In Kashmir tehreek against the despotic Dogra rule, one of the major characters was businessman, Khawaja Sauddin Shawl, whose contribution is least known and hardly acknowledged. MJ Aslam offers the text and context to Shawl’s rise, contributions and eventual silence
Saududin Shawl in a group photograph with his family members
Khawaja Sanaullah Shawl was the most prominent merchant of nineteenth-century Kashmir. He had three sons, Ghulam Hassan, Noor ud Din and Saududdin. Among the three, Khawaja Saududdin Shawl, born at Mohalla Mir e Masjid (Khanyar) in 1873 AD, rose to prominence during the second quarter of the twentieth century. His contributions to the politics of Kashmir are least known and hardly acknowledged. He was the pioneer of Kashmir’s movement against despotic Dogra rule.
Shawl had a dream of seeing his people living with dignity and honour, free of intimation and fear, in a decolonised democratic world that the subcontinent was gradually shaping to be after a few decades. He was the leading political figure during the initial political awakenings among Kashmiri Muslims.
Shawls were an influential family. Living at Mir Masjid, they had a huge garden that locals called Shawl-e-Bagh. It was a miniature Badamwari.
They had a beautiful Dewankhana, where guests, local and non-local, would come, sit and discuss matters of general interest for hours together. It was open to State officers, leaders, clergy, foreign tourists and traders also. It played host to several political meetings of “budding” Muslim leaders as well.
Businessman Sanaullah was a generous giver, according to Mohammad Yousuf Shawl, grandson of Saududdin Shawl, who inherited this quality. “My grandfather Khawja Saududdin Shawl with his domestic help, Qadir Kak, would remain busy round the year in distributing ration items like rice, salt, sugar, tea, charcoal, and clothes among the needy visitors to Shawl Family,” he said. A leading philanthropist, he is credited for the renovations and refurbishment of some of Kashmir’s major shrines and some masjids.
One historical masjid, known as Thong e Masjid at Thong e Mohalla, Victory Crossing near Hotel Burj, Khanyar, Srinagar was built under the benefaction of Aqil Mir, a God-fearing Muslim and Commandant of ration supplies, Darogha i Rasd, of Kashmir during Shah Jahan’s reign (1628-1658). The masjid fell in ruins in the nineteenth century pushing Shawl to rebuild it. By 1869, he had added a grand Hammam and a Khanqah to it. “My grandfather donated 14 kanals of ancestral vegetable-growing land to Thong e Masjid for its maintenance,” Mohammad Yousuf said. “The land is to date used by the masjid for its maintenance.”
Worth mentioning here, Aqil Mir built another mosque that retained his name. It is still known as Masjid e Aqilmir and the Mohalla is also Aqilmir.
Saududdin was born at a time when modern education barely existed in Kashmir. He received his initial education in traditional Maktab schools. To enable him to learn Urdu, Persian and Arabic, the family sources said they had hired a teacher, Behram Ji, who was a resident of Bombay. He gave him private tuition in the English language also.
The Year of Turmoil
For the first time in his life, Shawl rose to prominence during the consequential developments of 1924. The Muslim “labourers” of Silk Factory Solina Srinagar had long pending grievances against the Dogra administration. On March 20, 1920, they formally demanded the removal of some communal and corrupt Pandit officers from the factory. Besides, they demanded an increase in their wages. As the administration avoided looking into the labourer’s petition, the workers suspended their work in the factory in July 1924.
The British Resident also threw his weight behind the worker’s demand that some Muslim employees be elevated to the posts of responsibility but it did not help. Instead, the District Magistrate misrepresented the facts to the higher authorities at Gupkar, which worsened the situation. Some of the protesting labourers were arrested and put behind bars at Shergadi Police Station, Srinagar. When people assembled outside the police station on July 20, 1924, demanding the release of the arrested employees, the Dogra cavalry, that was deployed there at the gates, opened fire killing ten civilians and labourers on spot, leaving many injured as many others were rounded up. In a quick follow-up, the entire city was handed over to the military.
It was a year of turmoil. The same year, Tazia procession was denied in the city by the administration which caused deep anger among the Muslims. Lahore newspaper Akhbar i Aam published an article that angered Kashmiri Pandits. They took out a procession at Khanqahi Moula Srinagar and entered the shrine sanctorium without removing their shoes. It was bitterly resented by Muslims.
a vast stretch of land valuing crores of rupees was donated by Saududdin Shawl to the local masjid.
Viceroy’s Visit
In the aftermath of these developments and the subsequent strong-arm tactics of the administration, various Muslim organisations sent a number of telegrams to Lord Reading, the Viceroy of India. On July 22, 1924, a fact-based letter was sent drawing his attention towards the pitiable plight of the Muslim subjects. There was a response. Lord Reading visited Kashmir between October 14 and October 28.
The Viceroy was taken in a river boat procession by the Dogra administration but the “Muslim crowds exhibited black flags bearing inscriptions such as “our mosques desecrated” and “how long will Muslims be trodden down by Hindus in this country”. A memorandum was drafted and signed at the residence of Khanyar’s Abdul Aziz Zaildar by prominent Muslim leaders.
Agha Haidar, an advocate from Lucknow who later became a judge of the Lahore High Court, who was staying in a houseboat at Nigeen, was helpful in shaping the final draft of the memorandum. It was how Khawja Saududdin Shawl came in contact with Agha Haidar.
History has recorded that Shawl was the main person behind bringing together all prominent Muslims, including Khawaja Hassan Shah Naqashbandi, Mirwaizi Kashmir Molvi Ahmedullah of Jamia Masjid, Molvi Hamdani, Agha Syed Hussain Shah Jalali, Mufti Sharief ud Din, Molvi Attiqullah and Haji Jaffar Khan, for a common cause of Muslims. The unanimous decision was to highlight and submit a formal memorandum to the Viceroy of India, the Paramount Guest. As the government disallowed Muslim leaders from meeting with Viceroy, Shawl took the memorandum and presented it to him when he visited a local handicraft shop. This was the act that made Shawl the “father of the modern political movement of Kashmir”.
The memorandum flagged demands including a due share in jobs to be given to Muslims and proprietary rights of the peasants in the land to be recognised. The memorandum did not get fetch anything to the majority but it gave a fillip to their demands and grievances first time “in an organised manner”. Some of the prominent originators of the memorandum met with punishment by the Dogra monarch. A Muslim Tehsildar, Noor Shah Naqshbandi, was dismissed from service; Khawaja Hassan Shah Naqashbandi’s Jagir which fetched him Rs 4000 annually was confiscated; Syed Hussain Shah Jalali was dismissed from the office of Zaildar and Mirwaizi Kashmir Molvi Ahmedullah of Jamia Masjid and Molvi Hamdani of Khaqah i Moula Srinagar were let off with a stern warning. Many demonstrators were summarily dealt with and punished.
Shawl Banished
On March 15, 1925, the house of Khawaja Saaduddin Shawl was surrounded by a contingent of 150 constables, one inspector and two sub-inspectors. He was shown an order of banishment from the State and taken in a police lorry to Kohala where he was dropped in British Punjab territory.
