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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Pakistani jurist}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2017}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}<br />
'''Justice Muhammad Yusuf Saraf''' (born 1923) was the Chief Justice of the [[Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]] High Court<ref>{{citation |last=Schofield |first=Victoria |authorlink=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir in Conflict |publisher=I. B. Taurus & Co |location=London and New York |year=2003 |origyear=First published in 2000 |isbn=1860648983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkTetMfI6QkC |page=281}}</ref> and the author of the voluminous work, ''Kashmiris Fight for Freedom''. He was born in [[Baramulla]] in the then princely state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], but migrated to [[Pakistan]] prior to the [[Partition of India]]. He started practising law in [[Mirpur, Pakistan|Mirpur]] in 1949, rising to the bench in 1969. He served as the Chief Justice of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from 1975 to 1980.<br />
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==Early life==<br />
Muhammad Yusuf Saraf was born in [[Baramulla]] in 1923. He graduated from [[St. Joseph's College (Baramulla)|St. Joseph's College]] around 1945. He was the Student Union president and the President of Kashmir Youth Congress, 1943–1945. He was also a secretary for the All-India Students Congress during this period, associated with [[Sheikh Abdullah]]'s [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference|National Conference]].{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|loc=author's biography on the back cover}}<br />
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==Pakistan-occupied Kashmir movement==<br />
In August 1945, Saraf joined the [[All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference|Muslim Conference]], which advocated the [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]'s accession to Pakistan. He was appointed as a secretary of the party in 1946.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|loc=author's biography on the back cover}}<br />
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On 19 July 1947 a convention of the Muslim Conference workers was held at Srinagar, for deciding the party's position on the future of the State. On the previous day, the Working Committee of the party met and passed a resolution asking for the State to remain independent. This is said to have been as per the advice of [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]. However, Saraf wanted the party to decide in favour of accession to Pakistan. He hastily pencilled a counter-resolution and read it out at the convention, which received overwhelming support from all the younger members of the convention. Consequently, the convention passed a resolution urging the Maharaja to accede to Pakistan.<ref>{{citation |last=Copland |first=Ian |chapter=The Abdullah Factor: Kashmiri Muslims and the Crisis of 1947 |editor=D. A. Low |title=Political Inheritance of Pakistan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaeuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA240 |year=1991 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-11556-3 |pages=239–240 |ref={{sfnref|Copland, The Abdullah Factor|1991}}}}</ref>{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|pp=9–12}}<br />
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After the independence of Pakistan in August, Saraf went to Srinagar and met [[Chaudhary Hamidullah]], the acting president of the Muslim Conference. Hamidullah was seeking "sympathetic people" from [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Frontier]] to attack the state borders in order to draw the State Forces away from Srinagar. In his view, this would give an opportunity for the rebels from [[Poonch jagir|Poonch]] to attack Srinagar itself. Hamidullah asked Saraf to carry a letter to the Frontier chief minister [[Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan]] to facilitate such attacks. The Khan, on the other hand, dismissed the proposal as being "foolish". He thought such attacks would give an excuse to India to intervene. He wanted Hamidullah to come in person to discuss the development of a proper plan. Saraf relayed the message to Hamidullah in Srinagar, and then went to stay with a relative in [[Garhi Habibullah]] in the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–55)|N.W.F.P.]] as he believed a warrant had been issued for his arrest.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=85}}<br />
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While in Garhi Habibullah, Saraf states that he acquired a sizeable quantity of dynamite for the movement. [[Khurshid Anwar (Major)|Khurshid Anwar]] was in the area at that time in connection with organising a [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947|tribal invasion]] of Kashmir. With Anwar's assurance that it would be used for 'the same purpose', Saraf handed over the dynamite to the Khan of Garhi, Muhammad Aslam Khan, which was then presumably used during the tribal invasion.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=174}}<br />
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In October 1947, Saraf went to [[Rawalpindi]], where the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir movement was operating from the Paris Hotel. He was asked to set up a publicity office for the movement in [[Lahore]], which he did, with the assistance of [[Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad]], the head of [[Ahmadiyya]] sect, [[Faiz Ahmed Faiz]] and other notables of Lahore. The Divisional Commissioner of Lahore, Inamur Rahim, also extended his help.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=544}} When the Provisional Government of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was set up on 24 October 1947, Saraf supported it.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|p=547}}<br />
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==Legal career==<br />
