This is the title of of a wonderful article by doctoral student Abir Bazaz in Kashmir Narrator - here's the link: http://www.kashmirnarrator.com/eqbal-ahmad-shot-kashmir-2/
Eqbal Ahmad was one of a small group of leftists who fought with the invading Pakistani forces in Kashmir in 1947-48. He was shot - though not by the Indian army but during fighting between rival Pathan contingents of the invading force. Intriguingly, the militia raised to oppose them was formed largely on the initiative of Communists who supported Sheikh Abdullah and Kashmir's accession to India. So there were leftists ranged on both sides of this conflict.
Here's an extract from Abir Bazaz's article:
Eqbal Ahmad had been recruited by the activists of the Muslim League from his college campus in Lahore. This was the Talim-us-Islam College of the Ahmadi sect which had been relocated to Lahore after Partition. The Ahmadis were not only actively involved in the efforts to organize for Kashmir in the Punjab, but also fought in the 1947-48 war. Only five students volunteered to fight in Kashmir when Muslim League activists visited Eqbal Ahmad’s college. At the young age of 15, after about four days of training in small firearms, Eqbal Ahmad was taken by the Muslim League activists to Muzaffarabad where he joined volunteers from the northern areas of Pakistan.
Even though the young Eqbal Ahmad had been brought to Muzaffarabad by the Muslim League, he joined a Communist Party unit led by Latif Afghani. This was his first introduction to Communist politics.
Latif Afghani was a Communist activist and a trade union leader who had also been a member of the All India Students Federation of the Communist Part of India. Latif Afghani was later arrested in 1950 by the Pakistani government for his protests against the pro-US Iranian Shah.
This frustrated attempt to liberate Kashmir with the force of arms by a coalition of ragtag forces took place against the background of genocidal violence in neighboring Punjab which had spilled over into Jammu by the September of 1947.
Later Eqbal Ahmad wrote that the Pathan tribesmen had started fighting each other before they could even enter the city of Srinagar in the last week of October. He reported heavy casualties among the Pakistani fighting units from the northern areas once the first battalion of the better-armed Indian Army was airlifted to Kashmir on 27 October 1947.
Eqbal Ahmad’s stint as a guerilla fighter in Kashmir ended with him being shot, not by the Indian Army, but in the fighting between the rival Pathan factions.
If you want to know more about Eqbal Ahmad, there's a Wikipedia entry on him here - though this doesn't mention his joust in Kashmir.
Eqbal Ahmad was one of a small group of leftists who fought with the invading Pakistani forces in Kashmir in 1947-48. He was shot - though not by the Indian army but during fighting between rival Pathan contingents of the invading force. Intriguingly, the militia raised to oppose them was formed largely on the initiative of Communists who supported Sheikh Abdullah and Kashmir's accession to India. So there were leftists ranged on both sides of this conflict.
Here's an extract from Abir Bazaz's article:
Eqbal Ahmad had been recruited by the activists of the Muslim League from his college campus in Lahore. This was the Talim-us-Islam College of the Ahmadi sect which had been relocated to Lahore after Partition. The Ahmadis were not only actively involved in the efforts to organize for Kashmir in the Punjab, but also fought in the 1947-48 war. Only five students volunteered to fight in Kashmir when Muslim League activists visited Eqbal Ahmad’s college. At the young age of 15, after about four days of training in small firearms, Eqbal Ahmad was taken by the Muslim League activists to Muzaffarabad where he joined volunteers from the northern areas of Pakistan.
Even though the young Eqbal Ahmad had been brought to Muzaffarabad by the Muslim League, he joined a Communist Party unit led by Latif Afghani. This was his first introduction to Communist politics.
Latif Afghani was a Communist activist and a trade union leader who had also been a member of the All India Students Federation of the Communist Part of India. Latif Afghani was later arrested in 1950 by the Pakistani government for his protests against the pro-US Iranian Shah.
This frustrated attempt to liberate Kashmir with the force of arms by a coalition of ragtag forces took place against the background of genocidal violence in neighboring Punjab which had spilled over into Jammu by the September of 1947.
Later Eqbal Ahmad wrote that the Pathan tribesmen had started fighting each other before they could even enter the city of Srinagar in the last week of October. He reported heavy casualties among the Pakistani fighting units from the northern areas once the first battalion of the better-armed Indian Army was airlifted to Kashmir on 27 October 1947.
Eqbal Ahmad’s stint as a guerilla fighter in Kashmir ended with him being shot, not by the Indian Army, but in the fighting between the rival Pathan factions.
If you want to know more about Eqbal Ahmad, there's a Wikipedia entry on him here - though this doesn't mention his joust in Kashmir.
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