MAQBOOL BUTT: HIS LIFE, LETTERS, AND LEGACY.

Every year since 1984, the 11th day of February in Kashmir is a day of protest strikes. Each year more mythology is added and the legend of Maqbool Butt expands.  Maqbool Butt, founder of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was jailed for half his adult life by authorities in India, in Pakistan and in Kashmir, on both sides of areas occupied by the two countries. In 1984, on February 11, the Indian government hung and buried him in Tihar Jail, Delhi, two weeks shy of his 46th birthday. The Indians convicted and killed Butt as an enemy agent. Authorities in Pakistan accused him of being an Indian agent. Alastair Lamb the noted research writer on Kashmir describes Maqbool Butt as “a charismatic but somewhat mysterious figure”. Farooq Abdullah in 1974 fraternized with Butt in Azad Kashmir and a decade later endorsed his death sentence, as chief minister of Indian occupied Kashmir. He dubbed Butt “a romantic like Che Guevara”. Was Butt a double agent or father of the born-again Kashmiri nation as some Kashmiris’ recognized him. Now we can tell. 

Letters written by Butt over a period of twenty years are assembled in a book by Muhammad Saeed Asad of Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. The book title is ShaureFarda which in Urdu language means “Awareness of Tomorrow”. SharreFarda is banned by Pakistan government. Because, according to the Pakistan authorities, in the book “an attempt has been made to promote nationalist feelings among Kashmiris of Azad Kashmir”. Azmat Khan of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in London has put out information on Maqbool Butt on the Internet (http://www.jklf.com). Raja Muzzaffar, a colleague of Maqbool Butt, who now is in New York, provided additional information and a copy of ShaureFarda. Piecing together the information, we have a mirror to see Maqbool Butt. 

Maqbool Butt appears like a patriotic Kashmiri who strived to bring dignity and freedom to his homeland. His countrymen for the most part ignored his efforts. In Kashmir, the urban elite dominates polity. The elite has a medieval mentality; corruption and nepotism are its main stay. Maqbool Butt was born in a small village. He began his politics as a teen; his political life span was less than three decades. He did not compromise his values and did not succumb to corruption. So his twenty years of effort to change by revolution the entrenched two hundred plus years of medieval polity in Kashmir was like a rain shower on a swamp covered with algae. 

ShaureFarda

ShaureFarda has thirty-nine letters written by Butt to friends and relatives over a span of two decades. The first, dated May 22, 1960, from Peshawar is to G.M. Mufti, a childhood friend of Maqbool Butt. Maqbool was 21 years old then preparing to take his Master’s Degree examination from Peshawar University. He also worked as a copywriter for a Peshawar Newspaper. In this letter Butt describes his work and studies and invites his friend for a visit. Butt had two years earlier crossed the ceasefire line from Kashmir to the Pakistan side, to escape arrest by the Indian authorities.  Just earlier to his escape he completed his first college degree in  Baramulla, a district town in Kashmir. In college, Butt was a student activist. The last letter in ShaureFarda, written two decades later, is to Dr. Farooq Haidar, on September 8, 1983, from death row in Tihar Jail, India. 

From reading ShaureFarda, Maqbool Butt comes across as a man with a clear and focused vision. Three exemplary traits stand out from his character. First is his positive frame of mind. Second, his understanding and dedication to Kashmiris’ emancipation struggle. And third his firm religious faith. There is no contradiction between what Maqbool Butt said he would do and what he did. This quality of character, with no gap between the spoken words and deeds done is uncommon. 

The positive mindset of Butt is evident in most letters. One example is his letter on March 6, 1980 to Mohammed Arif Malik from Central Jail, New Delhi. Malik apparently expressing regret at his inability to get Butt out from captivity recited an Urdu “shehr” (Verse). Maqbool in his reply asks Malik to not be despondent. Butt in a manner so characteristic of all his writings, poetic and yet so precise and easy to understand, responds to Malik in couplet: “Hami Khabar Hai Ki Ham Hain Charag Akir Shab; Hamari Baad Andera Nahi Oogala Hai” (Translation: Aware I am of being like a candle lit at last stages of the night; following me there is not darkness but light).