Khawaja’s expulsion caused considerable reaction and resentment among the Muslims. The Youngmen Muslim Association of Jammu in their meetings on March 7-9, 1925, condemned the action. These meetings were attended by Hasan Nizami of Delhi, Azmatullah of Lahore, and Molvi Mohammad Abdullah of Lahore.
On March 16, Mirwaiz e Kashmir, Molvi Ahmadullah of Jamia Masjid in a powerful and emotional speech highlighted that the people must be alive to the treatment that the State meted out to the Muslim subjects. It made the whole gathering burst into wails loudly. The atmosphere was filled with gloom of shrieks and sighs. Kashmir Muslim Conference, Akhbar i Kashmir Lahore and Anjuman i Kashmiri Musalman, Gujranwala, condemned the State action against the signatories to the memorandum.
Khawaja Saududdin Shawl (left), Ghulam Ahmad Ashai and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah at Shawl House in Khanyar, somewhere before 1947.
In exile, Shawl stayed at the residence of Mian Nizamuddin of Lahore who was known as Rais e Azam of the walled city. Shawls had friendly and business ties with the Mian family of Lahore. The two families used to visit each other whenever time permitted. Shawl also stayed for some time with some Sethi family of Peshawar. Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal, an eminent poet, theologian and thinker, often used to come to the house of Mian Nizamuddin where he also met Shawl.
One day, in a gathering of literary persons at Mian Nizamuddin’s residence, Iqbal was impressed with Shawl’s understanding of Shikwa and Jawab e Shikwa, two master poems of Iqbal. Shawl remained a great Iqbal follower. His banishment boomeranged as Shawl developed a close association with several prominent organisations of United Punjab and at a number of meetings the State action was condemned.
Following the Raj Tilak of Maharaja Hari Singh in February 1926, the ban on Shawl was lifted. However, Shawl did not give up his desperation to get some justice for his people.
Reading Room Party
By 1930, a group of young Muslim students after completing their academic courses at Aligarh and Punjab Universities floated a Muslim Reading Room Party at Fateh Kadal, Srinagar to discuss the issues pertaining to Muslims. These young men included Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah also. This Party held public meetings. It coincided with Unjuman-e-Nusratul Islam Rajouri Kadal Srinagar, Khanqashis of Khanqah-e-Moala, Srinagar and even Ahmadiyas organising themselves for pressing forth the demands of the majority community before the Maharaja who had asked them for nominating their representatives.
On June 21, 1931, Ghulam Ahmad Ashai announced the names of seven Muslim representatives who were tasked to bring the grievances of the Muslim community before the Maharaja. They included Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah, Molvi Mohammad Hamdani, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Ghulam Ahmad Ashai, Syed Hassan Shah Jalali, Munshi Shahabuddin and Khawja Sauduuddin Shawl.
Historian Bazaz terms the meeting “the most important meeting in the history of the movement” which had brought two Mirwaizs together and all Muslims across sectarian barriers, “had joined hands and the whole community was unanimous in its demands”. Shias and Sunni Muslims had after four hundred years of bloody sectarian feuds first time mended the fences with each other for a common cause.
New Leadership
The senior Muslim representatives did their best to build the community’s young leaders. “Mirwaiz had introduced me to the audience at Jamia Masjid as “my leader”. He asked them to deem anything I said as his own utterance,” Sheikh Abdullah later wrote of these days.
This “opportunity” was “grabbed” by Sheikh “with both hands”, as Saraf and Gulzar wrote. Such a broad declaration and opportunity given by Mirwaiz, to “a simple man” (according to Taffazul Hussain, Sheikh’s biographer) and “an honest man of simple thinking” (as Saraf wrote) evinces the trust Mirwaiz and other leaders had reposed in young Sheikh, the leader of the new generation.
In his memoir, Choudhary Ghulam Abbas writes that the Mirwaiz family of Rajouri Kadal Srinagar was the most influential family of religious preachers of Kashmir and that Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah’s introduction of Sheikh Abdullah to the public helped him build his stature considerably. Saraf writes that some elders, Saaduddin Shawl, Molvi Mohammad Abdullah and Munshi Shabuddin, during the 1931 political awakening of Kashmiri Muslims, helped Sheikh build his image among the masses.
Key Hub
Shawl’s residence became the hub of political activities before and after July 13, 1931, the Martyrs Day, when 22 Muslim civilians were massacred outside Central Jail, Srinagar. Personally, Shawl remained actively involved with political developments and was part of the deputations that called on the Maharaja after July 1931 seeking his intervention and redressal to the long pending grievances of Muslim subjects.
In September 1934, Shawl joined the Azad Muslim Conference of Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah, which is clearly borne out by the fact that he was fielded as a candidate for Amira Kadal Constituency by the party in the first electoral process of the State, for Praja Sabha, against G M Sadiq. He lost to Sadiq of the Muslim Conference. A staunch communist, Sadiq had based himself on the popular political movement.
Mirwaiz Ally?
A question arises – why Shawl separated himself from the mainstream Muslim Conference? No exact answer is known. “It seems from circumstantial evidence that the gradual independent working of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was not to his liking,” writes Saraf. “It also seems that he was psychologically more inclined towards Mir Waiz.”
During his brief Pakistan tour in 1964, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah is seen (from L to R) with Mirwaiz Mohammad Yousuf Shah, Choudhary M Afzal Cheema (the then Deputy Speaker of Pakistan assembly), Choudhary Ghulam Abas and Pakistan President General Ayub Khan.
Subsequent developments might have vindicated Shawl in making a decision early.
On the flip side of it, it needs a mention that Shawl was closely related to the Mirwaizs. A prominent religious preacher and political activist of the 1930s, Molvi Nooruddin of the Mirwaiz Party was the son-in-law (damad) of Shawl. Interestingly Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Yousuf Shah was the brother-in-law (Behnoyi) of Nooruddin.
Besides, Shawls have close familial relations with Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq too.
For most of his life, Shawl remained away from the so-called “nationalists”, “neo-merchants” and “educated-elite” of that era.
The Demise
Khawaja Saaduddin Shawl passed away on October 25, 1955 (10 Rabi-ul-Awal, 1375 AH) at the age of 82. He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard adjoining Thong e Masjid. He was the first among the dead of the Shawl family who was buried in the ancestral graveyard that was carved out of a large land property by Sanaullah Shawl personally.
On the gravestone of Saududdin Shawl, the words “Bani Tahreeki Azadi Kashmir” were inscribed. These four words have interesting detail.
It was Ghulam Jeelani Shawl, son of Khawaja Saaduddin Shawl, who, in a condolence gathering at their Khanyar residence publicly announced that he had received a message from Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah from jail suggesting that on the tombstone of the deceased the words “Bani Tahreeki Azadi Kashmir” should be inscribed.
Shawl was survived by two sons, Ghulam Jeelani Shawl (died in 1982] and Innayatullah Shawl [1988] and five daughters.
