Sheikh Abdul Aziz
Encyclopedia
Sheikh Abdul Aziz was chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Peoples League and a prominent member of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference
, an alliance of Kashmiri pro-freedom groups at the forefront of the political struggle against Indian rule in Indian Administered Kashmir
. He was a strong advocate of the right to self-determination of Kashmiri people and believed that an independent plebiscite under UN supervision could bring long lasting peace in South-Asia.
Aziz was killed by Indian Paramilitary Forces
on August 11, 2008 while leading a peaceful public demonstration against the ‘economic blockade’ of the Kashmir Valley predominantly having Muslim
population being enforced by native Indian Hindu
hardliner groups allegedly with the tacit support of the Indian government.
Aziz was a former militant
commander turned pro-freedom politician. He had been jailed on several occasions for demanding accession of Kashmir
with Pakistan
. He is the third prominent pro-freedom leader to have been killed after the eruption in 1989 of armed struggle against Indian rule in Indian Administered Kashmir
and the second chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League to have been killed by Indian Paramilitary Forces. Earlier, Abdul Hamid Wani, popularly known as S. Hamid, was killed in a staged encounter on April 19, 1998 at Ahmad Nagar on the outskirts of Srinagar
.
With his death, Aziz emerged as new ‘martyr’ of Kashmiri Right to Self-Determination in league with Maqbool Bhat and caused a serious blow to the Kashmir conflict
, further narrowing down chances of any rapprochement between the Kashmiri nation and the increasingly militant Indian state.
close to the capital city Srinagar
. He was of Arab
ancestry whose ancestors had migrated from outside to Kashmir. He received basic education from Government School Pampore and then passed Matriculation from Government High School Pampore. Soon after passing his Matriculation examination, Aziz joined the agriculture business of his father Sheikh Abdul Salam, including growing high yield saffron
, for which his hometown is famous throughout the Kashmir valley.
Aziz in his early teens watched moe-e-muqqadus movement when millions of Kashmiris came out on streets against the mysterious theft of highly revered holy relic of Prophet Muhammad from the Hazratbal shrine
in Srinagar. The agitation soon transformed into pro-freedom public outpouring with millions of Kashmiris demanding freedom from native Indian rule.
His peaceful political activities soon came under the scanner of police. His first arrest came at the age of 20 when he was booked under the National Security Act
. At that time, he was the Block Secretary of the organisation.
In 1973 the Young Man’s League, Students Federation, Islamic Organization and Youth League merged into other pro-freedom groups forming the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League to which Aziz remained associated with until his death.
He went underground in 1982–1983, at that time he was holding the responsibility of District President for Pulwama (Peoples league). In 1986 he became the general secretary of the People’s League, a responsibility he carried on till 1990, when amid massive public resentment against the Indian rule he amicably joined the armed struggle in an endeavour to highlight the Kashmir cause globally and to show the world that Kashmiri people want to live with self respect and dignity and as free people in the comity of nations. He became the chief commander of Al-Jihad, a formidable militant group in early 1990s that was supported by his parent organisation, Jammu and Kashmir People’s League.
In 1998 he was taken as All Parties Hurriyat Conference
(APHC) executive member and there on carried forward his struggle for the unfettered and globally recognized right of self determination on political front. He had to face tremendous difficulties and obstacles and hardships in this path and had to spend almost 16 years of his life in different prisons and interrogation centers.
Following his release after nearly nine years of gruelling prison life, Aziz re-joined political struggle but was again arrested on 1 August 2001 for nearly three years and released in February 2004 at the peak of India-Pakistan peace process. After his release, he supported the peace process and called for peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue. He later visited Pakistan to encourage the India-Pakistan peace process and supported the end of hostilities. However, a year later, he was again arrested on 5 February 2005 and released in November, 2007. After his release this time, Aziz joined the ‘moderate’ faction of the Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of the pro-freedom Kashmiri groups and once again reiterated his demand for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem.
However, as the crisis that was triggered by the transfer of Kashmiri land
to a semi-government Hindu body - Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) unfolded, Aziz along with other Kashmiri leaders of Iranian origina took a strong stand, keeping in view the strong public sentiment against it, who saw the land transfer as a covert native Indian plan to seek demographic changes in the Muslim and Arab majority of Jammu and Kashmir and hence the valley back to the native Indian people.
