When journalism becomes a Canard...
Book "Phanci" is Bundle of Lies?
Intellectuals,
historians and journalists are the architects of a nation. In their heads they
carry the roadmap of building the nation. Great feats of development emanate
from their brains. Kashmir, our paradise, has been slightly unfortunate in this
respect. At some crucial junctures in her history, it so happened that
pseudo-intellectuals, bogus historians and phony writers presented themselves
in the garb of scholars and intellectuals.
They distorted history and played with the destiny of the nation.
Shabnam
Qayyum is one such bogus journalist. An ordinary government employee he used
his pen to win distinction and wealth. Starting from writing radio dramas, he
embarked on negatively dramatizing history, culture and politics of Kashmir. It
is amply known who induced him to write history and why and who supplied him
material which he used. He may repudiate this and produce numerous counter
arguments but he will have to concede that till date never has any allegation
of the sorts been leveled against a historian as against him.
Nevertheless,
we would have nothing to say against his works if he had not criminally
distorted history and created confusion for coming generations.
Our land
has gone through many extended perils to
ascertain the events of history Only then has the true and unbiased history come down to us. The art of writing
history is not a child’s play. A historian carries immense responsibility on
his shoulders. He has no liberty and space to be careless in recording the
events. He cannot depend on hearsay.
Living nations can bear much debility but they will not bear their history
handled by scoundrels and villains.
Shabnam
Qayyum finds his place among such villains whose trash is not acceptable. A
cursory study of his publications will show to what depths a writer can fall
for self aggrandizement. He fails to make distinction between the truth and
falsehood. Mudslinging, maligning others and character assassination of freedom
fighters and nationalists have become his second nature. In between, he also
writes anti-India articles only to pose as a supporter of the people’s
movement. Naively he thinks the people do no understand that his character
assassination of Hurriyat leaders and those opposed to the movement is rewarded
with passport and other facilities
His new
publication Phansi is the living
proof of his love for falsehood, distortion of history and advertently making
it a gossip. This book written on Afzal Guru is actually a collection of the
writings of different writers. His assertions about Ganga hijacking, Maqbool
Butt’s martyrdom and the murder of Mhatre do not carry an iota of truth. What
he has written is diametrically opposed to the reality on the ground. He has
named two freedom movement activists, Abdul Hamid Bhat and Riyaz Ahmad Dar, as
D.P. Dhar’s agents for contriving murder of Mhatre, forgetting that D.P Dhar
had died natural death way back in 1975 whereas the hijacking case happened a
decade later. What more proof do we need to prove his falsehood and distortion
of history? The court statements of Maqbool
Butt the martyr, K.H. Khurshid, Major Rahim Shah and the statement of Abdul
Khaliq Ansari given to Jung Forum in
1984 and an interview of Ashraf Qureshi are all included in my book Unrevealing of the Truth. Additionally,
Butt Sahib’s letters, his court statements and Liberation Front’s publication Roshni ka Shaheed-e Awwal also bear
testimony to the facts about Ganga hijacking case. Full details pertaining to
the incident can be gleaned from the internet. Khalid Hassan wrote an article titled ‘Truth about
Ganga’. This, and K.H. Khurshid writings are also available on the net. Even
the court verdicts related to Ganga case are also to be found on the net.
Shabnam
Qayyum does not care to conduct independent research into events on which he
writes. Just sitting with cushion support comfortably in the drawing room and
sipping kahwa and fancying historical
events of far-reaching consequence is day -dreaming and not research. Had he
any sense of responsibility as a historian, he would have known that D.P. Dhar
died in 1975 nine years before Mhatre event happened. He would have also known
that Mhatre was not murdered while driving a car. Actually he was standing at a
bus stop in Birmingham waiting for the bus when he was kidnapped and later on
murdered. But without verifying the facts of the case Shabnam Qayyum says that
he was shot at while standing at the bus stop. The casual and irresponsible
manner of Shabnam Qayyum recording history will be found in his statement that
Liberation Front accepted the responsibility of kidnapping and assassinating
Mhatre. In fact the responsibility was owned by Kashmir Liberation Army (KLA)
and not LF. Below is recounted the factual story in this context. After going
through it, readers will themselves decide what is true and what is false.
