Monuments
In India >> In Kashmir |
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Jammu and Kashmir came into being as a single
political and geographical entity following the
Treaty of Amristar between the British Government
and Gulab singh signed on March 16, 1846. The Treaty
handed over the control of the Kashmir State to
the Dogra ruler of Jammu who had earlier annexed
Ladakh. Thus a new State comprising three distinct
religions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh was formed
with Maharaja Gulab Singh as its founder ruler.
The feudal dispensation in the State, however, was
too harsh for the people to live under and towards
the end of a hundred years of this rule when their
Indian brethren were fighting for independence from
the British under the inspiring leadership of Mahatma
Gandhi and Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Kashmiris
led by a towering personality, the Sher-I-Kashmir
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, rose against the autocracy.
The autocratic rule came down heavily on the people’s
freedom movement. However, the people laid their
lives in the cause of freedom and to uphold the
ideals of secularism, equality, democracy and brotherhood.
The high point of the movement was July 13, 1931
when 22 protesters were martyred. The event strengthened
the movement and contrary to the expectations
of the then rulers, the peopled emerged more determined
in their resolution to seek an end to autocratic
rule. By the time the rulers could realise the
futility of breaking the will of the people with
the might of the State, the National Conference,
headed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, had become
a mass movement and a force to reckon with. It
broke the barriers of region and religion and
became a popular and secular voice of the people
of the State whose collective yearning was freedom
from autocracy and the establishment of a popular
rule. The people’s movement spearheaded
by the National Conference saw several ups and
downs with its leaders particularly the Sher-I-Kashmir
suffering vissitudes and long internment.
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