This book traces the roots of modern-day Kashmir and the role of Sheikh Abdullah in its making. As the most influential political figurehead in twentieth-century Kashmir, he played a crucial role in its transformation from a kingdom to a state in independent India. He was enigmatic and complex, to say the least. Following his meteoric rise, he dominated the political scene for more than 50 years, with enduring impact. The volume presents a keen analysis of pre-Independence events which led to the emergence of a controversial and confused identity of the region. It also looks at other major themes in the political life of Kashmir, including the formation of the Muslim Conference, the plebiscite movement and the Kashmir Accord. A major intervention in the political life of South Asia, this book presents an inside-view of the history of modern Kashmir through the life and times of Sheikh Abdullah. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, history, and modern South Asia.

Sir Charles Cunningham Watson the Political Secretary of the Viceroy made the following interesting observation in his own handwriting on the file regarding appointment of Lt.Col.Colvin as Prime Minister of Kashmir: "I am definitely of the opinion that if Col.Colvin is to be of full value both to the Govt of India and the Durbar he must not draw less than Rs.4000/pm. Otherwise it will be said in the bazars that he is a cheap figurehead imported by the Maharajah on the advice of the Kashmiri Pandits. This last is true; he must not start with any other handicap." This makes clear the reason for the appointment of Col.Colvin as the Prime Minister of the Maharaja and is referred to in Chapter 18 of this book. To put it in proper perspective for the modern reader the lowest paid government worker like the Government Silk Factory worker was paid about Rupees ten per month. Thus the salary recommended for the Prime Minister was 400 times the salary of the lowest paid worker. In modern India the lowest paid employee of the Central Government the peon is paid about Rupees 7000/p.m. while the Prime Minister gets a pay of about Rupees 160,000/p.m. i.e. just about 23 times the salary of the peon The Resident of Kashmir in his memorandum of September 1931 to the Government of India made the following observation about the July 1931 agitation: “.. At the present moment communal trouble, as such, has not come to notice. The tenseness of Muhammadan feeling is rather anti-Durbar than anti-Hindu.” This belies the attempt by some persons to dub the agitation by the people of Kashmir for their greater empowerment that began on 13th July 1931 as a communal riot. Amin Kamil (1924-2014) is a famous Kashmiri poet and writer.Appendix 3 of this edition has the english translation of his short story “Pyind Puran” which describes the sea change that came about in Kashmir after the abolition of feudalism by Sheikh Abdullah in1952. This is the first time that this story has been translated from Kashmiri into English. The story of Sheikh Abdullah’s life is a love story. It is the story of a man who loved Kashmir and “whose entire life was an expression of this love”. It is a story of his trials and tribulations, his successes and failures, of storms that he weathered and his halcyon days. It is a story that deserves to be read and reread for its sheer human interest by all those who have a place in their heart for that blighted paradise that is Kashmir.

This book is a compendium of the speeches and interviews of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who reigned as Prime Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir from 1948 to 1953, and who was a large presence on the political landscape of India for fifty years. The volume is designed to enable a student of South Asian politics, and the politics of Kashmir in particular, to analyze the ways in which experiences have been constructed historically and have changed overtime.

The story of Sheikh Abdullah's life is a love story. It is the story of a man who loved Kashmir and "whose entire life in the words of Shamim Ahmed Shamim, one of Kashmirs most perspicacious journalists "was an expression of this love." It is a story of his trial and tribulations, his successes and failures, of storms that he weathered and halcyon days. Above all it is a story that deserves to be read and reread for its sheer human interest by all who have a place in their heart for the blighted paradise that is Kashmir.

Sheikh Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir is the first comprehensive, well-documented account of the life of the charismatic leader, the Lion of Kashmir, who contributed crucially to the making of modern India in terms of territory and more importantly to its founding ideology of secularism. The story begins well before independence. Kashmir was the scene of a distinctive political transformation in the late 1930s. In contrast to rise of the Muslim League in much of the subcontinent - which was to lead to partition - the most popular party in the valley turned away from communal politics and embraced secularism. On 11 June 1939, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was successful in changing the name of the party he was leading from Kashmir Muslim Conference to National Conference, and invited all to join it. Backed by Nehru's friendship, Abdullah rose to become the first popular Prime Minister of the State, but also the target of conservative and communal forces in India. His demand that the pledge of special status for the State in the accession documents be honoured was described as anti-national, even pro-Pakistani. As revealed in the book, Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel offered to resign on the issue. The letters he and Nehru wrote to Gandhi explaining their differences make fascinating reading. The intrigue that led to Abdullah's downfall and arrest on 8 August 1953, is well documented as is the role of the Home Ministry's Intelligence Bureau. The elaborate conspiracy case it built up was belatedly rejected by Nehru himself. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, the author takes us through Abdullah's long, tragic periods of detention until he was persuaded to return to Jammu and Kashmir as Chief Minister. He demonstrated his continuing popularity by winning an election before his death in 1982.

Autobiography by a freedom fighter, politician, and former chief minister from Jammu and Kashmir.

Sheikh Mubarak was the founder of the modern state of Kuwait. But the man who actually led Kuwait to modernity was his son Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah, one of the most significant figures of Kuwait from the 1940s to Kuwaiti independence in 1961. Largely responsible for the creation of the Kuwaiti defence forces, Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah made a point of prioritising what he saw to be Kuwait's national interests in the face of British, American and Iranian pressures during a crucial period of change. He developed carefully crafted, cautious relations with foreign oil companies and secured Kuwait's economic standing through his driven and single-minded policies. The author here presents this part-biography, part-history of modern Kuwait, with fresh new research and insights. From America's drive to build stronger connections in the region in the 1950s, when both the Cold War and Arab nationalisms were in full play, to sensitive diplomatic issues such as water, border disputes and difficult interactions with Iraq, especially following the 1958 revolution of Abd al-Karim Qasim, the author examines Kuwait's relations with its neighbours and the West, and the role played by this pivotal figure in the country's history and development. This book makes a significant contribution to understanding the complex politics of modern Kuwait and the recent history of the Gulf States.