibak(1206-19), the first ruler of bried sufis. It is generally believed
Hindu Yogis and Sanyasis also at-
the Turkish dynasty, started the that visiting of the sufi shrines at
tended the social discussion at the
construction of the Qutub Minar in the time of Urs is the highest form
Jamatkhana of Baba Farid and
the memory of the Chishti Sufi saint of paying tribute to the Sufis. Con-
Nizamuddin Aulia. The participation
Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. sequently a large number of people
of the these Jogis and Sanyasis is
After death of these Sufis their go to the shrines to pay tribute to-
well illustrated by Hasan Sijzi's
shrines started to be identified as gether. At the time of the annual Urs
Fawaid-ul-Fuad. Though the
the representatives of the buried one can find a cosmopolitan type of
organisation of langar was intro-
sufis' philosophy and activities. Al- atmosphere at the sufi shrines. The
duced by Baba Farid, almost all the
most each part of the Indian sub- organisation of the of the Urs in
sufis organised langar at their
continent consists of some sufi continuous process and gathering of
Khanqahs. Most of the sufis, par-
shrines. The people of these areas huge crowd on the occasion are very
ticularly the Chishti Sufis, used ver-
are not only well versed with the effective measures to promote the
nacular language as medium their
name and place of the buried sufi, social and regional cooperation.
communication with the common
but more importantly they are also The sufi shrines promote the idea
people of India. They avoided to use
well versed with the period, philoso- of working together and praying to-
the either official or priestly or
phy and works of these sufis. Dur- gether. It is important to mention
theological languages. The
ing the medieval period the sufis that whenever the people visit the
organisation of the Sama or music
were identified with their stages sufi shrines they offer certain things
party was also an uninterrupted ac-
(tariqa), cult (taifa) and different such as Chadars, flowers and sweets.
tivity of the most of the sufis of
social activities, but during the mod- These materials are sold by the per-
medieval India. All these activities
ern period these shrines are identi- sons of different religious back-
were sources of the inspiration of
fied by the people as the promoter grounds. The shopkeepers find op-
common people. When the people
of the concept of living together. It portunity to sell the materials re-
reached the sufi Khanqahs and
is customary that on every Thursday quired for the completion of rituals
joined the different programme,
people visit the different sufi shrines of the shrines. Around almost all the
they realised that their life and
of their localities. The visitors be- sufi shrines some shops are estab-
works also mattered in terms of the
long to the different religions, lished. No religious and class distinc-
completion of the activities of the
castes and classes. These visitors tion work in the sale and purchase
sufi Khanqahs. They also felt that
follow the norms and discipline of the of the different materials.
the atmosphere of peace and coop-
shrine concerned. Both the male and The organisation of the
eration was instrumental in the
female visitors keep their heads cov- langar(free kitchen) is an other im-
elimination of their problems. They
ered with some caps, turban and portant socio-economic activity of
realised that inclusiveness was bet-
dupatta. During their visit all the the sufi shrines of Indian sub-conti-
ter option than exclusiveness for the
people identify themselves as the nent. During the Urs free food and
productive activities. The activities
followers of the buried sufi. water are served to the devotees of
of the sufis established that
The visit of the sufi shrines is not the shrines. The langar is organised
unity in differences could acceler-
confined to the local people, but most with the financial support of the
ate the socio-cultural activities in
of the shrines of India have tradi- people. To meet the expenditures of
better way than unity in uniformity.
tion of attracting the crowd at in- the langar contribution of the each
Consequently a large number of
ter-district, intra-region and inter- individual and social group is ac-
people became followers of these
regional level. Some the shrines at- cepted. During the medieval period
Sufis during the medieval period.
tract the crowd at both the national such types of contributions or dona-
From king to peasants became the
and international level. The hetero- tions were called Futuh(unasked
visitors of these Khanqahs. It is
geneous nature of the visitors pro- charity). The acceptance of the do-
known that Sultans such as
motes the exchange of thoughts and nations always remains uncondi-
Iltutmish(1210-36), Ghiyasuddin
cultural synthesis among the persons tional and unclaimed. Generally no
Balban (1267-87) and Alauddin Khilji
of the different ethnic, religious and publicity is given to the name of the
IN FOCUS
HISTORY
donors. Moreover, when people are
served the food, no distinction is
made on the basis of religion, caste
and class. Even no such demand is
made by the devotees. All of them
took food together. Participation in
the langar is understood a pious duty.
Distribution of food during the
langar is not simply an act of char-
ity or providing food to the needy
persons, but more importantly it
also reflect the acceptance and pro-
motion of the concept of inclusive-
ness. Generally the human beings
prefer the inclusiveness in terms of
their knowledge and life styles, but
whenever they join the langar, they
give up all the symbols of the exclu-
siveness. It is important mention
that the tradition of the langar was
started by Baba Farid during the thir-
teenth century. It is continuing till
the date. The credit of the success
of the langar institution of the sufi
shrines goes to the people. Thus the
langar institutions not only provides
food to the needy persons, but it also
inspires people preserve and propa-
gate the concept of common good.
Although the controllers of the
most of the sufi shrines belong to
the Muslim community, there are
some shrines which controllers be-
long to the Hindu and Sikh commu-
nities. The controllers of these
shrines are known as the
Sajjadanashin, Gaddinashin and pir
etc. The sanctity of the controller of
a shrine is never based on his indi-
vidual religious background. He is
respected by the devotees because
of his contribution to the mainte-
nance of the shrines. It is a com-
mon belief that the controller of the
shrine possess the blessing of the
buried sufi and the actions of the
former bring relief and peace for the
people. Generally the
Sajjadanashins give
amulets(amulets) to the people for
the removal of their problems. Such
types of amulets are used by the
people of each segment of Indian so-
ciety. The wearing of the amulets is
not the practice of any particular
social group, but it exists among the
poor persons, shop keepers, indus-
trialists and players etc. It is impor-
tant to mention that the institution
of the sajjadanashin enjoy the uni-
versal acceptance. The existence of
the sufi shrines are treated one of
the most important components of
the fame and identity of locality con-
cerned. The places such as Ajmer,
Delhi, Kichhauch Sharif(U.P),
Sirhind(Punjab), Ajodhan(in Paki-
stan), Kishtwar(Jammu and Kash-
mir), Rajouri(Jammu and Kashmir),
Cherar-I-Sharif(Jammu and Kashmir)
Gulbarga(Karnataka) are famous be-
cause of the existence of shrines of
the famous sufi saints. These are vis-
ited by the regional, national and
foreign tourists. The sufi shrines are
playing important role in the promo-
tion of religious tourism in differ-
ent parts of India. Moreover, certain
areas are known in the name of the
sufi concerns. In Jammu district the
localities such as Lakhdatta Bazar
and Pir Mitha are named in the
memory of the buried sufi. It is im-
portant to mentions that nature of
the population around the shrines is
composite. The sufi shrines are
treated by the people as the joint
heritage of the all communities of
India. In the Punjab and Jammu and
Kashmir many shrines are known as
the shrines of the Sanjha Pir and Sain
Baba. The shrine of famous Rishi
Sufi Nuruddin of Cherar-i-Sharif in
Kashmir addressed by the Kashmir
Hindus as the shrine of Nand Rishi.
The composite responsibility for the
maintenance of the sufi shrine is
very helpful in the minimisation of
the communal and separatist ten-
sions. Such types of practices
strengthen the concept of
inclusiveness.The sufi shrines are
contributing to the maintenance of
ecological balance and security in
areas concerned. The story of sa-
cred water tanks and trees are as-
sociated with the majority of the
sufi shrines. There is a tree near
46
the shrine of Baba Ghulam Badshah
in Rajouri district of Jammu and
Kashmir. It is believed that it was
planted by the sufi Baba Ghulam
Badshah during the 19th century. It
gives fruits throughout the year.
Whosoever takes the fruits of the
tree, his or her sufferings are elimi-
nated. The controller of the most
of the shrines encourage the plan-
tation of the trees. It is also a com-
mon belief that the water tank ex-
isting in the premises of the sufi
shrine contains sacred water. Its use
are understood as a source of the
elimination of many diseases.
Therefore, people try to maintain
the purity of water and avoid the
its pollution.
Thus, the Sufi shrines of In-
dia are treated by the people as the
everlasting tangible heritage in
terms of mingling of various oceans.
The sufi shrines are one of the
strongest mediums of the mainte-
nance of unity in difference. Their
existences from generation to gen-
eration speak of their relevance in
terms of maintenance of mutual
respect, co-existence and concept
of living together. They are promot-
ers of the concepts of praying to-
gether, eating together and work-
ing together. It is important to men-
tion that almost all the religions of
the world propagate exclusiveness,
but sufi shrines propagate the in-
tegration of exclusiveness into in-
clusiveness. The popularity of the
Sufi shrines among the people of
different religions, races, castes
and classes teaches the modern
world that only those persons are re-
spected by the common people who
work for the betterment of human-
ity. It is important to mention that
hardly people go to the graves of
the rulers of medieval India to keep
their graves as the symbols of au-
thority. But the common people al-
ways go to sufi shrines to keep their
teachings and practices alive for
propagation and protection of the
concepts of living together, work
together and solve their problems
together.
LADAKH A F F A I R S 47
EDUCATION