Lt Gen Brij Mohan Kaul, the Lahore-born Kashmiri Pandit soldier, was a young colonel when he was posted in Kashmir in 1948 spring to manage the JK Militia. Though having a direct line to the Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Kaul was shifted out in October. In his memoir, Kaul details the war and his brush-up with Sheikh Mohamad Abdullah
Zoji La 1947: Kashmiri men taking the ammunition to the Indian army posts for fighting with the Pakistani intruders in 1947-48.
On 25 April (1948), I flew from Delhi to Kashmir to take over my new assignment. Maj Gen KS Thimayya was in the same plane to assume command of our forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Two days later I accompanied Thimayya to Poonch. The flight to this garrison was, as always, a tricky affair because the aircraft had to take a precarious turn over a nullah and come tortuously onto its airstrip, skirting dangerously past enemy positions nearby.
Thimayya heard that a large number of warring Pathans were meeting in a jirgah (tribal council), not far from Poonch. He conveyed this significant information to the Army and Air Headquarters, Delhi and asked for an air strike on this sitting target. Generals Bucher and Gracey, the Indian and the Pakistan Army Chiefs, then got in touch with each other. No one knows what they talked.
At the end of their pow-wow, Bucher warned our government that if an air strike was carried out on these Pathans, Pakistan might take this reprisal seriously enough to declare war on us. (As if we were playing cards with Pakistan, as things stood!) So these Pathans were left untouched only to fight us wherever they chose and we preferred to take advice in this matter from a foreign General rather than one of our own, such as Cariappa or Thimayya.
(During one of my discussions with Nehru about this time, I suggested that we should hit the Pakistan bases. Nehru said he was not in favour of extending our operational activities against that country because he had been assured by his advisers that Pakistan would collapse financially in a matter of months as its creaking economy could not bear the burdens of a war for long. I remember telling him that one of the major Power blocs would ensure that Pakistan does not ‘disappear’ on account of money. No country, however small, was allowed to ‘die’ by interested parties, because of financial difficulties. It was to the advantage of one country or another to come to her aid ‘in her hour of need’. Later events proved that Pakistan grew stronger, and not weaker, with the passage of time.)
In Uri War Theatre
I was driving Thimayya’s jeep on the way to Uri. There was a nip in the air and the fragrance of pines around. As we reached Mahura, we were warned by the local commander that between there and our destination the enemy was sniping the road from the other side of the river. It was customary for a certain senior commander here to travel in such conditions in an armoured car for personal safety. Thimayya, however, thought a commander should move about in battle within view of his men and not sheltered inside an armoured car. We, therefore, resumed our journey in a jeep, driven by me, and as we were turning a corner on this winding uphill road, a South Indian soldier came rushing towards us and blocked our way. He was hatless and dishevelled and belonged to a Madras battalion, located not far from where we were. He said his Commanding Officer, Lt Col Menon, had just been ambushed by the enemy.
Hamla Awar Khabardaar: Womens Defence Corps in Kashmir, a 1947 photograph
Early that morning, a ‘friendly’ Bakarwal, (a nomad) in reality an enemy agent, woke up Lt Col Menon and told him that the Pakistanis had overnight infiltrated up to a point adjacent to his battalion headquarters and that if required he could show him where this was. The Colonel, a gallant and inquisitive man, at once agreed to accompany his informant and to get to grips with the enemy. They had barely gone a few hundred yards, when the Bakarwal himself took cover behind a boulder and signalled Menon to carry on.
Poor Menon unsuspectingly walked straight into an enemy trap and along with some of his men was shot dead. The man who had related this account was the odd survivor.
General Thimayya and I, on hearing this story, jumped out of the jeep and rushed up towards the scene of this action. It was perhaps not prudent to do so as we might have been ambushed also, but then every action is not logical in war. Thimayya was anxious to see where one of his subordinates had lost his life and set a good example to others in the field in doing so.
Grand Welcome
When I first reached Srinagar, Sheikh Abdullah, arranged for me a huge rally of the Militia I was taking over. He was there himself and introduced me to this force, relating how hurriedly it was raised when Pakistan attacked Kashmir and describing brave deeds by many Kashmiris including Zadu who sacrificed his life near Tithwal.
(I found this force needed brushing up in discipline, tactics and shooting. I, accordingly, took adequate steps to raise its military standards. I must admit, however, that to have initially organized this Militia in a crisis from a scratch was an excellent effort on the part of the Kashmir leaders.)
In Handwara
The Army High Command decided to launch a two-pronged attack on the enemy: one near Uri and the other near Handwara so that both the drives should meet near Domel-Muzzaflfarabad. I was asked to commit two Militia infantry battalions to these operations. In view of the urgency of the occasion, I hastened to prepare the requisite units to participate in these two offensives. I found, however, that many of them needed improvement physically, in handling their weapons or in minor tactics. Yet, they had to make a start sometime. So they took up positions with 161-Brigade at Uri and 163-Brigade at Handwara.
One of the historic 1947-48 war photographs taken by legendary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Thimayya and I went up to the Nagi Picquet in 163 Brigade commanded by Brigadier (now Lt Gen) Harbakhsh Singh. It was situated on the top of a spur, half of which was held by us and the other half by Pakistanis. We struggled up the hill, and passed through some dead ground which the enemy was sniping.
The operation in Handwara began on 16 May. A day before, a man called Nazir, once a forest officer and now at the disposal of the army, voluntarily went out in disguise to penetrate the enemy’s forward-defended localities and bring back whatever operational information he could. After staking his life in a deadly situation, he returned the next day triumphantly, with invaluable ‘intelligence’ about the enemy.
Harbakhsh then launched his attack with 163 Brigade boldly and pushed the enemy back to Tithwal. I remained during this operation with him and the troops on the 16th and 17th as I had one of my Militia battalions here. But for lack of logistical support, he would have exploited this success further.
Uri Battles
I reached Uri on 18 May, the plan was for 161 Brigade to capture the heights of Islamabad feature held by the enemy opposite Uri and resume our advance to Domel.
It was reliably learnt that the enemy used to virtually abandon his position at the top of the Islamabad feature, holding it lightly and spend the nights at lower and warmer altitudes, on the reverse slopes. It was accordingly decided to capture this feature by a surprise night attack and the Second Dogras were entrusted with this job.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Rakumari Amrit Kaur and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Deputy Prime Minister of India during the proceedings of the annual meeting of the National Conference at Srinagar on September 24, 1949.
A day before the attack, – when reached Uri – our men, were caught in the enemy mortar and artillery bombardment and suffered many casualties. The Brigade Commander and I, as also some others, had a taste of some shelling as we lay trying to locate enemy positions in an area called the ‘Fort’. On the D day, the Dogras quietly assembled near the Uri bridge, held their breath and looked at their watches. There was pin-drop silence and an air of excitement. At the tick of H hour, which was ten at night, they slipped across the Forming-up place on their tip-toes and started going up the massive Islamabad feature. The plan was to storm its heights before first light and catch the enemy unawares. But, somehow, our men look longer to crawl up this position and, in the meantime, the enemy, getting scent of their advent, stole a march and were ready to give us a hot reception from the top.
