Kashmir Through Ages –V(b) 13 July,1931 –Martyr Day

The following is second part of series of articles ,  in response to article “Truth about the martyrs of Kashmir’s July 13 carnage” by Sushil Pandit published by “Daily O” on  14-07-2015.According  to Mr.Pandit “The state’s non-Muslim population suffers the humiliation of ‘commemorating’ their own tormentors as heroes every year on this day”. For first part, you may refer to following  link : Kashmir Through Ages –V(a) 13 July,1931 –Martyr Day http://www.kashmirpen.com/kashmir-through-ages-va-13-july1931-martyr-day/

20) Discrimination towards Muslim:The Dogra rulers openly demonstrated their pro-Hindu stance when they signalled their rule by whole-sale revoking of jagirs and Inam grants enjoyed by Muslims, and transferred the same to their co-religionists . According to Dr.Elmslie,who spent six years in Kashmir (1865-1872), there were forty five jagirs in the valley, of which only five were enjoyed by the Muslims, whereas the rest belonged to the Hindu Community.

21) Transferring Muslim owned  land to Hindus at will : The transfer of jagirs from Muslim to non-Muslim subjects remained a dominant feature of the Dogra rule. Writing about the transfer of jagirs from, Muslims to non-Muslims during his reign, Inqilab an Urdu daily from Lahore, writes in its 20th November, 1931 issue (9):

“Right from the coronation of Maharaja Hari Singh upto the present time about twenty Kashmiris were deprived of their jagirs which valued from 5,000 to 10,000 each. These jagirs were offered to other twenty persons among whom 18 were Hindu Rajputs and the rest two belonged to Muslim community”.

According to  JK archieves,JKA, File No: 117 of 1896. “However, the most sensitive feature of this revocation-endowment policy of the Dogra Maharajas was that on the one hand, they confiscated the rent free grants enjoyed by the Muslim religious persons and institutions and on the other, they established the Dharmarth Trust to which they endowed the huge amount of revenue for the encouragement of Hinduism”.

22) Muslim must pay tax  to Brahmin priest (Mandri and Asgal tax) :Lawrence, Valley  of Kashmir, p. 416; Bates, Gazetteer o f Kashmir, p. 102.To add insult to injury Muslims were subjected to pay taxes known as mandri and ashgal. The former was meant for the maintenance of Hindu temples and latter for the support of Hindu priests.

23)Job quotas for Pandits :

a)According to ,Census o f India, 1931, pp. 73-74 “Though the Muslims constituted 80% of the total population of the State, but their share in government services was simply nominal”.

b)According to ,Riots Enquiry Committee Report, pp. 205-206; Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir,pp. 400-40.‘’Even as late as1931, one finds that the share of the Muslims in the State services was not more than 15%.’’

c)According to Pandit Historian, Koul G. L; Kashmir Through Ages, p. 122.’’ Maharaja Partab Singh would say, “Don’t give too much to Rajputs, use Kashmiri Pandits as much as you can and see that Muslims do not starve. No doubt there were poor among the Hindus and Sikhs but the Muslims suffered worse.’’

24) Maltreatment of Muslim by Pandit Revenue officers:- 

a)-According to,18. Lawrence, Valley o f Kashmir, pp. 400-401; Glancy Commission Report vide Dastawaizat, pp. 110-111.”The revenue department, which had dealings with the Muslim masses, was, it should be remembered, from top to bottom monopolized by the non-Muslims

40. b) According to,Pandit P.N.Bazaz, The History of Struggle for Freedom in Kashmir, p. 144; and according to Census o f India, Part 2nd, 1931, p. 40.’’Leaving the detailed discussion of the composition and attitudes of

officialdom to the next chapter, it is suffice to say that the Muslim masses were notonly mal-treated by the non-Muslim officials but they also fatted themselves onillegal exactions better known as Nazrana and Rasum from the oppressed Muslimpeasantry’’.

