For past few decades, historiography of Kashmir has been in no way different from rumor mongering and kisa-khawni. Anyone writing about Afghan, Sikh or Dogra rule does not depict anything other than oppression and tyranny. All the positive aspects of the rulers are over-looked and negative image is magnified out of proportion. In every new version of history, the Afghan period is demonized more and more. It has become one of the most maligned eras of the Kashmir history. Raison Deter of Afghan invasion was to rescue Muslims of Kashmir from the oppression and tyranny to which they were subjected during the reign of Raja Sukh Jeevan Mal (An official of Mughals who had become uncontrolled with the decline of Mughal power). Sukh Jeevan Mal under the influence of his administrator, Pandit Mahanandru had choked the space for Muslim society in Kashmir. During the rule of Sukh Jeevan Mal, the slaughter of cows and recitation of Azan was banned. Afghans ruled Kashmir for 77 years. Afghan rule was marked with frequent change of governors not all of whom were same. Different governors depicted different patterns of governances. Tyranny and oppression, development and magnanimity all of these traits remained associated with different governors. Yet if we see an overall picture of Afghans apart from tyranny and oppression much more is associated with it.
They didn’t only plunder and loot but also engaged to development and social work. These works are never referred when their history is narrated. During a short span of 77 years, they constructed the upper portion of the fort of Hariparbat. Credit for this construction goes to governor Ata Muhammad Khan. Ameer Khan constructed Ameera Kadal Bridge. The bridge was not only a new bridge but beginning of a new city and introduction of a new mode of architecture. Whole of the civil-lines area owes its origin to construction of this bridge. Prior to this all the bridges constructed in Kashmir were made of wood. Construction of Ameera kadal involved use of stones. The pillars erected for the bridge withstood the fury of river Jehlum for around two centuries and continue to be there despite demolition of the old bridge. The Polo ground of Srinagar was designed by Kareem Dad Khan who apart from this renovated Jamia Masjid and Aali Masjid of Srinagar. In order to prevent Dal Lake from inundating vast portions of city during rainy seasons, Nala Ameer Khan was created. Afghan governor Sher Khan constructed the old secretariat, which still houses the old Assembly hall and is known as Sher-Ghari in common parlance. Construction of Sher-Ghari also involved introduction of new pattern of architecture. Sher Khan used French architecture for construction of Sher-Ghari.
Afghans erected the shrine at Khanyar and popularized Qadri silsila of mysticism in Kashmir. They were the ones who brought the holy relic of Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (AR) to the shrine. Qadri silsila of mysticism surpassed every other mystic school in popularity. Afghans were the ones who picked up Mirwaiz family from Tral and engaged them in giving sermons on Fridays at Jamia-Masjid. This act of Afghans catalyzed the revival of socio-religious life of Muslims within the valley in so many ways. Shia sect among Muslims didn’t remain immune to Afghan influence. One of the Afghan governors initiated the practice of taking out Zuljina from Shaheedgunj locality of Srinagar. This practice continues until now.
Afghans are maligned to have been oppressive against Kashmiri Pandits. Most of the allegations sound to be exaggerated in view of the fact that the revenue administration of Kashmir continued to remain with Kashmiri Pandits during Afghan rule. One of the Kashmiri Pandits Nand Ram was so much revered by Afghans for his administrative ability that they assigned the job of management of revenue affairs within Afghanistan to him. They were so much impressed by his work that they issued currency of his name. Apart from Nand Ram, other Pandit deewans of Afghan era included Dila Ram Kulli, Pandit Sehej Ram, Pandit Sukh Ram and Pandit Tikoo. Some of these deewans especially Pandit Dila Ram Kulli oppressed Muslims during the rule of Mir Dad Khan and subjected them to discrimination in appointment to offices.