A grooup photograph of LAHDC, Leh Councillors

RIGZIN SPALBAR,
Rigzin Spalbar, the newly nominated chairman/chief executive councilor, has been elected
from two constituencies. The District Congress Committee president Mr. Rigzin Spalbar
won the Lower-Leh seat defeating the BJP Candidate Mr. Nawang Samstan by 2092 votes.
Mr. Spalbar had already won the Sku-Markha constituency uncontested. He had been the
chairman/chief executive councilor for a year and a half in the 3rd LAHDC also. Spalbar has
been elected to the LAHDC continuously since the formation of the Hill Council in 1995.

THUPSTAN ANGCHUK TSERING ANGCHUK

Tsering Angchuk is elected for
the second time in consecu-
Thupstan Angchuk has been tive from Panamik Constitu-
elected from Nyoma constituency ency on Congress ticket. A
on Congress ticket. He is a new former government employee
face in politics. Angchuk is the in the medical department,
youngest among the all the Angchuk stepped into politics
councilors. Demchok area which with the 3rd LAHDC General
had been news last year also Council in 2005. He is one of
comes under his constituency. the councilors to have left
LUTF and joined the Indian
National Congress.
ABDUL ALI DR. SONAM WANGCHUK
Abdul Ali won the Turtuk Constitu-
ency on Congress mandate. He has Dr. Sonam Wangchuk won
the experience of serving as the Hunder Constituency on
village Sarpanch in Bogdang for Congress ticket. Doctor
one term. On October 16th late Wangchuk is a child specialist.
evening when polling was just over, He retired from government
his forehead was hit with a stone service few years ago. Doctor
pelted by an unidentified person. Wangchuk is now the Execu-
Subsequently he was hospitalized tive Councillor for Health.
for a few days.

CORRECTION: In December issue, photographs and profiles of some of the Councillors got inadvertantly
mismatched; those photographs are posted again with correct profile. -Error is regretted

