Maqbool Bhat
Maqbool Bhat | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 February 1938 Trehgam, Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir |
| Died | 11 February 1984 (aged 45) |
Maqbool Bhat (February 18, 1938 – February 11, 1984), was a Kashmiri terrorist. He was the chief of the terrorist outfit Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (or JKNLF), the Kashmir valley branch of the JKLF.[1] He was sentenced to death for murder by the Delhi Supreme Court, and was hanged on 11 February 1984 at New Delhi.[2]
Bhat is considered a terrorist by the Indian authorities, but is considered a national hero in Kashmir. He envisioned an independent state where all the territories that belonged to the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir should be reunited as a secular, sovereign, and democratic state.
Biography
Maqbool Butt was born in Trehgam village[3] in the Kupwara district of Indian Administered Jammu and Kashmir. After studying at a local school and at St Joseph's College, Srinagar, he joined the University of Peshawar where he studied Urdu. Then he went to Britain, where the JKLF was originally founded in Birmingham, England. Subsequently, he broke off into the JKNLF which started out as the armed wing of the Plebiscite Front,[4] and was prominent in the armed uprising against Indian forces in Kashmir.
Bhat and another person were arrested, and tried for murder. The defence argued that Amar Chand had been killed by the bullets from Aurangzeb, and indeed the FIR against Bhat had not listed murder.[5] However, Maqbool was also involved in the shootout, and was found guilty and sentenced to death. In 1968, Bhat, along with two others, managed to dig a tunnel under the Srinagar prison, and escaped to Pakistan, where they were briefly arrested.
In 1971, Indian Authorties blame that Maqbool Bhat masterminded the hijacking of an Indian Fokker aircraft to Lahore,[4] Pakistan and the hijackers declared affiliation with JKLF under the leadership of Maqbool Bhat. The Pakistani authorities then arrested Bhat and a number of others.He was released in 1974, and two years later, Bhat returned to India, where he was soon captured. His earlier death sentence was still valid, and he petitioned to the President of India Giyani Zail Singh for clemency on the grounds of an unfair trial. On February 6, 1984, the some other JKLF members murdered the Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre, in Birmingham,United Kingdom. One of the demands in this kidnap was that Maqbool Bhat be released. After this, his petition for clemency was quickly rejected, and Bhat was executed in the Tihar Jail in New Delhi on February 11, 1984.
Maqbool Bhat remains a divisive figure in Kashmir. Certain elements of the population in Kashmir view him as a "martyr", and in Srinagar his death anniversary is "commemorated" each year, often with a strike.[6] Another bone of contention is that neither his remains after his hanging, nor his personal effects, were ever returned to his family.
References
- ^ Pakistan Moves to Block March By Supporters of a Free Kashmir February 11, 1992
- ^ AROUND THE WORLD; India Hangs Kashmiri For Slaying Banker February 12, 1984
- ^ rediff.com visited Trehgam, the village wherefrom Maqbool Butt hailed... February 2001
- ^ a b The Rediff Interview/JKDLF Chief Hashim Qureshi February 2001
- ^ [1] Maqbool Butt
- ^ [2] Bandh in Kashmir valley; Times of India, February 11, 2007
External links
- links to terrorist groups sites prohibited*