Amanullah Khan (JKLF)
Amanullah Khan | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Astore, Jammu and Kashmir, British India (present-day Gilgit−Baltistan) | 24 August 1934
Died | 26 April 2016 Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan | (aged 81)
Nationality | Pakistani |
Political party | ![]() |
Alma mater | Sindh Madressatul Islam College, Karachi |
Amanullah Khan (24 August 1934 – 26 April 2016) was the founder of the
Early life
Amanullah Khan was born on 24 August 1934 in the hamlet of Pari Shang in the Astore District of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (present day Gilgit-Baltistan). His father, Jumma Khan died when he was three years old. Khan was relocated to Kupwara in the Kashmir Valley to live with his brother-in-law Hashmat Ali Khan. He went to primary school locally and secondary school in Handwara.[4][5]
Khan completed the matriculation exam in 1950, where he is said to have scored the highest marks among Muslim students.
In 1947, the state of Jammu and Kashmir came to be divided between India and Pakistan, with the Kashmir Valley being under Indian control and Khan's native place of Astore being under Pakistani control. Khan was a staunch supporter of Pakistan and became active in student politics. His anti-India protests came under the scanner of the
Khan attempted to get into the Garden College in Rawalpindi, but was refused admission since his former college in Jammu and Kashmir was not recognized there. He subsequently enrolled in the Edwards College in Peshawar but was soon expelled due to trouble with the college principal. Finally, he enrolled in the Sindh Madressatul Islam University in Karachi and graduated in 1957, obtaining a degree in law in 1962.[7][8]
Activism
Azad Kashmir
By 1962, Amanullah Khan became an advocate of reunification of the former princely state of
The
Further attempts by the NLF to infiltrate into Indian-controlled Kashmir met with failure. Journalist Praveen Swami states that the organisation did not have enough funds and infrastructure, or support from other sources, to make an impact inside Indian Kashmir.[13] Paul Staniland adds that "State repression" in the Indian Kashmir also played a key role.[14]
United Kingdom
In the mid-1970s, with the organisation having fallen apart and the key leaders in jail, Amanullah Khan left Pakistan for the United Kingdom (UK). The
Praveen Swami states that the JKLF made plans to bomb the March 1983 conference of non-aligned meeting in New Delhi and to hijack an airliner from New Delhi, both of which were aborted. After the arrival of Hashim Qureshi in the UK in January 1984, another hijacking was planned. However, on 3 February 1984, members of the National Liberation Army kidnapped the Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in Birmingham and demanded the release of Maqbool Bhat as ransom. Amanullah Khan was named as the interlocuter. Unfortunately, the kidnappers panicked at the possibility of a police raid and, allegedly upon Amanullah Khan's instructions, shot the diplomat. India executed Maqbool Bhat six days later. A British court convicted two members of the JKLF for the killing of Mhatre. Hashim Quresi and Amanullah Khan were expelled from the UK.[16]
Pakistan
Amanullah Khan returned to Pakistan in December 1986,
However, a pro-independence JKLF was not in Pakistan's interest. Pakistan accepted the collaboration with JKLF only as a "necessary compromise," because of the recognition that Islamist groups had very little currency in the Kashmir Valley. However, cadres of Islamist groups were also trained in JKLF training camps in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This quickly led to a dilution of the JKLF's nationalist ideology.
By 1992, the majority of the JKLF militants were killed or captured and they were yielding ground to pro-Pakistan guerilla groups such as the
Yasin Malik, the JKLF leader in the Valley, renounced violence in 1994 and declared an "indefinite ceasefire."[26] Malik's peaceful struggle was unacceptable to Amanullah Khan, who removed him as the president of JKLF. In return, Malik expelled Khan from the chairmanship. Thus JKLF had split into two factions. The Pakistan government recognised Yasin Malik as the leader of JKLF, which further complicated the situation.[27]
Ellis and Khan state that, during the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections in 1996, JKLF commanded more support than all the traditional parties, even though it was not allowed to contest elections due to its pro-Independence stance.[28]
The two branches of JKLF reunited in 2011. Although Khan supported armed resistance, he never picked up arms himself.[9]
Writings
Khan has written two books, namely "Free Kashmir" (English),[29][6] and "My Autobiography" (in Urdu).[6][30][31] He has also written about three dozen booklets and pamphlets in English and Urdu about various aspects of the Kashmir issue.[6] He has visited over twenty countries to lobby for his cause, including attending the UN General Assembly and held many press conferences there. Khan stated that he was not an enemy of the people or the state of India or Pakistan but only of the governmental machinery which has kept his motherland under subjugation and of those politicians who deny Kashmiris their inherent and pledged right of self-determination.[citation needed]
Personal life
![]() | This section includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2016) |
Amanullah Khan has only one child, a daughter named Asma who married
Khan died on 26 April 2016 at a hospital from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, aged 82.[32][33] Yasin Malik paid him a rich tribute, calling him "a pioneer of the freedom struggle, a herald of an independent Jammu Kashmir, a glowing example of persistence, ... a leader who, from his youth till the last breath, remained steadfast in the resistance movement."[34]
See also
- Hurriyat and Problems before Plebiscite
- Kashmir conflict
- 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election
References
- ^ Joshi, Manoj (1 January 1999). The lost rebellion: Kashmir in the nineties. Mumbai: penguin books.
