Sheikh Abdullah

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Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah,(Arabic: شيخ محمد عبدالله‎) known as Sher-e-Kashmir (the Lion of Kashmir) (Dec 5, 1905, Soura, Kashmir – Sept 8 1982, Srinagar), was the leader of the National Conference, Kashmir's largest political party, and one of the most important political figures in the modern history of Jammu and Kashmir. He was the Prime Minister of Kashmir soon after its controversial provisional accession to India in 1947, and was later jailed and exiled.

He did his Masters in Chemistry and joined Government Service as teacher, but later resigned and spearheaded popular movement for democratic rights of people, founding the Muslim Conference in 1931. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh, and urged self-rule for Kashmir.

He married Akbar Jahan, the daughter of Harry Nedou, the European proprietor of a chain of hotels in India including Nedou's hotel in Srinagar, and his Kashmiri wife. In the late 1930s, he was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru. The two became friends and political allies. Changed the name of Muslim Conference to National Conference in 1938 to allow people from all communities to struggle against the Autocratic rule of the feudal Maharajas. He was repeatedly jailed by the then Maharaja Hari Singh.

Hari Singh appealed for Indian military aid but Nehru demanded the state's accession to India and the inclusion of Sheikh Abdullah in the state administration. Both of these demands were eventually accepted by the Maharaja and Sheikh Abdullah became head of an emergency administration and raised a force of local Kashmiris to patrol Srinagar after the Indian troops had landed. After the tribals were defeated with the help of the Indian Army Sheikh Abdullah became Prime Minister of Kashmir on March 5, 1948. The government of Pakistan viewed Abdullah and his party as agents of Nehru and did not recognise his leadership of Kashmir.

In 1953 when he asked India to grant the promised autonomy to the Kashmiris he was dismissed as Prime Minister by the Central Government in Delhi and jailed for eleven years, accused of corruption and separatism. After his release he was reconciled with Nehru. After Nehru's death in 1964, he was later interned from 1965 to 1968 and exiled from Kashmir in 1971 for 18 months.

He returned to mainstream of Indian politics in 1975 after coming to an accord called 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord with Indira Gandhi, then India’s prime minister, by giving up the demand for a plebiscite. He returned to the position of Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, which he held until his death. He was followed as Chief Minister by his son.

His son, Farooq Abdullah, and grandson, Omar Abdullah, became leaders of the party after him.

Abdullah was also a speaker in Kashmiri and Urdu. His autobiography in Urdu is entitled Atish-e-Chinar.