Ayub Thakur

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Template:Infobox revolution biography Muhammad Ayub Thakur (1948 - March 10, 2004) was Kashmiri freedom activist, philantrophist,and founder-president of London-based World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM), an organisation dedicated to finding a peaceful political solution to the Kashmir Conflict. He was known for his work to the humanity at the platform of charity organization Mecy Universal and for coordinating at the international level for the right of self-determination for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Thakur had lectured extensively on Kashmir issue. He attended hundreds of seminars and conferences around the world in universities, think tanks and other institutions, including the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and UN bodies. He was also heading Mercy Universal which he founded in 2003. Mery Universal provides humanitarian assistance mainly to the war-torn Kashmiri people. , which he had founded in 2000 and Director of the Justice Foundation

Biography

Muhammad Ayub Thakur was born in 1948 in Pudsoo village near Shopian, district Pulwama in Indian administrated Kashmirin a peasant family. He was was eldest of four children.

Political Activities

Dr. Ayyub Thakur obtained his Doctrate (Phd.) in Nuclear Physics from the University of Kashmir. In 1978, he became lecturer in the Department of Physics in the same university. He had a keen intrest in the social and political issues of Jammu and Kashmir. He started his political career in early 70s as a student leader in the University of Kashmir. He rallied Kashmiri youth and students and founded Jammu and Kashmir Students Islamic Organisation in 1974 and continued to be its patron till 1977. This organisation later merged with another organisation and changed into Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, which he headed from 1977-1981. He was also the president of Kashmir University Students Union and Kashmir University Research Scholars Association. As a student leader, Dr. Thakur attended international youth and student conferences at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1979, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1980 and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the same year. In these conferences, Dr. Thakur put forward the Kashmiri viewpoint and drew the world attention towards the Kashmir problem. In Kuala Lumpur conference in 1980, he was instrumental in passing a resolution condemning the Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Thakur organised meetings of the youth and students to challenge the Kashmir’s accession to India which he considered as fraudulent. He strongly opposed the accord between unionist Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, as being aimed at strengthening Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Imprisoned and dismissed from job

After becoming lecturer at the University fo Kashmir he intensified his peaceful political activities. He began organising students and colleagues to form an intelectual response to the Indian occupation. In 1980 he and many of his colleagues at university and students organisation, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, organised an international conference on the issue of right of self-determination of Kashmiris as outlined in the UN resolutions. Indian goverment, however, banned the conference and dismissed Dr. Ayub from his job as a university teacher, and later imprisoned him along with his colleagues. During his imprisonment, he was subjected to inhuman torture of all sorts, but he refused to compromise on his political ideology. After his release in 1981 he bagan to travel far and wide in Kashmir to mobilise the Kashmir youth. However, soon he was forced to leave Kashmir.

In exile

In 1981, Dr. Thakur joined the Nuclear Engineering Department of King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as Assistant Professor. During his stay, he tried to mobilise support for the Kashmir cause and organised camps for the Kashmiri pilgrims during Hajj. After six years of his service, he went to London in 1986 for post-doctoral research programme and simultaneously started organising support for the Kashmir issue. Later in 1990, he took over as the founder president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM). He was also trustee of the UK-based charity, Mercy Universal, which he had founded in 2000 and Director of the Justice Foundation, which he founded in 2003.

Kashmir issue on international level

In 1991, the World Kashmir Freedom Movement organised an international conference on Kashmir issue in Washington D.C. A large number of US congressmen, members of British Parliament and European Parliament as well as distinguished intellectuals and academicians participated in the conference and supported tri-partite talks for the resolution of Kashmir dispute. The Indian Government took the success of the conference very seriously, accused Dr. Ayub Thakur of sending money to the Kashmiri freedom fighters for terrorist activities. Under the directions of various Indian intelligence agencies, many cases ranging from terrorism to sabotage were registered against him. The Indian Government booked him under infamous Terrorist and Disruptive Act (TADA). This case later formed the genesis of the famous Jain Hawala Corruption Case, in which 38 prominent Indian politicians were charge sheeted and later discharged.

Dr. Ayub Thakur also attended the 1991 Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Foreign minister meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, the 1993 OIC summit meeting in Dakar, Senegal and World tactics did not yield the desired result.On this occasion Dr. Ayub Thakur led a delegation and highlighted the Indian intransigence and the massive human rights violations. WKFM also joined other Kashmiri groups and attended March 1993 session of UNCHR and later the World Human Rights Conference at Vienna , Austria in June 1993. As the WKFM activities were growing, Indian Government tried to extradite Ayub Thakur on charges of financing 'terrorism' and secessionist plotting. He became India's chief nemesis. Indian government twice sought his extradition from the UK in 1992 and 1993. After its failure, they finally impounded his passport in 1993. This left WKFM president stranded in United Kingdom for about four years along with his family. However, in 1997 the British government issued him with a travel document, which he used till his death.

The Indian Government worked hard to convince the British Government that Dr. Ayub Thakur was involved in terrorist activities. During the visit of British Home Secretary Jack Straw to India in May 2002, Indian Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani in his meeting with him accused Dr. Thakur of diverting funds to the Kashmiri militants for terrorist activities. He first demanded the arrest of Dr. Thakur under the new anti-terrorist laws and when it did not work, demanded his deportation or extradition to India. The Indian Government tried to build the pressure and made repeated demands for his extradition. Moreover, the Indian intelligence agencies launched a vicious propaganda campaign in the Indian media against Dr. Thakur. Later, in August 2002 when Mr. LK Advani visited UK, he again demanded the extradition of the Dr. Ayub Thakur. In addition, the Indian High Commission in London reportedly formed a two-member committee to follow the issue on day-to-day basis.

Family members harrased

During the last 15 years all of his family members, relatives and friends were subjected to torture and harassment by the Indian army and its various agencies. His ancestral house in Kashmir was raided many a time and his old parents threatened.

Both his parents died in a hope to see their son, whom they hadn’t seen for more than a decade. His father, Khwaja Ghulam Ahmad Thakur died in November 2001 after a brief illness. He was 75. A year later his 73-year-old mother, Fatima Begum died in December 2002. On both the occasions, Dr. Ayub could not see his parents or offer their last rites.

Death

He died at the age of 55, in London on March 10, 2009 after protracted illness. He was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. He was survived by widow, a son and two daughters.

External links

• |Mercy Universal - a relief agency working in some of the most deprived areas of the world.
• |The Justice Foundation – Kashmir Centre in London
• |Kashmir
• |Kashmir Watch - In-depth Coverage on Kashmir Conflict