The huge constructions made by Afghans during a short span of 77 years without getting loans from outside agencies as is the practice nowadays makes the allegation of loot and plunder futile. A small place with little capacity of contributing revenues could not create so much wealth as to enable Afghans to take it away and at the same time construct the huge bridges, forts, canals and shrines. They did rescue Kashmiri Muslims from moneylenders and oppressive and corrupt Pandit revenue officials. It was this act of theirs that led Kashmiri Pandits to malign their image. One of the Kashmiri Pandits Birbal Dhar embezzled one lakh rupees from the exchequer. Afghans sought to prosecute him for the same. He proceeded to the court of Ranjeet Singh and motivated him to invade Kashmir. Ranjit Singh launched his first expedition but failed to dislodge Afghans from Kashmir. Since Kashmiri pandits were instrumental in catalyzing Ranjeet Singh's expedition, whatever oppression Kashmiri pandits faced after failure of Ranjeet Singh was retaliation for their treachery. During the reign of Noor-ud-Din Khan, Pandit Kailas Dhar, revenue official of Afghans, manipulated the assassination of Mir Muqeem Kant, another local revenue official. Once involvement of Kailas Dhar in assassination of Mir Muqeem Kant was established, Mir Faqeerullah Kant from the same family retaliated against Kashmiri pandits same way as Hindus retaliated against Sikhs after the assassination of Indira Ghandi. Kashmiri Pandits magnified the versions of Afghans barbarity in order to justify the Sikh invasion of Kashmir.
English authorities and our present day historians continued to reproduce and magnify the Afghan atrocities simply because progeny of Birbal Dhar remained a dominant force in post Afghan era within higher echelons of power until seventies of previous century. Beneficiaries of Dhar’s within mass media too played a role in popularizing distorted version of history. Indian state too promoted demonization of Pathans because of Pathan role in creation of Azad Kashmir thus making Jammu and Kashmir state indigestible for it. Sheikh Abdullah contributed to this misperception by stating that Kashmir has gained freedom after four hundred years of subjugation on the advent of Indian rule in Kashmir. Once imprisoned for fourteen years on account of conspiracies hatched by the progeny of Birbal Dhar, Sheikh Abdullah was soon made to understand that advent of Indian army in Kashmir didn’t symbolize dawn of freedom but the beginning of worst period of subjugation for Kashmiris. The level of oppression Kashmiris experience nowadays definitely depicts that Afghan period was far better than Khushal Kashmir of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Naya Kashmir of Sheikh Abdullah.
While assessing previous epochs, present parameters of native and alien are irrelevant. Nation state is a notion of our times. Previous eras with no passports, no nationality and conquest as a legitimate mode of establishing kingdoms can’t be evaluated within the paradigm of nationalism. If rulers deserve demonization on account of their nativity, we may have to rewrite whole history as Shahmiris as well as Datiyas too owe their origin to foreign lands. Thus both Badshah and Lalta Datiya reigns will qualify to be the periods of occupation rather than glorious periods of Kashmir history. Better approach for evaluating previous epochs is to objectively assess these on the basis of vices and virtues of every individual ruler rather than a paradigm which is irrelevant to those times.
They didn’t only plunder and loot but also engaged to development and social work. These works are never referred when their history is narrated. During a short span of 77 years, they constructed the upper portion of the fort of Hariparbat. Credit for this construction goes to governor Ata Muhammad Khan. Ameer Khan constructed Ameera Kadal Bridge. The bridge was not only a new bridge but beginning of a new city and introduction of a new mode of architecture. Whole of the civil-lines area owes its origin to construction of this bridge. Prior to this all the bridges constructed in Kashmir were made of wood. Construction of Ameera kadal involved use of stones. The pillars erected for the bridge withstood the fury of river Jehlum for around two centuries and continue to be there despite demolition of the old bridge. The Polo ground of Srinagar was designed by Kareem Dad Khan who apart from this renovated Jamia Masjid and Aali Masjid of Srinagar. In order to prevent Dal Lake from inundating vast portions of city during rainy seasons, Nala Ameer Khan was created. Afghan governor Sher Khan constructed the old secretariat, which still houses the old Assembly hall and is known as Sher-Ghari in common parlance. Construction of Sher-Ghari also involved introduction of new pattern of architecture. Sher Khan used French architecture for construction of Sher-Ghari.
Afghans erected the shrine at Khanyar and popularized Qadri silsila of mysticism in Kashmir. They were the ones who brought the holy relic of Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (AR) to the shrine. Qadri silsila of mysticism surpassed every other mystic school in popularity. Afghans were the ones who picked up Mirwaiz family from Tral and engaged them in giving sermons on Fridays at Jamia-Masjid. This act of Afghans catalyzed the revival of socio-religious life of Muslims within the valley in so many ways. Shia sect among Muslims didn’t remain immune to Afghan influence. One of the Afghan governors initiated the practice of taking out Zuljina from Shaheedgunj locality of Srinagar. This practice continues until now.