Despite the long and lonely jail time, Butt maintained his positive outlook. In a letter on April 30, 1981 to Dr. Farooq Haider, Butt alludes to the difficult jail life as a top security prisoner. Butt notes that he maintains his sense of humor and does not want to burden his friends with the description of his difficulties. In another letter to Ikram Ullah Jaswal on May 2,1980 in his apology for delay in writing Butt hints at the condition of his captivity. To obtain writing privilege he had to file a writ petition in the Indian High Court. Repeatedly Butt, confined in jail cell for years on end, through his letters encourages his colleagues on the outside to not be despondent, to channel desperation due to set backs into action and keep the ultimate goal in focus. Butt maintained this positive attitude, I believe, because of his deep abiding religious faith. 

The strength of his faith is evident, as example, in his letter to Raja Muzzaffar from the death row of central jail New Delhi, on June 5, 1981. Butt ends this letter, like most others, by saying that he is living his days of captivity in “Sabar” and “Shookur” (Patience and thanks to God). Earlier in the letter Butt notes that when a man’s faith and sense of purpose remain steadfast, setbacks even in thousands are a joy, because even in defeat one does not loose. Raja Muzzaffar was in Saudi Arabia, from where he communicated with Butt. Referring to Mecca, Butt notes the revolutionary inspiration of Mecca. It was from here, writes Butt, hundreds of years hence that the message to end ignorance, (jahalat) darkness (tariki) and force and bondage (jabar aur gulami) radiated. In a letter to Arshad Mahmoor Ansari, on December 12, 1980, Butt writes that people with faith should not be disappointed if destination is not in sight, because for people of faith life’s mission is the struggle in itself. In another letter in reply to Mohammed Arif from Central Jail in New Delhi on January 16, 1981, Butt cities the examples of faith and “Azamkibulandi” (strength of purpose) from human history. He mentions Ishmael’s obedience to his father, Jesus accepting the crucifix and Mohammed despite being bloodied at Taif not giving up on his mission. 

In his last letter to Akram Allah Jaswal, on 17 June 1980, replying about the Srinagar Government recommendation to the President of India to not pardon Butt’s death sentence, Butt writes there is no room for “paraishaneni” (concern) and “gabrahat” (worry) and that his only wish is that God should give him opportunity (toufik) to remain stead fast in his faith and purpose. Butt writes that if God accepts his martyrdom he would accept the hangman’s noose happily. Butt ended most of his letters with an asking for prayers so that he can remain stead fast in his mission. He remained steadfast and for it was hung to death in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. 

Life Journey of Maqbool Butt 

Maqbool Butt himself was a deeply religious man, yet he did not draw upon the religious emotions of the public to promote his politics. The politicians in Kashmir routinely exploit religious sentiments of the public. Sheikh Abdullah, considered the guru of secular politics, in his speeches sang Quran to enchant the crowds. He practiced his politics from the pulpits of mosques. Historically, politics in Kashmir are practiced to seek privileges. Maqbool Butt did not seek places of privilege; he sought emancipation for the people of his homeland. 

The first political party in Kashmir, Muslim Conference was started in 1930 by middle class educated Kashmiris with the motive to get government jobs (sarkari mulazamat). Their counterparts, the Kashmiri Hindus, in turn started their own “bread (roti) agitation”. Between 1930 and 1958 when Maqbool Butt became of age, political rhetoric in Kashmir was about populous rule but political reality was autocracy. In 1947 after the downfall of the Dogra Dynastic rule in Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, as head of the popular government continued in large measure the autocratic governance under the patronage and protection of India. Beginning in 1953 Abdullah had become disenchanted with India. He had made overtures to Pakistan and had a meeting with the American government representatives for the future status of Kashmir. Abdullah sought their help to contain the Indian influence over his governance of Kashmir. By 1958, Abdullah lost favor with the Indian government. He was removed from government and jailed. The Sheikh’s arrest sparked demonstrations in Kashmir against the Indian rule. Maqbool Butt then aged nineteen was a student activist in Baramulla, a district town of south Kashmir. Butt had left his fathers’ home in Trehgam village in Kupwara for his college education at the Saint Joseph College, Baramulla. In Trehgam, his father was a tailor and farmer. Maqbool as a student activist, after Sheikh Abdullah’s arrest, went into hiding to do underground political work. Later that year he crossed the ceasefire line from Kashmir into Pakistan. 

