MUZAFFARABAD: Terming Ghazi-i-Millat Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan as a towering political leader, a trailblazer freedom fighter and dynamic personality in the history of Kashmir, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday pledged to carry forward his mission to liberate Kashmir from Indian subjugation and make it a part of Pakistan.

He expressed this resolve while speaking as chief guest at the All Azad Kashmir Inter-University Declamation Contest organised by the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK). The event was dedicated to founding AJK president Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, who had breathed his last 18 years ago on July 31.

Mr Khan said it was Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim who had mobilised all political forces of Kashmir and hosted an important meeting at his residence in Srinagar on July 19, 1947 to craft a consensus on the future of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting ended after passing a unanimous resolution calling for Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.

He recalled that when the Dogra ruler decided to arrest Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan for his political activities, he traveled incognito from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and then Murree and declared a war against the Maharaja’s forces that led to the liberation of the one-third of Kashmir, now called AJK.

“Had India not landed its forces in Srinagar and occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947, the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir would have been liberated under the leadership of Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, who later became the founding president of AJK at the age of 32 years,” Mr Khan said.

The AJK president also paid homage to other leaders of Kashmir freedom movement, including Raeesul Ahrar Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan and advised the young students to study the life and role of leaders like Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan because he was an icon and role model for the new generation as four times president.

Speaking on the occasion, UAJK Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Kaleem Abbasi said late Sardar Ibrahim was an undisputed hero of the liberation movement and urged the young students to not only keep the candle of freedom burning bright but also pass it on to the next generation and continue their struggle to achieve the goals set by the founding fathers of freedom movement.

Earlier in the inter-university speech competition, students of University of Science and Technology Mirpur, University of Poonch Rawalakot, University of Kotli, Women’s University Bagh, and UAJK Muzaffarabad eloquently spoke about the natural beauty of AJK, and highlighted various aspects of introducing the region’s culture and civilisation to the world through cricket matches from the platform of Kashmir Premier League in the coming days.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2021