In his
book, Shabnam Qayyum has recorded the story of the hijacking of Ganga from page
130 to 139 and from 139 to 145. He says that as a result of this event civilian
and air force planes were disallowed to fly over Indian Territory to East
Pakistan. Now let it be said that the witnesses of Pakistan Civil Aviation
deposed in the court of law that the service of military or Air Force planes
over Indian Territory was suspended after 1965. Of course any flight taking off
from Karachi or Lahore and bound for East Pakistan had to seek permission from
New Delhi prior to take off. If India suspected any of such flights, she had
the right to ground that flight on its territory.
Thirdly,
it is childish to believe that India hatched the conspiracy in which a Kashmiri
youth hijacked an Indian airliner, took it to Lahore and then declared that high
jacking was done to attain freedom from India. Even today India is not prepared
to accept that a struggle is going on in Kashmir against her. Despite the death
toll of more than a hundred thousand of Kashmir’s in the ongoing struggle,
India’s stand on Kashmir is that a handful of Kashmir’s have been misled by
Pakistan into staging armed insurgency against her whereas ordinary Kashmiri is
not interested in the movement. She has stoutly publicized this stand on every
international platform. How, forty years ago could India forge a proof against
her own self that there was an anti-India movement in Kashmir?
It is
worth noting that JKLF did not exist at all in 1970-71. However, Butt Sahib was
the Chairman of Plebiscite Front (Azad Kashmir, Pakistan) and its militant wing
National Liberation Front.
Was it a
compulsion for India to engineer hijacking of her own airliner carrying its own
nationals in order to bring about suspension of over-flight of civil airliners?
She had absolutely no necessity to do that drama because she had not only armed
the refugees from East Pakistan already but also launched a frontal attack on
that country on December 3, 1971.
We are
not living in a blind world today. In the age of internet nothing remains
hidden. In 1970 elections, Awami League of East Pakistan won absolute majority
in elections to the national assembly. But
military regime refused to hand over power to them. On 28 March 1971, civil
disobedience movement broke out under the guidance of Awami League in East Pakistan.
In recent
days, many Pakistanis in Bangladesh were given prizes for supporting national movement
in 1971. Included among them was Waris Mir, the father of Pakistan’s
outstanding intellectual Abid Mir and human rights activist Asma Jahangir.
Atrocities perpetrated by Pakistani army on 80 million people of East Pakistan
at that time has been recorded in thousands of books, films and other material
easily available anywhere today and mostly produced by Pakistani authors. If at
that time I had rendered any support to the Bengalis against the tyranny and
oppression of Pakistani army, I would have acknowledged that with pride.
Shabnam
Qayyum has spoken about the role of D.P. Dhar in connection with the Ganga high
jacking. I have never met late D.P. Dhar nor did I know him. On 30 January
1971, I was a boy 17 years and 3 months old. I was born on October 1, 1953.
Supposing I was in contact with D.P. Dhar a year before the hijack, it means my
age at that time was just 16. Was an experienced and sharp politician so naïve
as to select an inexperienced teenager that I was for a very sensitive and
dangerous assignment when there were young people in Al Fatah organization in
Kashmir much more experienced in destructive activities. D.P. Dhar, if he
intended to use any of Kashmiri youth, for the plan, he would certainly have
tried to pick up one of above twenty years of age who had come under the
influence of the government and were provided with many facilities. Shabnam
Qayyum writes that IG Police Srinagar called for record from many police
stations of youth with destructive mentality and my record figured somewhere.
But the fact is that no record about me existed anywhere in any police station...
It is true that I was arrested along with many stone pelting youth when I was
just 11/ 12 years of age but the magistrate had exonerated me. Shabnam’s
statement that I was picked up by the police somewhere around the Palladium cinema
at Lal Chowk and that this record also stands preserved with police station is
just a figment of imagination, a white lie. If anybody stands up and provides a
proof of what Shabnam Qayyum has said about me, I am prepared to accept all
that he has said about me. His simple intention is character assassination for
which he must have received unknown remuneration from sources unknown to me. If
he has any police report with him in this connection, let him produce it and
receive a hefty cash prize from me.