In Pakistan Butt joined Peshawar college to continue his education. He also resumed his political activities. He was elected as a delegate to represent the Kashmiris of Peshawar City. Butt also formed a Kashmir Independence Committee in Azad Kashmir. One of the members of the independence committee was Ghulam Nabi Gilkar, who pioneered the Kashmiri Freedom Struggle in 1930. In Pakistan Butt sought change in Pakistani controlled Azad Kashmir government policy, to alter their stagnant policy on Kashmir. He did not succeed. By April 1965, the Kashmir Independence Committee had merged with the newly formed Plebiscite Front in Kashmir. Butt became its first publicity secretary in Azad Kashmir. The Plebiscite Front in Azad Kashmir was aligned with Plebiscite Front in Srinagar headed by Afzal Beg. 

In 1965, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir for the second time. The Soviet Union in Tashkent brokered their peace agreement. Pakistan in Tashkent accepted the existing status in Kashmir. At the United Nations, from 1947 through 1965, efforts about Kashmir had failed. The local politics on both sides of the ceasefire line in Kashmir were static. Elsewhere in the world, it was a period of popular revolutions. Charismatic men like the Argentinean Che Guevara were capturing news headlines, in Cuba, in South America and in Palestine. These news headlines fired imaginations of the Kashmir youth. Maqbool Butt and others from the Plebiscite Front, “Mahazis” joined ranks to revive the freedom struggle with his idea of armed struggle, under the banner of a new organization, The Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF). The JKNLF, according to Azmat Khan was to be “… a people’s movement for a nationalist liberation Armed struggle backed by political force with its command firmly in Kashmiri revolutionary hands.” 

To work on “the war of liberation”, Maqbool Butt crossed over to the Indian occupied Kashmir in the summer of 1966. He was arrested in Baramulla on September 12, 1966 following a shootout with Indian police. One Indian policeman and one of Butt’s associates were killed. Maqbool Butt was charged with murder and terrorism and declared an enemy agent. Following a two year trial, in August 1968, he was handed a death sentence. Three months later, on December 9, 1968, Maqbool Butt escaped from the Srinagar Central Jail. He and two of his colleagues and a Pakistani prisoner dug an underground tunnel to escape. Sixteen days later they surfaced in Azad Kashmir. Azad Kashmir authorities arrested Butt and following a three month interrogation released him. Butt resumed his work with the Plebiscite Front. In November 1969, he was elected president of the Plebiscite Front. Maqbool Butt and Plebiscite Front faced difficulties in Azad Kashmir. “As their group gained strength the political agitation grew proportionally and so did the persecution of their party workers” notes Azmat Khan. Maqbool Butt “…was readily labeled as an “Indian Agent” by those wanting to stay in tune with the Pakistani authorities for their petty political gains in AK.” (Azad Kashmir) 

Butt continued to nourish his ideas of the armed resistance. They came to head on January 30, 1971 when an Indian airline airplane, named Ganga was hijacked from Srinagar to Lahore by two JKNLF operatives. One of the Ganga highjackers, Hashim Qurashi and his cousin Ashraf Qurashi had two years earlier on a visit to Pakistan met Maqbool Butt. Hashim joined JKNLF. He was asked to return to Kashmir and organize underground cells of JKNLF in Kashmir. The Ganga Highjackers, at first were hailed as heroes in Pakistan, until things became unraveled. The hijackers burned Ganga. In retaliation, India revoked permission for Pakistan to flights over Indian airspace. That eventually helped to dismember Pakistan and give birth to Bangladesh. 