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

48
Significance
Bakula Rinpoche Memorial
Education Week
TSEWANG RIGZIN
Kushok Bakula Rinpoche Memorial Education campaign week is observed in November every year
across length and breadth of Leh Ladakh as an endeavor to strengthen the rural government schools.
This annual feature was started after passing away of Bakula Rinpochey in November 2003.
H is Holiness Kushok Bakula
Rinpoche was a renowned spiri-
tual and political leader of Ladakh in
the latter half of the 20th Century -
the post independence era - Rinpoche
joined politics in 1949 when Ladakh
had just entered a new era of a demo-
cratic society. Therefore he is often
regarded as the architect of modern
Ladakh. One of the great contribu-
tions by Kushok Bakula Rinpoche was
spreading the light of modern edu-
cation to Ladakhi society. He played
a vital role in motivating Ladakhi
people to send their children to
schools. All through his political life
Bakula always stressed on the impor-
tance of modern education while pre-
serving ancestral knowledge, values
and wisdom.
"Although Rinpoche did not re-
ceive a modern education, he under-
stood the importance of scientific
education, and he made gigantic ef-
forts to spread education in Ladakh.
He convinced illiterate parents, Bud-
dhist and Muslim alike, to send their
children to school and, he opened one
in every village in Ladakh. He also
provided opportunities for hundreds
of poor Ladakhi children to go out-
side Ladakh for higher studies."
These words by Sonam Wangchuk
Shakspo, Rinpoche's private secre-
tary, in the book 'Kushok Bakula
Rinpoche Saint and Statesman' sums
up the great contributions made by
Rinpoche in spreading the light of
education among the people of
Ladakh at a stage when education
through modern schooling system
was something new to Ladakhi soci-
ety and accordingly most people were
found reluctant to enroll their chil-
dren to schools for modern educa-
tion. Besides these efforts he was
also the man behind opening of pub-
lic institutes like the Vishesh Kendriya
Vidyalaya in Delhi and the Central In-
stitute of Buddhist Studies in Leh.
To pay tribute to Bakula
Rinpoche's great contribution to
Ladakhi society, particularly in the of
education, the Ladakh Autonomous
Hill Development Council (LAHDC)
Leh in collaboration with the civil
society organizations of Leh decided
to observe an education campaign
week in every November in the name
of Padma Bhushan Kushok Bakula
Rinpoche, making it an institution-
alized annual feature.
So what happens in the education
campaign week? All Councillors of the
LAHDC, the officials of Education De-
partment, the Religious Organizations
and the Non Government Organiza-
tions (NGOs) undertake extensive
tours to every nook and corner of Leh
district to bring awareness among the
masses about education and espe-
cially to strengthen the government
schools to make education accessible
to all poor and rich. The Councillors
of the LAHDC go to their respective
constituencies to see obstacles be-
ing faced by the schools of their con-
stituencies. They come back to the
Council Secretariat and give a pre-
sentation of what they have seen
LADAKH A F F A I R S
EDUCATION
during the campaign week.
Each year the campaign has a dif-
ferent theme as required for every
different year. These education cam-
paigns also aim at changing the con-
ventional mindset of the people and
making education more relevant to
one's life. By and large the present
system of education produce thou-
sands of people with a government
job obsessed minds which prevent
many educated youngsters from tak-
ing up something more creative, en-
terprising and innovative than only
government jobs. Such issues are
addressed in these campaigns so that
people enroll their children in schools
to become not just government em-
ployees but also to become good hu-
man beings so as to ensure a pros-
perous and a peaceful future of our
society. Last year the campaign week
was observed from November 22, not
in every village but at all cluster lev-
els wherein councillors of the area,
concerned zonal education officer,
representatives of an NGO and a re-
ligious organization and the Village
Education Committee (VEC) members
of villages of the cluster participated
to bring awareness among the people
about education.
-
Under NFI Fellowship Program
49
Wavell: The Prophet Maligned…
RAKESH ANKIT
Field Marshall Archibald Wavell is a
tragic figure. Fate dealt him a diffi-
cult hand as it made his successors
men who dazzled their way to history,
in the process, overshadowing the
reticent Wavell and his considerable
achievements. Given Montgomery in
Africa and Mountbatten in India to
contend with, history-writing has not
treated Wavell kindly. To an extent,
he himself was responsible. He was
a poor self-publicist, lacked show-
manship, had a self-deprecating at-
titude and a low opinion of 'politics' -
fatal flaws when it comes to carving
a niche in the affairs of men and
state. Full-length treatments of him
have come about only recently with
Adrian Fort and Victoria Schoefeld
restoring this servant of British Em-
pire who was both soldierly and
statesmanlike to his rightful pedes-
tal.
This piece limits itself to a few of
Wavell's remarks from his Wavell -
The Viceroy's Journal, sensitively ed-
ited by the distinguished Sir Penderel
Moon and brought out by Oxford Uni-
versity Press in 1973. It remains the
bible for the years 1943 to 1947 in
India - encompassing a wide range
of personality and policy issues. And,
it reflects how right Wavell was on
how many issues given the unfair
opprobrium that Messers Attlee and
Bevin heaped on him, although as Ian
Talbot has said, his brand of 'realism
almost bordered on pessimism' and
this did not endear him to his politi-
cal masters. The issues that this piece
highlights are Palestine, partition and
Kashmir.
Wavell sensed the troubles of 1948
www.epilogue.in
Palestine as early as 1943. He had an
idea that Winston Churchill was a
'confirmed Zionist' but he confessed
in his diary of having 'never quite
realised the lengths to which he was
prepared to go, in speech at any rate,
or the strength of the pro-Jewish feel-
ing in the Cabinet. No one seemed
prepared to say anything at all on the
Arab side'. Over the next two years,
as Churchill and Amery hardened
their stances on partition in both Pal-
estine and India, Wavell was left to
repeatedly note ruefully that 'though
India has over 90 million of Moslems,
many of whom feel very strongly
about Palestine', London had effec-
tively excluded him from any brain-
storming. In moments of anguish, he
would term it 'scandalous'. Whenever
he got a chance, he felt duty-bound
to argue 'the interest of the Indian
Muslims in the problem and the Arab
case' against the Churchill-Amery
combine.
By the time, Churchill left office
in July 1945, four things were clear,
namely, US was the next mighty mili-
tary power; second, the war time al-
liance was breaking, particularly post-
Yalta as Stalin tightened the screws
over Eastern Europe; third, India had
to go - in one piece or more and,
fourth, a way had to be found to re-
linquish formal control in India yet
retain informal influence given India's
importance to the Empire's unity, se-
curity and welfare. To these last ends,
Churchill memorably gave Wavell a
little piece advice on 3 August 1945 -
'Keep a bit of India'. The question was
which bit was desirable and whether
those in that bit would like to remain
Vol. 5, Issue 01
EXCLUSIVE SERIES