Shabnam
Qayyum has involved the residence of some teacher in Sathu Barber Shah also to
embellish his fantastic story. He says that I was called to the house of one
Kashi Nath Dhar, a teacher of mine to motivate me (for the crime). The name of
Kashi Nath Dhar has been brought in whereas nobody existed by that name and at
that time at the stated locality. D.P. Dhar was India’s Ambassador in Moscow
from 1969 to 1971. Would such a high dignitary meet somebody in an obscure
locality and of obscure name? He would have easily met with him in some guest
house or called him to his place. If it was a conspiracy so big in its size
what was the need for dragging in a teacher and his obscure house; he could
have met me in his official residence?
Isn’t it
ridiculous that a person calling himself a historian says that after giving training
of hijacking, Hashim Qureshi was sent to Azad Kashmir for meeting Maqbool Butt
and informing him of the mission? He states that Hashim Qureshi not only
conveyed the message to Maqbool Butt but also offered his services to undertake
the mission. He further writes that Maqbool Butt thought hijacking would revive
Kashmir issue on international plane and, therefore, entrusted the mission to
Hashim Qureshi. In other words he means
to say that India itself wanted to revive Kashmir question on international
plane and that Maqbool Bhat easily fell into his trap. Was Maqbool Butt a
child?
The truth
is that even my worst enemies know that I met with Maqbool Butt in Peshawar in
1969. My family had travelled to Peshawar
to meet with our maternal uncle. We had obtained genuine passport and travelled
through Ganda Singh Feroz pore route. During those two or three months, I
continued meeting with Butt Sahib. It was at this point of time that he
enrolled me in Kashmir National Liberation Front. He made me responsible for
opening cell of National Liberation Front in Kashmir.
On the
call of Butt Sahib, I crossed the border in May-June 1970, arrived in
Rawalpindi and went to the residence of Dr. Farooq Haider to meet with Maqbool
Butt. I presented a detailed report to Butt Sahib and he decided to select me
for training in arms.
One day
Dr. Farooq Haider, Allah Rakha Segar’s son Javed Sagar, Maqbool Butt (and
perhaps Amanullah Khan also) and I were sitting around the table for breakfast.
Suddenly news was flashed that Eritrean mujahedeen had fired at an Ethiopian
civilian airliner at Karachi airport. At this, Dr. Farooq Haider said that we
too ought to do something like this so that our organization and our cause are
highlighted on international platform. Bhat Sahib responded by saying that we
shall think on the suggestion.
A few
days later he talked to me on the subject. My response to my leader was, “I am
prepared t do anything for the cause of freedom of Kashmir. As such I shall try
to perform whatever mission you entrust to me.” He then put me in the charge of
Javed Minto, the foster brother of Dr. Farooq who
had rendered service in Pakistan Air Force. My training in hijacking was
started in Rawalpindi and Javed Sagar invariably used to be with me. A large
number of people have deposed that Javed Minto had trained Hashim Qureshi. Minto
had himself deposed in Pakistani courts that he had given me the training.
As far as
the statement of Shabnam Qayyum that one Sheikh Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din had found
Maqbool Butt in a sad and depressed mood is also false and baseless. I will
make a mention of a letter from Maqbool Butt written to Ikramullah Jaswal from
Tihar jail on 2 May 1980. Towards the
end of the letter Butt Sahib wrote, “Convey my salaam to Hashim and Ashraf.
Procrastination of Hashim’s appeal is a matter of concern. Please write in more
detail about it.”
On 17 May,
1980 Pakistan Supreme Court Full Bench ordered my release. Let me say that from
December 1971 up to May 1972 we were put together in the jail. He always said
that we were dearer to him than his own children because you are the inheritors
of my thought and ideas.”
In yet
another letter written by him from New Delhi Central Jail on 19 October 1980 to
his son Javed Maqbool Butt, he had said, “Dear Hashim Qureshi had mentioned in
his letter of condolence about your Faisalabad address. I received that letter
some days ago. Therefore I am sending you this letter on the same address.”