Alastair Lamb in his book, Kashmir A Disputed Legacy 1846-1990, suggests that the hijacking was Indian engineered, because among other things the highjackers “in a hurry burned Ganga”. Raja Muzzaffar who was there, disputes this, and maintains that the Pakistan police official, Sardar Abdul Vakil, instructed the destruction of the airplane. Vakil was concerned about the law and order situation created at the Lahore Airport by the public gathered to witness the hijacking drama. He instructed the Qurashi cousins to burn the plane. Moreover, the establishment leadership of Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah on the Indian side in a letter and Sardar Quyum on the Pakistani side in newspaper articles suggested that the Qurashi cousins worked as Indian agents. Azmat Khan notes that the Indian Authorities had arrested Hashim Qurashi on his return from Pakistan. The Indians apparently spared his life “on the promise that he would help them recognize expected ‘infiltrators’ from Pakistani side. … The Indian BSF fell for his story and not only spared his life but also allowed him to travel freely, which subsequently helped him complete his mission”.

By April 1971 Maqbool Butt, the Qurashi cousins, and all of JKNLF cadre in Azad Kashmir, were in Pakistani jails. They were charged and tried for treason against Pakistan. Two years later, in May 1973 Maqbool Butt and most of JKNLF members were released. The Lahore High Court declared them as, “patriots fighting for the liberation of their motherland”, notes Azmat Khan. Hashim Qurashi remained jailed and was later released on appeal. 

At the end of Bangladesh war Pakistan was a defeated nation. Zulfikar Bhutto, the new Prime Minister of dismembered Pakistan, under the terms of his surrender agreement, the Simla Accord, agreed to rename the ceasefire line in Kashmir as the Line of Control. This implied confirming the status quo on Kashmir. On his return from Simla, Bhutto proposed to make Azad Kashmir a province of Pakistan. Maqbool Butt spearheaded Kashmiri opposition to this proposal. On the other side of the border in Indian occupied Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah reconciled with the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Under the terms of his agreement with India, called the IndraAbdullah Accord, he gave up on the quest for freedom for Kashmir. According to Raja Muzaffar, Bhutto told Farooq Abdullah, who visited Pakistan in 1974, that Pakistan could not do anything for Kashmir for decades to come and that Sheikh Abdullah should take whatever he can get from India. Victoria Schofield in Kashmir Under Crossfire quotes Farooq Abdullah’s observations of his 1974 visit to Pakistan, ” The entire bureaucracy of Pakistan and Bhutto’s secretary himself told me that a final solution has been arrived at; there can be nothing more. What we (the Pakistanis) have got (in Kashmir) we are keeping, what they have got they are keeping, and that is how it is.”(Page 214). 

For giving up his quest for Kashmiri freedom, Abdullah received the reigns of government in Kashmir. The Sheikh thus, again, established his personal rule. Abdullah had begun in 1930 as the brave “lion” of Kashmir to fight for the rights of the down trodden Kashmiri masses, fifty years later he was the patriarch of a Raj centered around his family. Soon after, Abdullah had his son “elected” as president of National Conference Party and then “willed” the “governance of Kashmir” to him. The family Raj continued, Abdullah’s grandson awaited in the wings to step into his father’s shoes as the next head of government in Kashmir.

The opposition to 1975 IndraAbdulla Accord in Kashmir was widespread but uncoordinated. Abdulla the undisputed patriarch of Kashmiri politics contained the opposition. Political activity for freedom of Kashmir in Azad Kashmir was at a standstill. To restart his militant revolution Maqbool Butt again crossed into the Indian side of Kashmir in May 1976. He was again captured. This time the Indian central government removed Butt to the infamous Tihar Jail in India. Maqbool Butt remained a prisoner for eight years, till his execution on February 11, 1984. He remains buried in the Tihar jail yard. 

More on Letters 

Thirty-three out of thirty-nine letters in ShaureFarda are written from Tihar Jail, starting from January 9, 1974 and ending on September 8, 1983. The letters are written to nineteen individuals. Six to Dr Farooq Haider, four each to Akram Ullah Jaswal, Mohammed Araf and Ghulam Sarwar Malik, three to Arshad Mahmood Ansari, two each to Mohammed Asgar Malik, Abdul Aziz Butt, Ghulam Sarwar Mian and Raja Muzzaffar and one each to ten others. 