When the Dogras, instead of capturing their objective, got involved in a battle, the Brigade Commander had to send 66 Rajputana Rifles to retrieve this situation later.
If the delay in the capture of the Islamabad feature had not taken place and the operation had come off as originally planned, we would have had the enemy on the run and might well have captured Domel. Now he got time to consolidate his positions all along the route, anticipated our moves and frustrated our plans.
During the previous night, before the Rajputana Rifles saved the situation, the Brigade Commander and I sat all night in a forward position, frozen in the cold and wondering how the attack of 2 Dogra was progressing. As the Commanding Officer was hugging the roadside and was miles away from the men he commanded, he was out of the picture. He was, therefore, in no position to send back any news of how the attack was going, whilst we waited to hear from him. During the same night, we saw a multitude of lights going up the Haji Pir Pass which confused us completely. Was the enemy coming upon us from our rear or the flank, or was he withdrawing to some other point? Later, we discovered that it was only a diversionary move and a ruse on his part.
During the next three days or so, I found myself amidst a ding-dong battle which followed. The enemy had set up a strong position astride the main road. Lt Col (now Maj Gen) ‘Sparrow’ Rajinder Singh and I were standing near a point swept by enemy fire when Lt Col Oberoi of the Gorkhas came up from Thimayya’s headquarters and asked us where the Brigade Commander was, as he had an important message for him. We told him Brigadier Sen was near a hut just beyond, but as the enemy machine-gun fire prevented anyone moving further, we suggested he should wait and we would all go together. Oberoi ridiculed our caution and proceeded forward. In a fit of bravado, Rajinder
Singh and I also staggered ahead. We had hardly covered a few yards along the road when a burst of machine-gun fire whizzed past us, over our heads, missing us narrowly. We fell on the ground in double-quick time to get below the level of this hail of bullets. Oberoi, a brave officer, now saw, good-humouredly, that our earlier warning to him had some meaning.
7 Sikh were given orders to advance on the left of the road by eight on the night of 21 May and capture a certain height. They came under heavy fire and could not make much headway. Our main effort, on the road, also encountered stiff opposition. Our right hook by the Kumaonis, led gallantly by Lt Col (now Lt Gen) MM Khanna, however, went well but had to be halted lest it out-stretched itself logistically. The Brigade, as a whole, came to a standstill after a little more fruitless fighting and our advance petered out not far from the 58th mile-stone on the Uri-Domel Road.
Thimayya had made a bold bid for Domel. He was a good leader himself, and though some of his subordinate commanders fought well, he failed to capture his prize.
A Crisis In Ladakh
In August, a frantic signal was received from the Leh garrison commander, Lt Col Prithi Chand, to say that as he had been told by the authorities to fight to the last round and the last man, he must comment that though he had the will, he did not have the means to do so. He added that unless his shortages in men, ammunition, rations and clothing were made up, he must inform all concerned clearly that he would not be able to hold on to Leh for long, in view of overwhelming enemy pressure.
Tribal fighters who were captured in Kashmir in 1947
Thimayya sympathized with all concerned when they were in such a predicament. I had come to see him in some other connection, soon after he had received this signal. When he read it out to me, I volunteered to go to Leh so that I could report to him objectively what the situation was like. He agreed to my request and the next morning I flew to Leh.
The air route to Ladakh ran via Zoji which was still in enemy hands. When our Dakota was flying above the pass, the enemy opened machine-gun fire, hit one of its wings but the plucky pilot landed us at Leh safely a few minutes later.
Leh was 11500 feet high and was surrounded by picquets up to altitudes of 16,000 feet. In those days during their halts at Leh, our aircraft never switched off their engines, lest they froze and flew back to Srinagar within fifteen minutes.
On arrival at Ladakh’s capital, I met Lt Col Prithi Chand, who had occupied Leh overland earlier during winter, a creditable feat. He was a gallant and colourful soldier. We had about 400 men here as against the enemy’s 1,300. There were two companies of 2/4 Gorkhas and some battered remnants of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces who had been withdrawn from Pakistan and Kargil.
The garrison was woefully short of supplies and clothing. Cooking and boiling water at this height was a problem. Men were worried about their families from whom they had received no mail for months and we had cases of septic wounds due to lack of medical facilities. Yet, even in these circumstances, there were examples of individual gallantry.
I also met here Major Hari Chand who was commanding a company of 2/8 Gorkhas. He was a fearless soul, having many successful actions to his credit. Our garrison had only small arms and little ammunition. The enemy had, however, hauled up a 37-inch howitzer and placed it at a commanding position which Hari Chand promised to neutralize. He caught the enemy napping, raided this position, destroyed the gun and killed its crew who were fast asleep in a shelter by its side. For this and other acts of gallantry, and having seen the conditions in which he was operating, I initiated a recommendation, to General Thimayya, who supported it to higher authorities for the award of Mahavir chakra which he was duly granted.
Subedar Bhim Chand was at Tharu, about twelve miles beyond Leh where I met him. He had become a hero with the local villagers as he had saved their villages from many enemy onslaughts. One day he heard that his wife had died in his village, leaving behind two children. He was very upset to hear this news and asked for short leave to settle his domestic affairs. The leave, of course, was promptly sanctioned but within minutes the villagers at Tharu, a military stronghold, flocked around their saviour and asked him to postpone his departure as they feared another enemy attack and as they thought only he could save them.
He was on the horns of a dilemma: should he go to his children, who had lost their mother or should he remain at his post, in a critical situation, and save many innocent people here? After much deliberation, and with a lump in his throat, he decided to stay on in Tharu, for a few days more, and stick to his post. And in the ensuing battle, he lived up to the hopes of his admirers. For this devotion to duty and other acts of bravery, I forwarded to the higher authorities a recommendation for the grant of Vir Chakra which he was awarded.
After living with this beleaguered garrison and seeing their grim situation and the gallant way they were standing up to it, 1 returned to HQ 19 Division by air and reported to Maj Gen Thimayya what I had seen.
Ramban Kidnappings
Two young Dogra girls, Sita and Sukhnu, were abducted from village Sumbal near Ramban by some Bakarwals. When their father appealed for assistance to Lt Col Ranbir Singh, MC, the Commanding Officer of a Rajput Battalion located near Banihal, he, in his chivalrous attitude, readily rose to the occasion and detailed a party of soldiers to bring back the girls from wherever they were. In their quest, they came into clash with armed Bakarwals and without retrieving the girls were apprehended themselves.
An inquiry was then ordered by Delhi to bring to surface all facts in this case and I was appointed its President. Abdullah did not cooperate with this court in many ways. We had difficulty in getting some witnesses.
Abdullah tried to make a political issue out of this case. He threatened to resign and warned Nehru that unless stern action was taken against a group of Indian troops (on charges which were never proved), ‘the repercussions on the population of Kashmir would be serious.’ This was his favourite argument but Government of India earned on the inquiry all the same.