25) Marriage taxes for muslim only (Zarr-I-Nikkah):

a)-To keep a check on muslim population , they were taxed if they marry ,to quote Bates, Gazetteer of Kashmir, p. 102.’’As already mentioned, the Muslims had not only to pay mandri and ashgal but they had also to pay marriage tax known as sathrashahi’’. Collection office was established in Shatrashahi ,Srinagar .

b)-To quote ,Saif-ud-Din, Roznamcha, 15 February, 1854., According to theregisters of the receipts the sum of 42,000/- rupees had been collected as a tax from Muslims on account of marriages divorces and other connected matters from 1846 to l852

1. c) According to Khanyari, Wa-jiz-ut-Tawarikh, f . 206,“Zar-i-Nikah which had been fixed at three rupees was now raised to s ix rupees including Arzi tax (application fee ) ,Rasum-i-Mandi and Mahaldar, Khar chi-i-Adalat ( expenditure on court).‘’

26) Conversion of Masjid and shrines into Store godowns and  ammunition houses :-

90. a) According to,Glancy Commission Report vide Dastawaizat, pp. 89-90.’’Without caring for the religious susceptibilities of the Muslims, the Government confiscated many religious places of Muslims like Khanqah-i-Sokhta,Khanqah-i-Bulbul Shah, Khanqah-i-DaraShikoh, Pather Masjid (Srinagar).Malashah-i-Bagh Mosque (Ganderbal), Khaiiqah-i-Sofi Shah (Jammu), Bahu Mosque(Jammu) and the Sringar Eid-Gah.

b)-According to Robert Thorpe, Kashmir Misgovernment, p. 38.’’The rulers added insult to the injury when theyconverted some confiscated Muslim shrines and mosques into store houses for grains and ammunition.’’

The memorandum submitted to Lord Reading in 1924, to quote, The mosques and other religious properties which are in possession of theGovernment to be immediately restored and steps be taken to ensure that Muslimreligious places and graveyards remain protected from future encroachment by non-Muslims.

27) Changing Nomenclature :-The religious fanaticism of the Dogra rulers is no less demonstrated in their attempts to replace the Muslim names of some localities of Kashmir by theHindu nomenclatures. Maharaja Ranbir Singh, it is significant to note, changed thename of Islamabad (a famous town of Kashmir named after Islam Khan ) as Anantnag . Similarly Takht-i-Suliman (a mount at Dalgate in Srinagar) was renamed by him as Shankar Achariaya(Muhammad Sultan Pampori, Kashmir in Chains, p.52).

28) Death sentences for Muslim for eating beef even during famine starvation (Hathiya):

a)- According to  Knight, Where Three Empires Meet, p. 115. “The ‘crime’ of killing cow, ox or buffalo was commonlyknown as Hathai (a degenerated term of Sankrit word hathya). During the initialphase of the Raj the Hathai was awarded with death sentence’’.But subsequently the punishment was first reduced to life imprisonment and then to seven years rigorous imprisonment (Robert Thorp. Kashmir Mis- government, p. 39; Malik Fazel Hussain,, Kashmir Aur Dogra Raj, p. 142.).

b)-Writing about the unfortunate Muslim victims of the draconian ‘cow slaughter’ law E. F. Knight (who visited the valley in 1891) (who visited the valley in 1891),Knight, Where Three Empires Meet, p. 115., says:“Until recently the killing of that sacred animal was punishable with death Imprisonment for life is no penalty, and many an unfortunate Muhammadan,I believe, is lying immured in Hari Parbat because in that time of famine hehas ventured to kill his own ox to save himself and his family from starvation.”

c)-According to Pandit J.L. Kilam, “a terrible famine broke out in the valley in 1876 which took away the heavy tolls of lives. But the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandits were not so much as those of the Muslims”(J. L. Kilam ,History o f Kashmiri Pandits, p. 277. ).

d)-About the same fact Lawrence writes that

the Muslims attributed the Pandits immunity to the fact that they were aprivileged class, whose official power enabled them to seize all available grain; Lawrence, Op. Cit. p. 277.

e)-The Muslims whom their religion enjoins upon to take beef and who, inthe face of recurrent food famines (of which they were the only targets), had noalternative but to slaughter their indispensable property that is ox or cow to feed their starving families, were not only forbidden to do so but whosoever was found ‘gulity’ of slaughtering an ox, cow or buffalo, he was capitally punished or sentenced to rigorous imprisonment

f)-Burning Muslim localities for eating beef : Even sometimessome localities, wherein it was understood that hathai was committed, were burnt into ashes by the Dogra police. Chakpathi (a village near modern Islamabad ) is still

commemorative of the destruction caused by the Dogra police to those inhabitationswhose inhabitants were found involved in slaughter of cows, oxen or buffaloes.