Maqbool Butt’s attachment to his homeland and understanding of the aspiration of Kashmiri people comes through particularly from two letters. First, one is the fifth letter in the book, from Camp Jail Lahore to Mohammed Yusuf Zargar, dated January 30, 1973. This is one of the long letters and reads like a chapter of well-written storybook. Butt reminisces his days in Baramulla, he describes the beauty of the town and the simple pleasures that he missed and longed for in the jail; Kashmiri salt tea, kulcha and sag. He reminds Zargar of tortures suffered and forced exile of Kashmiri freedom fighters at the hands of Indian authorities. Selfless devotion to the cause of freedom and devotion of his friends kept Butt’s hope alive, he tells Zargar. 

A particularly poignant letter in ShaureFarda is from Camp Jail in Lahore dated April 2, 1973. This letter is reply to a teenaged girl, Aziza Mir. Aziza’s father G.M. Mir was jailed with Butt by Pakistan authorities. Butt consoles Aziza for the hardships she and her family face with the absence of their father. Butt writes about his own childhood, and the sufferings in his village at the hands of landlords during the Dogra Raj in Kashmir. Butt describes for Aziza the hardships Kashmiris had to face during the oppressive Dogra rule and how the village children, including Butt helped the villages to face the oppression. He describes hardships that forced Kashmiris to leave families and labor as beasts of burden in Indian Plains to feed their families; how the Kashmiri traders had to do ‘pherri‘ and suffered indignities as ‘hatoo‘. He describes the freedom struggle from 1930 to 1947. The era of sacrifices did not end in 1947, Butt continues to tell Aziza that children of Kashmir like every slave nation have to bear the oppression of zalim aakas (tyrant masters) and also to fight shoulder to shoulders with their elders. 

Aziza in her letter must have expressed her hurt at being branded as a family member of an Indian Agent. Butt explains to her that the people of Pakistan did not label him and his colleagues as Indian spies but that the ruling class of Pakistan had. The ruling class denied freedom and democracy in Pakistan, Butt explains. The ruling class, to maintain their power, had even cut up Pakistan. Butt reminds Aziza that the people of Pakistan have and will continue to support Kashmiri emancipation struggle. 

In the concluding paragraph, Butt reminds Aziza that education is the true wealth of a human, a treasure that can never be stolen nor wasted. And, without education, man is an animal. Therefore, he advises Aziza to be more attentive to her studies. This 3,000-word letter is the longest in ShaureFarda. It is a good history lesson for the young generation. 

During his captivity of eight years at Tihar jail  Maqbool Butt, it seems, received only one letter from Srinagar. The letter is from Mian Ghulam Sarwar. In his reply to Sarwar on August 7th, 1981 Butt in a poetic prose expresses his joy at receiving a letter from “watan” (homeland). Sarwar had enclosed in his letter press clippings about Butt. Butt responds using a quote in English: “The end of communication is the beginning of violence where communication stops, there remains only beating, burning and hanging”. Butt notes that his captors, done with beating and burning, are now getting ready for hanging. In this letter also, like most others Butt expresses his resolve to face consequences and asks Sarwar to pray that God will give him courage to be steadfast. This is the only letter with a hint of complaint in that Butt asks Sarwar that if his captors are so sure of his crimes then why do they keep all the files under cover. 

Butt was not despondent and took every opportunity to confront his captors. So it is in his letter to Malik Ghulam Sarwar dated August 15, 1981 that he accepts the suggestion to file a written petition with the Supreme Court of India. 

On May 13, 1978 in his last letter to his son Shaukat Maqbool he writes to never doubt Gods mercy, not to bow down to a tyrant, to remain steadfast: “Allah Tala Ki Rahmat See Kabi Bi Na Umaid Nahi Hoona Chaiya…. Wooh Insan Hee Kya Goo Halat Kee Samni Guthni Teek Dee. Pass Himmat Aur Hoslee Ko Hamesha Apna Sahara Banaye Rakhee Aur Halat Ka Mukabala Mardana War Kareen.”