It was alleged these two girls had been abducted from their village, moved from pillar to post on foot over the Pir Panchal range, and ‘married’ to several Bakarwals in turn during the last few months. I also understood that one Shambhoo Nath had been arrested by Abdullah on a fake allegation and was now under arrest in Srinagar. In those days if Abdullah could level no other plausible charge against men he did not approve, he used to label them as RSS (Rashtriya Sevak Sangh) workers. He could then punish them on ‘secular’ grounds.
We eventually managed to get Shambhoo Nath before us for giving evidence and heard his harrowing tale. He had been President of the National Conference at Verinag and just because he acted as a guide to some Indian troops, in the recent affray, he had lost his ‘importance’ all of a sudden, was labelled as an RSS worker and jailed. He alleged he was made to march bare-footed and shackled. Shambhoo Nath showed me deep marks of the beatings (by the authorities) he had received on various parts of his body so that he should be compelled to confess imaginary crimes he had never committed. History seemed to have receded back to mediaeval times. I reported this case to Sardar Patel informally.
When Shambhoo Nath was eventually released, he was afraid his life would be in danger in Kashmir. I, therefore, got him a job in a factory near Delhi and slipped him out of Kashmir in a military lorry. I then wrote a scathing report on this case which went through proper channels to Government. I heard that Abdullah approached General Bucher for help. Bucher ignored my report and recommendation and initiated, instead, a case against our Rajput soldiers on various charges. These men were, however, released later for want of evidence. Bucher also tried to be vindictive towards Lt Col Ranbir Singh, MC, Commanding Officer of the Rajputs and Brigadier (later Lt General) Bikram Singh, the Brigade Commander, to placate Abdullah.
Gen Francis Robert Roy Bucher
General Bucher’s appointment as India’s Commander-in-Chief was far from well-received in the Indian Army. Some renowned British officers like Lockhart and Russel had not been appointed to this post perhaps because they were independent and outspoken, Bucher, on the other hand, had a mediocre military record, having commanded nothing much in his career.
I had come from Kashmir to Delhi to attend a conference and was having breakfast with Nehru. After the normal chit-chat, I raised before him, with due apologies, a delicate topic; whether it was proper that Roy Bucher whilst he was India’s C-in-C should occasionally ring up Gracey, Pakistan’s Army Chief, exchange operational information mutually and discuss with him various operational matters over the telephone whilst the two countries were at war.
What kind of a war was being conducted, in which the two opposing Chiefs seemed to be hand in glove? I also asked whether it was correct for Bucher to have resisted an air strike by us against the concentration of a large number of militant Pathans in the Poonch Sector, specially when they were bound to pose a threat to us later if spared then. Whatever the reasons, was it ever fair to spare the enemy in war, when we knew that he would try to kill us instead, if he could. I ended up by saying that I thought Bucher enjoyed little prestige in the Indian Army nor did he wield much influence in the British War Office. What, then, was his function in life, I asked. I also remarked that, if Bucher went to London, as I had heard he was going, on a procurement mission for military equipment, I was sure that as he enjoyed little influence with the British authorities in UK, he would bring back hardly anything we needed.
Nehru took my tirade against Bucher with a pinch of salt and did not encourage any further conversation. He often did that when he did not wish to discuss an unpleasant topic. I heard later that though Bucher did go to UK on an urgent procurement mission (for military equipment) he returned from there almost empty-handed, bringing back with him many ifs and buts. When I asked Nehru, how Bucher had fared in London, he admitted he had not done too well.
When Bucher left and Cariappa became India’s Commander-in-Chief a few months later, this step was universally approved in the Indian Army.
Sheikh’s Interventions
I had quite a rough passage with Abdullah when I found him interfering with the Militia which I commanded. Pressure was put in cases of promotions and discipline.
Prior to the Security Council meeting at which consideration of India’s complaint against Pakistan concerning the situation in Jammu and Kashmir resumes, Fernand van Langenhove (Belgium), President of the Security Council, meets with representatives of both parties in the dispute. (L to R) Mr Van Langenhove; Faris el-Khouri, Syria’s representative on the Council; Sheikh Mohamed Abdullah, President of All-Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and head of the Kashmir State Administration; Ambassador M. A. H. Ispanhani, Pakistan; Sir Mohammed Zafrullah Khan, Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs, and N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, India’s Minister without Portfolio. A UN photograph dated January 15, 1948 taken at Lake Success, UN.
As I brooked no interference, I became a persona non grata with Abdullah. One day a militia soldier had been arrested for a serious crime and was to be tried by a Court-martial whilst I was away to an operational front on an Id day. Abdullah ordered my subordinates through his staff, in my absence to release this man as a part of general amnesty on that auspicious Day. I later heard that the culprit, instead of being given exemplary punishment, as he should have received, was given by Abdullah an assignment in the police. I created much din and noise but it was like crying in the wilderness. No brass hat took any notice of what I said. Politics was reigning supreme in military affairs.
A few days later, a soldier who had been convicted for a certain crime went on hunger strike in protest. Here was a political stunt creeping into the army again. I, therefore, thought I better deal with this sort of tendency without mercy. Accordingly, I gave orders to Lt Col GS Puri, my competent staff officer, that this man, even if he gave up his hunger strike, should be given no food for a day or two thereafter and kept alive on water. It would do him some good if he learnt a lesson the hard way.
In the meantime, while he refused to eat, I made him run around a sports ground with a heavy load on his back, even if he malingered. When this ‘political’ soldier nearly passed out, I was asked by one of Abdullah’s spokesmen to deal with him leniently.
I told him I was only discouraging indiscipline from creeping into our ranks and that no pity need be shown in cases where an example was to be set. But when one decides that principles are more important than propriety, it is not uncommon to be misjudged.
Kishtwar Crisis
In mid-summer. Sheikh Abdullah sent for me and said that according to his information, there was much communal tension in Kishtwar and that I should therefore take a J and K Militia unit composed of a particular community there in order to restore the confidence of the local population.
The medieval-era guns were installed on the main gate of the Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner’s office.
I told him that it was customary for us not to nominate troops by communities in the Indian Army and allotted them only specific tasks; and that as such, I would take with me any troops that were available. I think Abdullah
reported this case to higher military authorities—as if I was doing something wrong—and I was asked to give various explanations. When, however, they heard that a communal tinge was being given to a simple case, they did not interfere with me any further
I understood that Adalat Khan, an ex-Lt Colonel of the Jammu and Kashmir Forces had migrated to Pakistan earlier but had now been recalled by Abdullah and made Administrator of Kishtwar. Mrs Krishna Mehta, who was working in Nehru’s household and whose father lived in Kishtwar gave me a totally different version to that which Abdullah did.
I marched with about a hundred men of the 12 Punjab Paratroopers from Batote and after covering 65 miles in torrential rain reached Kishtwar, in two and a half days. Lt Col (now Brigadier) ‘Kim’ Yadav was commanding a militia battalion there. He was ADC to Lord Louis Mountbatten during 1946-7 and an outstanding officer. I found great dissatisfaction prevailing in Kishtwar, not as painted by Abdullah but to the contrary and that Adalat Khan was certainly not proving to be an ideal administrator.