New Research on Kashmir
with UK/US.
Wavell was pretty prescient about
the troubles of 1947 in Kashmir too.
Almost exactly two years before
troubles began, on 17 October 1945,
Wavell wrote:
'Kashmir is likely to be the seat of
political trouble before long; there
are two factions, both Moslem
(80% of the population is Moslem),
one of which supports and is sup
ported by the Congress, the other
Muslim League'.
He was not alone here. A. V.
Alexander, who would come to India
for three months as a member of the
three-member Cabinet Mission and
who would be the Defence Minister
when the conflict broke out in Kash-
mir charged with the sensitive issue
of what to do with the British offic-
ers serving with the Indian and Paki-
stani forces, too felt, in April 1946
that 'this Muslim population…however
seem to be divided in Kashmir into
almost equal proportions of Muslim
League and Muslim National Confer-
ence' - thus pointing to the absolute
crux of the claims and counter-claims
of representativeness made by
Sheikh Abdullah/India and Muslim
Conference/Pakistan later.
When the Cabinet Commission
came to India in March 1946, Wavell
wasted no time in suggesting to them
that 'they must have some more defi-
nite ideas about Pakistan…I pointed
out that Pakistan issue affected not
only India but the whole Empire, since
it might lead to a conflict with Mos-
lems'. Alexander later remembered
that Wavell had mentioned on 25 April
1946 that the 'Anglo-American report
Epilogue, January 2011
 EXCLUSIVE SERIES
New Research on Kashmir
on Palestine now about to be pub-
lished would, he feared, have most
unfortunate repercussions in Pales-
tine and the Middle East on the Arab
population and would be likely to
harden the Muslim League in their ad-
herence to Pakistan'. Wavell had de-
veloped a mutual friendship and re-
spect for Alexander; with Pethick-
Lawrence he parted 'on quite friendly
but not cordial terms'. He however
did not get along with Stafford Cripps
and did not meet him when the Cabi-
net Mission departed India. He was
to soon pay for this.
Meanwhile, however, in May 1946
Wavell produced an 'Appreciation of
possibilities in India', which was to
be later infamous as Wavell's Break-
down Plan. In his own words, it en-
tailed the following:
'If we are forced into an extreme
position, we should hand over the
Hindu provinces, by agreement
and as peaceably as possible, to
Hindu rule, withdrawing our
troops, officials and nationals in
an orderly manner; and should at
the same time support the
Muslim provinces of India against
Hindu domination and assist them
to work out their own constitu
tion'.
'It is not suggested that this ar
rangement should be a
permanency; and that we should
maintain indefinitely what would
amount to a "Northern Ireland" in
India. We should endeavour to
bring about a Union of India on
the nest terms possible; and then
withdraw altogether'.
Two months later, in July 1946, he
thought 'HMG's proposals [of partition
on Palestine] quite disastrous and
said so in very plain language. The
effect in India at this juncture will
be deplorable'. The Wavell Plan had
started trickling to London from Sep-
tember 1946 in its various draft ava-
tars but it was not until 4 December
1946 that the besieged Viceroy
reached London to hand it over per-
sonally to the Attlee Cabinet. He had
a frosty reception from Attlee, Bevin
and Cripps though they did not have
much by way of an alternative. Wavell
www.epilogue.in
noted that 'Bevin was pessimistic
about our position generally [and] said
that everyone was kicking us around,
in Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, India and
that our international prestige was
very low. He said that the USA were
very worried about India' and was
quick to see through the left, social-
ist, anti-empire façade of the For-
eign Minister: 'Bevin like everyone
else hates the idea of our leaving In-
dia, but like everyone else has no al-
ternative to suggest. Both he and
Alexander are in reality imperialists
and dislike any idea of leaving India'.
Indeed, the great Bevin 'could be
reprimanded for residual imperial
nostalgia' and alongwith Attlee and
Cripps presided over the sacking of
Wavell, condemned as 'defeatist'.
Cripps returned from India in July
1946 and had been suggesting from
September-October onwards to re-
place Wavell. This 'defeatist' slur on
Wavell though took some time in
crystallising and first emerged dur-
ing the Bevin-Attlee exchange of 1-2
January 1947.
Ironically, Wavell's withdrawal plan
gave Britain more time, till mid-1948,
to prepare for the succession than did
the Labour government's scramble to
get out which left contradictions in
the wake of its hasty departure - the
greatest of which was the Kashmir dis-
pute. It also stemmed from Wavell's
rationale - later justified in a gory
manner - that too much blood would
be spilled if power were transferred
simultaneously to the subcontinent as
a whole. And yet the breakdown plan
led to the summary dismissal of
Wavell. The telegram which inti-
mated him of the same in February
1947 was drafted by the determined
Stafford Cripps. Restrained in pub-
lic, Wavell wrote in his diary on 4
February 1947 that 'it was not very
courteously done'. This 'termination'
had been coming. Wavell had a low
opinion of politicians while Labour -
despite admiring his soldier's realism,
strategic shrewdness and lack of vice-
regal vanity - considered him 'politi-
cally inept'. Their relations had been
getting severely strained. In the ulti-
mate analysis, his two-stage military
Vol. 5, Issue 01
50
withdrawal/evacuation plan consid-
ered 'pessimistic'/'unworkable' by
Attlee, Bevin and co. was the last nail
in the coffin of Wavell's viceroyalty.
Mountbatten took over and the
subcontinent hurtled towards free-
dom/partition in India and then in-
vasion/accession in Kashmir. One
month after the first of the batch of
raiders had started for Srinagar, on
20 November 1947, Wavell noted -
after a conversation with his succes-
sor in London - that 'Mountbatten has
very much gone over to the Congress
side, as was I suppose inevitable in
his position; says Jinnah has become
an impossible megalomaniac; and
that Nehru has shown himself a re-
ally great man'. This was a classic
case of one partisan man eyeing the
other from his one-eye. As Alexander
remembered from his Cabinet Mis-
sion trip:
'Wavell had no conscious feeling
that he had been partisan in
favour of the Muslim League, but
I could understand that as he had
been C-in-C in India in 1942, he
was bound to remember that
whilst the Muslim League were not
politically active in his support,
they did not - as the Congress
party - had organised the
sabotage and destruction of his
communications whilst he was
trying to keep the Japs out of
India'.
More importantly for our purpose
now and more worryingly for Wavell's
then, he was also informed by
Mountbatten that the 'Service Chiefs
at home seemed to him to be playing
with the idea of making a base of
Pakistan and letting India go, if she
wished'. Wavell thought 'such a policy
would be suicidal'. This reflected the
growing awareness among the Brit-
ish Chief of Staff about the useful of
the north-western rim of the Indian
sub-continent (now in Pakistan) as
well as its willingness (unlike Nehru's
much-vaunted non-aligned stance) to
partake in the Anglo-American con-
cerns and attempts vis-à-vis the erst-
while USSR in Central Asia.
London was acutely sensitive to
British interests in the subcontinent
Epilogue, January 2011
51 EXCLUSIVE SERIES
New Research on Kashmir