All letters in ShaureFarda except one are written in Urdu. The only letter written in English is addressed to Mia Ghulam Sarwar. Acknowledging Sarwar’s Eid Greetings telegram, Butt on October 15, 1981 wrote: “I cannot but appreciate your choice of remembering me on this auspicious occasion, which symbolizes the offer of impromtu (sic) sacrifice for one’s faith and ideals. History certainly does not offer a better example than the one prophet Abraham to idealize man’s devotion and dedication to the cause he cherishes as well as his perseverance, when on trial, in the pursuit of his beliefs. Given our weaknesses, we may not strive to such levels, yet we can surely follow in the footsteps of such great men at least according to our capacities. This, I think is an obligation which no conscious person, least of all from amongst our people can afford to forgo for because”-Butt continues in Urdu -“Yeh Daur Apne Abrahim Ki Talash Me Hai Sanam Kuda Hai Jahan LaIllaHaIllah.” Translation: “This period is our search, like Abraham, for the one and only God.”

The last letter in ShaureFarda is dated September 8, 1983, about 120 days before his execution. This is the fifth and last letter to Dr.Farooq Haider. It is written in an upbeat manner. Butt describes the progress in his defense case. He had filed a writ petition in the Indian Supreme Court. The court had upheld his request to instruct the Kashmir authorities to provide records related to his trial case. Butt informs that his lawyers consider their case is strong. Butt ends his letter by noting that he has left the results to God. 

Maqbool Butt, Last Days

Azmat Khan in his account, Maqbool Butt (Shaheed) Full Story notes that: “Difficult as it was the political campaign to ensure Maqbool Butt’s release from prison never faded during the eight years of his custody.” In addition to efforts in Azad Kashmir and Srinagar, protests were held in England. Amnesty International, Azmat Khan notes, “repeatedly appealed for his release from prison. (Amnesty International later declared him a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’). All humanitarian appeals, however, fell on deaf ears in Gandhi’s India “. 

On February 3rd 1984, notes Azmat Khan in England a previously unknown group calling itself the Kashmir Liberation Army (KLA) abducted an Indian Consulate staff member in Birmingham and demanded Maqbool Butt’s release in exchange for his. The abductors killed the diplomat. In a tit-for-tat move, notes Azmat Khan, Maqbool Butt was hanged in Delhi, within four days of recovery of the dead body of the diplomat. He was hanged at dawn and buried within the jail premises. His family was not permitted to travel to visit with Butt. A day before his execution, all his known followers and sympathizers in Kashmir were kept in jails by authorities. 

February 11th every year now is celebrated in Kashmir as a day of protest strikes. Each year mythology of Maqbool Butt is expanded. Some write of messages from Butt conveyed in their dreams, others add rhetoric to his divine qualities. 

Maqbool Butt’s Legacy, To Be.

Maqbool Butt was indeed a selfless son of Kashmir who devoted his life for emancipation of his homeland. He was not recognized and his mission remained unaccomplished in his lifetime, why? The answer may be in understanding the political and social environment of Kashmir. Kashmiri society has a feudal structure; individuals are not agents of change in a feudal society. Kashmiris depend on others to right the wrong, individuals accepting responsibility to make change is not their norm. In Kashmir change historically has come from outside, and is brought about by outsiders. These characteristics together with appendages of nepotism and corruption are the core reasons of Kashmiri bondage. 

