Muhammad Maqbool Butt (February 18, 1938 - February 11, 1984): Mr. Muhammad Maqbool Butt
was born in village Trehgam of district Kupwara in the year of 1938 and
was viciously buried in Tihar jail, Delhi. He was first wrongfully
imprisoned by Pakistan and later unlawfully noosed by India exactly one
week before his 46th birthday, while awaiting trial for a case registered against him.
Today,
Muhammad Maqbool Butt is known as the Shaheed-e-Azam and
Shaheed-e-Kashmir. He was the first Kashmiri to be judicially murdered
on Indian soil - making him the first authentic martyr of the Kashmiri
independence movement. Critics of the Kashmiri freedom movement dubbed
him as an '''enemy agent' to undermine his struggle for the liberation
of his motherland.
Mr.
Maqbool crossed over to other part of Kashmir (PaK) via Sialkot border
in the year of 1958. It was the same time when Indian state oppression
increased against Sheikh Abdullah's supporters. Later from Muzaffarabad
(Azad Kashmir's capital), he moved to Peshawar and settled there. He
used to work in a daily newspaper in the day time and attended
post-graduate classes in Urdu literature during the evenings at the
University.
In the year of 1962, Muhammad Maqbool Butt formed a movement called Kashmir Independence Committee (KIC). This group was later merged into the newly formed Jammu Kashmir ‘Mahaz-Rayee-Shumari’ (Plebiscite Front) in ‘Azad’ Kashmir, which was a crusade for complete independence from india.
The
1965 war and the subsequent ‘Tashkent’ Agreement between India and
Pakistan brought many changes in Muhammad Maqbool Butt's political
belief. He disapproved role of Pakistanis from the struggle for
independence of Kashmir.
The
leadership of the struggle must be in the hands of the Kashmiris was
his view point. He believed that the divisive war between India and
Pakistan had debilitated the advancement of the Kashmiri struggle
movement. With these things in his mind, he put all his energy and
power in organizing all the Kashmiris under one common banner called
the National Liberation Front (NLF). National Liberation Front was the first Kashmiri organization to take up the arms against the Indian imperialism.
In
the year of 1966, Muhammad Maqbool Butt along with his enthusiastic
group of NLF activists barged into Indian Occupied Kashmir and
established underground cells. But when the group was returning back
from the occupied territory, they were spotted by an Indian
intelligence officer and the group was ambushed. Muhammad Maqbool Butt
and his three comrades were arrested and taken to Srinagar's
Bagh-e-Mehtab interrogation camp. Mr. Maqbool was sentenced to death by
a special court on the charges of murder. The unique feature of this
hearing was that it was held within prison walls.
Two
years later, in December 1968, Muhammad Maqbool Butt along with Mr. Mir
Ahmed and Mr. Ghulam Yasin succeeded in breaking the prison by digging
a 38-foot underground tunnel. The trio some how managed to reach Azad
Kashmir only after playing much hide and seek with Indian forces. But
as soon as they stepped on the land of 'liberated' territory, they were
arrested, dragged and beaten by the army and sent to the notorious
Black Fort of Muzaffarabad by the puppet state authority. They were
brutally interrogated in the black fort. However, after three months
they were released as agitations for their freedom intensified all over
Azad Kashmir. After release Muhammad Maqbool Butt shared his experience
with his Kashmiri brothers “Muzaffarabad's Black Fort was
not much different to Bagh-e-Mehtab and Red-16 (sonwar) at the hands of
the enemies of the Kashmiri freedom movement”.
While narrating this bitter episode in a letter to dearest friend, he wrote:
"I
was happy to be safe in my home but this happiness was short lived...
What happened in the Black Fort had shaken me and forced me to rethink
on who was a friend and who was a foe."
Muhammad
Maqbool Butt was the man with iron will. In the year of 1969, Maqbool
Butt was chosen as the president of the Plebiscite Front in Azad
Kashmir. As a first step he launched an awareness campaign throughout
Azad Kashmir and the Gilgit-Baltistan territories in which Mr. Abdul
Khalik Ansari supported him by all his means. He again faced bitter
consequences by the state authorities, as they thought that the
campaign to be anti-Pakistan. However, he continued to build his
underground movement and recruit and train young activists.
In
the year 1970, two teenage activists of NLF (Muhammad Hashim Qurashi
(16) and Muhammad Ashraf Qurashi (17)) hijacked an Indian aeroplane
(friendship-focus) code-named "Ganga" from Srinagar airport to Lahore.
This
event added fuel to the ongoing struggle for freedom. It not only
highlighted problems of Kashmiri but also gave a new dimension to the
struggle. The aftermath left a deep impact and repercussions for all
the Kashmiris as well as for Pakistan. NLF and Plebiscite Front were
shattered and party workers were imprisoned by Pakistan's military.
They were later released with the title "Kashmir's true patriots."
In
the year of 1976, Muhammad Maqbool Butt without consulting his seniors
and trust-worthy people went to Indian occupied Kashmir where he was
charged for murder of a police officer, which he denied as he had not
committed. During the trials he was transferred to the top security
Tihar jails in 1980 as rumors of a possible 'rescue' attempt were in
full swing.
Kashmir's political scene had now turned in favor of India as Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and Mrs. Indra Gandhi signed a new accord. This was not the end of Kashmir's tragedy. In February 1984, activists of NLF and plebiscite front kidnapped and later killed a member of India's Consulate staff in Birmingham, England. They demanded immediate release of Muhammad Maqbool Butt.
As
the news of the death of this man (member of India's Consulate staff)
reached to the Indian government headed by Indira Gandhi they decided
to noose Maqbool Butt in vengeance. Shaheed-e-Kashmir was noosed in the
early hours of 11th February. His family members, friends and
well-wishers were not allowed to meet him for the last time as they all
were arrested at Srinagar airport. On this event Mr. Muhammad Yousuf
Gilkar Said, “we had lost the true son of Kashmir with
tears in his eyes. He was the man with iron-will. He never thought of
himself but for his motherland. His martyrdom will be an example for
whole the world”. “It is worth while to mention here
here that the people who were the critics of Mr. Maqbool in the
beginning now regard him as the great martyr while I was first to
regard him as greatest” Mr. Gilkar added.
Ever since his execution Kashmir has never been the same again. Our so called leaders have forgotten their main objective. They are busy in solving their own feuds. On the fateful day of 11th February every Tom, Dick and Harry speaks about the goal and message of Shaheed-e-Kashmir but no one follows it by true heart.