After taking some immediate and salutary steps through Kim Yadav which restored public confidence, I returned to Srinagar via Pir Panchal. But as it took me 3/4 days to march back, before I reached the Kashmir capital, Adalat Khan had, in the meantime, sent a report to Abdullah, complaining against my visit to Kishtwar and the ‘highhanded’ actions I had taken. He had done this as a defensive measure because his maladministration had been exposed for the first time.
When Abdullah confronted me with this allegation, I told him it was baseless and that I had done nothing which could be termed improper. He, however, sent in an exaggerated report to Nehru, threatening that he could no longer assure him of Kashmir’s continued political support if cases of ‘this’ nature were allowed by India to take place. Also, that some of his ministers were threatening to resign on this issue {sic), Nehru was naturally indignant, not knowing what the facts were, called me down to Delhi forthwith and without hearing my side of the story, said angrily: ‘Seikh Abdullah had conveyed to me the gist of your recent actions in Kishtwar. I just don’t understand. What do you think you are? If you go on like this, you will lose Kashmir for India one day.’
‘But do you know the facts, sir?’ I asked.
‘It is enough for me to know that you have fallen out with Sheikh Abdullah, whatever the circumstances. We cannot afford to be at loggerheads with him. I thought you of all people knew better, he said loudly, fuming with rage. I kept quiet because I thought that if facts were not important and politics was above conscience, I had nothing to say.
‘Why don’t you say something?’ Nehru asked.
I was sulking now and said: ‘Sir, If you don’t want to know facts and have already made up your mind to judge my actions in Kishtwar as wrong, without giving me a hearing, there is no point in my saying anything.’
Nehru was at the point of saying something more when he suddenly left the room in a huff.
The next morning Nehru sent for me again. He now greeted me warmly and asked me to relate to him the details of what I had seen in Kishtwar recently. He seemed a different man. I wonder if someone had spoken to him in the meantime. Anyway, I began by saying that he himself had sent me to Kashmir, at the recommendation of the Jammu and Kashmir Government, on my return from America, for national considerations. As for Kishtwar, I was sent there at Abdullah’s request. I went on to say that I had by personal observation in Kishtwar, found that mismanagement of administration prevailed in that isolated district where many of our service rifles had fallen in the hands of unauthorized individuals who, with these and other weapons, had done much mischief; where several young girls had been abducted forcibly and married to undesirable men; and where many other similar crimes had been committed.
I ended up by saying that I was bringing this and some other cases to official notice so that stern action could be taken lest this state of affairs under Abdullah if not put right, may have a comeback on us one day. I then took this opportunity and related to him many other undesirable activities going on in Kashmir under Abdullah.
Lt Gen BM Kaul
Nehru heard all I had to say with patience. After a long pause he explained to me the various baffling aspects of the Kashmir politics and the need for us to remain friendly with Sheikh Abdullah. He said he was pained to hear what I had to say but, for various practical considerations, there was little he could do in the matter. He then said that the rub of the whole thing was that Abdullah had asked for my removal from Kashmir as he found my presence a hindrance in his work. Nehru said though he felt I was not to blame in any specific way, it was difficult for him to ignore the request of Abdullah, who was, after all, the Prime Minister of Kashmir and with whom I had fallen out.
He said it was easier for him to remove an individual like me than to remove Abdullah.
Nehru reminded me that if an individual came in conflict with the head of a government, it was the individual who usually went. He told me that consequently, it would be necessary for me to be posted away from Kashmir, though I would be kept as near it as possible. He then sent a letter to the Army Chief confirming this decision and sent me a copy. I left Kashmir in October 1948. I had learnt much there in a war which had kept swinging like a pendulum and lived in a political situation with hardly any parallel.
(These passages were excerpted from General BM Kaul’s memoir, The Untold Story, which was published in 1967.)
In the 40 years of its existence, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), a deemed university, has emerged as a key research and healthcare facility for the well-being of people within and outside Kashmir. While the scope of improvements is vast, interventions in its autonomous character may neither go well with the society it serves nor the institution it has evolved into, reports Yawar Hussain
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on one of his initial visits to SKIMS after the institute started functioning. Sheikh was the Chief Minister.
For millions of people within and around Kashmir, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) is the only go-to place for sickness. Over the last around 40 years, it has emerged as a major institution that apart from treating millions of people is a major address for research and medical education.
“The work done at SKIMS on viral hepatitis, iodine deficiency, and influenza is global in nature and some of the world-shaking treatments in gastrointestinal bleed and other things that started here are now in vogue the world over,” a senior doctor who has spent his entire career at SKIMS said. “Can you believe that one of our seniors has 72000 citations in his field?”
SKIMS has time-tested collaborations in research with some of the best health research institutions in the world. “The importance of the work done at SKIMS is acknowledged to the extent that SKIMS incumbent director is the vice chair of Middle-East and Africa Influenza Surveillance Network (MENA-ISN) despite the fact that it has nothing much to do with Jammu and Kashmir,” the doctor said.
On the patient care front, SKIMS, insiders say has many firsts in the region. “We have 500 transplants to our credit and we have started bone marrow transplant as well,” the doctor said. “Our only problem is that the brand that SKIMS has emerged into is triggering massive footfalls and we neither have a right nor an ethical ground to stop it. It sometimes leads to problems.”
The Genesis
For a political restart, it was a key confidence-building measure (CBM) After the release of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’s founder and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah from years of captivity and just ahead of the Indira Abdullah Accord on February 24, 1975, the Sher-i-Kashmir National Medical Institute Trust (SKNMIT) was floated on May 19, 1973 by some of his friends for setting up a hospital in Srinagar’s Soura, the ancestral residence of Kashmir’s towering leader.
SKIMS Launch: In sitting row are Late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Late Dr Ali Jan and Dr Ajit Kumar Nagpal (the first director of SKIMS)
The SKNMIT’s creation paved the way for the commissioning of the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) a decade later. However, the construction of the premier health facility was not as smooth as the dates suggest.
In 1972, Jammu and Kashmir’s Housing Department acquired land measuring about 1000 kanals at Zoonimar village for the construction of a housing colony. Alternatively, the Jammu and Kashmir government had also been working on a plan of building a 500-bedded hospital at Soura.
The ‘Court’ History
The details of the evolution of this super-speciality hospital are part of a 2004 judgement of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court delivered in a petition challenging the government’s 2003 decision of taking over the hospital. It said some friends and admirers of the late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah had a meeting on November 21, 1972, in which they decided to set up a public charitable trust for the establishment of a Medical Institute at Srinagar.
In December 1972, Sheikh personally approached the Chief Minister, informing him that, on his birthday, some of his friends and admirers had presented to him a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for instituting a benevolent trust and that the consensus was on building a hospital. He sought the cooperation of the State Government and requested for leasing out 230 kanals and 13 marlas of land situated to the West of Soura, acquired by the Government and the Government dispensary that existed at Soura, adjacent to the land in question, as also a contribution towards construction and maintenance of the hospital. Sheikh was made the lifetime Chairman of the Trust and Syed Mir Qasim, the then Chief Minister of the State, was one of the ten trustees.
