K H Khurshid remembered on his 36th death anniversary

Senior and young political leaders from different schools of thought paid glowing tributes to the towering Kashmiri leader Khurshid Hassan Khurshid, commonly known as K H Khurshid, on the occasion of his 36^th death anniversary on Monday, acknowledging that his ideology was the only way forward for the long overdue liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from Indian subjugation. 

The death anniversary function was held in the Municipal Corporation Hall, yards away from the late leader’s tomb, which is a replica of the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who Mr Khurshid had served as private secretary from 1944 to late 1947. 

In October 1947, the Quaid sent him to Srinagar reportedly with a task but there he was arrested and jailed by the Indian forces. He was finally repatriated in a prisoner exchange in 1949. 

On May 1, 1959, Mr Khurshid was appointed as AJK President in accordance with the procedure in vogue at that time. He accepted this office at the insistence of Ms Fatima Jinnah who treated him as her son and had also persuaded him to earn the bar-at-law degree from Lincoln’s Inn UK.

Two years after assuming the president's office, Mr Khurshid conducted the first ever elections under basic democracy system in AJK and also became the liberated territory's first elected president. 

In 1962, he founded a political party by the name of Jammu Kashmir Liberation League (JKLL) to ensure an all-out and focused struggle for liberation of India occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The JKLL ideology called for recognition of the AJK government by Pakistan and other nations as a ‘revolutionary provisional successor government’ of the deposed Dogra ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, so that it could take the freedom movement to its logical end with a free hand.

However, the parochial power-hungry opponents of Mr Khurshid spared no effort to run a relentless smear campaign against him by wrongly dubbing his ideology averse to the interests of Pakistan. 

An icon of integrity, honesty, intelligence and sincerity, Mr Khurshid died in a road accident on GT Road while travelling in public transport on March 11, 1988 at age 64. At the time of his death, people found only Rs 37 in his pocket.    

“Khurshid sahib was a matchless leader who used his incredible leadership skills and acumen to lead the Kashmiri nation towards the true and practicable path to their freedom. Leaders like him are born in centuries,” said AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker and senior PPP leader Chaudhry Latif Akbar in his address as chief guest at the death anniversary function. 

“The honesty, integrity, principles, ideals, courage, bravery make him a role model for every Kashmiri, regardless of his faith, caste, creed and political affiliation,” he added. 

Mr Akbar maintained that the usefulness of Mr Khurshid’s ideology was now being acknowledged even by the people who had religiously opposed it tooth and nail for years together.

“If we have to break the status quo, we will have to take bold decisions because we can no longer afford more bloodbath across the bloody divide,” he said. 

Mr Akbar reiterated his suggestion to the new government in Islamabad to host a national Kashmir conference to devise a workable strategy in the wake of India’s arbitrary steps and machinations with regard to the occupied territory.

Speaking on the occasion, JKLL president Khawaja Manzoor Qadir maintained that only the ideology presented by K H Khurshid offered the way forward for settlement of the longstanding Kashmir issue.

"Our party would continue to enlighten the policy makers on the dividends of the implementation of this ideology. The sooner they realise it the better it would be for the nation which has offered hundreds of thousands of lives and other sacrifices for their freedom,” he said. 

The death anniversary function was also attended by the late leader’s daughter Yasmeen Khurshid. However, she declined to address it because of being overpowered by emotions. She was seen trying to hold back her tears for most of the time during the function. 

It may be recalled that on January 30 this year, Mr Khurshid’s widow – Begum Surraya Khurshid – had also breathed her last at age 94 after some medical complications. 

Earlier in the morning Quran Khawani was held at the mausoleum of Mr Khurshid. Throughout the day, political activists and common people also kept on visiting the mausoleum throughout the day to pay respects to the great leader and offer Fatiha for his deliverance.  

However, what was surprising for many on Monday was the presence of an army contingent at the mausoleum of Mr Khurshid – first time in 36 years – who presented a salute soon after a local military officer laid floral wreath on the grave on behalf of his institution. 

Tariq Naqash