g)-The fact that the Kashmiri Muslims of Srinagar, and some other leading towns of thevalley are not generally beefeaters, should also be understood in the background ofthe harsh punishment which the Dogras awarded to them, as in comparison to their mote villages, the cities and towns were more under the surveillance of the law andorder machinery. Otherwise, Srinagar city was the first place in Kashmir where therewas full-fledged cow slaughter market in medieval times and according to a 16thcentury Brahmin chronicler Suka, one thousand cows were used to be slaughtered in Srinagar everyday(Raj-Tarangni (Eng. Translation, J. C. Dutt), p. 420 vide M. A. Wani, “Some aspects o f the Socio-Economic and Cultural life of the people of Kashmir under the Sultans’, (unpublished Ph.D. Thesis), p. 155.

h)-Boiling Muslim in hot oil for eating cow: – Tyndale Biscoe states one such incident in his book, Kashmir in sunlight and shade, pp.123.’’often they were boiled in oil then hung from the hook which was fixed to pole in a public place in sikh and Dogra rule in Kashmir on Fateh-Kadal bridge ,on which they used to swing the bodies of those who had been convicted of killing cow, as a warning to citizen.”

1. i) Blesphemy law :

1)During Deewanchuni Law (1825-27) ,three prominent businessman of the Kawoosa family were hung from Fateh Kadal then dragged on the streets on false charges  ( Hathya –Haanchh ) of cow slaughter .

2) Earlier regimes burned Twelve members of a family in Chattabal Qamerwari , were burned alive for eating beef ( Hassan Khoihami,Tarikh-i-Hassan ,II,786; Khanday ,The sikh rule in kashmir,87-88)

3) 17 members in Hawal were burnt for beef eating (ibid)

4) Nineteen members of boatman family ,including women and children ,living by Doodh Ganga stream were also killed on false charge .(Saif-Ud-Din ,Khulaasat-e-Tawaarikh ,pp.126)

1. J) Six lac muslim died of Starvation : According to some estimates, the population of Kashmir (Srinagar) was reduced from 1,27,400 to 60,000 and others say that of the total population of the valley only 3/5th survived. According to the report by Lawrence, not even a single Pandit died of starvation. Wazirpunu had declared that there was no real distress and he wished no Musalman might be left alive from Srinagar to Ramban. Deaths amongst the pandits were almost nil as they were the privileged class whose official power enabled them to acquire the available grain. While on other occasion in 1831 when famine struck Kashmir, it had been calculated that the population of Kashmir was reduced from 8, 00,000 to 2,00,000.

29) Governing Pandit Class and Officialdom — Composition and Attitudes towards muslims:

i)In 1872 out of 327700 population of KashmiriMuslims one does not find a single Muslim occupying even a lowest position in Stateservices, whereas out of 75000 population of Kashmiri Pandits 5572 were working as clerks (Dr.Elmslie Vide Bates, Gazetteer o f Kashmir, pp. 29.)

1. ii) During the initial phase of the Dogra rule, the Maharaja handed over all

the key positions to non-local Hindus and appointed local Pandits on clerical

positions.(Young husband, Kashmir, p. 186.;P. N. Bazaz, Inside Kashmir, pp. 202-203.)

iii)With the passage of time the local Pandits rose to high positions especially in the Revenue Department. No wonder therefore, in 1890 one finds all the positions of Revenue Department from village Patwari to Wazir-i-Wazarat being monopolized by the Kashmiri Pandits. In this context it is worth to quote Lawrence’s, Valley of Kashmir, pp. 400-401., “In Kashmir the revenue administration proceeds from the Patwari, the village accountant, and he is a Pandit… over the Patwari was a small band of Pandits, who were employed in the Tehsil in various revenue capacities… over the Patwari andTehsil Pandits was a Tehsildar and one or two Naib-Tehsildars, mostly Pandits. There were fifteen Tehsils and these Tehsils were divided into three districts or Wazarats,which were presided over by the officers known as Wazir-i-Wazarats, all of whomwere Pandits.”

iv)List of Pandit leaders in the autocratic rule of Dogras: i) Kashmiri pandit  was appointed as the Prime Minster  of the State. He was Ram Chandar Kak – a Kashmiri Pandit.There were many Pandits who enjoyed key positions in the Dogra government. Pandit Raj Kak Dhar was the officer incharge of Daghshali, Raja Suraj Koul was revenue Minister for State Council, Pandit Radha Krishan Koul was Judicial Minister, Pandit Zana Kak Dhar was Deputy Governor and Pandit Shiv Kak Dhar was Wazir-i-Wazarat of Kishtwar, Pandit Ramju Dhar was Diwan-i-Mal, Pandit Vidhlal Dhar, Raja Sir Daya Krishan Koul were private Secretaries to His Highness.Pandit Wasa Kak Dhar, Pandit Ram Joo Mattu and Pandit Parkash Joo Zutshi wereWazir-i-Wazarats. Diwan Badri Nath, Janki Prashad, Pandit Mamnohan Nath Koul and Manmohan LaL held the posts of the Governor of Kashmir respectively. There were many other Pandits who were treasurers, conservators of forests and held manyother places of prominence.