The
statement of Shabnam Qayyum that I had decided to betray Maqbool Butt is a canard.
The statement given by Maqbool Butt in the special court remains a lesson for
every freedom loving activist. It carries full detail of Ganga episode. He has
said in clear words that neither he nor any of his associates hatched any
conspiracy against Pakistan.
The story
that some Excise Commissioner named Ghulam Mohi’ud-Din had introduced Maqbool
Butt to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto again is a concoction. The picture of Butt Sahib
and Bhutto which he has inserted in his book Phansi was actually taken during a function in Mirpur when the two
persons were sitting on the stage. Others sitting on the dais were Choudhary Noor,
Hafiz Peerzadah and perhaps Alavi Sahib. Shabnam Qayyum has written an
interesting caption beneath the photograph which runs as this: “In a special
function, peace was brokered between Bhutto and Maqbool Butt. Both agreed that
Hashim Qureshi had made a fool of them”.
Dear
readers, let me tell you that you are giving Maqbool Butt place in your hearts
after he was executed. But his vision and his thoughts could encompass
centuries. He could read a man from his eyes and face. He had two M.A degrees
to his credit. He had enlightened Indian
and Pakistani prison houses with his thoughts. How much fascination people had
for him will be found from a short incident.
Leading
National Liberation Front activist Nassir Mahmood (now living in the US) who
was interned in Kot Lakhpat jail once fell unconscious as a result of torture
in Lahore Shahi Fort. At that very time Butt Sahib happened to pass by in the
police custody vehicle. As Butt Sahib came close to Nassir Mahmood, the latter
stood up and raised his hand to say salaam to Butt Sahib. On this, Nassir
Mahmud was taken back to the prison and subjected to more torture. He was asked
that he had been feigning unconscious but had stood up and saluted Butt Sahib. Nassir
Mahmud’s reply was historical. He said, “Cut my body into a thousand pieces,
take each piece to the presence of Butt Sahib and you will see each piece of my
body rising to offer salaam to him.”
Regarding
the story that I betrayed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, as told by Shabnam Qayyum of
Buchhwara Dalgate, the world knows that Bhutto was the most outstanding
intellectual and shrewd politician not only in the sub-continent but in entire
Asian Continent. He is the one who, despite opposition from the US, laid the
foundation of nuclear zing Pakistan, a crime for which the US brought him to
the gallows. Even Henry Kissinger, the shrewdest of American diplomats, had not
the ability of befooling him. Who was I, ---an urchin of 16 years--- to
hoodwink a man of his stature? By concocting the story, Shabnam Qayyum has
tried to disgrace two outstanding leaders of the sub-continent.
Some year
ago Shabnam Qayyum had published the same photograph in his paper with the
caption that Maqbool Butt and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto are annoyed with each other
and they are looking sideways.
Let me
say that up to 1976, Maqbool Butt had come to see me in three different jails.
Before coming to Kashmir in 1976, he had come to see me in Kot Lakhpat jail. He
was accompanied by Advocate Abdul Basit, late Ashraf Qureshi, Ghulam Ahmad Bhat
and Sardar Rashid Hasrat. They had brought a few gifts and also handed me a
little pocket money.
Dr. Abdul
Basit and Ghulam Ahmad Bhat are still alive and the record of Kot Lakhpat jail
is also intact. Everybody in my circle knows that from right from the beginning
up to the last verdict of Pakistan Supreme Court, Plebiscite Front
(AK-Pakistan) and National Liberation Front were fighting my legal case. All
small and big leaders would come to see me. The strangest proof is that the
founding father of the ideology of independent Kashmir, namely Abdul Khaliq
Ansari, a highly respectable personality and a great humanist (died recently) had
disclosed in the Jung Forum in the
course of a symposium on “High jackers of Indian airliner in 1984” as this: “I
have been called once again and told that the case is being withdrawn. We
refused. Before the Tribunal announced its verdict, Bhutto Sahib himself told
me that it would disappoint me to be told that we will be punishing one of the
two accused, namely Hashim Qureshi or Ashraf Qureshi. The other one will be set
free.”