and to Pakistan's particular impor-
tance in their pursuit. Three months
before the creation of Pakistan, the
Chief of Staff had succinctly summed
up that strategically 'Western India'
(post-1947 Pakistan) - with Karachi
and Peshawar - was crucial for Brit-
ish and Commonwealth interests. Im-
portantly, by assisting Pakistan Brit-
ain could increase its prestige and
reputation in the Muslim World, im-
prove relations and achieve their co-
operation. Five weeks before parti-
tion, the Chief of Staff concluded:
The area of Pakistan is stra
tegically the most important in the
continent of India and the
majority of our strategic
requirements could be met by an
agreement with Pakistan alone.
We do not therefore consider that
failure to obtain the [defence]
agreement with India would cause
us to modify any of our require
ments.
On 12 October, the Commonwealth
Relations Office had written to UK
High-Commissioners in India and Pa-
kistan to 'look after United Kingdom's
interests in Kashmir and other Indian
States in Pakistan sphere'. It was
equally aware of Kashmir's importance for Pakistan. For Pakistan to remain a
politically viable pivot for Britain's strategic interest in the Middle East and Southeast
Asia, Kashmir was vital as a buffer between the volatile NWFP and a potentially
hostile India. Pakistan's lack of geographical depth was a cause of concern for Britain
as was the presence of a resourceful and unfriendly neighbour; its vulnerable de-
fence, transport and communication links and industrial infrastructure and the de-
pendence of her irrigation and energy systems on rivers flowing through Kashmir.
Wavell also had a suspicious attitude towards the UN - not uncommon in his genera-
tion of inter-war realists. He felt that the way of reaching decisions in UN - 'the
process of dishonest and discreditable lobbying among the smaller powers' - was
'disgraceful' and as an ardent Arabist, he was shocked that a vital question like the
partition of Palestine 'should be decided by the venal votes of such countries as Haiti,
Liberia, [and] Paraguay'. By December 1949, when the Kashmir question had been
with the UN for almost a year, a tired Wavell wrote to H. M. Close in Peshawar, in
terms which showed his views on the past of India-Kashmir-Pakistan and his percep-
tions on the future of India-USA-Pakistan, both borne out by history:
'If only this wretched Kashmir busi
ness could be settled, I am sure
that Pakistan would soon go
ahead. Of course, it ought to have
gone to Pakistan from the first,
with possibly some adjustments in
frontier on the south; just as
Hyderabad was bound to go in with
India. I am very glad that Liaquat
Ali Khan is going to America, I am
sure that his personality and
commonsense will impress itself
on the Americans; India has had
too much of the limelight since
partition'.