The State Cancer Centre at SKIMS in Srinagar. KL Image: Masood Hussain
However, Dr Ajit Nagpal, the founder Director of SKIMS said that the idea was conceived by Sheikh Abdullah in 1976 so that the long-pending health needs of Kashmir are met, which got instant approval from Indira Gandhi. Gandhi is said to have been in the mood to reward the Sheikh for signing the accord.
“I was deputed as the Director, SKIMS, from the PGI, Chandigarh,” remembers Dr Nagpal. “Indira Gandhi got advisers from all over the country for establishing the institute and setting up state-of-the-art facilities there.”
One of the key officers involved in the making of the SKIMS was Narinder Nath Vohra, then a young civil servant, who later became Delhi’s Kashmir interlocutor from 2003 to 2008 and later the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir twice till 2018. He was handpicked for the project by Gandhi. He would often fly on weekends to oversee the implementation.
Following Shiekh’s request, the Qasim government through order No 872-HD of 1973 sanctioned the leasing out to the Trust of 292 kanals and 8 marlas of land comprising khasra Nos 415, 423, 424, 422, 5381/421, 5582/421, 425, 426, 429, 432, 430, 431, 433, 434, 416, 417, 418, 419, 437, 438, 411, 412, 413, 414, 388, 5379/390, 5380/390, 391, 392, 389, 394, 410, 405, 407, 408, 409/1, 409/2, 406, 398, 399 situated at Zoonimar for a period of 40 years at a consolidated rent of Rs 101 per annum.
“Earlier to that, vide Government order No 627-HD/G of 1973 sanction was accorded to transfer of Government Dispensary situated at Soura comprising main dispensary building, its kitchen block, chowkidar’s shed along with land underneath and appurtenant thereto, to the Trust,” the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s 2004 judgement has recorded.
However, the judgement mentions that no lease deed was executed between the government and the trust in 1973. In May 1974, the government through order no 232-MD/G of 1974 sanctioned allotment of another government property, namely, the Drug Research Laboratory situated at Moulana Azad Road, Srinagar, to the Trust on rent which was to be decided later.
In February of 1975, the SKNMIT Chairman, Sheikh took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Congressman Syed Mir Qasim, following the accord, stepped down and paved way for Sheikh’s takeover of the Congress majority house.
Immediately after, the High Court records that RK Sawhney, the then Secretary of the Trust, wrote to Sheikh on May 22, 1975, requesting him to amend Government Order No 872-HD of 1973 so that the trust can be made absolute owner of the 292 kanals and 8 marlas of the land at Zoonimar.
SKIMS Soura
Sheikh government sought the opinion of its law department, which highlighted that the land could only be transferred to the Trust if the Transfer of Property Act is amended. In follow-up, the Health Department processed a memorandum for the cabinet which was approved by the Cabinet on February 17, 1976. This paved the way for amendment of the Transfer of Property Act, Samvat 1977 on the proposed lines.
There were a lot of turns and twists. The court held that on August 27, 1976, the Sheikh government through order No 214-ME transferred Kashmir Nursing Home, Gupkar road, Srinagar along with its land, buildings and annexe and all its assets, including equipment, to the Trust on the condition that it shall use the premises solely and exclusively for maintaining a Nursing Home and shall provide adequate representation to the government on its Management Committee.
On August 5, 1977, Revenue Secretary was appointed as the coordinator on the land transfer case. The approved cabinet memorandum, however, said the properties to be transferred to the Trust would be a donation from the Jammu and Kashmir government. An order was issued in 1978. “Though there was no formal deed of transfer of the aforesaid properties to the Trust executed yet, the Trust got the aforesaid properties mutated in its name in the revenue records,” the High Court judgment recorded.
On January 18, 1977, the government renamed the 500-bedded hospital as Institute of Medical Sciences. It followed an agreement, the other day, which termed the SKIMS as a “joint venture”. The agreement laid down the constitution of an all-powerful Governing Body with the Chief Minister as Chairman; cabinet ministers as members; as the Trust nominated four members to the body.
The hospital started functioning in 1983. The 2004 judgement, however, said that the entire funds were mobilised by the government.
There were many players in establishing the SKIMS. One of them is a legend. Dr Ali Muhammad Jan. A household name, he turned down the post of Principal Government Medical College, Srinagar, and instead remained busy with the Trust of which he was Vice Chairman.
Launch and Growth
On December 5, 1982, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science was formally inaugurated with an Outpatient Department and a 150-bed in-patient service.
This Institute soon started to flourish and the first batch of postgraduate students was enrolled in 1984 due to the hard work, grit and determination of its Director, Professor Anand. He retired in December 1985.
Dr Karan Singh being briefed about the construction of SKIMS when the multi floor structure was coming up.
Dr Nagpal, its founding Director said that Indira Gandhi in 1976, sent a team of 56 doctors outside Jammu and Kashmir to get trained in various specialities. “At the same time, Indira Gandhi got a group of reputed doctors from all over the country for heading faculties like neurosurgery, anaesthesia and cardiac surgery.”
Subsequently, the government relaxed norms for the Kashmir girls to undertake nursing courses. A scholarship of Rs 600 per month was offered to attract girls towards the nursing profession and strengthen medical assistance staff at the SKIMS.
“It was a Herculean task, but by the time we had the SKIMS building ready in 1982, the Board of Directors interviewed freshly trained doctors and inducted them into the staff,” said Dr Nagpal.
“I joined SKIMS on January 1, 1982. Back then, most of its faculty was from other states of India. I have been involved in establishing the first services at the hospital,” Dr M Sultan Khuroo, who eventually became the Director at the peak of militancy, said. He credits Dr Nagpal with building the institute structurally, and monetarily and envisioning it to be a tertiary care hospital. “Besides him, his successor, Dr BK Anand catapulted it to function as one of the best institutions in the country. There were 150 doctors under Anand.”
A Medical College
In 1989, the Jhelum Valley Medical College was started by the Trust as a private entity. However, in 1998, Farooq Abdullah-led government took over the college and named it as SKIMS Medical College, spread over around 400 kanals in Bemina.
“The trust started the hospital in 1993 but it did not pick up. The college had been running for seven years with three batches already graduating. The graduates of this college were unable to get any job or go for post-graduation pending the MCI recognition. To safeguard the interest of students the newly elected government of Dr Farooq Abdullah in a historic decision took over and attached this institute with the SKIMS Soura in 1998.”
An operation in progress. This is a well-equipped operation theatre of 1980s that is still n service.
The then Director SKIMS Soura, Dr Mehraj ud Din appointed Dr Yaqoob Khairadi as vice principal, which paved the way for the recruitment of faculty, nursing staff and other paramedical staff in various departments. Prof M Afzal Wani the next principal laid the foundation of new hostels and made policy decisions for the college.
Following the takeover by the government, the dysfunctional departments were streamlined and the plan was made to develop the whole campus on the requirement of a full-fledged Medical College based on MCI requirements.
Earlier on August 19, 1983, the government through an act of legislature had accorded the deemed university status to SKIMS.
