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{{EngvarB|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
'''Khurshid Anwar''' was an activist of [[All-India Muslim League]], heading its private militia, the [[Muslim League National Guard]]. Described as a "shadowy figure" and "complete adventurer", he is generally addressed as a "Major" in Pakistani sources. He was a key figure in the rise of the Muslim League during 1946–47, organising its campaigns in [[Punjab]] and [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]], prior to India's [[Partition of India|partition]]. After the independence of Pakistan, he was instrumental in organising the tribal invasion of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir]], leading to the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]].

== Early career ==
Khurshid Anwar is said to be a native of [[Jullundhar]] in Punjab.{{sfn|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=174}}{{sfn|Hiro, The Longest August|2015|pp=117-118}} Some sources also state that he was a Pathan from the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]].{{sfn|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015|p=63}} His wife, Begum Mumtaz Jamal is said to be a Kashmiri Pathan.{{sfn|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=174}} Anwar has been described as a "shadowy figure", "complete adventurer",{{sfn|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015|p=63}}{{sfn|Panigrahi, India's Partition|2004|p=65, 307}} and a "Muslim League's most important secret weapon in the creation of Pakistan".{{sfn|Jha, The Origins of a Dispute|2003|p=31}}

Anwar is said to have worked as an official in the civil supplies department in Delhi prior to [[World War II]]. Due to the close association of this department with the military during the War, he is said to have been given the rank of a Major. He is generally referred to as a "Major" in Pakistani sources. Anwar was suspected of bribe-taking and supplying goods to civilians. This ended his association with the Army.{{sfn|Hiro, The Longest August|2015|pp=117-118}}{{sfn|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015|p=63}}

== Muslim League ==
The [[All-India Muslim League]] had a volunteer militia called the [[Muslim League National Guard]], originally headed by Sardar [[Shaukat Hayat Khan]], a retired Major of the Indian Army. When Hayat Khan stepped down to due to lack of time, Khurshid Anwar was appointed as its commander (''Salar'') in October 1946. He was given a target of rising 200,000 volunteers. Anwar is said to have devoted 'considerable energy' to the effort, impressing upon the League workers the danger posed by the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]], which was, in his view, financed by the [[Indian National Congress]].{{sfn|Jalal, Self and Sovereignty|2002|p=482}} By the end of 1946, the National Guard ranks swelled to 60,000 members. The [[1946 Bihar riots]] were instrumental in mobilising the Muslims of India to activism.{{sfn|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015|p=63}}

When the Muslim League led a civil disobedience movement against the Unionist government of [[Punjab]], vexing its prime minister [[Khizar Hayat Tiwana]], Tiwana banned the Muslim League National Guard in January 1947. But
Anwar went underground to keep the agitation going. Eventually the Unionist government was overthrown.{{sfn|Hiro, The Longest August|2015|loc=Chapter 6}}

Afterwards, Anwar went to the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901-1955)|North-West Frontier Province]], where he worked with the Muslim League leaders Khan [[Abdul Qayyum Khan]] and [[Pir of Manki Sharif]] to launch a direct action campaign against the Congress government.{{sfn|Hiro, The Longest August|2015|loc=Chapter 6}} He is said to have organised an underground movement publishing cyclostyled newspapers and broadcasting on a wireless transmitter.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=55}}
Anwar's rallies led to attacks on the local communities of Hindus and Sikhs,{{sfn|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015|loc=Chapter 4}} generating a stream of refugees into [[Kashmir]], which closed off any possibility of the Maharaja of Kashmir acceding to Pakistan.{{sfn|Jha, The Origins of a Dispute|2003|p=170}} Anwar is also said to have gotten away with a good deal of loot from his attacks on the minorities.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=55}}

== Invasion of Kashmir ==
On 12 September 1947, the Pakistani Prime Minister [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] held a meeting in Lahore to formulate a strategy for capturing [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Kashmir]]. The meeting was attended by Punjab politicians Mian [[Iftikharuddin]] and Sardar [[Shaukat Hayat Khan]], Colonel [[Akbar Khan (Pakistani general)|Akbar Khan]], Major General [[Zaman Kiani]] and Khurshid Anwar. A three-pronged approach was decided at the meeting, for Akbar Khan to organise the rebellion inside Kashmir, General Kiani to organise an invasion from the south using former [[Indian National Army]] personnel, and for Anwar to organise an invasion via [[Muzaffarabad]] using activists from Pakistan.{{sfn|Jha, The Origins of a Dispute|2003|p=30}}{{sfn|Lamb, Incomplete Partition|2002|p=125}}{{sfn|Nawaz, The First Kashmir War Revisited|2008|pp=120-121}}{{sfn|Jamal, Shadow War|2009|pp=48-49}}

