A teacher, a scholar and a politician
Another
11th of February has come. A citizen of Kashmir, in whatever part of
the world he is, remembers Maqbool Bhat, the martyr, on this day. This is the
day on which Maqbool Bhat attained martyrdom by ascending the steps to the
gallows of the Indian government. It brought him immortality as he paved the
way for the freedom of Kashmiri nation.
People
will copiously read and write on his political philosophy. Much has already
been written. As a friend of humanity, a brother, a student and a politician,
he had reached the pinnacle of glory. Yet he was extremely patient, unassuming
and affectionate person. He accepted life as it came. He never allowed human
desires to have better part of him. This was because he was always engrossed in
the thoughts of freedom of the State.
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| Hashim Qureshi with Maqbool Bhat |
I am
reminded of an incident in Kot Lakhpat prison. We were sent to the prison in
connection with Ganga hijacking case. Three out of six of us were given B
Class. Bhat Sahib, Ashraf Qureshi and I were put in C Class. We lived together
in a big cell. It was December-January of 1972. We were not given adequate
number of blankets as was allowed to the convicts. Moreover the blankets were
old and worn out. I was only 18 years old and Ashraf was two years elder to me.
Being very young, we used to become sentimental. We would complain of cold. We
asked the jail authorities several times to provide us with more blankets to protect
ourselves from cold but to no avail. Once being taken out from the prison to
the Special Court, Bhat Sahib happened to meet the Deputy Superintendent of the
jail on the gate. I still remember what he talked to the jail officer. “Don’t
you think that we are human beings? Don’t you think that we the prisoners also
feel cold or hunger or heat? For three days we have been asking you for
blankets to save ourselves from cold but our request have fallen on deaf ears.
I have two young boys with me”. But the tone and tenor of Bhat Sahib in his
conversation with the Deputy Superintended of the jail was markedly different
from what his usual tone used to be. His face had turned red with anger. Talking to the jailor he had thundered,” Don’t
think that by putting us in the jail you have made us prisoners. Remember that
wherever we are standing, that place and that land get liberated.” Having said
this, we headed towards the Special Court. He assured us that there would be
more blankets than what they needed that very night. On our return we found that instead of three,
fifteen blankets were placed in our cell. We distributed extra blankets among
other prisoners who needed these.
In the
cell, we three would prepare our response to the charges brought against us in
the court. Bhat Sahib prepared his statement recording the event of his flight
from Srinagar jail. He had also made a hardboard model of Srinagar jail which
he later on produced in the court of law for explaining how he had run away
from Srinagar jail. We read as many newspapers as we could while interned in
that cell. Sometimes we would stray into the B Class cell of other three
comrades, namely G.M. Lone, Mir Qayyum and Mir Manan, and listened to radio
news.
In the
cell, Bhat Sahib used to put our general knowledge to test on making bets. The
bet was to go through physical exercises. He used to sing patriotic songs in
very melodious voice. Ashraf Qureshi would empty the earthen vessels of water
and then play at it while I would get hold of some pot or pan to add jingle to
this show. Bhat Sahib sang both Kashmiri and Pahari songs. I still remember the
Kashmiri song he used to sing often:
“Tokehsur
yeleh gaseh shethrwen panjran/Adeh hai neran saen arman
Baleh yar
yeleh Sheen gali…/ adeh hai neran saen arman''
The
Pahari song was as this:
“Langeh
aja patan chanan/da yara langeh aja patan chana aja”
He had
many more Kashmiri songs that carried the spirit of patriotism and the
sentiment of freedom.He would also tell us about major freedom movements in
the world.
Ashraf
and I were just 20 and 18 years old. Even today students in our traditional
educational institutions are far away from history, geography and current
affairs of the world. What was the condition of general knowledge among
students 42 years ago when there was no computer and no internet is what you
can imagine? Therefore Bhat Sahib’s words, his knowledge, his philosophy, his
mastery on Quran, hadith and Islamic
history all were not within our comprehension. I recollect that my late father used to get an
Urdu journal titled Soviet Union. I
rarely made any attempt to go through its pages. But Bhat Sahib would speak
about leftist movements in Russia, China, Korea and also the Vietnam War that
was raging at that time. He was almost a walking encyclopedia on these
subjects. He could vividly describe the
1870 and 1880 struggle of Silk Factory workers in Srinagar, the democratic
struggle of 1931 against the rule of the Maharaja, the attack of the tribesmen
in 1947, and innumerable peoples’ movements in untied India etc.