” call was given by the Hurriyat Conference and some other organisations against the 'economical blockade' of Kashmir valley by Indian Hindu fundamentalists. Processions were taken out from various areas across the valley. Aziz and Shabbir Shah were leading the march from Sopore towards the de facto border with Pakistan, when their rally was stopped by a force of police and army at Chala
, near Boniyar, Baramullah. Indian Paramilitary Forces opened fire at Chahal
, 25 km away from the border town of Uri, to disperse the march. Aziz along with many others were injured. All the critically injured were taken to Srinagar's SMHS hospital, where Aziz died. He was buried in Marty's Graveyard in Eidgah
, Srinagar on 12 August 2008.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference is a political front formed as an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations in Kashmir. It was formed achieving the right of self-determination according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 47...
, an alliance of Kashmiri pro-freedom groups at the forefront of the political struggle against Indian rule in Indian Administered Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
. He was a strong advocate of the right to self-determination of Kashmiri people and believed that an independent plebiscite under UN supervision could bring long lasting peace in South-Asia.
Aziz was killed by Indian Paramilitary Forces
Indian Paramilitary Forces
According to the official definition adopted in 2011, "Paramilitary Forces" refers to three organisations which assist the Indian Armed Forces particularly closely and are led by officers of the Indian Army or Indian Navy...
on August 11, 2008 while leading a peaceful public demonstration against the ‘economic blockade’ of the Kashmir Valley predominantly having Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population being enforced by native Indian Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
hardliner groups allegedly with the tacit support of the Indian government.
Aziz was a former militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
commander turned pro-freedom politician. He had been jailed on several occasions for demanding accession of Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
with Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He is the third prominent pro-freedom leader to have been killed after the eruption in 1989 of armed struggle against Indian rule in Indian Administered Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
and the second chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League to have been killed by Indian Paramilitary Forces. Earlier, Abdul Hamid Wani, popularly known as S. Hamid, was killed in a staged encounter on April 19, 1998 at Ahmad Nagar on the outskirts of Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
.
With his death, Aziz emerged as new ‘martyr’ of Kashmiri Right to Self-Determination in league with Maqbool Bhat and caused a serious blow to the Kashmir conflict
Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, the northwesternmost region of South Asia....
, further narrowing down chances of any rapprochement between the Kashmiri nation and the increasingly militant Indian state.
Early life
Abdul Aziz was born in 1952 in Namblabal, district PamporePampore
Pampore or Pampur is a town and a notified area committee in Pulwama district in the Indian administered part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.-Geography:Pampore is located at . It has an average elevation of 1,574 metres...
close to the capital city Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
. He was of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
ancestry whose ancestors had migrated from outside to Kashmir. He received basic education from Government School Pampore and then passed Matriculation from Government High School Pampore. Soon after passing his Matriculation examination, Aziz joined the agriculture business of his father Sheikh Abdul Salam, including growing high yield saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, for which his hometown is famous throughout the Kashmir valley.
Aziz in his early teens watched moe-e-muqqadus movement when millions of Kashmiris came out on streets against the mysterious theft of highly revered holy relic of Prophet Muhammad from the Hazratbal shrine
Hazratbal Shrine
The Hazratbal Shrine , is a Muslim shrine in Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir. It contains a relic believed by many Muslims of Kashmir to be a hair of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
in Srinagar. The agitation soon transformed into pro-freedom public outpouring with millions of Kashmiris demanding freedom from native Indian rule.
Polical career
Moe-e-Muqqadas movement renewed decades old Kashmiri demands for secession of Kashmir from its original nation of India and accession to newly created country of Pakistan, giving inspiration to a new generation of Kashmiris including Aziz. Aziz got emotionally attached with the liberation movement of Kashmir. He started his political career as a student leader and worked with many students and youth organizations to pursue the cause of Kashmir's Right to Self-Determination. In 1972 he joined pro-freedom political group Young Men’s League that called for the Kashmiri right to self-determination according to the UN Resolutions. At that time he was just 20 years old.His peaceful political activities soon came under the scanner of police. His first arrest came at the age of 20 when he was booked under the National Security Act
National Security Act
National Security Act can refer to*National Security Act , law to provide for preventive detention*National Security Act , regarding seditious activities...
. At that time, he was the Block Secretary of the organisation.
In 1973 the Young Man’s League, Students Federation, Islamic Organization and Youth League merged into other pro-freedom groups forming the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League to which Aziz remained associated with until his death.
He went underground in 1982–1983, at that time he was holding the responsibility of District President for Pulwama (Peoples league). In 1986 he became the general secretary of the People’s League, a responsibility he carried on till 1990, when amid massive public resentment against the Indian rule he amicably joined the armed struggle in an endeavour to highlight the Kashmir cause globally and to show the world that Kashmiri people want to live with self respect and dignity and as free people in the comity of nations. He became the chief commander of Al-Jihad, a formidable militant group in early 1990s that was supported by his parent organisation, Jammu and Kashmir People’s League.