This historic pattern of bondage can be summed in one word: Movali. Movali in Kashmiri language is a vagabond. Movali in Arabic means a non-Arab. Understanding the significance of this one word in context of Kashmiri society helps to explain the dilemma of leadership in Kashmir. Islam in Kashmir spread with efforts by learned Sufi scholars like Shah Hamdan. By their personality and intellect, the scholars converted the rulers of Kashmir to Islam. However, with the advent of Islam in Kashmir the existing social order did not change, it maintained its class structure. Progeny of the men from the Arab world, soldiers seeking fortune and preachers in search of converts to Islam, married with the elite of Kashmir and merged in the social class hierarchy in Kashmir. Indeed, the social class structure in Kashmir is flexible and mobility within hierarchy is common. Yet, there are certain biases that are hard to overcome, one of these is leadership role. The labor classes of urban areas and village peasant are not easily accepted in the leadership role. In Kashmir, the divine right of the womb still rules. The climb through the ranks of upper class in Kashmir is historically gained by the powerful by acquiring wealth first and then through matrimonial alliances. In Kashmir, society continues to be dominated by dynastic religious leaders, landlords, and the wealthy business houses. The populous  governance in Kashmir, AwamiRaj during the second half of the 20- Century in Kashmir was despotism. Sheikh Abdullah got the mantle of political leadership only after the then Mir Waiz (head priest) of Kashmir supported him. Support of the Mir Waiz gave Abdullah the beachhead to launch his agitation against the Dogra dynastic rule. Over time, Abdullah, by the force of his personality and his political organization, National Conference, usurped Mir Waiz. Abdullah by the end of his fifty-year political career established his own dynastic rule for Kashmir. He used nepotism and corruption, the two instruments by which the elite maintains their control. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, who followed Abdullah as the head of government in Kashmir, perfected this ancient system into a modern regime of reward and punishments for governance in Kashmir. The tradition of corruption and nepotism is among all shades of politics in Kashmir. 

Maqbool Butt was not born in the upper social class; he did not seek wealth by corruption, or marriage to be among the upper classes. He was not an opportunist and he did not compromise his values. Thus, Maqbool Butt’s attempted revolution to cleanse the historic legacy of bondage in Kashmir was like a rain shower attempting to make a swamp full of algae into a fresh water lake. 

Maqbool Butt left Kashmir for Pakistan a young man; he was in his twenties. In Kashmir and in Pakistan his environment was constrained. He had no mentors. As a young; man he witnessed and was influenced by the militant revolutions of the time. He wanted emancipation of his countrymen so he used the methods and means available to him. Two attempts at militancy, first in 1966 and second in 1975 got him twelve years of jail time, two in Pakistan and ten years in India. During his eight years of incarceration at Tihar Maqbool Butt may have received just one letter from his “watan”. Writing to Malik Mohammed Asgar, on August 18, 1981 Butt writes that for a man of faith, the best way of life is that which is spent in eradicating falsehood and for seeking justice and the best death is that which comes while struggling on this way. Maqbool Butt did just that. He assumed and carried out his personal responsibility, as best as he could. 

Kashmiris viewed incarceration of Maqbool Butt as a matter alien to their day to day existence and thus ignored it. While Kashmiris admired Maqbool Butt for his valor, he got little support when he needed it. 

So it is today, without support, as Maqbool Butt was left by a vast majority of Kashmiris, “Movali” youth of Kashmir continue to perish, alone. 

If instead of sitting on the sidelines watching the youth of their homeland get wasted in killing sepoys of India, if all Kashmiris join ranks; if the “career politicians” in Kashmir instead of calling on the conscience of the world would call on their own; instead of tearing down others for their differences, they would strengthen each other focusing on their commonality, I often ponder, how different Kashmir could be. 

Azmat Khan in his essay recalls Maqbool Butt words from a letter written to Raja Muzzaffar on August 15, 1981: “It is a matter of pride for me that not only difficult times and awkward circumstances have failed to put out the light of hope, which I have lit with sacrifices, but many more lights are now glowing because of this candle. If this pace continued the day is not far, InshaAllah, when that flood of light shall brighten up our motherland in a way that we shall be able to name it the Festival of Freedom“. 

What then must Maqbool Butt’s legacy be? A ritual of hartals, protests and press releases on his birth and death anniversary, or a year-long motivation for every Kashmiri to develop the individual capacity to deliver his or her society out of ignorance (Jahalat), darkness (Tariki) and force and bondage (Jabar aur gulami) as visualized by Maqbool Butt, towards the Festival of Freedom. 

Khan, Rafique A

Telephone: (323) 428 6567; Email: rafiquekhan@me.com

Revised January 29^th, 2020 First Published (Kashmir Diary) 1999

Illustration by Suhail Qadiri