[[File:Pakistan KPK FATA areas with localisation map.svg|thumb|290px|[[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]] including the princely states of [[Chitral (princely state)|Chitral]], [[Swat (princely state)|Swat]] and [[Dir (princely state)|Dir]] (in green) and [[Federally Administered Tribal Area|Frontier Tribal agencies]] (in blue)]]
No decision was apparently made in the 12 September meeting to involve Pashtun tribes. Shaukat Hayat Khan writes that he had explicitly ordered Anwar not to involve them. According to him, Anwar had 'disobeyed' by recruiting the [[Mahsud]] tribesmen of [[Waziristan]] and also by contacting the Pakistan Army. His allies in the effort were [[Abdul Qayyum Khan]], the premier of the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–55)|North-West Frontier Province]] (NWFP), the Pir of [[Wana, Pakistan|Wana]] and the [[Pir of Manki Sharif]]. Both the Pirs wanted to launch a ''jihad'' against Kashmir to free their Muslim brethren from Hindu rule.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=53–55}}

According to Shaukat Hayat Khan, they had fixed a 'D-day' in September, but discovered that Anwar had married a Muslim League worker in Peshawar and disappeared on a honeymoon.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=52}} Anwar himself has given other 'D-days': 15 October in one instance,<ref>{{harvnb|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=174}}: "In early October Khurshid Anwar came to Pindi and asked Syed Nazir Hussain Shah for four or five guides on the 12th of October to guide his five hundred men to the airfield in Srinagar. He claims that the original plan was to attack Muzaffarabad on the 15th of October."</ref> and 21 October in another.<ref>{{harvnb|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=60}}: "Khurshid Anwar, the man who can best be described as the military commander of the invasion of the Kashmir Valley, said that D-day had been fixed for Tuesday, 21 October, but had to be delayed until the following morning."</ref> Eventually, the invasion did take place on 22 October.

With the help of the NWFP Chief Minister [[Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan]], the divisional commissioner Khawaja Abdur Rahim of [[Rawalpindi]] and the political agents of the tribal agencies, Anwar mobilised [[Afridi]]s from the [[Khyber Agency]] and [[Mehsud]]s from the [[Waziristan Agency]].{{sfn|Jamal, Shadow War|2009|p=50}}{{sfn|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=174}} They were further joined by Wazirs, Daurs, Bhittanis, Khattaks, Turis, Swatis and men of [[Dir, Pakistan|Dir]].{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|p=50}} Trucks belonging to the paramilitary [[Frontier Corps]] were used to transport them to the Kashmir border.{{sfn|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003|p=50}}

[[File:J&K01low.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Invasion of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]]]
[[File:J&K02low.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Position in early November]]
On 22 October 1947, Anwar entered Kashmir near [[Muzaffarabad]] heading a lashkar of 4,000 tribesmen.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=60}} They quickly secured Muzaffarabad, took [[Uri, Jammu and Kashmir|Uri]] and proceeded to [[Baramulla]]. At each location, they stopped to plunder the local population, especially the Hindus and Sikhs. It was part of their agreement with Anwar; "they had no other remuneration," according to Colonel Akbar Khan.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=61}} When they reached, Baramulla, a rich provincial capital, their desire for loot was overwhelming and they stopped listening to Anwar's orders. Anwar and some of the tribal elders grew deeply ashamed of what was done in Baramulla.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=124–125}}

The tribal lashkar stopped in Baramulla for two days, during which the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir negotiated his accession to India and India dispatched troops by air. According to some accounts, Anwar asked for an undertaking from the tribal leaders to abstain from looting, respect Government property and protect treasuries. The tribesmen are said to have refused. Scholar Andrew Whitehead states that Anwar appears to have summoned political and religious leaders of the tribesmen to instil discipline in them. The Pir of Manki Sharif himself was among them.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=133–134}}

On 29 October, Governor [[George Cunningham (governor)|George Cunningham]] of NWFP claims to have convinced [[Mohammad Ali Jinnah]] of providing better support to the tribal lashkar. Consequently, the government decided to maintain a contingent of 5,000 tribesmen in Kashmir, provide their rations and ammunition, and establish a directing committee of five officials in Abbottabad to control recruiting and supplies. A battalion of troops was also sent to maintain order among tribesmen.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=136–137}}

After the tribesmen advanced again, about 1,000 of them reached [[Budgam]] by 3 November, which was within five miles of the Srinagar airfield. Here they were [[Battle of Badgam|engaged by Indian troops]]. According Brigadier L. P. Sen of the Indian Army, they failed to press home their advantage in reaching the airfield. Anwar stated that he reached within one mile of the airfield along with twenty men, but lacked the strength to press forward.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=156}} Around 6 November, Srinagar was exposed to its closest encounter with the war as the city "reverberated to the sound of machine-gun and mortar firing". Three hundred tribesmen faced a roadblock of the Indian Army 4.5 km west of the city, and engaged in a pitched battles in the early hours of the morning. By dawn, they were repulsed.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=157–158}} The tribesmen then gathered at Shalateng, northwest of Srinagar. The Indians deployed newly arrived armoured cars and air support. The tribesmen were routed, with heavy casualties, and dispersed. The Indians pursued them and recaptured Pattan, Baramulla and Uri within the next few days.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|pp=159–160}}