Afghans are maligned to have been oppressive against Kashmiri Pandits. Most of the allegations sound to be exaggerated in view of the fact that the revenue administration of Kashmir continued to remain with Kashmiri Pandits during Afghan rule. One of the Kashmiri Pandits Nand Ram was so much revered by Afghans for his administrative ability that they assigned the job of management of revenue affairs within Afghanistan to him. They were so much impressed by his work that they issued currency of his name. Apart from Nand Ram, other Pandit deewans of Afghan era included Dila Ram Kulli, Pandit Sehej Ram, Pandit Sukh Ram and Pandit Tikoo. Some of these deewans especially Pandit Dila Ram Kulli oppressed Muslims during the rule of Mir Dad Khan and subjected them to discrimination in appointment to offices.
The huge constructions made by Afghans during a short span of 77 years without getting loans from outside agencies as is the practice nowadays makes the allegation of loot and plunder futile. A small place with little capacity of contributing revenues could not create so much wealth as to enable Afghans to take it away and at the same time construct the huge bridges, forts, canals and shrines. They did rescue Kashmiri Muslims from moneylenders and oppressive and corrupt Pandit revenue officials. It was this act of theirs that led Kashmiri Pandits to malign their image. One of the Kashmiri Pandits Birbal Dhar embezzled one lakh rupees from the exchequer. Afghans sought to prosecute him for the same. He proceeded to the court of Ranjeet Singh and motivated him to invade Kashmir. Ranjit Singh launched his first expedition but failed to dislodge Afghans from Kashmir. Since Kashmiri pandits were instrumental in catalyzing Ranjeet Singh's expedition, whatever oppression Kashmiri pandits faced after failure of Ranjeet Singh was retaliation for their treachery. During the reign of Noor-ud-Din Khan, Pandit Kailas Dhar, revenue official of Afghans, manipulated the assassination of Mir Muqeem Kant, another local revenue official. Once involvement of Kailas Dhar in assassination of Mir Muqeem Kant was established, Mir Faqeerullah Kant from the same family retaliated against Kashmiri pandits same way as Hindus retaliated against Sikhs after the assassination of Indira Ghandi. Kashmiri Pandits magnified the versions of Afghans barbarity in order to justify the Sikh invasion of Kashmir.
English authorities and our present day historians continued to reproduce and magnify the Afghan atrocities simply because progeny of Birbal Dhar remained a dominant force in post Afghan era within higher echelons of power until seventies of previous century. Beneficiaries of Dhar’s within mass media too played a role in popularizing distorted version of history. Indian state too promoted demonization of Pathans because of Pathan role in creation of Azad Kashmir thus making Jammu and Kashmir state indigestible for it. Sheikh Abdullah contributed to this misperception by stating that Kashmir has gained freedom after four hundred years of subjugation on the advent of Indian rule in Kashmir. Once imprisoned for fourteen years on account of conspiracies hatched by the progeny of Birbal Dhar, Sheikh Abdullah was soon made to understand that advent of Indian army in Kashmir didn’t symbolize dawn of freedom but the beginning of worst period of subjugation for Kashmiris. The level of oppression Kashmiris experience nowadays definitely depicts that Afghan period was far better than Khushal Kashmir of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Naya Kashmir of Sheikh Abdullah.
While assessing previous epochs, present parameters of native and alien are irrelevant. Nation state is a notion of our times. Previous eras with no passports, no nationality and conquest as a legitimate mode of establishing kingdoms can’t be evaluated within the paradigm of nationalism. If rulers deserve demonization on account of their nativity, we may have to rewrite whole history as Shahmiris as well as Datiyas too owe their origin to foreign lands. Thus both Badshah and Lalta Datiya reigns will qualify to be the periods of occupation rather than glorious periods of Kashmir history. Better approach for evaluating previous epochs is to objectively assess these on the basis of vices and virtues of every individual ruler rather than a paradigm which is irrelevant to those times.
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