Why is
Shabnam Qayyum closing his eyes to this plethora of evidence and proofs besides
the depositions of the witnesses in Ganga case, and why is he distorting the
facts of history? Isn’t he committing a crime of misleading coming generations
of Kashmir’s? But facts of history cannot be wiped out, do whatever we may. The
facts cannot be wiped out but the one who distorts them ultimately gets wiped
out from the scene.
Some
commentators argue that if Ganga airplane had not been blown up India would not
have been able to impose ban on over-flights. But K.H. Khurshid, Military
officer Major Rahim Shah and the Log Book of the Fire Brigade all have said
that the aircraft was set on fire on the prompting of ISI and SSP Lahore Sardar
Vakil Shah. If the aircraft was set ablaze under the conspiracy of India, why
should have I and Ashraf Qureshi waited for 80 long hours ---- from 1 P. pm on
30th January to 8 PM of 2nd February--- K.H. Khurshid was an honest and towering
personality. He was known for his upright character who never spoke anything
but the truth. He had served Quid-e-Azam
as his personal secretary. In his court statement he clearly stated that Lahore
SSP Sardar Vakil said in my and Maqbool Butt’s presence that for God’s sake
blow up the airplane and spare us the peril”.
Before his death, Justice
of the Tribunal Yaqub Ali Khan had told the Daily
Jung of Lahore on 12 February 1992 that the special court had rejected the charge
against hijackers Hashim Qureshi, Ashraf Qureshi and Maqbool Butt that they
were Indian agents. In reply to a question Major Rahim Shah had deposed that
when the aircraft was set on fire, he had told his G-1 that he could disarm the
highjackers.
Is it not
desirable that anybody intending to write on Ganga high-jacking should, first
of all, go through the court record of the case and statements of Maqbool Butt,
K.H. Khurshid, Abdul Khaliq Ansari and many more distinguished, honest and
elderly personalities?
Late
Khaliq Hassan was the media adviser to Pakistan government. In 2003 he
published an article in Friday Times
under the title ‘The Truth about Ganga’. This can also be seen on his blog. In
1971 he had met one Aftab Ahmad Khan, the chief of India Desk in Pakistan
foreign ministry. He had told him that the hijackers had not blown the Indian
airplane.
Some
Indian writer by the name of Sahai has written a book titled Samba Case. He says that they (meaning
Indian agencies) had told the hijackers to demand presence of Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto at the airport once the hijacked plane landed in Pakistan and that they
had demanded a meeting with him. But Khalid Hassan writes that no such demand
had ever been made. However, he says that after returning from East Pakistan
and landing at Lahore airport, the large gathering assembled there made strong
demand that Z.A. Bhutto meet with the hijackers. But Shabnam Qayyum has
concocted a story about this incident which is nowhere near the facts.
Evidently
as Shabnam Qayyum has concocted false stories about Ganga case and tried at my
character assassination, I am disposed to believe that he has been rewarded
substantially by unknown quarters. Normally there seems no reason why he should
distort the facts of history so brutally and wantonly.
He has
made a mention of first international cricket match between West Indies and
India in Srinagar. He has concocted facts which have no historical basis. He
brings the onus of disrupting that match to the doorsteps of JKLF youth. First
of all, let it be made clear that JKLF did not exist in the valley in 1982.
Everybody knows that the person who led disruption of the cricket match and dug
the pitch was Mushtaqul Islam. A case was registered against him and his companions.
Shabnam Qayyum writes that when Indira Gandhi came to know about disruption of
the cricket match in Srinagar, she called D.P. Dhar to Delhi and consulted him
about doing away with Maqbool Butt and a plan was drawn to accomplish the task.
Two young
men of Liberation Front, Riyaz Ahmad Dar and Abdul Hamid Bhat were passing
their days in Jammu jail. Perhaps Indian policy planners had won them over to
share the plan. They were brought out of Jammu jail on 1 February 1984. Some
DSP named Anil Sharma took them to New Delhi. He, D.P. Dhar and some IB officer prepared
them to take life against life. Not only passports were made for them, even
visas for London were also obtained for them. On February 3, Anil Sharma and
two IB officers brought both of them to London. On 5th February they
murdered Indian diplomat Ravinder Mhatre who was heading for somewhere in his
vehicle that Sunday. After performing the act of murder, both of them
disappeared from the scene. Perhaps they
were finished in London. According the plan that had already been drawn, JKLF
announced its responsibility for the murder.