74. v) State service figures: According to Glancy Commission Report vide Dastawaizat pp. 110-111; Inqilab,Lahore, February 5, 1931, p. 2; June 26, 1931; October 19, 1930, p.4, January 4, 1931, p. 4; February 15, 1931, p. 4; July 8, 1930; Kashmir Aur Dogra Raj, pp. 67 – 74. :-

The  figures of Creed wise representation in various gazetted and non-gazetted positions of State servicesbring out neatly the policy of discrimination adopted by the Dogra Maharajas against the overwhelmingly dominant Muslim dominant Muslim population of Kashmir inState services.

iii) Thus it is amply bome out that the Muslim representation in different branches of administration was nominal even in 1931-32. Between 1910 and 1930,the Muslim representation in State services did not exceed to ten percent both in the gazetted and non-gazetted ranks. Let me add few figures

SOURCE : Riots Enquiry Committee Reports,

vi)No Muslim KAS  officer:

According to Bose, Sumantra (2013). Transforming India. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674728202.,“Muslims were non-existent in the State’s civil administration and were barred from officer positions in the military”.

The exclusion of Kashmiri Muslims, from the State Administration even during this period seems nothing but a deliberate attempt on the part of the rulers to keep the Muslims away from administration, or else, how would one explain the Muslims drawing blank in almost every branch of administration. As per,Riots Enquiry Committee Report, p. 211,”As early as 1909 there were many Muslims who had passed their Arts and by 1925 one finds the number of Muslim graduates remarkably sizeable, yet the share of Muslim representation in the State services was significantly meagre  .

vi)Chanakya  NEETI ON MUSLIM BACKWARDNESS to grab their right  : Complaining against the discriminatory attitude of the State against the Kashmiri Muslims, under the pretext of so-called educational backwardness Pirzada Ghulam Rasool presented a written Statement before the Riots Enquiry Committee in1931 which reads as ,85:

The principle of efficiency and merit is merely a smoke screen. To cite an example, one of the two non-Muslim Deputy Director of Sericulture Department had studiedup to the entrance and out of six Senior Assistants three non Muslims had no academic qualifications, whereas one Muslim graduate had been bracketed with them owing to the poor representation of Muslims in administration.

vii) Service selection board  framed to suit Pandits: According to their own leader and historian ,PanditP. N. Bazaz, Kashmir Ka-Gandhi,p. 17,” It was in 1930 that the Government of Maharaja Hari Singh constituteda Civil Service Recruitment Board. Besides, other objectionable rules embodied inthe laws governing the recruitment policy, only those canditates were eligible to apply who came from ‘noble families’, and were not above twenty years”

According to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Atash-i-Chinar, pp. 47-48; Taseer, Op. Cit; Vol. I, pp. 79-80, “Finally,the candidates had to pass a stiff competitive examination to qualify themselves for appointment” . These conditions were on the whole against the Muslim educated youth. All of them unlike the Kashmiri Pandits, did not come from a ‘rich pedigree’and maximum of them being first generation learners were above the prescribed age limit and definitely not in a position to compete academically with the boys belonging to the educated Pandit community of Kashmir.

The malafide motives of Government in formulating new rules can also begauged by the fact that while in these competitive examinations Hindi and Sanskrit were given the position of optional languages, Urdu, Persian and Arabic were totally deleted. And if any Muslim candidate succeeded in overcoming these obstacles, even then he had no guarantee that he would be selected because the Government reserved the right of rejecting any candidate without giving any reasons. It is also to be noted that only 40 percent of vacant seats were filled up through Recruitment Board whereas remaining 60 percent seats were filled by the Government without referring them to the board(Taseer, Op. Cit; Vol. I, pp. 79-80.)

To be continued….

Dr. Eshraf Zainulabideen can be reached at zainlala69@gmail.com