Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s Reflections on Kashmir


Book Description

This book is a compendium of the speeches and interviews of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who reigned as Prime Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir from 1948 to 1953, and who was a large presence on the political landscape of India for fifty years. The volume is designed to enable a student of South Asian politics, and the politics of Kashmir in particular, to analyze the ways in which experiences have been constructed historically and have changed overtime.




The Making of Modern Kashmir


Book Description

This book traces the roots of modern-day Kashmir and the role of Sheikh Abdullah in its making. As the most influential political figurehead in twentieth-century Kashmir, he played a crucial role in its transformation from a kingdom to a state in independent India. He was enigmatic and complex, to say the least. Following his meteoric rise, he dominated the political scene for more than 50 years, with enduring impact. The volume presents a keen analysis of pre-Independence events which led to the emergence of a controversial and confused identity of the region. It also looks at other major themes in the political life of Kashmir, including the formation of the Muslim Conference, the plebiscite movement and the Kashmir Accord. A major intervention in the political life of South Asia, this book presents an inside-view of the history of modern Kashmir through the life and times of Sheikh Abdullah. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, history, and modern South Asia.




Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah


Book Description

Sheikh Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir is the first comprehensive, well-documented account of the life of the charismatic leader, the Lion of Kashmir, who contributed crucially to the making of modern India in terms of territory and more importantly to its founding ideology of secularism. The story begins well before independence. Kashmir was the scene of a distinctive political transformation in the late 1930s. In contrast to rise of the Muslim League in much of the subcontinent - which was to lead to partition - the most popular party in the valley turned away from communal politics and embraced secularism. On 11 June 1939, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was successful in changing the name of the party he was leading from Kashmir Muslim Conference to National Conference, and invited all to join it. Backed by Nehru's friendship, Abdullah rose to become the first popular Prime Minister of the State, but also the target of conservative and communal forces in India. His demand that the pledge of special status for the State in the accession documents be honoured was described as anti-national, even pro-Pakistani. As revealed in the book, Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel offered to resign on the issue. The letters he and Nehru wrote to Gandhi explaining their differences make fascinating reading. The intrigue that led to Abdullah's downfall and arrest on 8 August 1953, is well documented as is the role of the Home Ministry's Intelligence Bureau. The elaborate conspiracy case it built up was belatedly rejected by Nehru himself. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, the author takes us through Abdullah's long, tragic periods of detention until he was persuaded to return to Jammu and Kashmir as Chief Minister. He demonstrated his continuing popularity by winning an election before his death in 1982.




Flames of the Chinar


Book Description

Autobiography by a freedom fighter, politician, and former chief minister from Jammu and Kashmir.




Independent Kashmir


Book Description

Many disenchanted Kashmiris continue to demand independence or freedom from India. Written by a leading authority on Kashmir’s troubled past, this book revisits the topic of independence for the region (also known as Jammu and Kashmir, or J&K), and explores exactly why this aspiration has never been fulfilled. In a rare India-Pakistan agreement, they concur that neither J&K, nor any part of it, can be independent. Charting a complex history and intense geo-political rivalry from Maharaja Hari Singh’s leadership in the mid-1920s to the present, this book offers an essential insight into the disputes that have shaped the region. As tensions continue to rise following government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns, Snedden asks a vital question: what might independence look like and just how realistic is this aspiration?




Mayhem in Paradise


Book Description

Mayhem in paradise is a tragic tale of the people, who suffered due to political turbulence. The novel begins with the love story of Huzaf and Vanshika. Huzaf, a Muslim boy, falls in love with a Hindu girl, Vanshika. They promise to love each other forever, but before they could keep their promises, some forces fuel insurgence in Kashmir. Vanshika’s family migrates to Jammu. She resists but her family doesn’t listen to her and in the stillness of night, they leave their home. Huzaf visits Jammu to find out his Vanshika, but fails in tracing her out and returns disappointed. Huzaf ’s sister, Asra, is raped and murdered, this incident changes his life and he takes the gun against India for revenge. Through the love story, the ugly face of violence that caused untold mayhem in Kashmir has been revealed in simple and eloquent manner. The plot of the novel is so strong that it will hook you till end.




The Blazing Chinar


Book Description

Autobiography by a freedom fighter, politician and former chief minister from Jammu and Kashmir.




Educational Strategies for Youth Empowerment in Conflict Zones


Book Description

This book offers fresh and exciting new directions of inquiry into the highly contentious issue of conflict resolution in South Asia. By shifting its gaze from a politics of division mired in ethno-nationalisms into a healing and restorative focus, the author moves the dialogue forward into the realm of community, healing, and shared governance. The book analyzes the major constitutional and political missteps that have led to the current situation of violence and distrust in countries such as India and Pakistan, keeping the focus on Jammu and Kashmir. This monograph will appeal to a wide range of audiences including academics, researchers, graduate students interested in South Asian politics, development, trauma studies, and peace and conflict studies.




Jammu and Kashmir


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the complex conflict situation in Kashmir. Through an internal perspective, it charts the shift in the Kashmiri response towards the Centre and offers a detailed examination of the background in which separatist politics took roots in Kashmir, and the way it changed its nature in the militancy and post-militancy period. The volume shows how separatism and armed militancy, as manifest in the Valley in the late 1980s, (though augmented by external factors) have been internal responses to the changing nature of Kashmiri identity politics. It explores how the ideas central to Indian nationalist politics — especially democracy and secularism — echoed in Kashmir and were instrumental in dismantling the feudal structure and negotiating an autonomous space within the framework of asymmetrical federalism. Seamlessly blending facts and incisive analyses, this book raises new questions about the nature of conflict and contestation in the region. It will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of Indian politics, especially on Jammu and Kashmir, and sociology, as well as government bodies, think tanks and the interested general reader.




POJK (Purposely Obliterated Jammu Kashmir)


Book Description

This book is written to highlight an completely different aspect of the actual problem of Jammu and Kashmir state and how it manifested to the current situation. The ‘Great Game’ of the British Empire of having a buffer state between India and the expanding Soviets is known to all. However, the shrewd policies of achieving the dominance of a particular ethnicity over the complete state of Jammu and Kashmir state has been cleverly hidden from the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The Tribal invasion of 1947, the conditions for accession to India and the demarcation of Cease Fire Line achieved a particular set of Geographical and Ethnic divide that completely changed the politics and demographic pattern of Jammu and Kashmir. This book further makes an endeavor to understand the actual impact of demarcation of Cease Fire line and where the state of Jammu and Kashmir was cleverly steered over the last 75 years. Also, this book aims to bring out the true leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, who mattered the most in 1947 including Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Choudhary Ghulam Abbas and Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah, Pandit Prem nath Dogra, Mahashey Ram Chand and Ahmed Yar Khan ‘Duggar’.