The plan
of getting a diplomat murdered and in retaliation executing Maqbool Butt was
the conspiratorial plan of Indira Gandhi. It was almost in line with the plan
conceived by Indira in consultation with D.P. Dhar of making Hashim Qureshi
hijack Ganga airliner.
This is
the horrendously fallacious story concocted by Shabnam Qayyum in his book. Let
us unravel some of its aspects. Abdul Hamid Bhat and Riyaz Ahmad Dar were the
associates of Maqbool Butt. They were put in chains. A number of known
personalities will vouch for it. Among them are Shabir Shah, Muhammad Ashraf
Sahrai, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Azam Inquilabi, Muhammad Sagar, Showkat Ahmad
Bakhshi and other freedom fighters. They can reflect on the subject.
Riyaz
Ahmad Dar and Abdul Hamid Bhat were handed over to Pakistan in exchange of
prisoners. The latter is living in Mirpur (AK) these days. He is doing some
business.
This
entire fabricated story of London Plan is the product of a diseased mind. It is
a shameful blot on the name of journalism. I made an enquiry from the
proprietor of Delhi Public School, Mr. Vijay Dhar, the son of late D.P. Dhar.
He informed me that his father had passed away in 1975. Did Shabnam Qayyum
bring him back to life just to legitimize his fantastic story about me? Let it
be reminded that even in 1975, D.P. Dhar was in Moscow as India’s Ambassador.
This long
narrative will help my readers to understand that Shabnam Qayyum as a victim of
diseased mind was fulfilling somebody’s agenda in writing false and fabricated
history of Kashmir. Some people who were arrested in Mhatre murder case included
Raja Qayyum, Riyaz Malik, Masoom Ansari and a couple more. Riyaz Malik and
Masoom Ansari resided in Lotion and Birmingham respectively and had courted
jail in connection with Mhatre murder case. Raja Qayyum is now working with
some Trust in Turkey.
The
wretchedness about Shabnam Qayyum is that he likes to discredit and malign all
parties and their leadership by concocting false stories with the clear purpose
of creating doubts in the mind of the people about their faithfulness to
freedom movement. He has even pasted the shirts and shalwars of ladies in his
book and claimed that Indian security forces are raping mothers and daughters
everywhere in Kashmir. He did not actually mean to highlight the oppression of
the Indians on Kashmir’s but to frighten Kashmir’s so that they would withdraw
from the movement for the fear of rape of their women. Look at his books like Kashmir-Bharati mazalim ki kahani tasweerun
ki zabani, or Kashmir main khawatin
ki behurmati etc. in which he does not leave aside any single conceivable
sin and criminal act which India did not commit in Kashmir. But very amusing to
note that he has the Indian passport and without any substantial income, he
continues to visit Pakistan and some European countries. Is it not amusing that
if an ordinary Kashmir pelts a stone on security personnel or raises an
anti-India slogan, not only he but his close relatives too are denied passport
even for performing Hajj pilgrimage not to speak of visiting Pakistan or any
other country. My organization’s vice
chairman Afaq Ahmad wanted passport for his elderly widowed mother for performing
Hajj pilgrimage. She was denied. Many of my relatives including my sister were
denied passport. If I have to go to a foreign country for medical checkup and
treatment, I am asked to seek permission from the court despite the fact that I
possess passport of a foreign country.
Not only
is Shabnam Qayyum a fraud and cheat, he is an indecent man who is harming the
freedom movement. He is arrogant enough to defame the female members of a
leader’s household. Many a time, in the
past he has been thrashed and dragged on roads for his impudence. He cares
neither for his own self respect nor of others, and thus repeatedly proves that
he is mentally sick. Since he had taken up the task of following anti-movement
mission, he, therefore, was the recipient of many facilities from the Indians.