1 3 July 1943
2 22 July 1944
3 21 March 1945
4 24 March 1945
5 21 April 1946, AVAR 6/2, A. V. Alexander Papers, Churchill Archives Centre (CAC), Churchill College, Cambridge
6 4 March 1946
7 29 June-1 July 1946
8 29 July 1946
9 24 December 1946
10 Kenneth Morgan, Labour People (Oxford, 1987), p. 141
11 Ibid., p. 168
12 1-2 January 1947, Bevin-Attlee exchange, FO 800/470/IND/47/1/2, TNA
13 Michael Brecher, Nehru (Oxford, 1959), p. 337
14 Peter Clarke, The Cripps Version (London, 2002), pp. 470-1
15 Judith Brown, Nehru (Oxford, 2003), p. 169
16 26 June 1946, AVAR 6/2, CAC
17 29.11.46, COS (46-47) L/WS/1/1030, Tp (46), TNA
18 7.7.47, COS Tp (47) 90, TNA
19 12.10.47, CRO to Shone and Graffety-Smith, T. No. 210, L/PS/13/1845 b, IOR
20 1 December 1947
21 13 December 1949, Wavell to Close, MSS Eur Photo Eur 393, India Office Records, British Library

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011

CALENDAR: DECEMBER 2010
J & K AFFAIRS
JAMMU, DECEMBER 1: Six persons including three
minor girls are killed and nearly 40 others injured in a
bus accident near Kalakote in Rajouri district of Jammu
province. The bus with approved capacity of 16 passen-
gers was reportedly carrying 52 passengers.
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 1: Chairman of moderate
faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq says
the separatist amalgam will continue its efforts to edu-
cate the people of India about the genesis of Kashmir
issue and need for its resolution.
REASI, DECEMBER 2: Three members of a family
are among four persons killed while five others injured
after a Tata Sumo skidded off the road and fell into nearly
700-feet deep gorge in Mahore area of this district in
Jammu province.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 2: Pakistan Army resorts to
heavy firing on Indian positions on the Line of Control
(LoC) in Balnoi area of Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch
district in an apparent attempt to push militants into
this side taking advantage of adverse weather condi-
tions and dense forests.
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 3: A delegation of Parlia-
mentarians and Civil Society members including film
makers and journalists arrived in summer capital on a
three-day fact-finding mission and hear the family of a
teenager whose death in police action triggered a five-
month unrest in the Valley. The delegation includes Par-
liamentarians Ram Vilas Paswan, Nama Nageshwara Rao,
Maheshwari Hazari, D Raja and Bansa Gopal Choudhury.
The other prominent figures in the delegation were film-
maker Mahesh Bhatt, Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy and jour-
nalist Seema Mustafa.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 4: The CBI has registers a case
in the alleged bungling of more than Rs 3.7 crore in the
contract of dewatering work on Katra-Laole section of
Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Project.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 4: Railways report suc-
cessful completion of construction of a crucial tunnel
between the Katra-Qazigund section of the prestigious
Kashmir rail link project. "The major breakthrough came
yesterday with the completion of the tunnel, the second
in the section at Sangaldhan in Ramban district of the
State," said a Northern Railway spokesperson.
Srinagar, DECEMBER 5: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
says that Kashmir is a political problem requiring a po-
litical solution and urges the separatist leaders to enter
a dialogue with Centre for its resolution. Addressing sev-
eral functions to mark the 105th birth anniversary of his
grandfather and National Conference founder Sheikh
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
52
Mohammad Abdullah, Omar said violence cannot solve any
issue and the only way to resolve problems was through
the dialogue. "If they can hold talks with Parliamentarians
and Pakistan High Commissioner, what is the problem in
talking to the Central Government," he said. Union Minis-
ter and NC President Dr Farooq Abdullah attended func-
tions with CM.
KATHUA, DECEMBER 5: Congress leader and state
Minister for Health Sham Lal Sharma courts controversy
by advocating Azadi for Kashmir and separate state for
Jammu and Union Territory status to Ladakh. Addressing
a Congress rally chaired by Pradesh Congress Committee
chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz at remote town of Bani in dis-
trict Kathua, the Congress Minister gave a surprise to many
senior party leaders sharing dais with Prof Soz, when he
raised the demand of making Jammu separate State and
according UT status to Ladakh.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: The Supreme Court seeks
a response from Jammu and Kashmir Government on the
Rs 1,618- crore special package offered by the Centre for
restoring properties of and providing jobs to Kashmiri
Pandits who migrated from the Valley in the wake of out-
break of militancy. The apex court, which sought the reply
of the State Government within four weeks, however, ex-
pressed its reservations against the Centre's scheme which
was not clear as to how the migrants on return will stay
without any accommodation.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 7: A delegation of Trade
Union representatives from Jammu and Kashmir led by
CPI MP and AITUC leader Gurudas Dasgupta calls on Prime
Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and seek his intervention
for revival of sick Central units in the State and ensuring
payment of wages and other benefits to their employees.
"Terrorism or secessionism cannot be fought "if the work-
ers are left to suffer in starvation", Dasgupta said. In a
meeting with Dr Singh at Parliament House, the unions,
representing handicraft, carpet and anganwadi workers
and PSUs like IRCON, HMT Chinar Factory, Centaur Hotel
and Indian Telephone Industry, sought revival of these
units.
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 7: Criticising National Con-
ference led coalition regime for brazenly taking benefit of
the prevailing anarchy in the State, People's Democratic
Party president Mehbooba Mufti today said that instead
of addressing problems of the people this Government has
indulged in corrupt practices. She said that on the one
hand harassment of innocent people has been going un-
abated while on the other, Government has been looting
public exchequer due to lack of transparency and account-
ability. She said that developmental activities have virtu-
ally come to stand still and ruling elite has been indulged
in corrupt practices.
Epilogue, January 2011
53
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 8: The Government of India
informs Lok Sabha that "track II" talks with Pakistan in-
cludes issues like Jammu and Kashmir and are not official
in nature. "There are informal channels of communica-
tion between India and Pakistan, also referred to as track
II in popular parlance... These meetings, which take place
on a broad range of subjects, including Jammu and Kash-
mir, are not official in nature," Minister of State for Ex-
ternal Affairs Preneet Kaur said.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 9: Five members of a marriage
party are killed and 23 others injured, when a bus carry-
ing them, rolled down into a nullah near Garnai under the
jurisdiction of Rehmbal Police Station in Udhampur dis-
trict.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 10: State Cabinet approves the
recommendations of the Pay Anomaly Committee besides
giving nod to the amendments in the J&K Panchayati Raj
Act, 1989. The Finance as well as other Departments will
start issuing notifications vis-à-vis implementation of the
recommendations of the Pay Anomaly Committee report
within next 10 to 15 days, the cabinet decided.
RAMBAN, DECEMBER 10: Four persons are killed and
four others injured in two separate road accidents in this
district.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11: J&K Health Minister
Sham Lal Sharma who advocated Azadi for Kashmir is
served with show-cause notice by Congress high command.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 12: The State Government asks
the Election Department of the State to go ahead with
preparation for Panchayat elections on the ground that
constitution of the State Election Commission (SEC) was
a mandatory provision asked by the Central Government
to five States and it will take care of future requirements.
Government has conveys to the Election Department to
hold first phase of Panchayat elections by the end of Janu-
ary and complete entire exercise by April end.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 13: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
says that the call of separatists and few other outfits for
boycott of ensuing Panchayat elections in the State will
not have any impact on the polls as they had been giving
such calls time and again and the people have defied them
repeatedly. "There is nothing new (in the boycott call of
elections). They (the separatists) had given such calls in
the past also. Despite their boycott calls, the people had
participated in the elections in large number and they will
do so this time as well'', Mr Abdullah said.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 14: Seven Indian Air Force per-
sonnel including a Squadron Leader and two engineers of
the Konkan Railways Corporation Limited are injured when
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
CALENDAR: DECEMBER 2010
J & K AFFAIRS
a MI-26 Helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from
the Technical Airport adjoining the domestic airport of
Jammu. The helicopter was airlifting heavy road and
tunnel construction machinery for the Northern Railways
to Reasi-Sangaldan stretch of the Katra-Qazigund Rail-
way Project.
UDHAMPUR, DECEMBER 15: Four persons are killed
and 10 others sustain injuries, one of them critically,
when an over-speeding bus turns turtle on Udhampur-
Ramnagar road.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15: The Central Govern-
ment decides to double subsidy for micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Jammu and Kashmir, at
par with North Eastern States. The decision to modify
the Central Capital Investment Subsidy Schemes for J&K
is taken at a Cabinet meeting. The capital investment
subsidy for the MSMEs in the State will be enhanced to
30 per cent of the investment on plant and machinery.
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 16: General Officer Com-
manding of Army's Srinagar based 15 Corps Lt General S
A Hasnain says he would be adopting a humane approach
with the people of Kashmir in his efforts to usher in
stability to the Valley. "My approach is entirely humane
and nothing more than that. I think my force should not
be seen as a force with arms everywhere," Lt Gen
Hasnain, who became only second Muslim officer to com-
mand 15 Corps in the past 20 years, told reporters on
the occasion of Vijay Diwas, marking the victory over
Pakistan Army in 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 16: TheNational Conference-
Congress Coordination Committee meets under the chair-
manship of Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Prof Saif-
ud-Din Soz. It was discussed that since the 73rd Amend-
ment has empowered the Panchayati Raj Institutions and
further democratized them in the country, it is neces-
sary to adopt the provision of amendment.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 17: The Interlocutors on Jammu
and Kashmir arrive in the winter capital on their third