- S2CID 17670053: "The group began to receive generous support from Pakistan in the early 1980s. Pakistan also provided the JKLF with safe haven from which to organize its attacks on India. However, by 1990, the group began to suffer from its close relationship with its sponsor. In fact, the group's leadership even accused Pakistan of providing information about its whereabouts to Indian security forces."
- ^ Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (7 August 2003). "Pakistan: Activities of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF); whether the JKLF practices forced recruitment, and if so, whether this is done in collaboration with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)". UNHCR.
- ^ a b c "In Amanullah Khan's death Kashmiri separatism lost its champion", Catch News, 27 April 2016, archived from the original on 6 May 2016
- ^ a b c Handoo, Bilal (3 May 2016), "The Gilgit Rebel", Kashmir Life
- ^ a b c d Life of Amanullah Khan, Kashmir News Service, 26 April 2016.
- ^ Iconic Kashmiri leader Amanullah Khan is dead, The Express Tribune, 27 April 2016.
- ^ Shams Rehman, Remembering Amanullah Khan, The Kashmir Walla, 7 May 2016.
- ^ a b Grand old man of Kashmiri independence passes away Archived 28 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Kashmir Reader, 27 April 2016.
- ^ a b c Mr. Amanullah Khan & JKLF: Some Interesting Facts, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- ^ a b Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 104–109.
- ^ Madhu Jain, `Everyone makes use of Kashmir', India Today, 1 March 1990.
- ^ Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Staniland, Networks of Rebellion 2014, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 129–130.
- ^ Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 131–133.
- ^ Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict 2003, p. 138.
- ^ Jamal, Shadow War 2009, p. 123.
- ^ Ellis & Khan, Kashmiri diaspora 2003, p. 176.
- ^ Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 163–164.
- ^ Staniland, Networks of Rebellion 2014, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Staniland, Networks of Rebellion 2014, pp. 76, 81.
- ^ Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 167–169.
- ^ Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, pp. 3–4, 128–129.
- ^ Bhatnagar, Islamicization of Politics 2009, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, p. 130.
- ^ Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict 2003, pp. 174–175.
- ^ Ellis & Khan, Kashmiri diaspora 2003, pp. 176–177.
- ^ Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, p. 278.
- ^ End of An Era: Amanullah Khan, The Legitimate, 5 May 2016.
- ^ JKLF founder Amanullah Khan passes away, Rising Kashmir, 27 April 2016.
- Times of India.
- ^ "JKLF founder Amanullah Khan passes away in Pakistan at the age of 82". DNA India.com. 26 April 2016.
- ^ Kashmir leaders mourn Amanullah Khan’s death, Kashmir Reader, 28 April 2016.
- Sources
- Bhatnagar, Gaurav (2009), "The Islamicization of Politics: Motivations for Violence in Kashmir" (PDF), The Journal of Politics and Society, 20 (1): 1–20
- ISBN 0-674-01173-2
- Ellis, Patricia; Khan, Zafar (2003), "The Kashmiri diaspora: Influences in Kashmir", in Nadje Al-Ali; Khalid Koser (eds.), New Approaches to Migration?: Transnational Communities and the Transformation of Home, Routledge, pp. 169–185, ISBN 978-1-134-52377-1
- Jamal, Arif (2009), Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir, Melville House, ISBN 978-1-933633-59-6
- ISBN 1860648983
- Staniland, Paul (2014), Networks of Rebellion: Explaining Insurgent Cohesion and Collapse, Cornell University Press, pp. 68–, ISBN 978-0-8014-7102-5
- ISBN 978-0-415-40459-4
Further reading
- Wajahat Ahmad, Amanullah Khan: Life history of an azadi ideologue, Kashmir Narrator, 30 May 2016.
- True patriot and a leader, Amanullah Khan is no more, Only Kashmir, 27 April 2016.
- Malik under fire, rebels call for ‘less autocratic’ JKLF, The Indian Express, 24 December 2005.
External links
- Mr. Amanullah Khan & JKLF: Some Interesting Facts, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front at the South Asia Terrorism Portal
- Pakistan: Activities of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.