Srinagar: “During his last days, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was eager to get the Kashmir issue resolved once for all. I still remember how he rebuked the then Congress president K.C. Buruwa and asked New Delhi to revoke all the Central laws extended to Jammu and Kashmir illegally from 1953 onwards. Only those hold Sheikh Sahab responsible for the Kashmir mess who are ignorant and barely know ACB about Kashmir,” this was stated by Muzaffar Ahmed Shah, the grandson of Sheikh Abdullah who according to him was the personal driver of the late leader form more than 10 years.
Shah said that a year before his death, Sheikh Abdullah was at loggers head with New Delhi, urging it to resolve Kashmir issue. “He had termed all the Central Laws illegal that had been extended to Jammu and Kashmir in his absence and was pressing for the revocation of those laws,” Shah told Kashmir based news agency CNS adding that it was Jawahar Lal Nehru who backstabbed and deceived him.
“People don’t know under what circumstance Sheikh worked for the people of the State. Indira Gandhi had promised a solution to the Kashmir issue on the condition that Sheikh would first take care of the economic development of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and when Sheikh Sahab pressed for the solution after prosperity of the State, New Delhi backtracked,” Shah said.
He said the heart of Sheikh Abdullah beat for the people of Kashmir. “A million attended his funeral procession. Do you want to say those mourners were all wrong? There was charisma in him and it is an open fact that he was yearning for a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem. If he would have lived more, Kashmir would have seen a solution,” Shah said.
“People don’t know how Sheikh Abdullah was single handedly facing the powerful New Delhi. On his insistence two committees were constituted to find ways and means to annul all the central laws from Kashmir. The ‘insignificant’ report made by the DD Thakur was made public but after his death another report filed by GM Shah and Ghulam Nabi Kochak was thrown into dustbin and never made to public. Sheikh fought like a lion and one should realize that the environment in which he worked was hostile. The coteries of New Delhi were hell-bent to erode the autonomy of the State and at present we have been feeling heat because of those stooges against whom people never raise a finger,” he said.
Responding to a question, Shah said that Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah never dumped the Kashmir issue for power. “He focused on development for a temporary period while his main objective was to find a permanent solution to Greater Kashmir. During his last day’s he was up in arms against New Delhi and his Death certainly was a breather for New Delhi. What happened to Kashmir and National Conference after his death is history and we all know about it,” Shah said and added that Kashmir can’t produce a leader like him again. He said that Kashmir at present is reeling under uncertainty and among the current leaders no one has been possessing the charisma of Sheikh Abdullah.
“One day in my presence Sheikh Abdullah told his companions that time has come that we press for Kashmir solution and tell Delhi to stop using dilly-dally tactics. He was a true Kashmiri who empowered the people of Kashmir,” he said.
Without studying historical events on their merit, it is not fair to blame Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah for the tragedy that befell us. We need to have an objective approach towards history with a particular reference to the man who is accused of the crimes that others committed, he said. (CNS)