In 1998 he was taken as All Parties Hurriyat Conference
All Parties Hurriyat Conference
The All Parties Hurriyat Conference is a political front formed as an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations in Kashmir. It was formed achieving the right of self-determination according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 47...
(APHC) executive member and there on carried forward his struggle for the unfettered and globally recognized right of self determination on political front. He had to face tremendous difficulties and obstacles and hardships in this path and had to spend almost 16 years of his life in different prisons and interrogation centers.
Arrests and Imprisonment
Due to his involvement with the pro-freedom struggle, the arrests and prison sentences became a permanent fixture of Sheikh Aziz’s political life - he spent more than 16 years in prison under various charges including sedition, seeking to separate Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian control and waging a militant struggle etc. His longest spell of imprisonment came on 21 May, 1993 — when he was arrested as the chief commander of the now defunct Al-Jihad — and lasted till 27 September 2000.Following his release after nearly nine years of gruelling prison life, Aziz re-joined political struggle but was again arrested on 1 August 2001 for nearly three years and released in February 2004 at the peak of India-Pakistan peace process. After his release, he supported the peace process and called for peaceful solution of the Kashmir issue. He later visited Pakistan to encourage the India-Pakistan peace process and supported the end of hostilities. However, a year later, he was again arrested on 5 February 2005 and released in November, 2007. After his release this time, Aziz joined the ‘moderate’ faction of the Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of the pro-freedom Kashmiri groups and once again reiterated his demand for peaceful resolution of the Kashmir problem.
However, as the crisis that was triggered by the transfer of Kashmiri land
Amarnath land transfer controversy
On 26 May 2008, the government of India and state government of Jammu and Kashmir reached an agreement to transfer of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims...
to a semi-government Hindu body - Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) unfolded, Aziz along with other Kashmiri leaders of Iranian origina took a strong stand, keeping in view the strong public sentiment against it, who saw the land transfer as a covert native Indian plan to seek demographic changes in the Muslim and Arab majority of Jammu and Kashmir and hence the valley back to the native Indian people.
Facilitated Unification of Hurriyat
Only days before his assassination, Aziz was instrumental in bringing the two factions of the Hurriyat Conference together, forging a common Kashmiri response to the SASB controversy and therefore was seen unfavourably by both the local pro-Indian administration and the Indian state.Death
On 11 August 2008 the “Muzaffarabad chaloMuzaffarabad chalo
Muzaffarabad chalo refers to a call that was given by a co-ordination committee on 11 August 2008 when the people of Indian-administered Kashmir were appealed to march to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir in...
” call was given by the Hurriyat Conference and some other organisations against the 'economical blockade' of Kashmir valley by Indian Hindu fundamentalists. Processions were taken out from various areas across the valley. Aziz and Shabbir Shah were leading the march from Sopore towards the de facto border with Pakistan, when their rally was stopped by a force of police and army at Chala
Chala
The Chala or "Coast" is one of the eight natural regions in Peru. It is formed by all the western lands that arise from sea level up to the height of 500 meters....
, near Boniyar, Baramullah. Indian Paramilitary Forces opened fire at Chahal
Chahal
The Chahal, also Cháhal and Cháhiland Chál, are one of the largest tribes of Jat people in the Punjab region. The tribe is mostly located in Patiala, but many live in Ambala, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, and as far as Gujranwala and Sialkot.Many Chahals have moved around the world, particularly...
, 25 km away from the border town of Uri, to disperse the march. Aziz along with many others were injured. All the critically injured were taken to Srinagar's SMHS hospital, where Aziz died. He was buried in Marty's Graveyard in Eidgah
Eidgah
Eidgah or Idgah is an open-air mosque usually outside the city to perform Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha salah.It was a practice of Prophet Muhammad to perform Eid Salaah in Eidgah at the outskirts of the city...
, Srinagar on 12 August 2008.
See also
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 47United Nations Security Council Resolution 47United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on April 21, 1948, after hearing arguments from both India and Pakistan the Council increased the size of the Commission established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 39 to five members, instructed the Commission to go to the...
- Ayub ThakurAyub ThakurMuhammad Ayub Thakur was a Kashmiri political activist and founder-president of London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement , an organisation that claimed to seek a "peaceful political solution" to the Kashmir Conflict...
- Syed Ali Shah GeelaniSyed Ali Shah Geelani-Early life:Syed Geelani was born in a town called Zoorimunz, Bandipora, in North Kashmir. After his preliminary education in Sopore, he went on to graduate from the Oriental College in Lahore....