Saraf received an [[L.L.B.]] degree from Aligarh in 1948. He started law practice in [[Mirpur, Pakistan|Mirpur]] in 1949. He continued to be involved with the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir affairs, serving on the Electoral Rolls and Polling Sub-Committee set up by the Government of Pakistan, the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Radio Advisory Committee and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Administration Advisory Committee, etc.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|loc=author's biography on the back cover}}<br />
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In 1969, Saraf was appointed as a judge of the Mirpur Court. He served on the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Laws Adaptation and Scrutiny Committee and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Islamic Laws Committee and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Law Commission.{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|loc=author's biography on the back cover}}<br />
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In 1975, Saraf was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir High Court, serving in this post till 1980.<ref>[https://www.ajkhighcourt.gok.pk/former-chief-justice-ajk.html Former Hona’ble Chief Justices of The High Court] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418191946/http://www.ajkhighcourt.gok.pk/former-chief-justice-ajk.html |date=18 April 2017 }}, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir High Court, retrieved 27 May 2017.</ref><br />
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==Works==<br />
* ''Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 1 (1819–1946)'', Ferozsons, Lahore, 1977.<br />
* ''Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2 (1947–1978)'', Ferozsons, Lahore, 1979.<br />
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===Reception===<br />
The volumes received favourable reviews in the Pakistani press. The U. S. Ambassador to Pakistan, [[Arthur W. Hummel Jr.|Arthur W. Hummel]] remarked that it appeared to be "a monumental work, representing much research and scholarship".{{sfnp|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015|loc=front cover}} Being a voluminous piece of work covering a long period of history, the volumes are often cited by scholars, such as [[Victoria Schofield]] and [[Christopher Snedden]], for historical information.<ref>{{citation |last=Schofield |first=Victoria |authorlink=Victoria Schofield |title=Kashmir in Conflict |publisher=I. B. Taurus & Co |location=London and New York |year=2003 |origyear=First published in 2000 |isbn=1860648983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rkTetMfI6QkC |ref={{sfnref|Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict|2003}}}}</ref><ref>{{citation |first=Christopher |last=Snedden |authorlink=Christopher Snedden |title=Kashmir: The Unwritten History |publisher=HarperCollins India |year=2013 |isbn=978-9350298985 |origyear=first published as ''The Untold Story of the People of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir'', 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cPjAAAAQBAJ |ref={{sfnref|Snedden, Kashmir: The Unwritten History|2013}}}}</ref> However, Brian Cloughly in ''A History of the Pakistan Army'', said that it is not an unbiased piece of work. [[Lord Mountbatten]] is said to have characterised it as 'an exercise in aspersion and innuendo'.<ref>{{citation |last=Cloughley |first=Brian |title=A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JE1kCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1 |date=2016 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-63144-039-7 |at=Chapter 1, footnote 13}}</ref> Pakistan-occupied Kashmiri journalist [[Khalid Hasan]], who co-edited ''Memory Lane to Jammu'', which included excerpts from Saraf's book, has stated that it is an unsatisfactory account with a "gung-ho, super-patriotic tone", lacking in objectivity.<ref>{{citation |last=Hasan |first=Khalid |chapter=Mirpur 1947 – The Untold Story |editor-last=Gupta |editor-first=Bal K. |title=Forgotten Atrocities: Memoirs of a Survivor of the 1947 Partition of India |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2BIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-257-91419-7 |pages=141–144 }}</ref><br />
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==Death and legacy==<br />
Justice Saraf died sometime prior to 1996.<ref name="RadHasan2004">{{citation |last1=Rad |first1=Rehmatullah |last2=Hasan |first2=Khalid |title=Memory Lane to Jammu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVJuAAAAMAAJ |year=2004 |publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications |isbn=978-969-35-1572-5 |page=197}}</ref><br />
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The Sultana Foundation has established a ''Justice Yusaf Saraf Centre for Research,Rehabilitation & Mainstreaming of Street Children'' in his honour.<ref>[http://sultanafoundation.weebly.com/justice-yusaf-saraf-centre-rrmsc.html Justice Yusaf Saraf Centre for Research,Rehabilitation & Mainstreaming of Street Children], Sultana Foundation, retrieved 27 May 2017.</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist|30em}}<br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
* {{citation |last=Saraf |first=Muhammad Yusuf |title=Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2 |year=2015 |origyear=first published 1979 by Ferozsons |publisher=National Institute Kashmir Studies |location=Mirpur |ref={{sfnref|Saraf, Kashmiris Fight for Freedom, Volume 2|2015}}}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saraf, Muhammad Yusuf}}<br />
[[Category:1923 births]]<br />
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Chief Justices of the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir]]<br />
[[Category:Pakistan Movement activists from Kashmir]]<br />
[[Category:Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent]]<br />
[[Category:People from Baramulla]]<br />
[[Category:People from Mirpur District]]<br />
[[Category:Year of death missing]]<br />
[[Category:Writers about the Kashmir conflict]]</div>Bot