After we
were given some relaxation in the jail and shifted to B Class, we began to pay
attention to other branches of knowledge besides being asked to pursue the case
in the special court. G.M. Lone had interest in mysticism (tasawwuf). We also began to read books on history and mysticism and
sometimes would conduct discussions on their themes. We studied the work of
Data Ganj Bakhsh Ali Hajweri’s famous work Kashfu’l
Mahjub and Bhat Sahib used to present commentaries on it. Being that young,
I didn’t actually understand those commentaries but now that I am grown old I
still keep that book under my pillow. When I read its excerpts, I am reminded
of Bhat Sahib and I recollect his commentary on it.
Apart
from this, Bhat Sahib’s popular themes for conversation were the history of the
people of Kashmir and the suppression they had been subjected to. He would get
angry for distorting Kashmir history. He was fiercely opposed to the division
of India. In this matter he was closer to the ideology of Ahrar and Deobandi
people. When Bangladesh came into existence on 16 December 1971, his remark was
as this: “Two parts of a country between which there lies a thousand mile long
tract of their enemy’s land cannot remain together in any case especially when
their culture is different from each other: He was much influenced by the
thought and writings of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and almost of his thoughts
about the division of India. He would express great sorrow on the suffering
inflicted on the people owing to the division of the country; five million
people had to leave their homes and more than a million lost their lives. His
typical remark was “that the division had divided tens of millions of Musalmans
into groups like Pakistani Muslims, Indian Muslims and now Bangladeshi Muslims.
These Muslims could have been a great force in united India.” He was also
thinking along the line of Maulana Maudoodi who was opposed to the division of
India. He believed that the division of India was at the root of Kashmir
problem. He used to make us understand through strong arguments “that had India
obtained freedom from the British rule in normal way and was not divided, there
would not have been any hatred and turmoil in the sub-continent. After the
British had left India, Hindus and Muslims would solve their problems
themselves. The division of India led to the emergence of Kashmir issue because
there would have been neither the state of Pakistan nor would the people in
Kashmir think about their association with Pakistan. J&K would be an
independent State in United India though of course monarchy would not stay put
in Kashmir or that the entire state would be integrated into United India, if
people of JK wish that. “
He
invariably rejected the attack of tribesmen in 1947. He said “that the feudalists
of Pakistan of those days, Qayyum Khan of NWFP, and former President of Azad Kashmir
namely Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan and others were responsible for frightening
Maharaja Hari Singh into acceding to India. On 14 and 15 August, 1947 Pakistan
and Indian dominions came into existence. Independence of the State of Jammu
and Kashmir continued till 27 October 1947. If the attack on Kashmir on 22 October
1947 under the leadership of Major Khurshid and General Akbar had not taken
place, Maharaja Hari Singh would never have acceded to India nor would have the
Indian army entered Kashmir.” He also believed that if the State had been fully
integrated into India or Pakistan, the people of that State would not have to
suffer as much as they suffer today. He had the firm conviction that the
consequences of partition of India would lead to enormous suffering of the
people to whatever religion or creed or community they belonged to. He said “that
most of the resources in the two countries would be expended on military
preparations’ abandoning the masses of people to penury and destitution.” Bhat
Sahib went to the extent of predicting “that arms race on the sub-continent
would prompt both countries to seek nuclear weapons”. Addressing directly those
who were for accession to Pakistan, he would say that “if Kashmir was the
jugular vein of Pakistan then Pakistan should occupy Kashmir by force of arms.”
He confidently asserted that India would never attack Azad Kashmir or Gilgit
Baltistan nor would the two countries be willing to surrender even an inch of
land of Kashmir.
We often
told him that 80 per cent of the Muslim population in Kashmir wanted Pakistan
and the remaining 20 per cent of non-Muslims of the State would want to be with
India. As far as the people in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan, they could
think of nothing other than Pakistan.
We were
talking about these matters way back in 1972. We asked him if there would be
any impact on India or Pakistan by hijacking airplanes or blasting bombs. Would we wriggle out of this limited struggle?