visit to state. They said that implementation of the Con-
fidence Building Measures (CBMs), listed by them after
their first two visits, will facilitate the process of dia-
logue in the State but said their ultimate task was to
work out a political settlement of the problem accept-
able to all three regions and communities residing within
the every region.
POONCH, DECEMBER 18: Interlocutors meet a cross
section of people in Poonch. Members of several del-
egations that called on them said that they talked about
development and rejected the idea of Azadi. The people,
cutting across party affiliations, lamented discrimina-
tion meted out to the district on account of develop
Epilogue, January 2011
CALENDAR: DECEMBER 2010
J & K AFFAIRS
ment by successive State Governments.
UDHAMPUR, DECEMBER 18: Three persons are killed
and two others sustained injuries when a car, they were
travelling in, plunged into a gorge at Rehmbal.
AKHNOOR, DECEMBER 20: The General Officer Com-
manding, 16 Corps Lt Gen J P Nehra says that security
forces continue to exert pressure on the militants oper-
ating in parts of Doda-Kishtwar and other parts in south
of Pir Panjal. Following tremendous pressure exert by the
troops, the militants are looking for safe passages and
dens. And for this reason they have chosen to cross over
to Himachal Pradesh through J&K-Himachal border as was
evident from the recent arrests of militants by the secu-
rity agencies, he said.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 20: The Interlocutors hold dis-
cussion with Director General of Police on security and
law and order situation in the State as apparently they
wanted to know the number of separatists, youth and
other stone pelters detained in the State under Public
Safety Act (PSA) and other provisions of law during three
month long unrest in the Kashmir valley. Earlier in the
day interlocutors met former Chief Minister Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 20: The winter capital records
lowest night temperature of last 20 years due to lack of
rains and the possibility of temperature either remaining
at the same degrees and plummeting further cannot be
ruled out.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 21: The State Cabinet orders a
major reshuffle in the police administration involving
transfers and postings of 87 officers, including Inspector
General of Jammu Zone. Dilbagh Singh is now new IGP
for Jammu.
Jammu, DECEMBER 21: The J&K State Power Devel-
opment Corporation signs Promoters Agreement (PA) with
National Hydro Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) and
Power Trading Corporation India Ltd (PTC) for execution
of 1000 mw Pakal Dull, 600 MW Kiru and 520 mw Kawar
Hydro Electric Projects as a joint venture. Commissioner/
Secretary Power, Basharat Ahmad Dar, Managing Direc-
tor, JKSPDC, Shaleen Kabra signed the agreement on be-
half of the Jammu and Kashmir State Government while
the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NHPC, S K Grag
and Chairman-cum-Managing Director, PTC, P N Thakur
signed on behalf of their organizations.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 21: President Pratibha Patil
clears the name of Amitabh Mattoo as the first Vice Chan-
cellor of the Central University of Jammu. The President,
in her capacity as the Visitor of the Central Universities
approved the appointment of Mattoo whose name had
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
4
54
been pending for the President's approval for the past six
months as there was opposition to his appointment from
some quarters in Jammu
DODA, DECEMBER 22: The Union Home Ministry's
Task Force visits the twin mountainous districts of Doda
and Kishtwar where the cross section of society including
the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the ruling
Coalition held less annual allocation to the districts re-
sponsible for their backwardness and under-development.
The members of Task Force headed by Dr Abhijit Sen,
Member Planning Commission earlier called on Governor,
N N Vohra at Raj Bhavan in Jammu.
SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 22: The interlocutors hold an
open meeting in Langate area of north Kashmir's border
distict of Kupwara. The public meeting was organised by
Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid at a Government
school and was attended by several thousand residents of
his home constituency who were carrying three flags --
white, black and red -- besides banners and placards in
support of their demand for revocation of Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA), honourable resolution of Kash-
mir issue and end to human rights violations.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 22: J&K Government orders
revocation of ban on the SMS services in the State on
post paid connections. The ban was imposed during
Kashmir's summer turmoil.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 24: Top BJP leaders including
former DyPM LK Advani, President Nitin Gadkari, leaders
of opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Sushma
Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, respectively, gather in the winter
capital of J&K for what they called Ekta Sankalap Rally.
They declared that BJP wouldn't allow, at any cost, the
grant of autonomy, self-rule or 'azadi' to Kashmir and fight
tooth and nail any attempt to further dilute integration of
the State with rest of India.
KATHUA, DECEMBER 25: Three persons are killed
while at least 15 others injured in two separate road acci-
dents in Billawar and Lakhanpur area of district Kathua.
JAMMU, DECEMBER 25: The State Government ap-
proaches the Union Surface Transport Ministry for accord-
ing National Highway status to Mughal road and its 84-
kilometer long limbs on both sides which will yield more
funds for the annual maintenance of historic road and help
in keeping it open even during winter when the area wit-
nesses huge snowfall
JAMMU DECEMBER 25: Terming BJP's stand on Kash-
mir as "negative", the former Chief Minister Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed says that it was sad that the main
opposition was trying to "destroy" national consensus on
resolution of the issue initiated by none other than party
Epilogue, January 2011
55
5 CALENDAR: DECEMBER 2010
patriarch and former Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee
JAMMU, DECEMBER 26: Holy cave shrine of Mata
Vaishno Devi surpasses past pilgrimage records at 8.5
million for 2010.
SHIMLA, DECEMBER 29: Railway Minister Mamata
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 1: The Government denies
that there was any proposal to withdraw the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act 1958 at present from Jammu and Kash-
mir, saying the Act (AFSPA) was needed in states and
areas in a disturbed or dangerous condition that may
require use of the Act. In a written reply in the Rajya
Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs M
Ramachandran said that although several legislations did
exist for curbing underground activities in the North-
Eastern region, the AFSPA was needed.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 2: Lt Gen A S Lamba's
name is cleared to take over as new Army Vice Chief.
Lamba, who was the Shimla-based Army Training Com-
mand chief, replaces Lt Gen P C Bharadwaj who retired
from service on November 30. The Government also ap-
proved the appointment of Lt Gen S K Singh, who was
hitherto Leh-based 14 Corps Commander, to take over
as Jaipur-based South Western Command chief.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: French President Nicho-
las Sarkozy, Delhi, calls upon Pakistan to fight terrorism
with determination and advises the country to live in
peace with India. Sarkozy assured India of his country's
full cooperation in fighting terrorism. "Our cooperation
on counter-terrorism is without limits and when Mumbai
became a martyr city with hundreds killed and injured,
France stood shoulder to shoulder with India. France will
do all it can to help India. Pakistan must live in peace
alongside its Indian neighbours," Mr Sarkozy said in an
interaction with the media after the signing of several
agreements with India in the field of civil nuclear coop-
eration and other areas
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 9: Union Home Minister P
Chidambaram says that contours of a political solution
to the Kashmir problem were expected to emerge in the
next few months. He said this while addressing a meet-
ing here of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee
attached to his Ministry and the subject of the discus-
sion was "Matters relating to Jammu and Kashmir".
Chidambaram said the first and second reports of the
www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Banerjee forwards Rs 22,831 crore project to clear
Bhanupali-Leh railway line to Planning Commission, Himachal
Pradesh Chief Minister, Prem Kumar says in Shimla. A let-
ter received from Union Minister of State for Railways E
Ahemad, said the Centre has prepared the estimate of
Bhanupali-Leh railway line after completing its survey, Mr
Dhumal said. He said that Rs 22,381 crore project has been
forwarded to Planning Commission to get its consent to lay
down broad gauge line between Bhanupali to Leh.
group of interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir dealt with
confidence-building measures and added that he had now
asked the group to focus on finding the contours of a po-
litical solution
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 14: Bharat Petroleum Corp
hikes petrol prices by about Rs 2.96 a litre effective mid-
night tonight, and other State-owned oil companies IOC
and HPCL will follow suit tomorrow. The Oil Ministry gives
the three companies a go-ahead to raise petrol prices af-
ter international crude oil prices touched USD 90 per bar-
rel. BPCL, the second largest fuel retailer in the country,
took the lead to raise petrol prices by Rs 2.96 a litre to Rs
55.87 per litre in Delhi.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 14: Information Commissioner
Satyananda Mishra is named as the new chief of the Central
Information Commission, replacing CIC A N Tiwari. Mishra is
a former IAS officer of 1973 batch, Madhya Pradesh cadre.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 15: Former regent of Jammu
and Kashmir and senior Congress leader Karan Singh re-
fuses to receive a Chinese award given away by Premier
Wen Jiabao in Delhi for promotion of friendship between
the two countries as he did not want to be seen as pro-
China. Singh, a Rajya Sabha member and President of In-
dian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), did not turn up
for the award function this evening where Wen honoured
nine prominent persons including CPI(M) leader Sitaram
Yechury for fostering Sino-India ties.
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 16: Talks between Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh
fail to yield any breakthrough on India's key concerns---
stapled visa to people of Jammu and Kashmir and terror-
ism emanating from Pakistan-- and in getting support for
its bid for a UNSC permanent seat. Wen, who is on a fence-
mending mission after one year of unease in bilateral ties,
held talks with Dr Singh for over one hour during which
bilateral, regional and global issues were discussed. Though
the issue of stapled visa did not figure in the joint com-
munique, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters
Epilogue, January 2011
CALENDAR: DECEMBER 2010 56
NATIONAL AFFAIRS

