Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg
Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 March 1900 Islamabad, Jammu and Kashmir, British India |
| Died | 5 August 1985 Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India |
| Political party | Jammu & Kashmir National Conference |
Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg (7 March 1900 – 5 August 1985), popularly known as Mirza Sahib of Islamabad and the Jim Corbett of Kashmir1, was a social and political activist from the town of Islamabad in Jammu and Kashmir, India. He was the force behind the establishment of the Co-operative Movement in J&K which developed multi-purpose co-operative societies for price control in the state. He also established co-operative banks that offered small loans to farmers, the first of its kind in J&K. Mirza Sahib was a freedom fighter as well and was central to the creation of the National Conference, the first secular political organization which fought against the autocratic rule in the state.
Early life
Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg was the elder of the two sons of Mirza Nizamuddin Beg (an agriculturist) and Mehtaba Begum from the village of Sarnal, Islamabad, Kashmir. Mirza Nizamuddin Beg had migrated from Srinagar where his ancestors lived near Kathi Darwaza, Hari Parbat Qila. His ancestry is traced to the Mughal family who ruled over India for over 300 years. After the fall of the Mughal emperor, Mirza Nizamuddin Beg’s ancestors migrated to Kashmir and settled in Srinagar. He then migrated to Islamabad and got married into a landlord family to the daughter of Mirza Ghulam Rasool Beg of Sarnal.
Mirza Sahib and his younger brother Mirza Afzal Beg, who was known as ‘Beg Sahib’, got their elementary education from Islamia School in Islamabad. They lost both their parents one after the other when they were in their teen years. Mirza Afzal Beg had Erb’s Palsy in his left hand. When their mother Mehtaba Begum was on her deathbed, she summoned both the brothers from school and handed over the weak left hand of Afzal Beg in the hands of Mirza Sahib and said “Afzal is weak by one hand so you have to be his better hand”. Mirza Afzal Beg later rose to the level of Deputy Chief Minister in J & K and was the architect of land to tiller, Evacuee Property Act and scores of such laws that were beneficial to the suffering mankind of Kashmir.
The two brothers were raised in a joint family that was headed by their maternal grandfather, Mirza Ghulam Rasool Beg. Both were known for their wit, humor, and wisdom from their early years.
Education and Profession
Mirza Ghulam Qadir Beg did his graduation in English and Alim Fazil in Persian from Lahore University via correspondence.
During the feudal system in Kashmir, when Mirza Sahib had joined government service in the department of Co-operatives, he got an opportunity to travel far and wide in the valley. He saw firsthand the oppression of the Kashmiri people who were exploited by landlords. The landlords mostly were non-Muslim minorities and the tillers were Muslims. During one of his tours, he was accompanied by Beg Sahib who was doing his law at Alligarh Muslim University. They observed that a young child had been tied with a rope to a tree by his parents. On asking the parents they were told that if the child is let loose he will pluck the corn cobs and the landlord would punish them. This was a defining moment in their lives and they vowed to rise against this tyranny.
Later, when the freedom movement in India was launched by Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and others, they, under the leadership of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah organized a movement against the Maharaja. This movement came to be called the ‘Quit Kashmir Movement’. In 1946, Mirza Sahib was dismissed from government service and arrested for taking an active role in this struggle. The Quit Kashmir Movement ultimately lead to the exit of the Maharaja from the state. When Jinnah visited Kashmir that year, Mirza Sahib and Beg Sahib requested him to plead for Begum Hanifa Chapoo, a lady from Islamabad, whose marriage (Nikah) was fictitiously documented. Jinnah successfully won the case.
Towards the end of 1946 when the idea of independence and division of India was taking shape, Sheikh Abdullah and Beg Sahib were in Badarwah Jail, Jammu. The princely states were given an option to join either India or Pakistan. Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir was reluctant to join either of the two states so the Indian National Congress decided to depute Gandhi to Kashmir to persuade the Maharaja to join the Union of India. Gandhi was received at Kohala Bridge, which is in present-day Azad Kashmir, by Mirza Sahib, who was the acting President of the National Conference at the time. While the caravan travelled in an Austin Car to Baramulla, slogans were shouted against Gandhi and the motorcade was pelted with stones. Gandhi asked to stop the car and joined those raising the slogans “Hum Kya Chahte Pakistan, Pakistan Zindabad, Pakistan Zindabad”. Thereafter, on reaching Srinagar, Mirza Sahib persuaded Gandhi to visit Islamabad, Kashmir, to show him the atrocities committed by the Maharaja’s soldiers. He shared that a Maharaja’s soldier had shot at a mother who was breastfeeding her baby and killed both with a single bullet. He told Gandhi that “Islamabad mein Ma ka dood aur bachhay ka khoon milke sadak par ghira gaya hai” - the breastmilk of the mother and the blood of the child have both been spilled on the streets. This incident shook Gandhi and he decided to come to Islamabad with his entourage. Gandhi was received in Islamabad where he waved at a mammoth gathering in Sherbagh because he had a “moun wratt” and had chosen not to speak on that day.
After Independence
In 1947, Mirza Sahib was reinstated in the Co-operative department as Deputy Registrar and rose to the level of Registrar by 1949. He then founded the Co-operative movement in the early 1950s. Through this movement, a network of multipurpose cooperative societies was laid all over the state to control the price in the market. He was the force behind the development of numerous cooperative banks that would give soft loans to farmers for their upliftment.
In 1952, Mirza Sahib was deputed to Israel to study the Co-operative movement there. After his return, he wrote his book “The Co-operative Movement in Israel” in Urdu that became a stepping stone for the implementation of the ideas of the cooperative movement in J&K.
On 9 August 1953, Sheikh Abdullah was overthrown by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad in collaboration with Nehru and he along with Mirza Sahib, Beg Sahib and scores of other political activists were imprisoned. Their intermittent imprisonment lasted for twenty-two long years. During this period, scores of fictitious cases like the Kashmir Conspiracy Case and the Hazratbal Murder Case were launched against them only to be withdrawn by the Government of India in lieu of Kashmir Accord. Beg Sahib was released from jail on health grounds and formed the Plebiscite Front on 9 August 1955 to persuade for the implementation of UN resolutions for a plebiscite in the state.
Personal life
Mirza Sahib was a man of fine taste. He loved his hunting dogs and was a passionate hunter, having shot a leopard and a bear in challenging circumstances. While hunting formed a pleasure sport in his younger days, he took to conservation as he aged, striving to retain the biodiversity of the Kashmir valley1. During the course of his life, he planted thousands of trees throughout the valley.
Mirza Sahib lived a successful family life and is survived by five sons, three of whom are physicians, one in administrative services and one a lawyer.
References
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