All the leaders and activists of National Liberation Front and Plebiscite Front
had been put behind bars in connection with Ganga hijacking case. Bhat Sahib’s
answer was that: “In national liberation
movements the major task is performed by consciousness, ideology and thought
process. Since you are fighting this battle on the basis of truth and righteousness,
therefore, your job is to foster among people the love for the land, for the
movement and the people. This sentiment is to be lifted to the supreme heights.
When that stage is achieved, people will themselves fight the freedom struggle.
It is time that decides how this battle is to be fought. The adventurism into
which we are indulging is in fact an effort of pulling our people out of
confusion and wakening them from deep slumber. We cannot liberate Kashmir by
hijacking the airplane. But in a Pakistan where the slogan of independent
Kashmir is treated as a bad name and heathenism (kufr) and even a conspiracy of India, the hijacking incident has
brought the truth of our struggle and falsehood of Pakistani attitude towards
our struggle to the lanes and streets of the State. Afraid of our idea of independent Kashmir
Pakistan rulers labeled our movement as a conspiracy of India. In this way they
tried to wipe out the proposition of independent Kashmir. They also believed
that the idea of independent Kashmir will spread out more rapidly in Pakistan
than in India.”
Bhat
Sahib would sometimes go deep in history. He would tell us about Aristotle,
Plato, and Musa ibn Nasir; he would tell us about the Umayyad, the Abbasids and
Fatemi Caliphs. About the decline of Muslims and the rise of the west he
usually remarked that “unless Muslims concentrated on new thinking along
scientific lines and unless they stopped issuing decrees of heathenism (kufr) in every matter, they can make no;
progress. He even said that Muslims of today were; passing through the same era
through which the Europeans were; passing in 16th and 17th
centuries.”
He would
try to solve any problem that was brought to him by the jail inmates. He would usually write applications for them.
If a prisoner requested for something, he would make a promise to sort out the
problem even if he had nothing in hand. As we were required to attend the
Special Court every day, Bhat Sahib would hand over a list of requirements to
one of the acquaintances who happened to be there at the court. He would direct
him to buy the things listed like cigarettes, fruits and other things of daily
use. This would create a problem in the jail sometimes. Once, the jail
superintendent made a complaint to the court that Bhat Sahib buys sugar, onions
and fruit for the prisoners. On hearing this, he stood up in the court and said
that he was not bringing any drugs or intoxicants. Is it forbidden to give
sugar to a prisoner?
In short one
can say that Bhat Sahib’s every part of life was dedicated to the service of
the people irrespective of their religion, region or clan. In the Pakistani
court he had said that:
“He had
neither hatched any conspiracy nor ever participated in the group of conspirators.
He asserted that his character was transparent. He said that of course he was
revolting against corruption, money-mindedness, exploitation, oppression,
slavery and faithlessness.” “If the ruling clique of Pakistan, which has grown
under the shadow of exploitative system, and which in turn is represented by
the state bureaucracy and military dominance, consider my stand a conspiracy,
it is no surprise to me. History tells us that whenever a movement was set
afloat against exploitation and enslavement, the dominant rulers always took
support of the term “conspiracy”. If
these words spoken boldly in the court are analyzed dispassionately, then
Maqbool Bhat rises as a person of revolutionary and innovative ideas, one who
is passionately against oppression, enslavement and subjugation. He was a
leader of extraordinary courage.
This is
the 30th year of his martyrdom. The best and befitting tribute that
we can pay to this lighthouse of knowledge and consciousness is that we wriggle
out of confusion and put the Kashmiri nation on the true path of national independence.
Late Dr. Farooq Haider had composed an elegy on the martyrdom of Maqbool Bhat.
Its two concluding verses are as follows:
“Main jhut ke suraj
se nahin laya hun kirnen
Main
nor-e sadaqat kelie khud hi jala hun”
It will be
a stupendous task to put in black and white all fine qualities of Bhat Sahib,
his dedication to the cause, his upbringing, his line of thought, his training
etc. of which I have retained innumerable memories. These have to be brought to
the people. Should God Almighty spare me time and opportunity, I intend to
record all that passes my mind’s screen for our younger and future generations.