Around 10 November, Anwar was injured in leg by a bomb splinter and was evacuated to Abbottabad. Colonel [[Akbar Khan (Pakistani general)|Akbar Khan]] took over the command of the tribal lashkar.{{sfn|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007|p=191}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |last=Amin |first=Maj Agha Humayun |chapter=The 1947-48 Kashmir War: The war of lost opportunities |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/The1947-48KashmirWarTheWarOfLostOpportunities |title=The Pakistan Army Till 1965 |publisher=Strategicus and Tactitus |year=1999 |ref={{sfnref|Amin, The 1947–48 Kashmir War|1999}}}}
* {{citation |last=Hajari |first=Nisid |author-link=Nisid Hajari |title=Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OJGdBAAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-66924-3 |ref={{sfnref|Hajari, Midnight's Furies|2015}}}}
* {{citation |last=Hiro |first=Dilip |title=The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpPCBAAAQBAJ |date=2015 |publisher=Nation Books |isbn=978-1-56858-503-1 |ref={{sfnref|Hiro, The Longest August|2015}}}}
* {{citation |last=Jalal |first=Ayesha |author-link=Ayesha Jalal|title=Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1850 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sa6CAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA482 |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-59937-0 |ref={{sfnref |Jalal, Self and Sovereignty |2002}}}}
* {{citation |last=Jamal |first=Arif |title=Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNO5MAAACAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=Melville House |isbn=978-1-933633-59-6 |ref={{sfnref|Jamal, Shadow War|2009}}}}
* {{citation |last=Jha |first=Prem Shankar |author-link=Prem Shankar Jha |title=The Origins of a Dispute: Kashmir 1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kluAAAAMAAJ |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566486-7 |ref={{sfnref|Jha, The Origins of a Dispute|2003}}}}
* {{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=Incomplete Partition: The Genesis of the Kashmir Dispute, 1947-1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vi9WAAAAYAAJ |year=2002 |orig-year=first published 1997 by Roxford Books |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780195797701 |ref={{sfnref|Lamb, Incomplete Partition|2002}}}}
* {{citation |first=Victoria |last=Schofield |author-link=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir – Today, Tomorrow? |journal=Asian Affairs |volume=28 |number=3 |pages=315–324 |doi=10.1080/714857150 |year=1997 |ref={{sfnref|Schofield, Kashmir – Today, Tomorrow?|1997}}}}
* {{citation |last=Schofield |first=Victoria |author-link=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir in Conflict |publisher=I. B. Taurus & Co |location=London and New York |year=2003 |orig-year=First published in 2000 |isbn=1860648983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkTetMfI6QkC |ref={{sfnref|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003}}}}
* {{citation |first=Shuja |last=Nawaz |title=The First Kashmir War Revisited |journal=India Review |volume=7 |number=2 |pages=115–154 |doi=10.1080/14736480802055455 |date=May 2008 |s2cid=155030407 |ref={{sfnref|Nawaz, The First Kashmir War Revisited|2008}}}}
* {{citation |last=Panigrahi |first=Devendra |title=India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-uQAgAAQBAJ |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-76813-3 |ref={{sfnref|Panigrahi, India's Partition|2004}}}}
* {{citation |last=Saraf |first=Muhammad Yusuf |author-link=Muhammad Yusuf Saraf |title=Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2 |year=2015 |orig-year=first published 1979 by Ferozsons |publisher=National Institute Kashmir Studies |location=Mirpur |ref={{sfnref|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015}}}}
* {{citation |last=Whitehead |first=Andrew |title=A Mission in Kashmir |url=http://www.andrewwhitehead.net/full-text-a-mission-in-kashmir.html |year=2007 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-08127-1 |ref={{sfnref|Whitehead, A Mission in Kashmir|2007}}}}

{{Pakistan Movement}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anwar, Khurshid}}
[[Category:Pakistani politicians]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:All India Muslim League members]]
[[Category:People of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]]
[[Category:People of the 1947 Kashmir conflict]]

Khurshid Anwar (Major) - Revision history

Svetlananhr: further update layout based on references and cleaned formatting as per guidelines

>Citation bot: Alter: pages. Add: s2cid, isbn. Formatted dashes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Jonesey95 | Pages linked from cached User:Jonesey95/sandbox3 | via #UCB_webform_linked 570/992