“Its growth was swift. Till 1989 it grew much faster than any other health facility in India. We worked extraordinarily hard to make turn it into Deemed University. There were many medical procedures which set precedent in the institution itself,” Dr Khuroo said.
Tumultuous 1990s
In the tumultuous 1990s, the SKIMS played a crucial part in emerging as the last address for survival, especially for trauma patients. There were days when the bullet-hit or the splinter-splattered people would not get beds in the hospital and doctors had to work non-stop round the clock.
“During the 1990s, SKIMS doctors despite being ill-treated at their hospital by unwanted guests performed their duties with full dedication and sincerity,” the erstwhile adviser to Lt Governor, Farooq Khan told the gathering on SKIMS 37 Raising Day. He was a police officer heading the encounter-insurgency unit. “I personally know that during the turbulent ’90s, the institute (SKIMS) was affected very badly. Most of you who were there in the 90s may recall who used to run the institution. It was not the Director SKIMS. Some unwanted guests sitting in one of your rooms used to virtually run the show…SKIMS professionals were maltreated, they were harassed, but they continued to perform their duties. That tells you about fabulous work their teachers have done, who had trained them.”
Dr Khuroo said that unfortunately, after the 1990s the faculty plummeted from 250 to less than 60 as many migrated. “At times it plummeted to 40.”
To cater to footfall with fewer human resources, according to Khuroo, they had to get people vertically within the state at a fast pace as it was an urgent need.
“We could not repair equipment as people were unwilling to come to Kashmir and even buy new ones. We were badly affected due to it,” he said.
During his tenure as Director SKIMS, times were hard. “The local faculty kept the institutions functional along with thousands of employees. Many people including myself had to migrate in 1996 besides Pandits due to deteriorating security conditions. The local young faculty kept it functioning.”
The 1990s meant trouble from various quarters for the doctors and paramedical staff. Many times, SKIMS employees had to reach the hospital in the night hours amid curfews in place.
“During the early 1990s, being involved with tertiary care meant a call at any time of the hour. There were times when I left home early in the morning and come late. The security officials along the route would threaten me with a gun pointed towards me till I showed my identity card,” a senior SKIMS doctor wishing anonymity said. “During that era, the infrastructure became dilapidated, however, the government chipped in. We kept the ship sailing and prevented it from sinking.
In the early 2000s, the Mufti Sayeed-led coalition government took over the affairs of the hospital after rescinding the government orders from the 1970s.
The decision was challenged in the court but the judiciary sided with the government. A few patches of land initially granted by some members of the Abdullah family had been compensated while they had turned the Drug Research Laboratory at Maulana Azad Road into the Ali Jan Shopping Complex. The Court said the Trust’s desire to lease out the Kashmir Nursing Home to a third party had led to the Mufti government’s rescinding of the series of 1970s government orders.
Present Status
In July 2022, the government reconstituted SKIMS Governing Body with Lt Governor as chairman. The other members of the body include his Advisor(s) the Chief Secretary, the Union Health Secretary, the Secretary, the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology Government of India; the Director, AIIMS New Delhi (or one of his Deans in the absence of Director, AIIMS); Principal, Government Medical College Srinagar; Principal, Government Medical College Jammu and Principal SKIMS Medical College Bemina as its members.
Currently, SKIMS is manned by 5000 odd employees and incorporates more than 50 departments. The medical faculty of each department consists of Professors, Additional Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, and Senior and Junior residents where the senior-most professor functions as the head. The hospital is catering to 20,000 patients in 24 hours. Currently, the institute has 1200 odd-bed capacity with a requirement of 1000 beds still felt to cater to patient demand.
SKIMS, a deemed university offers post-doc degrees including Doctorate in Medicine (DM) courses; Magister Chirurgia courses; Doctorate of National Board courses; Doctor of Philosophy courses. At the PG level, the SKIMS offers Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) courses in all the major medical departments. Besides, the institute offers Master of Science courses as well as Bachelor of Science courses. At the undergraduate medical courses level, the SKIMS offers MBBS; MSc Nursing and BSc Nursing courses.
In 1988, the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) was started by SKIMS, which publishes in all categories of medical research work, together with invited articles/editorials from the doyens in varied specialities (native and abroad).
A former SKIMS Director, wishing anonymity said during his tenure he never had to deal with any of the Chief Ministers but only with the governors. “To me personally, the stripping of autonomy will not impact its functionality as the institute itself is a force to reckon with,” he said.
Recently when the LG administration asked the SKIMS to route its files through the health department, it was angrily reacted from various sides. “SKIMS should be a college now. That is what is happening to everything in Kashmir. First the university’s academic independence and now this institute,” former minister Naeem Akhter said. “The roller is on. They are trying to have a bonsai garden and reduce people to Lilliput size. It was a deemed university with autonomy.”
The Director, according to Akhtar, never reported to Health Department in the past as it had direct contact with the Chief Minister. Off late, the SKIMS Raising Day on December 5, has been a lacklustre event.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Dr AK Mehta formally inaugurated the SKIMS Cath lab on February 11, 2023.Pic: SKIMS
Even the veterans who have served the institution for their entire life are concerned. “Once the autonomy goes, the SKIMS will be reduced to a medical facility,” Dr Shikeh Aijaz Ahmad, former head of the oncology department said. “While we expect that the institution must grow, I am unable to understand why there are efforts to undo a medical university.
Insiders, however, said the situation on the ground has not changed. “It was way back in 1997 when SKIMS was tagged with health and medical education,” one insider in the government said. “However, it did not impact the status of the Director who remained ex-officio secretary to the government. It has not even changed now even though there were at least instances in the recent past when the ex-officio secretary status was stripped from the director.” If these insiders are to be believed then the files are still directly submitted to the Chief Secretary and not routed through Secretary of Health.
The Research Side
What makes the SKIMS different is that a lot research is also transacted while treating the patients. In 2020, when Stanford University came out with its list of the world’s top two per cent scientists, there were four Kashmiris – among whom, two were from SKIMS – gastroenterologist Dr Khuroo, and pulmonologist Dr Parvaiz A Koul – one a former director and another, the incumbent director.
In 2015, Dr Sameer Naqash, prominent Surgeon head of the upper GI Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic surgery unit at SKIMS was invited as a guest speaker at Prestigious International Gastric Cancer Congress, the highest international forum on gastric cancer in the world, which was held in Verona, Italy.
In January 2022, Hyder Mir, Scientist ‘C’ while working on Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network at SKIMS bagged the 2021 first MENA-ISN Research Award for his paper.
Dr Manijha Yaqoob, a Physician Scientist at Roche USA, started her successful medical professional from SKIMS.
“There are countless instances of SKIMS doctors making small or major intervention that is part of medical practices,” one doctor said. For commoners in Kashmir, however, it is the last address for a healthy survival or a dignified death. A general belief on the ground is that disturbing the autonomy of a major health facility is not a good idea.
Performing many firsts in the medical field in Jammu and Kashmir, the SKIMS is faced with two All India Institute of Medical Science facilities coming up, one each, in Jammu and Kashmir divisions. Would the clipped autonomy help SKIMS sustain its numero uno status or not, only time would tell.