after the talks that the Chinese Pre-
mier himself raised the issue and
suggested that officials from both the
countries should have in-depth con-
sultations to resolve the issue. "Wen
said China takes this issue very seri-
ously and takes our concern on this
issue very seriously," Rao said but
noted that "the ball is in their court.
There is no doubt about that."
BALASORE, ORISSA, DECEMBER
22: Two Prithvi-II nuclear-capable bal-
listic missiles with a strike range of
350 km were successfully test-fired in an hour's gap as part of user trials by
the Army from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off Orissa coast.
"Two indigenously developed surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missiles were test-
fired from the ITR and both the trials were fully successful," ITR Director S P
Dash said. The missiles, mounted on mobile launchers and aimed at different
targets, were test-fired from launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 0815 and
0915 hrs.
SRIHARIKOTA (AP), DECEMBER 25: In a setback that some fear could delay
India's manned moon mission, one of ISRO's communication satellites aboard a
Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) exploded mid-air less than a minute after
lift-off from the spaceport here and fell into the sea.GSAT-5P, carrying 24 C-band
and 12 extended C-band transponders, aboard a homegrown vehicle GSLV F06
failed after the rocket veered from its flight path and broke into pieces

CROSS - LOC

POONCH, DECEMBER 6: After a long time, 35 guests reach Poonch from route on day-one of this week
Pakistan administered Kashmir as 56 civilians cross the Line of Control (LoC) touches Rs 4 crore as 48 trucks ex-
from Chakan-Da-Bagh on Poonch-Rawlakote route. However, the traders of change sides from the Line of Con-
PaK announced suspension of trade for this week, reportedly demanding that trol at Chakan-Da-Bagh.
tax imposed by their Government on the import-export, should be waived off. Twenty-three trucks left Poonch for
Rawlakote carrying coconut, dry
POONCH, DECEMBER 13: For the first time since cross-LoC bus was chilly, red chilly, embroidery suits and
launched on Poonch-Rawlakote route between two parts of the divided State, herbs worth Rs 1.42 crore. From
it left Poonch without a single passenger on the board today. `The bus left Rawlakote, 25 trucks reached Poonch
Poonch with only a driver and a helper. No passenger turned up to visit PaK loaded with walnuts, kinnows, dates,
writing a new chapter in the history of cross-LoC movement of passengers. anardana, pista, dry grapes and jai
namaz. Imports from PoK were val-
POONCH, DECEMBER 15: Surpassing past trends, cross-LoC trade on ued at Rs 2.58 crore. During second
Poonch-Rawlakote route crosses Rs 10 crore during two days of this week, day of weekly trade onions worth
recording an all time high figure. Yesterday, items worth Rs 5.16 crore were about Rs 1 crore were imported by
imported-exported from Chakan-Da-Bagh by the traders of two parts of di- the traders of this side from their
vided State while today Rs 5.02 crore worth trade was recorded. counterparts from across the Line of
Control. Out of Rs 2.86 crore worth
POONCH, DECEMBER 20: While no one took the Rawalakote bus from items imported from Rawlakote, PaK
Poonch, from PaK, 50 civilians reached Poonch in weekly Rawlakote-Poonch bus by the traders of this side, onions
service. Of them, 47 were the guests from PaK, who reached here to meet their comprised majority of imports val-
divided family members and relatives while three others were citizens of this ued at nearly Rs 1 crore.
side who returned home after meeting their relatives on other side.
SRINAGAR Dec 30 : Goods
SRINAGAR DECEMBER 23: Eight fresh guests from PaK arrive here while worth Rs 18 crore are traded be-
12 Kashmiris crossed over to other side of the Line of Control at Kaman Post, tween Kashmir and PaK during the
the last Indian military post on this side of the border in Uri sector. The bus weekly Line of Control trade on the
service could not operate last week in view of the Muharram. As many as 24 Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. Trad-
residents of PaK and this part of the LoC also crossed the sides after complet- ers from Kashmir sent goods worth
ing their stay with their relatives. So far 522 PaK residents and 212 Kashmiris Rs 6.6 crore in 129 trucks to PaK,
have crossed sides to meet each others relatives in 2010. while the traders across LoC sent
goods worth Rs 11.57 crore on
Poonch, DECEMBER 27: Fifty-five civilians cross sides from Chakan-Da- Tu e s d a y a n d We d n e s d a y. 9 2 0
Bagh at the Line of Control in weekly Poonch-Rawlakote bus service. 23 tonnes of goods, consisting of red
civilians left Poonch for Rawlakote in Pakistan administered Kashmir. There chilli and cococut were exported to
were only two civilians on board the bus from this part of divided State, who PoK, while 794 tonnes of goods in
left for Rawlakote to meet their divided family members and relatives. Twenty 124 trucks crossed this side. Or-
others on board the bus were PaK citizens, who returned home after complet- anges formed nearly 70 per cent of
ing their stay on this side.. the imported goods, which also in-
cluded dry fruit and carpets, he
POONCH, DECEMBER 28/29: Cross-LoC trade on Poonch-Rawlakote added.

www.epilogue.in Vol. 5, Issue 01 Epilogue, January 2011